Last night my wife and I went to see Crazy Heart. It was a great movie.
Here is the synopsis:
Four-time Academy Award nominee JEFF BRIDGES stars as the richly comic, semi-tragic romantic anti-hero Bad Blake in the debut feature film CRAZY HEART from writer-director Scott Cooper. Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who's had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (Golden Globe® nominee MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician. As he struggles down the road of redemption, Bad learns the hard way just how tough life can be on one man’s crazy heart.
Here are the things I liked about it:
1. It was the anti-Transformers. Low budget, great story, great realism, great acting, great script, no CGI, and completely engaging. It was what John Coltrane is to Britney Spears. Real artistry on display as opposed to a dog and pony show without any substance.
2. Jeff Bridges' performance was the best performance I have seen on the big screen since Heath Ledger as The Joker. From the second he utters his first line I was totally sold on him BEING the character. He completely consumed the part and it was totally worth my $10.50 to see such a strong performance. He better get nominated for an Oscar or something is seriously wrong in the universe.
3. The music was great. I am no country music fan, but as with all good movie music, this music set the tone for the whole film and created a cinematic atmosphere that was completely enthralling. You were transported to their world partly due to the mental associations that most of us have that were conjured up through the music.
4. Amazing cinematography. I think much of the film was shot in my home state of New Mexico. (One scene for sure was shot at the local aquarium that we have been to many times). This is such a beautiful state. I am going to miss it when we move to Madison, WI.
5. **Don't read this if you don't want a spoiler.** I loved the fact that there was not the sickeningly "happy ending" where the guy gets the girl and they live happily ever after. Sin has real consequences in the real world and I appreciated the fact that this was not glossed over or minimized in any way.
If you think Transformers was a great movie, don't see this one, but if you like real art, go see this movie. It won't leave you sorry.
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12 comments:
Z,
Thanks for the review. My wife and I want to see this movie but, as always, we try to avoid movies with sexual content.
From what I've heard, Crazy Heart has a bit of that and I wondered what your take on that would be. Is there questionable sexual content? Or is it not significant?
Good points! Such realism in the characters, in the plot, and in the consequences for their actions. LOVED the music for this movie too!
Thomas,
Great question. This is certainly an issue where Christians will disagree. There was some sexual content. If I were you, I would probably not see it if you think it might lead you into sin. Thanks for asking.
z
Thanks Zach. It's always hard for my wife and I to decide even when using a website like "Plugged In" to see what content is in each film.
I've noticed that sometimes "Plugged In" calls attention to things that I would never even notice anyways and so that's why I try to ask a Christian friend. Thanks for your input.
This finally started showing in my area. I can't wait to check it out.
Jeff Bridges is not only nominated, but he is favored to win the Oscar this year.
Please know that anonymous comments like the ones posted here will not be posted. Leave a name or no comment. Anonymity screams cowardice and immaturity.
Z, i think YOU"RE an immature coward.
nate,
i mean anonymous.
Since you chose not to post my comment but instead responded with name calling and judgment ('screams cowardice and immaturity'), I'll reply that I tend to do as much as possible on the internet as "anonymous" to minimize my exposure to possible identity theft, misrepresentation, etc. Perhaps I'm overly cautious and even misguided, but there was no fear or immatureity motivating my post. So perhaps there are one or more reasons for people to want to be anonymous other than the epithets ascribed to me and others based on the narrow view and negative bias implicit in your response (and that to me seems factual based on your post, not name calling).
Futher, your blog is different than others - it provided 'anonymous' as an option for posting - so I thought that you welcomed comments, even if they were anonymous. If you don't want those types of comments, perhaps you should let your readers know that clearly (and not just those who read and post regularly). Even if you hadn't, it seems that a much more helpful exhortation would have been to thank people for taking the time to write comments and to ask them to repost since you don't show anonymous comments.
For me and others whose comments were deleted (apparently for the same reason), it would be nice to see you acknowledge an alternative point of view and apologize for your prejudgment. Responses like that cause me question the validity and sincerity of the things you post and will cause me, in the future, to read your blog with a heightened sense of discerment and caution. It completely negates the postives that I hope and thought you were trying to achieve. Of course, that concern was also the point of my original post, which questioned how one could recommend any film with such foul language in the light of Philippians 3.
Sincerely, no longer anonymous.
Pap Pap,
Thanks for identifying yourself!
I grow very weary of 95% of all snarky blog comments coming from the cover of anonymity. I have been blogging and reading blogs for a long time now and if you are like me I think you would agree.
It's like when we get an anonymous letter to leadership at church it immediately goes in the trash. In most cases it is simply unloving and unhelpful to be anonymous.
You are right, maybe I should figure out a way to not enable anonymous comments. I'll look into that.
I appreciate you reading, commenting, and thinking through my posts. Let me know if you have any more feedback. Please feel free to email me.
zachnielsen7ATgmailDOTcom
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