Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

jefgain All were aligned in this film, acting, directing, writing et al. I have ADHD and I found the movie riveting. Aaron Schneider the director did a masterful job and the writers Chris Provenzano, C Gaby Mitchel and Scott Seeke did a great job. The actors, Robert Duval, Sissy Spacek, Lucas Black, Bill Cobbs and Lori Beth Edgeman were absolutely out standing. Bill Murray was off just a very very little but did a good job also. The film was nominated for a respectable amount of awards and won a couple, one for the first feature film from Independent Spirit Award to Schneider, Zanuck and Gundlach. I was disappointed to see no Oscar nod though. The story is about a Hermit (Duval) that wants to have a Funeral Party while he is alive. The story enfolds to tell us why he was a hermit.

Bob Pr. Robert Duvall is one of my all-time favorite actors and here he gives a worthy performance as a person suffering guilt, a self-imposed 40 year social exile of being a hermit, and a search for redemption (shades of his "The Apostle" and "Tender Mercies") -- themes he apparently treasures.In this story, word of the death of an acquaintance prompts elderly Felix (Duvall) to think of his own passing and make plans for it. He's been a hermit for 40 years (for reasons revealed at the end of the film) and such a thoroughly cantankerous old codger that the townspeople trade stories and speculate about him.Felix visits the local undertaker (Bill Murray), an oleaginous salesman who'll do anything to make a buck. Felix wants his funeral service before he dies and the undertaker arranges it. The acting of Duvall and Murray make the film come alive and worthwhile. Any other competent actors would have made it a dud.Set in Georgia in the early 1930s (soon after the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression), those world events seem to have no effect on these people. Never mind, the joy of the movie is seeing these two actors display their wares.

lasttimeisaw A main purpose of watching this indie film is to make my own decision if Robert Duvall has received a cold-shoulder for another Oscar-nomination, as it proves the film without any question is Mr. Duvall's personal acting vehicle while the film itself is a rather hit-and-miss debut for director Aaron Schneider.The entire film is being engulfed by the ominous tension to unveil what "on earth" had happened to the old gaffer who lives a secluded life like a prisoner in his own jail-house for 40 years. While using his own (alive) funeral as a stunt to gather more attention from local people (plus a more lucrative chance to inherit his property after his death). First of all, the visual techniques are prosaic and so is the screenplay, by which many characters are undermined (e.g. Bill Murray and Lucas Black), especially for Murray, his role could have been excavated more since the fodder seems ample and quaint. The revelation feel contrived and not worthy of all the hyperbole, and so is the funeral, which looks more like a hasty, confessional convention plus a glimpse of a mannered lottery. Not only the unearthed truth does not live up to all the expectation, the ending is also somewhat bland in which things ensue in a rash motion and the final pathos is being compromised. So the plucky and ultra-venerable cast is the backbone of this otherwise dreary indie, Mr. Duvall is excellent enough to dominate all the curmudgeon foibles, and the showboating speech at the funeral is a rare heart-felting rendition, he is currently my No. 5 in the leading actor list (but I haven't seen Jeff Bridge's Oscar-winning CRAZY HEART 2009 yet).Veteran Murray and Spacek also has their moments which may not be assure a front-runner buzz, but an unbending glare cannot be dismissed.

billcr12 A great cast led by Robert Duvall as Felix, a man alone against the world, with a strange request, is a good concept which disappointed me after a compelling build up. Felix is a recluse who is thought to be an evil man and possible murderer who others avoid. He comes up with the idea to hold a funeral party for himself while he is still alive. Bill Murray is perfect as the owner of a funeral parlor who agrees to stage the event, even selling lottery tickets to attendees for a chance to win the hermit's property. Felix reveals a long ago relationship with a town widow, Mattie(Sissy Spacek) before her marriage, and discloses a secret affair with her married sister, Mary Lee; unfortunately, the final part of the story goes off the rails, ruining three great performances by Duvall, Murray, and Spacek.