Crazy Heart

Here's the thing-I walked out of Crazy Heart not liking it. I walked into Crazy Heart not expecting to like it. And yet, it's stuck with me all week. I first compared it to The Wrestler, another movie I walked into not expecting to like and walked out still not liking it, although I did think everyone in it was very good, but I now I think a comparison the Monster is more accurate. I did like Monster-I found it very difficult to watch-and yet, something about it stuck with me for weeks afterwards. I found Crazy Heart VERY difficult to watch. Was it the constant smoking, so much so I felt I was going to have an asthma attack while watching it? The endless drinking, so much so that it was enough to make me think about swearing off alcohol? I don't even drink that much and it made want to stop. Maybe it was the greasy hair or the puking? One of these things did it-trust me, Jeff Bridges does NOT look the way he does in the poster for this movie-throughout most of it, he's a mess. And he inhabits this character so much, that it's really hard to look at him. And when Maggie Gyllenhaal's cub reporter falls for the extremely raffish charm of this aging singer, you just want to yell at her "Don't do it!". I'm not fond of movies where the terrible guy is redeemed by the love of a good woman (unlikely) but this one did not have a pat happy ending, which made me feel a little better.

As to the performances...what can you say about Jeff Bridges? Every performance is so good that you don't really pay attention-until you think about it later. He makes it look so easy and it's not you realize that he's played a serial killer, an alien, a president, a creepy writer and a country singer and made each part his own, that you realize his depth and range. As A.O. Scott said in his review played by Jeff Bridges...should be sufficient recommendation. I have to admit that my favorite role of his is the voice work for Surf's Up! No joy, man, no joy. Fail.

I also saw Sherlock Holmes. A perfectly fine movie, if you have never read a Holmes story. As I started reading Holmes at ten or so (and had to pay {or Mom did} a $30 fine for keeping The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes out of the library for a VERY long time-I think my parent bought me a copy not long after that), anyway, it was not very Holmesian. It was very entertaining (not very Victorian either) but performances by both Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law kept things moving. Just don't go into it wanting it to be traditional, because it's not. And if you get the chance, watch Robert Downey Jr accepting the Golden Globe for this performance-it's touching and hilarious.

In the Loop is a political satire, whose plot is lightly convoluted but whose writing is o flat out funny that it makes up for having to re-watch parts of it because you can't believe (mainly Peter Capaldi) said that. Yes, we all know Capaldi from Local Hero-he is just about as opposite as can be in this movie and he is awesome. The scene with he and some tourists near the White House has to heard to be believed.

I'm going to see Up In the Air tomorrow. We'll see what happens.