From A.O. Scott’s review of the new Jeff Bridges movie:
“Crazy Heart,” written and directed by Scott Cooper, is a small movie perfectly scaled to the big performance at its center. It offers some picturesque views of out-of-the-way parts of the American West, but the dominant feature of its landscape is Bad Blake, a wayward, aging country singer played by Jeff Bridges.
Those last four words should be sufficient recommendation. Some of Mr. Bridges’s peers may have burned more intensely in their prime, but very few American actors over the past 35 years have flickered and smoldered with such craft and resilience. Neither blandly likable nor operatically emotional, this actor has a sly kind of charisma and a casual intelligence. You suspect that he may be smarter than some of the characters he plays — the lounge musician in “The Fabulous Baker Boys,” the deadbeat bowler in “The Big Lebowski,” the egotistical author in “The Door in the Floor,” to take just a few examples — but also that he knows every corner and shadow of each one’s mind.
Well said. This one looks worth checking out.
whoa. I had no idea. Can't wait!
Saw an early screening. Bridges is amazing. Should win best actor Oscar.
Bout time.
This is the only movie this Oscar season I'm legit excited for. Up In The Air and Nine are just not doing it for me this year.
[2] Glad to hear it. From everything I read, I pushed it to no. 1 on my go-see movie list. In other words, tomorrow evening.
Can't wait!
[4] I heard that Up In The Air was decent. Anyway, I could look at Clooney for two hours on screen without suffering too much.
Yeah, Clooney is easy on the eyes when he's in charm mode.
I'm a big Clooney fan, but I dunno I just don't feel the need to run out and see it. There are movies I wanna see (Sherlock Holmes, Precious) but nothing I'm absolutely dying for.
I feel like we had a great run the past 2 years with stuff like No Country, There Will Be Blood, The Wrestler, Milk, Slumdog (before the backlash) and it's just kinda a lull right now.
[7] I love Sherlock Holmes...and Robert Downey Jr. is no Sherlock Holmes. Judging only by the promos, the movie looks nothing like the Conan Doyle stories.
[4] Check out The Road...
Man, talk about a movie I don't have the stomach for, and The Road is it. I'm sure it is well done but it just looks too depressing to me.
[10] I read the book, which I thought was very well written, visceral, scary.
The movie lives up to it, which is usually not the case.
There is some optimism in the movie, and it can be seen as a metaphor for growing up, but on the whole it may be too black for some people. Not me though.
Viggo Mortensen is practically in every frame of the film and his performance is amazing. I would like to see him win something for it.
[10] Guess you're not an Ingmar Bergman fan then, AB?
I like Jeff Bridges, will try and catch that one down the line...total film snob though, the Oscars are a pathetic display of auto-eroticism, no relation at all to the wonderful world of cinema!
Agreed on the Oscars, but I love the hoaryness of it. Bergman, not so much though I enjoyed Smiles of a Summer Night and Wild Strawberries.