SQUID AND THE WHALE, THE & RUNNING WITH SCISSORS BD [Blu-ray]

This is an excellent deal! Two excellent indie films about families in crisis in the late 20th century, on blu-ray, for less than the price of either alone on DVD.The picture and audio quality is not up with the best blu-rays, but was a step up over the individual DVDs.Set in the early 80s, The Squid and the Whale is a brilliant portrait of the slow disintegration of a family as parents divorce, and two sons are caught in the middle. Great performances all around, especially by Jeff Daniels playing against type as a boorish intellectual bully. Also, very well, if simply, shot, given it’s tiny budget. A film where no one comes out as all hero or all villain, and there’s a very, very rare ring of truth to the complexities of family relationships.Running with Scissors is more comedic - although it has its serious moments - with a slightly surreal tone, as it captures the weird remnants of the 1960s that bled over into the 1970s. Drugs, sexual sorta freedom, experimental life-styles and philosophies still ruled much of the bourgeois intellectual world, but without the innocence and playfulness of a decade earlier. Annette Benning does some great work here, and the wildly talented Brian Cox is very entertaining.This rare feature from TV mega-producer Ryan Murphy was mostly dismissed by critics on it's release (although it did have it's critical champions). Perhaps because I saw it with no hype or expectations, I had the room to be very pleasantly surprised by this bold and playful look at the weirdness of one boy's very off kilter 1970s adolescence.I bought this two pack to get The Squid and the Whale on blu-ray, but the Murphy film was a delightful discovery. Obviously it wasn't for everyone, but for the very low price of this set it's not like you're taking a big chance.

A painful comedy of manners and a coming-of-age story, and one of the finest American films of the past 20 years. Jeff Daniels plays a father who hasn't grown up, perhaps can't grow up, Laura Linney plays his wife, who sees his impossibility and reacts some bitter (but also funny) results. The children are played by a worried Jesse Eisenberg, who sides with his father in what passes for a custody battle, and Owen Kline, whose story this is, mostly, and who plays the youngest son whose own reaction to the family break-up has some of the clearest laughs in the film. The director, Noah Baumbach, also made Greenberg and Frances Ha, where he would further refine his talent for comic dissection and for telling stories that put whimsy in the same room with fury.This film comes with Running With Scissors, a film that walks some of the same family ground, but in a more novelistic, fantastical vein, and doesn't seem as ambitious, though in some ways it is more.

I really enjoyed the book "Running with Scissors" I wanted to share it with (frankly) someone who doesn't enjoy books! So, I liked the book better but the movie is good. A bit condensed as movies tend to be compared to books. The price was insanely low... less than you would expect to pay for one movie much less two. We have yet to watch the Squid and the Whale, not sure if I will because like I said, I bought specifically for the other movie.

Two boys, maybe 12 and 15, each with their own coming of age issues, have to work through their parent's rather sudden and bitter divorce. Great movie, wonderful character studies over a brief period of time - only the symbolic whale and squid serve as a marker toward the end of this difficult phase of their lives so the movie ends abruptly without resolution, much the way most of the narratives in our lives don't end with a story-time theatrical conclusion. LOVE this movie. . .

Item came as described and was shipped quickly! This film, to me, is a masterpiece in its own regard. It's certainly not for everyone, as some may find it rather... Unpleasant. However, it had a harshly realistic sense of humor, beautiful writing and A+ performances. A must have for any film buff.

2 good (To Me) movies now on Blu Ray with great pic quality, casts and good story lines. Great Amazon price so worth upgrading to Blu Ray.

Interesting movie, the wife picked it up for a psychology class if that says anything about it.

Two good movies about seriously screwed-up families.

Running with scissors is a great movie I had seen it before and wanted to see it again. Would recommended to anyone who likes stories based on facts.

Good deal, thank you

USA版の表題２作品を１BDに収めたものです。両作品とも家族を扱ったドラマです。この手の作品は好き嫌いが分かれると思いますが、自分は両方とも気に入りました。出来るならば、レンタルで借りて気に入ったら買うことをお勧めします。USA版なので日本語吹き替え、字幕はありませんが、英語字幕があるので英語が得意な人は大丈夫でしょう。BDらしいきれいな画面ですが、特典はありません。