Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

JohnLeeT Very enjoyable film with an engaging script, fine direction, and superb performances from Walken and Caine. Overall, the film is entirely entertaining and quite moving at times. The photography and location filming are also a highlight. However, watching Walken and Caine in a film together is a delight and the story is both cockeyed and uplifting. If you admire the work of these two great actors, you won't want to miss them here even if you find the movie less than the funny, moving, and engaging film I found it to be. It certainly deserved a wider audience and more attention than it received. The director displays some real talent and the screenwriter delivers a uniquely well- done script with excellent dialog.

eric262003 Death is knocking on the door of archaeologist Dr. Henry Lair (Michael Caine). His last wish is to gather his disgraced son Turner (Christopher Walken) and his level-headed grandson Jason (Josh Lucas)to go on a road trip. Wheh they show up at his doorstep, Henry Lair feels like his last wish is starting to materialize before his eyes. But suddenly he dies and has left his legacy his will which is a variety of clues and directions hidden in a Kentucky Fried Chicken bag. The centerpiece of the film is centered around the topic of death and how it effects those around the survivors of those loved ones, but we feel that this death is rather assumed rather then actually getting the feeling of the character being dead. The first 20 minutes into the film, the connections between Henry and his family seems to be at times very disjointed.From a documentary focusing on the making of "Around the Bend", writer/director Jordan Roberts wrote the script for 10 long years which included a more in depth back-story involving Henry. Roberts goes all out to concentrate on the emotional impact on losing a person who was loved dearly and was taken into clinical masses. The deleted scenes that centres around the dying Henry has a more contrary perspective of the movie. Shamefully, Roberts edited out those scenes feeling they were incoherent to the plot. The film is only a measly 83 minutes long therefore, Mr. Roberts' theory to me seems rather unjustified.The good qualities about "Around The Bend" is that it thankfully refrains from being gratuitously sentimental and doesn't have any kind of teary outbursts. However it succeeds in making it more subtle in this difficult stage in life. Henry's will instructs Turner, Jason and son Zach (Lucas Bobo) to drive to New Mexico where they must scatter his ashes through many parts of this state. They must also stop at every KFC and have a meal before they continue. Henry's rigor mortis sets the tone towards the heavy burdens that has manifested towards the Lair clan, but the internal turmoil takes its toll on them. Turner and Jason milk upon Turner's mysterious abandonment and during the trip they continually argue over various issues that has been affecting their relationship. But Henry's will sends Turner and Jason to well known landmarks that bridge the gaps between them that has kept them apart.In the early parts of the film, Henry liked to refer to his clan as his tribe. All he ever wanted was to have cohesiveness and unity towards his family and to be at peace with one another. That's all fine fine and dandy, but it happened all too soon and abrupt making the movie too short and too rushed. There was a side-story that had an affect on Turner and he and Jason have a final battle of words at the last destination. The predictable conclusion deprives this nuanced tone. Death tries to removes the wedges from this estranged family and while the story is finger looking good, the conclusion is the one that flips the bird on us.

marcus_stokes2000 *SPOILERS around here* Jason Lair (Josh Lucas, 'Poseidon'), who works in a bank, lives with his ailing grandfather Henry (Michael Caine, 'Beyond The Poseidon Adventure', 'Alfie'), Henry's nurse Katrina (Glenne Headly, 'ER') and his own son, Zachary (Jonah Bobo, 'Zathura').One day, Jason's father Turner (Christopher Walken, 'The Deer Hunter', 'The Dead Zone') darkens his doorstep after having abandoned him when he was 2 years old and his mother had died in a car accident with him in the car (or was he?), leaving him with a bum leg.Jason is obviously none too pleased, but Henry is; Turner is his son, after all.Sadly, though, Henry dies that very night, but not before having left very precise instructions on where to disperse his (and his beloved dog's) ashes.So, Turner, Zachary, and a very reluctant Jason are on their way to a very special journey, which hopefully will get Jason and Turner's father-son relationship back on track...But Turner is keeping some secrets, and they hurt...Director Jordan Roberts scores 10/10 on my ratings for this film in which everything seems appropriate, from music to scenery, the actors really shine (especially Lucas, Bobo and the endearing Headly, however small her part may be) and a story that touches a nerve with everyone who has been a son, because even if our father didn't disappear for years, we all hold some kind of resentment towards him, sometimes even for no reason at all, like the famous song 'Father & Son' clearly shows.Around The Bend is a great movie, not to miss.

TxMike This simple movie focuses on the 4 generations of the men in the Lair family. It opens with 3 of them -- great grandfather Henry (Michael Caine), father Jason (Josh Lucas), and son Zach (cute little Jonah Bobo). Only the grandfather, Turner (Christopher Walken) is missing. We realize this when he shows up, the first time he has been seen in 30 years. While Jason wants some answers, Turner just refers to that as ancient history and wants to talk about today. I have never been disappointed in a role of Christopher Walken's, and this one is not exception. While all the actors are adequate, Walken is the one who makes the movie interesting, these 4 generations of Lair man trying to be a family again. Glenne Hedley has a whimsical role as a Danish nanny caring for Henry. Worth a watch.SPOILERS. Turner had been in prison for theft and when he shows up everyone assumes he has been released. But he was in a hospital for dialysis from kidney failure and he just walked out, and planned to stop and see his family on the way to a spot near the Mexico border. But his travel was delayed when old Henry dies suddenly, leaves a handwritten will, and instructions for the other 3 to take his ashes (along with the dog's) on a road trip to scatter at various places, as a requirement for his will to be valid. This reunites father and son and, Jason's limp wasn't really from an auto accident when he was young, instead his dad, Turner, a former drunk, had thrown him from some stairs. Turner wanted to get back to a particular cliff near Mexico where his son had been conceived, and died in the car right after his son drove him there.