Crazy Heart

Kudos to Jeff Bridges for so randomly portraying an old addict has-been, a-la-Wrestler. Crazy Heart is definitely this year's Wrestler (As in Mickey Rourke's last year's movie -Watch it).

If 60's is the new 40's, then I guess a mid-life crisis, accordingly, comes a few years later than at "actual mid-life". If you've been up and down the musical scale of life and suddenly you hit a note way below the F clef note, "no matter how far you've walked in the wrong direction, you have to go back" as the old Turkish proverb says... and so it is that Bridges's character, BAD Blake, hits a wall where redemption or tragedy, or both, might fall his way.

Supposedly based on Country Music artist Merle Haggard, but not openly disclosed due to legal battles amongst a few of his ex-wives for rights to his story, Crazy Heart portrays a poignant battle between addiction, love and overall sense of accomplishment, for a knocked down- but not out- has been.

Through the eyes of Bad Blake you'll experience the ups and downs... though mostly downs, of a hard hit life that goes in and out of relationships without any discernible quest for stability, until he finds comfort and peace in the arms of a lovely reporter (Maggie Gyllenhaal)... will he be able to hold on. Definitely Rent or Buy this movie, it's strong performances will likely convert this one into a classic.

The Last Station

I haven't read Tolstoy. I admit to it. Either it wasn't a requisite at my school, or I just skipped it. Later in life I've been too caught up in pop culture to take any interest in War and Peace and really, I don't care much about Cliff Notes. To come clean, I also admit I don't watch American Idol or play video games, but I guess that just leaves me as a half-assed snob, because I'm not well read but I despise anything overly pop... So having come clean I must recommend The Last Station.

I found this movie a little better than I expected. I wasn't really expecting much either as I wasn't quite sure what it was about. I don't know wether I missed it in the trailer for lack of attention or due to ignorance on the subject but I didn't even know this movie was about Tolstoi. For that I'm glad, because having not read him I would have felt a little illiterate on the subject and maybe would have felt not informed enough to understand it. Without this piece of information, I headed to the theater to watch the acclaimed performance by Helen Mirren and I'm glad I did because I enjoyed it.

This movie is not so much about Tolstoy but about his wife's (Countess Sophya) battle for his love and for the rights to his legacy, facing an old Tolstoy with fixed ideas and confronting the advocates that surround him and try to keep him on a pedestal. This movie is truly about the sacredness of marriage and the sometimes beautiful sometimes ugly face we'll see from sharing a long life together. The movie strikes a balance with a parallel story that contrasts new love vs. old love, spontaneity vs. rigidity... this is a true love story, with all of its faces.

You don't need to know much, or anything, about Tolstoy to get this movie. It is a period piece but it tells a universal story that transcends time or place. It speaks a clear language of love, jealousy and sense of belonging. It shows both ends of the spectrum and the real beauty that lies in-between. The good are not all good and the bad are not all bad, nice! Rent it!

Precious

Rejoice... Our average existence is not half bad... but also, take a little time to look into the lives of those less fortunate. Take Precious, a sixteen year old girl, pregnant for the second time, which, you might figure, suffers from a lot of domestic abuse.

This movie is a downer, but at the same time it has a glimmer of hope. Acting is powerful, the story is simple and there aren't any more complications than needed (Precious's life is complicated enough as it is). If you thought Slumdog Millionaire was eye-opening and touching, Precious is a true picture of despair and dysfunction without the Deus-ex-machina happy-making machine. This Movie doesn't go lightly soooo.. no popcorn for this one, instead you might want to grab a box of facial tissues (aka Kleenex but I'm not being sponsored here). I think this is one of the best movies of the year, hell, it could even be the best one if it wasn't for it's somber low-down tone, which is never too popular at the box-office.

Drag your feet to rent it, because this is not the easy-going fare you might like to enjoy on a Sunday afternoon, after you're done, if you manage to stay awake, you might thank me for it... This of course, i'm rating with a Buy it. (Remember Steal it..Buy it... Rent it... Watch it)

The Hurt Locker

Grab your popcorn and hold on to your seats cause you're in for an exciting ride. Decision making at its maximum... if you ever come to a crossroads and don't know where to go, imagine having to choose between the red and the yellow wire. This is a story about a seemingly care-free E.O.D operative in Iraq (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), i.e. the guy that disarms bombs. If you think some times that your job is tough, this guy makes it look like a walk in the park.

Considering The Hurt Locker is a war movie, it has a good balance of suspense and action. It is NOT an action movie so it is not overly shaky and violent. It is more of a view of "your average" tension creating war situation. On the other hand, this movie does not try to address the dysfunction of those taking part in the actual battle so it is not a movie that dwells in the introspective look at the “demons” of war. It does not satanize war and it does not deconstruct its perpetrators. It is actually a relief to think that some of these adrenaline junkies are not out to get you, but to protect you...I think overall The Hurt Locker is a story well told.

Kathryn Bigelow took a cue from some award winning movie makers and struck a balance of imagery that will shock you without disgust and will paint a good portrait of character development. For now, I need not say more... for I don’t want you to expect way too much, but I can say this, come March 7, The Hurt Locker could very well top my list! Three Thumbs Up. (Buy it).

If you don’t usually like war movies for their action packed scenes and winners take all attitude, I’d like to take this opportunity to mention some notable ones you could enjoy,

Jarhead, a look inside the mind of the soldier, introspective... Rent it.

In the Valley of Elah, Tommy Lee Jones comes back as your usual crisis solver, trying to disentangle the doings of war affected kids. Well written and directed by Paul Haggis (Crash). (Watch out, this one is dramatic)

The Lucky Ones, with Tim Robbins. Life is not all bad after coming back from war, not if you can make some sense of it.

Avatar

Way in the future... maybe like 70 years from now, after proposition 8 was finally revoked, and thanks to some genetic engineering, the blue man group has finally been able to marry amongst themselves and reproduce like rabbits. After touring the world for a few years, the planet finally runs out of oil, and due to lots of lobbying and red tape, their vehicles which still ran on diesel, aren't able to take them out of the rain forest and so they are stranded there for life, which at first is kind of a bummer, until they figure out their life is no different than that of Ewoks from the Star War series and so they embrace the lifestyle with a tree-hugging spirit....

Meanwhile, back in good old USA, satellites are tracking images throughout the globe in search of illicit drug plantations and/or some sort of material that will make the Holy Grail seem like some silly religious legend from the Middle Ages. And so it is that they find the properly named "Unobtanium" in, where of all places?, deep inside the Rainforest, which is now believed to be thousands of light years away (which is about right now that all the engines have run out of diesel), and is also properly named "Pandora".

And so the same old story of cowboys vs. Indians, civilization vs. local organic farmers, big government vs. running around naked anarchists, etc. etc., begins:

If you haven't watched Avatar, do not take my synopsis literally; only later on... (maybe 15 minutes into the movie), you'll find the similarities. The story works well, it's another one of those David vs. Goliath formulaic Epics, it's worked for David, why not now. On the other hand it has your typical underlying love story, and we know we're all suckers for a good love story so let's face it, James Cameron is a genius when it comes to film-making, he knows what works and he uses every resource available to put it in there.

The story touches on subjects that are politically correct without going into any really controversial issues. It promotes the protection of some sort of rain forest or natural reserve, it encourages equal employment opportunities for the handicapped and it faces the truth about current or previous wars being imposed on cultures that are "not up to standard" with ours or countries that happen to have some resources able to fuel the current pace of progress and growth.

As a technological breakthrough, it is well worth watching in 3-D. The visual experience is OUTSTANDING, and, when you come to think of it, movies are about visual experiences. I think I enjoyed watching Avatar even more than going to the zoo. I would say this movie is the equivalent to this decade's Star Wars or Matrix, (I've thought of this and heard it from other people too). Don't expect too much out of it in any other sense than the visual one, (like say, acting, story-telling, etc.), nonetheless I encourage everyone to scrape some $14 dollars from under the sofa and go Watch it at the theater, cause if you don't experience this one to it's full extent, then it kind of misses the point!