SilkwoodCharming, just as so many of Nora Ephron's screenplays were. The dialogue is excellent, but not memorable. However, I've never been one for social issue films, and
Silkwood's core is a social issue. I tend not to find these films intrinsically compelling. In this particular film, a nuclear facility is mistreating its workers by exposing them to high levels of radiation. Meryl Streep's character, Karen Silkwood, works at the plant and becomes a crusader against the plant's practices during the course of the film. This is all based off of a real-life story, as I understand. She mixes a bit of covert skulking to gather evidence and a bit of yelling at the management.
I didn't find the film compelling, but it's not terrible or anything. I'm trying to be very careful to be fair with this film. I had to break up the viewing into 2 halves, unfortunately. There certainly are undeniable pleasures in watching Streep deliver a Nora Ephron screenplay.
Ordinary People
Like
Silkwood,
Ordinary People might be described as "Oscar-bait". It focuses on a Serious issue, uses a conventional structure, and gives plenty of room for its actors to emote. One difference here is that the issue is personal.
(I actually went into this film knowing absolutely nothing about it. It's been a long time since I watched a film without having read a review somewhere, watched the trailer, or even glanced at an IMDb summary. It was actually quite refreshing and, in this particular case, I think it added to the experience. Given that, I'm going to studiously attempt to avoid any sort of spoiler-ish information.)
The film is nothing ground-breaking, formally or otherwise, but I found the viewing experience cathartic as I invested in these characters and became emotionally involved in their struggles.
Verdict:
Ordinary People moves on. Apologies for not writing more! I wanted to get the verdict in as soon as I could.