Crazy Heart
Jeff Bridges's overdue Oscar was certainly deserved as he mumbled, sang, and scratched his way through Bad Blake's journey to sobriety, success, and adulthood. As his romantic interest, Maggie Gyllenhaal is perfectly fine as the starstruck lady with her priorities in line. Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall add a lot to the film as once and future acquaintances of Blake. The only misstep the film makes is Blake's ill-fated neglectful trip to a bar and the temporary loss of a child. It takes the easy way out instead of dealing with real problems and never really shows any balls (like The Wrestler or even Coal Miner's Daughter). But it's a minor complaint in this thoroughly likable film. Great music, great performances, and a pitch-perfect ending. A-
The Road
Unbelievably bleak and grim and depressing as hell. Viggo Mortensen couldn't be better as the father guiding his son through a post-apocalyptic grungy wasteland. While gangs of cannibals look for them, they struggle to find food and not have their stuff stolen. If you can get through the house where live people are stored for food, the second half becomes a highly intellectual treatise on humanity itself. And the emotional ending is an out-of -nowhere knockout that left me shattered. I'm not sure I'll ever watch this again, but I'm a better human being for having seen it. B+
The Messenger
Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson are terrific both separately and together as members of an Army casualty notification team. The interactions with grieving families are devastating - all the more so because writer-director Oren Moverman stages the scenes without cutting, allowing the actors to do their thing. But, after some great scenes with Steve Buscemi and Samantha Morton, later notifications feel sadistic and repetitive. Moverman tries to advance the story when Foster begins seeing Morton, but the screen chemistry just isn't there (like it is for Foster and Harrelson). Unlike The Road which starts slow and finishes strong, this one becomes less interesting as it goes along. B
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Recent Viewings
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Glad we agree on Crazy Heart. I've already watched it 3 times. Farrell and the soundtrack get better each time.
Also glad we agree on Road - you should read the book - it is a quick read.
agree on crazy heart. i haven't watched the road because the book was too grotesque for me to imagine as a film. we largely agree on the messenger (i gave it a B- in my review).
Crazy Heart is like Once and Hoosiers in that it's riddled with cliches, but by embracing the stereotypes, the characters become archetypes. The first-rate performances and music in all 3 make all of them easy to love.
BTW, Priest, my Messenger expectations were probably diminished because of your review. And I bought Foster being interested Morton. She's the exact opposite of the Jena Malone character which probably appealed to him at the time. Doubt it'll last past a few months though.
Worthless fact of the week - Oren Moverman co-wrote I'm Not There.
Post a Comment