Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Robert Joyner 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

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Gordon-11 This film tells the story of a father and his two teenage sons, who core cope with the untimely death of their wife / mother due to a traffic accident. Their grief is further complicated by a breakdown on communication.I tried very hard to understand the story, but honestly I didn't understand a thing. "Louder Than Bombs" tries to tell a story of a dysfunctional family, but it ends up being an aimless drivel. I have no idea what the story is trying to convey. It jumps between the past and present inexplicably, and there is little continuity and connection between the past and present. And what's the fascination with decomposition of bodies? Those scenes are just plain gross. Perhaps the scenes are there to be provocative, but they simply alienate viewers from the film. Furthermore, it is not interesting to see teenagers sulk all the time. I regret having wasted my time watching this indecipherable collage of scenes.

Dave McClain Families in crisis. Movies which explore that topic can be difficult to watch, but can also reaffirm what is important about family and suggest how we and our loved ones might move forward when confronted with difficult times. Of course, there are many different kinds of crises that can be portrayed on film. Some of these family dramas revolve around the death of a family member (e.g., Best Picture Oscar Winners "Ordinary People" and "Terms of Endearment", plus "A Cry in the Dark", "Steel Magnolias", "The Descendants", "Still Alice"). Other times we see families battling an existential threat ("The Impossible", "San Andreas", "No Escape"). Often the family crisis doesn't have to do with anybody dying, but with the family unit splitting apart due to issues like divorce (Best Picture Oscar Winner "Kramer vs. Kramer", "The War of the Roses", "Mrs. Doubtfire", "Liar, Liar"), crime ("The Godfather", "Raising Arizona", "Running on Empty", "Falling Down", "Road to Perdition") or just because they forgot what it means to be a family ("The Story of Us", "American Beauty", "Winter's Bone"). The drama "Louder than Bombs"(R, 1:49) has things in common with several of the films mentioned above.Noted war photographer Isabelle Reed (Isabelle Huppert) died near her New York home when the car she was driving collided head-on with an 18-wheeler. A few years later, her widowed husband, high school teacher Gene Reed (Gabriel Byrne), and his sons, teenager Conrad (Devin Druid) and college professor Jonah (Jesse Eisenberg) are still struggling to move on from Isabelle's death. Gene is in his first post-Isabelle romantic relationship with a fellow teacher named Hannah (Amy Ryan), while working hard to connect emotionally with Conrad, who has become very surly and emotionally withdrawn (even for a teenager). Jonah lives out of state where his wife has just had their first child, but he comes home for an extended visit to help his dad finally sort through Isabelle's things in her photographic dark room.A museum is planning a retrospective of Isabelle's work and a family friend (David Strathairn) who works at the museum, is writing an article for the New York Times to promote the exhibit, all of which forces the Reeds to relive their memories of Isabelle and her tragic death. As we see flashbacks of Isabelle's life and relationship with her family, tensions rise among the three Reed men in the present. Conrad clearly still has unprocessed feelings regarding his mother and there's something about his mother's death that his father has never told him. As Gene struggles with that secret and with his inability to talk to his younger son, he is trying to keep his romance with Hannah a secret… and also learns about some things that his deceased wife had kept secret from him. Like his father, Jonah also learns some surprising things about his mother, struggles with his feelings and the secrets he is keeping, does his best to reach out to Conrad (a little more successfully than his father), and he secretly gets involved with a local woman."Louder than Bombs" is depressing and unsatisfying. In tone, it's like "Ordinary People" (but not as touching), in content, it resembles "The Descendants" (but not as entertaining) and in its storytelling, it reminds me of "Knight of Cups" (but not as creative). What we have here is a story filled with unlikeable characters who have very little personality, cavalierly lie and commit other indiscretions and seem unable or unwilling to look beyond their own self-interest. The lessons about family bonds are only faintly sketched and even the title has very little meaning. "D+"

Hellmant 'LOUDER THAN BOMBS': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)Insightful drama flick, from Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier (in his English-language film debut). The movie tells the story of a husband, and his two sons, that are trying to cope with the death of the boys' mother. It was directed and co-written by Trier, with Eskil Vogt (Trier's usual writing partner). The film stars Gabriel Byrne, Jesse Eisenberg, Devin Druid, Isabelle Huppert, David Strathairn and Amy Ryan. It's a really well made movie, and it's also intensely involving. Isabelle Reed (Huppert) was a very famous, and successful, war photographer; until her death, in a horrible car accident. Gene Reed (Byrne), and his sons, Jonah (Eisenberg) and Conrad (Druid), are still trying to get over her death. It appears as though Isabelle's death was a suicide, and her former coworker, Richard (Strathairn), is about to publish a newspaper article saying so. Gene wants to tell Conrad, who doesn't know this about his mother's passing, before the article is released; but Conrad is becoming increasingly hard for his father to talk to. Jonah recently had a child of his own, and he's just returned home, for the first time in a long while, to spend time with Gene and his depressed brother.The movie is really well directed, and written, and the performances are all decent as well. It's a really sad story, with very well thought out and realistic characters. What's most impressive about the movie, is how inspiring it is (despite all this). Finding light in seemingly overpowering darkness, is a really hard thing to do; but Trier impressively pulls it off. He also tells the story in a pretty fresh, and unique way too. I really like this film.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/8E1WKbyL3YM

CineMuseFilms Most coming-of-age films lean on the romantic comedy or melodrama for shape and structure, usually with a linear storyline that leads to a metaphorical awakening or some other resolution. As you might expect from a Norwegian director, Louder than Bombs (2015) avoids this well-trodden approach by telling a multi-layered fractured tale that looks more like a thriller than a teen-drama. Adolescents who clam-up tightly to exclude the world while they catch up with its emotional challenges are common stories. The one in this film is like a bomb about to explode and his story forms the narrative spine along which several sub-plots radiate in all directions.Conrad is an introspective young war-gamer who has closed off to the world since his famous war photographer mother Isabelle was killed three years ago. He keeps to himself at school and defiantly ignores his well-meaning ex-TV star father. A photo exhibition is planned to commemorate Isabelle's work and a former colleague plans an article that will reveal the secret truth of Isabelle's suicide. Conrad has been shielded from this truth, as well as from the affairs of his father and brother. Over-protection has increasingly isolated him until he tries to connect with a girl in class. It's a complex non-liner plot line with several flashbacks that shift across narrative lines to create the visual effect of a perfect storm of fractured people. Isabelle's war images and her memory keep appearing but the battle we are seeing is raging in the minds of those she left behind who struggle to move on with their lives.The film has an unsettling asymmetrical style about it. You find it in the withholding of truths, in the gender inversion of a war zone mother and a TV soapies father, and in hair-trigger Conrad lashing out in all directions. While the acting is often melodramatic, the filming is edgy with sharp editing cuts and sudden discordant images that feel out of context (like tumbling aerial schoolgirls). It has an uneven but reflective pace that disorients the viewer and leaves them uncertain how the story can hold together. But through the foggy mess of their lives appears hope for better times. More art-house than spoon-fed, the film feels refreshingly free of clichés and leaves you thinking about the impact of distant memories on daily lives.