The Miracle Club

So, I'm not a "movie snob", but (like art) I know what I like. I like this movie, **_very_** much. It was a chance to see actresses I haven't seen in a while, so it's time of a review of each of them. First, they ALL look older. And that's perfectly fine with me. I'd rather movies show me the reality of growing older than glamorize looking young and beautiful. If you still haven't a clue..."IT'S ALL ABOUT THE ACTING!!!" I LOVE seeing Maggie Smith, as I've loved her since "Jean Brodie". Kathy Bates, LOVED in "Unconditional Love", as well as 99% of her acting catalog. And Laura Linney...an…

CinemaSerf

2023-10-19

⭐ 6

Laura Linney ("Chrissie") arrives back in the small Irish community of Ballygar following the death of her estranged mother. At that exact moment, there is a local talent contest going on and the prize is either a trip to Lourdes or a large bacon joint! Now three local women - "Lily" (Dame Maggie Smith); "Eileen" (Kathy Bates) and "Dolly" (Agnes O'Casey) want the trip so they can take the latter women's mute son "Daniel" (Eric Smith) to the shrine, they can all bathe in the waters, and hopefully the youngster will start to talk! It's a gently paced, if procedural, comedy this that allows each …

When circumstances in our lives grow burdensome, many of us hope for a miracle. In some cases, that aspiration is looked upon and anticipated as a literal possibility, one that can be banked on if certain steps are taken. For many of the world’s Roman Catholics, that means making a pilgrimage to the holy shrine at Lourdes, France, site of a believed visitation by the Virgin Mary in 1858. And, in 1967, for the anguished residents of a small Irish town, that’s just what they undertake in hopes of seeing their problems miraculously vanish. That premise provides the basis for director Thaddeus O’S…

r96sk

2025-07-02

⭐ 7

<em>'The Miracle Club'</em> packs a fair punch, even if it never truly hits as perhaps intended - at least for me, of course. It does get darker than expected, the characters onscreen certainly do carry a load of baggage; poster-based pun not intended. I do appreciate that element, still. Maggie Smith stars in her final film role, as Laura Linney, Kathy Bates and Agnes O'Casey feature as prominently. None of them give overly good or bad showings, though Linney did feel a little weaker than the rest; or perhaps just more guarded, as intended. Bates narrowly stands out most, either way. Th…