Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Movie Review: Crazy Heart

After watching the film Crazy Heart it is very apparent why Jeff Bridges walked away with Best Actor in a Drama at this weekend's Golden Globes. He appears on the screen as his character Bad Blake and you have no recollection of his past roles, successes and failures (Big Lebowski and Men Who Stare at Goats). Bad is the kind of character that leaves the audience with sadness and hope. Watching Bridges continue to lose himself in a tumbleweed way of life which primarily revolves around an abuse of whiskey, cigarettes, and a lot of women is painful and brings to mind Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Maggie Gyllenhaal also gives a beautiful, honest performance as a young mother who begins to care deeply for Bad despite their significance age difference. Ultimately what draws the audience in and makes the film a powerful one is the honesty and rawness of humanity. The complexities which encase each of us and show that we are composed of beautiful melodies as well harsh, deafening, ugly noise.

An area where the film fell short is in the embracing of Bad's past. It touches upon his years of success very quickly and sporadically but does not really open up; perhaps the reason for this is that Bad himself has been living a majority of his life in a blur. Also the rehabilitation of Bad happens so quickly that if you left for a bathroom break you would have completely missed his transformation from degenerate, washed up country artist to dignified song writing legend. In contrast to the slow bloom of the beginning of the film, the end comes crashing quite quickly, which I thought to be a little of a disappointment.

The reasons to not miss Crazy Heart fall mostly in the performances and the soundtrack which is beautiful and sad at the same time and works well throughout the storyline; and if folksy/country music is not something that appeals to you, the vast, majestic scenery of the southwest that soaks the background of much of the film will surely take your breath away.



2010 Golden Globe Winners

The 2010 Golden Globes were a bit of a disappointment for me in terms of who won and who walked away empty handed. Albeit a pretty funny bit by Gervais and a nice ovation to Scorsese, the winners and their speeches were not in my favor. Yes, yes Avatar had amazing special affects and has been in the works so long that James Cameron definitely deserved to be recognized, but I would not have chosen it for picture of the year, and I would definitely not have given him best director which should have gone to Kathryn Bigelow for Hurt Locker. I also would have picked Carey Mulligan for best actress for her amazing performance in An Education and although I would have given it to Morgan Freeman before, after having watched Crazy Heart Jeff Bridges definitely earned his statue.

Overall just like the actual event, I thought the ceremony was a bit of a wash out. One of those televised events that is wonderful while watching and leaves a bad taste in your mouth after the results have come out...and now I see why Gervais was slowly putting away the pints while hosting.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Movie Review: Book of Eli

The Book of Eli, which stars Denzel Washington, as a tote bearing "Odysseus" on a quest to go West in a post apocalyptic United States wasteland is not your everyday run of the mill end of days film. Directed by the Hughes brothers, the film lures in the audience from the opening scene with each carefully crafted situation encountered, the desperation and dilapidation of society unfolds. Washington gives an amazing performance as a traveler who is on a mission to bring his book to its home in an unknown western town, on the way he encounters different obstacles which bring his character to the ultimate revelation and binds the film's ending.

Mila Kunis and Gary Oldman also bring an exceptional edge to their roles. The former as Solara, a young woman who seeks more from her destroyed surroundings and reaches out to Washington as he inspires her to realize there is hope for the world; and the latter, a treacherous mayor of a collapsed ghost town in the deserts of the west.

Book of Eli takes its time to unfold, the timing of the picture I found to be especially effective in terms of laying out the absence of structure and time in the world portrayed. The deadened future has no calendar, days blend into cold nights, which run until a blistering sun provides no cheer just blistering heat and another day of bleakness. The cinematography brings to mind the same scarcity of resources that were also apparent in There Will Be Blood. I thought the grayness in the picture really struck a note well to relay a hellish existence where the simple things once taken for granted are now things worth dying over and how happiness is not something the living beings know much about. The metaphorical symbolism in the film is also something to look out for and is extremely well done.

So definitely go see it...and not just once! If you haven't seen it already, check out the trailer below: