Crazy Heart

"Crazy Heart"
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gylenhaal, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall
Grade: B

61 year old Jeff Bridges is on his way to Oscar gold after his honest portrayal of country legend Bad Blake. The film directed by first time film-maker Scott Cooper is a nostalgic and familiar path traveled by recent films such as 2008's The Wrestler, and just about every other film that tells the tales of a broken down legend on the last leg of their career journey.

It's Bridges whom gives the story juice, as it's no secret that the script alone wouldn't suffice. This is no knock on Cooper who also wrote the film, Crazy Heart has a recognizable tone and mood all of its own. Bridges has had a long, successful career, many may even say that he's gone unnoticed by his peers. Well, not this time around, Bridges delivers what may go down as his best performance, a true through and through ballad of a faded chain-smokin, boozin country legend. It's a shame that it took someone this long to write a layered character for Bridges to plays. He possesses the weathered posture, and broken down, but never too late mindset that makes Bad such a likable guy.

Bad Blake is broke, and has played in to many bars with to many pick up bands over the years. He's been married four times, and has his own close relationship with the bottle. As he travels he's surely recognized, he usually beds the token  female fan who can't help but request a certain song for Bad to play. He's broke, alone, but mostly gets by on his routine gigs in bars and even bowling alleys.

Bad is pressed by his agent to open for his long time protege, turned country god Tommy Sweet, played by Colin Farrell in an effective role. Bad and Tommy apparently have had a rocky history, but are willing to let the past fade since each can make money for another by Bad writing Tommy some songs to record. A female reporter also enters Bad's life. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Jean, a good hearted Santa Fe mother looking to write a nice story, maybe even shed some light on Bad's faded career and current state. Jean is 20 years younger, but is easily charmed, the two start seeing one another. Bad is playful and humorous enough of a guy to enjoy the company of Jean's young son Buddy, this too must also attract her to him.

Crazy Heart focuses on the most important thing it can, which is Bridges performance. As the film progresses, it's not hard for one to guess what may come next. It's all routine, just like Bad's sad life. He has a son, but hasn't seen him since the boy was four. The great Robert Duvall even shows up halfway through the film as Blake's dad, a bar owner who treasures and understands his son.The two share some good moments in the film, which at times gives us a break from Gyllenhaal's character.

The film was shot in 24 days, it has the appropriate feel and pace that you'd expect . It doesn't linger too long on themes of regret, sentiment, and past mistakes, but the script is certainly dipped into each one of those ideas. Crazy Heart glides along on a wave of admiration and comfortable presence , it's such a joy to observe the in the moment honesty of Bridges' performance. Farrell, Gyllenhaal and Duvall all turn in nice work that rounds out the picture . It's a nice little film that doesn't overstay its welcome, it sails off just as its lead character heads toward another journey.

Cries and Whispers

"Cries and Whispers"
Starring: Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin, Liv Ullmann
Grade: B+

Cries and Whispers is a haunting yet life-affirming entry by Bergman. It tells the story of 3 sisters, one of whom is very ill and is near death. As the picture starts, we aren't sure of their personal proximity and closeness, only that Agnes lay in almost unbearable pain.

The film focuses on the oppressed anxieties, feelings, and regrets of the sisters and their made Anna. Bergman weaves us through past vignettes of each sister as we get some view of their past and how it has shaped them up until the present moment. The present moment is certainly bleak, Agnes shrieks in pain, a doctor visits and informs the sisters she doesn't have much time left.

The beauty of this work by Bergman is how he juggles the themes effortlessly. Cries and Whispers isn't a pleasant watch in the least bit, but every passing minute is treated with grace and intimacy by Bergman. His color palette is ever present, especially the color red which entrenches the fade outs and color scheme of the sisters estate.

Bergman's ability to analyze and bring to the surface the past episodes of these women is what makes the film extra rich. The acting is all extraordinary, each women has her own identifiable way of hiding and revealing themselves, this is what makes Cries and Whispers devastatingly real and palpable.

Shutter Island

"Shutter Island"
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Max von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley, Elias Costas
Grade: B-

The premise of Shutter Island is simple; a violent female inmate has escaped a prestigious prison located on an inescapable island. The film takes place in 1954, as the film begins, two U.S. Marshalls are on their way to the island to investigate the disappearance. DiCaprio and Ruffalo play the marshalls. They're welcomed to the island but something is definitely wrong. They do their standard questioning and hunt for clues, but even the staff is acting odd, and patients are imploring for Dicaprio's character Teddy to leave.

The novel Shutter Island was written by Dennis Lehane, and now adapted into a film by legendary American filmmaker Martin Scorsese. This is Scorsese's first full length film since The Departed in 2006. The film plods along at its own deliberate pace; it's filled to the brim with exposition and plot twists that try to muddle and distort the big twist from the viewer for as long as possible.

We soon learn that Teddy has his own motives for being on the island, and that there may or not be secret psychological testing going on, under which everyone on the island knows about. Teddy isn't a stable man; Dicaprio plays him with the right amount of jittery brilliance. We see flashbacks of his violent tour in WWII, and of his dead wife played by Michelle Williams. Dicaprio has starred in three Scorsese films before this one. They're trust for each other has to be potent since Dicaprio is the vessel for Teddy's off-balance, guilt-laden protagonist, he does just enough in this role, and is usually good at playing these types of guys.

Shutter Island is successful in all of its atmospheric aspirations, there's a gothic tone and a feeling of muted dread running through the film. Teddy's flashbacks are filled with haunting yet beautiful imagery. The film was shot by Robert Richardson, who also shot 2009’s Inglorious Basterds. The problem that the film has is infusing the balance between good filmmaking and a plot worth caring about. Teddy is the closest character to sympathize with, but even he leaves us cold throughout the picture.

The rest of the cast is quite good; Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow play seedy higher ups that don't make things easy for Teddy and his partner. Jackie Early Haley, who also played Rorschach in Watchmen plays an eerie inmate who Teddy seems to know. There is no problem with the acting in this film; all of the players are doing a good job of portraying their characters to the fullest. Kingsley is particularly strong as Dr.Cawley, whom we aren't sure of until the last act. Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson pop up as two versions of the same character. They each have their one scene, and do quite well in their allotted screen time.

Shutter Island does its best to keep the audience on a different playing level. It tries to stay one step ahead of its viewers, but the so called "twist" is easily identifiable. It's a well intentioned noir thriller, with a handful of strong scenes, but in the hands of Scorsese the film should have amounted to more. Even the audience that I watched the film with grew restless as the film wore on, as I mentioned earlier, it's a long slog where the journey is supposedly greater than the end place, by the end, I'd stopped caring.

Hunger

"Hunger"
Starring: Michael Fassbender
Rating: A-

One can literally breathe in the stench of fecal matter and human decay present in Steve McQueen's Hunger. The film chronicles the final days of the true life hunger strikes circa 1981 Northern Ireland. Most notably, the film follows one man's internal struggle and hope for future generations through the act. Michael Fassbender plays Bobby Sands, the leader of the strike who eventually died after 66 days of starvation.

The stunning revelation of this project is that it's McQueen's directorial debut. He brings his eye as an artist and fills each frame with cinematic brilliance. Hunger literally brings the viewer into the prison and has them observe the day to day happenings, none are pleasant. It's technically flawless, but contains no such conventional narrative, we don't even meet Sands until a third or more into the picture. It's a short film, just over 90 minutes, but McQueen's vision couldn't have been delivered more strikingly.

As the film opens, we meet a middle aged Maze prison guard, we watch him view his entire being in the mirror before eating breakfast, something is urking at him. Just before he leaves for work, he checks beneath his car for explosives. This first act of following this man and getting to know his world suggests that the film won't be an easy watch. The 2nd act consists of a new prisoner at Maze, his cell has walls covered in the feces of his cellmate, who resembles Charles Manson in stature. We watch these two men's day-day activities. They know how to communicate via small parcels of paper to the outside world, and when one is suspected of something, he is beaten by a dozen or so officers. The third act is about Sands' martyrdom, and that brutal decay of his body that follows.

My admiration for Hunger extends past the idea that film has its own originality and identity that surpasses other "prison" films. I'm not even sure that you would classify this as the latter term; it exists as an in the moment piece of beauty. The images and movements of the picture are based upon minimal dialogue, and long takes, one includes a 20 minute conversation between Sands and a priest. This conversation sets in place the motives of Sands' plan.

The film presents political ideas, but it's not the direction that McQueen chooses to center on. The political messages and beliefs of the strikers are the basis for the film, but the real art is how McQueen presents this material. There is little dialogue, especially in the beginning and end segments, this matters very little considering how entranced we are with the photography and the silent performances.

Top 10 films of 2009

1. A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
2. Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze)
3. Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
4. Up (Pete Doctor)
5. District 9 (Neill Blomkamp)
6. Adventureland (Greg Motolla)
7. The Hurt Locker (Katherine Bigelow)
8. Moon (Duncan Jones)
9. Bright Star (Jane Campion)
10. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Werner Herzog)

Almost made it:

11. Sugar (Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden)
12. Antichrist (Lars von Trier)
13. Star Trek (J.J. Abrams)
14. Drag Me to Hell (Sam Raimi)
15. Watchmen (Zack Snyder)

Good:

16. Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)
17. Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold)
18. Avatar (James Cameron)
19. (500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb)
20. The Informant! (Stephen Soderbergh)

Best of the Rest:

Invictus
The Girlfriend Experience
Fantastic Mr.Fox
Zombieland
Goodbye Solo
Funny People
Public Enemies
I Love You, Man
The White Ribbon
World's Greatest Dad
The Box
Bruno
Big Fan

Didn't care for:

Paranormal Activity
The Imaginarium of Dr.Parnassus
In the Loop
Brothers
Away We Go
The Men Who Stare at Goats
The Hangover
Terminator: Salvation
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Didn't see:

Bronson
The Cove
The Road
A Single Man
An Education
Summer Hours
A Prophet
Precious
Crazy Heart