CRAZY HEART: CRAZY FOR JEFF BRIDGES

There's a reason Jeff Bridges won Oscar's best actor in this film. A true, yet washed up musician, banished to playing bowling alleys, Bad Blake (Bridges) is rolling along with wherever the wind, or a paying gig, takes him with the best of his career seemingly behind him. A lifetime tailor made for writing country music, he has resigned himself to life with the bottle and who ever is willing to follow him to bed at night. Then he meets Jean (a luminous Maggie Gyllenhaal) a reporter for the local paper who can't conceal a crush, but can smell out a doomed relationship miles away. After dancing around a bit, they hook up together, an unlikely pair and Bad earnestly tries to make something work out where it hasn't before. His smooth talking and southern drawl charms his way into her heart, but his hard drinking gets in the way and causes many serious problems. Bridges is so good at being Bad that you can smell him; the cheap cigarettes and booze and sweat. He's very much human and greatly flawed. There is no CGI that can help the scene of him running to throw up while wearing his baggy white briefs. His belly is a gut and it just isn't pretty. He knows defeat and even when close to giving up still comes up for air. His scenes with Jean's son are lovely and sad all at the same time. I'm not a big country fan, but the music in the score by T-Bone Burnett and the duets sung with Colin Farrell are touching. Both Bridges and Farrell sung on their own. There's a pull of old country versus new country and I think Farrell did a good job portraying his new country character. It's hard to believe this was filmed in only 24 days. I really liked this movie what with such a stellar cast and exceptional lead. Bridges certainly earned the Oscar on this one.

BOY A

BOY A... IS MORE LIKE 'BOY A+'

The main character in this story, Jack Burridge, (a brilliant Andrew Garfield) unfolds much like a blooming flower. Upon first glance, we know little of this vacant, awkward fellow. He works with his "mentor", Terry, (Peter Mullan) but we aren't sure of what's going on. Once he has begun this "new life" we begin to see the flashbacks. He has just finished serving a term for a crime he committed as a boy. Interwoven in the film is another plot as seen in flashback. We meet the young boy and see how events went so wrong to incur the wrath of the community. This is a genuine film that, if you make it through the heavy accents, shows the path the boy took and the one he attempts once out of jail. Garfield portrays a very mixed up young man and although this was his movie all the way, Mullan gives his heart and serves it up on a silver platter for us. We ache with him as well as celebrating this masterpiece of a functional contributing member to society. You can't take your eyes off the screen for a minute.

PICK: Fine film with heart, depth and sorrow. So worthy of watching!

BELLA

BELLA IS BEAUTIFUL
"One Person Can Change Your Life Forever..."
This is one of those movies, like Magnolia where even though we can't connect the dots right away, by the end of the movie we see the picture of the whole puzzle and stand back shaking our heads and say, oh yeah, I get it. This is definitely a character driven story. No explosions, so gunfire, but compelling characters in a story where the end isn't what you think. It is a story about pain, redemption, grief, trauma, suffering but for some reason is life affirming and more warm than cold. Similar in The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom, your actions each day, no matter how big or small can possible alter the life course of another person as they can do the same for you. No major actors (major Latino actors) but each actor is strong and compliments the other. It is a beautiful story, even though there is not much plot in the movie, there still is a big picture.
PICK: A simple story told by not so simple characters, poignant and touching