Crazy Heart

Feb 2010, Scott Cooper, 112 mins

I’m a sucker for the kind of story Crazy Heart puts on the screen. Maybe it’s from my days working with a group of burnt out, chain smoking, fifty-something-year-old drunk landscapers. Whatever is, I feel drawn to this sad world of self deprecation. The story behind why people allow themselves to fall so far past the realm "normal" is extremely interesting to me. Perhaps it’s why I like shows like Intervention; to see a pathetic life, a wasted life, a train wreck of existence... I can’t turn away. Though it may be because it’s not my life.

That being said, Jeff Bridges arguably gives his best performance ever. Every inch of his Bad Blake character seems real. I’ve seen a man with nothing but a bottle, his pain suppressed only until the buzz is gone. And his performance is the real thing.

I don’t like country music, not because of the story the songs tell, but just because it’s slow and the fact I never really heard it as a kid. However, I like the music that is Crazy Heart. It works.

The filmmakers and song writers did a great job making Bad Blake seem like a country performer. A fatal flaw was avoided when they made the music good enough that even a kid from the Northeast, who’d rather listen to The Doors than Hank Williams, actually enjoyed the country twang.

Bad is so bad to himself that even after a car wreck leaves him with a broken ankle and a concussion, the doctor tells him; “I’m not worried about the ankle, I’m worried about your general condition.” Put yourself in Bad’s shoes, you’re 57 years old, four broken marriages, a kid somewhere who won’t talk to you, a dying career... why wouldn’t bury yourself in a bottle of whisky and chain smoke cigs from your soft pack? Because killing yourself with regret is still killing yourself. A slow suicide is still suicide. It’s a dark way to live but this kind of role brings out the best in many actors.

Crazy Heart to me was more of a character study than anything. I would love to be able to create a character as Thomas Cobb (the novel) did.

Bridges will most likely win the Oscar. He’s due. His performance, much like Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler last year, steals the show from any other aspect of the film. Maggie Gyllenhaal is up for Best Supporting Actress, she won’t win. I feel the nomination is more of a tribute to how good Bridges was. He made every character in the film believable because you knew he was. Even Colin Farrell as a country singer stud, Tommy Sweet.

Hats off and cup up Mr. Bridges. Wonderful film.

Two New Winter Thrillers Help 2010 Paint the Snow Red

Jan 2010, Martin Campbell, 117 mins

First is the quote, unquote return of Mel Gibson in Edge Of Darkness. Crazy, drunk, and racist are terms all too easily linked to Mr. Gibson over the past decade. With Edge of Darkness, some of the old school actor in him bleeds out to the point you’re actually able to forget the recent nonsense.

Gibson plays Thomas Craven, a Boston detective, gone rogue in the search for his daughter’s murderers. The action starts hot and heavy with a great splatter death that gives the restaurant scene in History of Violence a run for its money on the gore-o-meter.

As Craven picks apart the life of his daughter, he begins to unravel what may have been more than just a random act of violence. What seemed like a normal parental revenge flick, ala Death Wish and Death Sentence, shows slight signs of turning into a political minded thriller.

The film was a good choice for Mel as it gets back to his successful revenge-themed movies of the ‘80s and ‘90s. His dark, one minded character is heavy on the rugged intensity, light on emotion, and driven to madness. This madness makes for some of the film’s best scenes, as he stumbles, weathered and beaten through gun battle after gun battle. There is a craziness in his eyes that connects to the audience and allows the viewer into his mind process.

Darkness is aptly directed by Martin Campbell, who shows a knack at illuminating his protagonist’s inner battles in most of his films. Campbell is the same director who made James Bond a sadist, revenge driven man in Casino Royale. Here, there are similarities in the glare and the mood between Daniel Craig’s Bond, and Mel Gibson’s Craven.

Feb 2010, Joe Johnston, 102 mins

Also drenching the mid February snow with carnage is the re-imaging of the horror classic, The Wolfman. The film, a moody period piece, looks beautiful on screen. Director Joe Johnston (October Sky, Jurassic Park III) knows how sculpt an amazing imaginary world of Werewolves and curses. However, the films main curse is the screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self. With every nerve awakening jolt, comes a soggy back and forth between the characters. The second curse was the casting of Benicio Del Toro as the title character. You sit, watching this fine actor, in bewilderment at how bad he is for this part. Again, he doesn’t have the opportunity for many good lines because of the poor script but it’s a far cry from his performances in Traffic or Usual Suspects.

Anthony Hopkins is devilishly good in supporting role and Emily Blunt proves again she can be relevant in any role given to her. But it’s hard to get away from the dialogue that seemed written for a modern day scare-fest and not rooted in the 1891 setting.

On the upside, there are chilling moments and it is fun to watch the transformation of human to Lycan but all of this was shown in the full length trailer of the film.

The Wolfman ends in less than stunning fashion with a face off of fur that seemed more like a cat fight than a junkyard dog brawl.