Crazy Heart

"Crazy Heart" was written and directed by Scott Cooper. It stars Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall, and Colin Farrell. The movie is based off the novel by Thomas Cobb.

Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) used to be a hugely successful country singer. Decades later he's estranged from his son, four times divorced, struggling with alcoholism and trying to make a comeback in his career since playing at bowling alleys isn't the first place he'd like to do a show. Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist about 30 years his junior, comes into his life. At first it's on a business basis as she is interviewing him, then it turns into a romantic relationship. So yeah, the whole movie is him trying to improve his life and his relationships. Robert Duvall plays Bad Blake's friend, Wayne Kramer, and Colin Farrell plays Tommy Sweet, a young country singer that Bad Blake worked with years before.

The main reason this was such a great movie is Jeff Bridges. He has been nominated four times for an Academy Award and has lost each time. If the Academy has any idea whatsoever what they are doing then this will be the year Jeff Bridges finally gets his Oscar. He is fantastic in this movie. Every single scene he is in, whether he's alone or interacting with another character is believable. He becomes Bad Blake; it's hard to imagine another actor in the role. Every drink he takes and every word he sings is just so real. There's a sympathy for a character who has seen better days, or years even. There's a sincerity to the character, that he actually wants to change his life. And he's not a bad country singer either...of course I have little or nothing to compare him to. It's great seeing him in this movie after seeing him play The Dude in "The Big Lebowski"...such drastically different roles in case you didn't realize it. He works great with the other cast members as well, mainly Maggie Gyllenhaal. I normally do not like her. I felt she was the weak link in the otherwise fantastic cast of "The Dark Knight." She is not bad at all in "Crazy Heart." Despite the pretty big age difference she has something resembling chemistry with Jeff Bridges. She also got an Oscar nomination this year.

The movie looks very nice. Visually it's nothing spectacular or unusual. You have your beautiful landscape shots and your close ups and such. It just fits very well for this movie. I am impressed that this is Scott Cooper's first film. What a fantastic start to his career. He also wrote and produced the movie, which usually works out well since he has the majority of the creative control and the assumption is the end result is how he envisioned it.

At times the pace can be a bit slow...But that's not really a legitimate criticism because it's never gets boring.

Jeff Bridges is winning that Oscar. His performance was one of the best of 2009...and there were some unbelievably great performances by various talented actors and actresses. The rest of the cast, the story, the songs - yes, I didn't mention it before but it's all original songs, including the Oscar nominated "The Weary Kind" - all come together to form a great, well made movie...engaging and memorable...one of the best of 2009. 4 out of 4 stars. I highly recommend this, even if it's later on in life and you rent it...of course if you don't like country music that is probably an automatic turn off for you...but come on...Jeff Bridges.

-Joseph Sbrilli

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards

It's that time of year again, where the biz hands out awards to the best movies made. All the nominations are out and JoeandChrisO have made their predictions for the categories you care about!

Best Picture Nominees:

Avatar

The Blind Side

District 9

An Education

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

A Serious Man

Up

Up in the Air

Joe's Prediction: "Precious" - The story is powerful and compelling. The cast is fantastic, especially Gabourney Sibide and M'onique who both gave some of the best performances of 2009. The two actresses definitely earned their Oscar nominations. And the film is just generally well made/directed/etc.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Precious" - As much as I'd love to see "UP" win this, it's not going to. Nothing can beat surviving a harsh background if last year's Oscars serve as any indication with "Slumdog Millionaire."

Side Note: If "Avatar" wins best picture both Joe AND Chris O will personally kill everyone responsible at the Academy.

Best Director Nominees:

James Cameron: Avatar

Kathryn Bigelow: The Hurt Locker

Quentin Tarantino: Inglourious Basterds

Lee Daniels: Precious

Jason Reitman: Up In The Air

Joe's Prediction: Jason Reitman - He is a fantastic young director and his most recent film is great and is much better...in my opinion than "Juno." "Up in the Air" is visually very well made and Jason Reitman used the impressive cast to their fullest potential. He succeeded in making a movie that is much more than a drama and much more than just a comedy.

ChrisO's Prediction: James Cameron - No contest, the man just directed one of the most gorgeous looking movies you'll see in your life. And somehow made it entertaining for 3 hours.

Best Actor Nominees:

Jeff Bridges: Crazy Heart

George Clooney: Up In The Air

Colin Firth: A Single Man

Morgan Freeman: Invictus

Jeremy Renner: The Hurt Locker

Joe's Prediction: Jeff Bridges - I haven't seen "Crazy Heart" yet, but based on the reviews his performance is the main selling point for the movie. He gives a dyamic, memorable performance that has previously been recognized by the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild.

ChrisO's Prediction: Jeff Bridges - As good as George Clooney and Jeremy Renner were, I feel as if this is Jeff Bridges's defining career moment. The buzz coming off of his performance is intense and is definitely going to win him an Oscar.

Best Actress Nominees:

Sandra Bullock: The Blind Side

Helen Mirren: The Last Station

Carey Mulligan: An Education

Gabourey Sidibe: Precious

Meryl Streep: Julie and Julia

Joe's Prediction: Sandra Bullock - Watch "The Proposal," then watch "The Blind Side"...then tell me that the woman doesn't have acting range...it just can't be done. She is fantastic in "The Blind Side" and pretty much carried the entire movie.

ChrisO's Prediction: Sandra Bullock - Gabourey Sidibe may have been good, but this is her first movie; stuff like that generally doesn't happen, and Sandra Bullock's performance outshines everyone else's. This is an almost hands down win for her.

Best Supporting Actor Nominees:

Matt Damon: Invictus

Woody Harrelson: The Messenger

Christopher Plummer: The Last Station

Stanley Tucci: The Lovely Bones

Christoph Waltz: Inglourious Basterds

Joe's Prediction: Christoph Waltz - The latest actor that Quentin Tarantino has worked with toward a Academy Award nomination. His performance in "Inglourious Basterds" was memorable and well-liked by critics. He has already won the award at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards and several other times...so it's pretty much a done deal.

ChrisO's Prediction: Christoph Waltz - As much as "Basterds" annoys me, this movie has some great acting. Christoph Waltz is phenomenally evil, funny, pshychotic and just a joy to watch interact with other characters. Another no contest.

Best Supporting Actress Nominees:

Penelope Cruz: Nine

Vera Farmiga: Up In The Air

Maggie Gyllenhall: Crazy Heart

Anna Kendrick: Up In The Air

Mo'Nique: Precious

Joe's Prediction: M'onique - I'm not familiar with her comedy...but her role in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" is anything but. She succeeded in portraying a character that should be hated with a burning passion and yet in some small way you feel her pain. One of the best performances of the year and very moving.

ChrisO's Prediction: Anna Kendrick - I know Mo'Nique is going to win. I do, but I absolutely loved Anna Kendrick in "Up In The Air," and can't wait to see more of her. She is the newest rising star and it would do you good to go out and see her act past George Clooney.

Best Original Screenplay Nominees:

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

The Messenger

A Serious Man

Up

Joe's Prediction: "A Serious Man" - the Coen Brothers almost always amaze their latest endeavor was no exception. They wrote a brilliant script, practically every line of dialogue was perfect. It was darkly hilarious.

ChrisO's Prediction: "The Hurt Locker" - Yahoo says that "Basterds" is going to win, and if it does I will cut people. Making a revenge story about WW2 is not original. Anyhoo "The Hurt Locker" is getting pushed out in every other category and I'm pretty sure the Academy will award Kathryn Bigelow with something, and this is probably going to be it.

Best Adapted Screenplay Nominees:

District 9

An Education

In The Loop

Precious

Up In The Air

Joe's Prediction: "Up In The Air" - I have never read the book...but if the movie is any indication at all it must be great. It turned out to be a great source material for a movie. The scriptwriters manage to combine a variety of emotions and realistic, dynamic characters into a highly entertaining, exceptionally written script.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Precious" - No contest. Sorry, "Up In The Air," you're getting shut out of everything.

Best Animated Feature Nominees:

Coraline

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Princess and The Frog

The Secret of Kells

Up

Joe's Prediction: "Up" - Pixar...that should be enough said right there. They manage to crank out movies where the demographic is the human race in general...brilliant animation, great script and characters, and enough emotion and laugh to please the average person.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Up" - Look at that list, narrow it down by movies made by Pixar, and what's left? Thats right, "Up." One of the most endearing, funny movies this year, and certainly one of Pixar's best, this doesn't even need to be a category, it should just say owned by Pixar.

Best Art Direction Nominees:

Avatar

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Nine

Sherlock Holmes

The Young Victoria

Joe's Prediction: "Nine" - The movie might have been kind of confusing...but visually the movie was fantastic. It's beautiful to look at and it's a shame that other aspects of the movie didn't measure up to the same quality.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Avatar" - Obviously.

Best Cinematography Nominees:

Avatar

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

The White Ribbon

Joe's Prediction: "Inglourious Basterds" - The movie is exceptionally shot and visually great to look at. Camera angles and everything come together well in what I assume to Quentin Tarantino's vision.

ChrisO's Prediction: "The Hurt Locker" - strictly because I think the Academy will feel bad for shutting out "The Hurt Locker" in every other category.

Best Costume Design Nominees:

Bright Star

Coco Before Chanel

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Nine

The Young Victoria

Joe's Prediction: "The Young Victoria" - The Academy loves to give this award to movies involving England in some way...

ChrisO's Prediction: "Nine" - I haven't seen it but I'm pretty sure its got this one.

Best Film Editing Nominees:

Avatar

District 9

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

Joe's Prediction: "Inglourious Basterds" - The movie was extremely well put together. This allowed various storylines to intertwine into a common piece. I expect nothing less from the man who brought us "Pulp Fiction."

ChrisO's Prediction: "District 9" - because I want to see more movies made like it.

Best Original Score Nominees:

Avatar

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Hurt Locker

Sherlock Holmes

Up

Joe's Prediction: "Up" - It's wonderful...it fits the tone of the movie so well and they have brilliant composers cranking out another memorable score.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Up" - I'd say Avatar, but I don't even remember any music, but I loved the music in "Up!"

Best Makeup Nominees:

IL Divo

Star Trek

The Young Victoria

Joe's Prediction: "Star Trek" - If you need me to explain myself you have issues to work out.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Star Trek" - The aliens were done extremely well and the wounds on Chris Pine's face were equally outstanding.

Best Visual Effects Nominees:

Avatar

District 9

Star Trek

Joe's Prediction: "Avatar" - James Cameron's budget that could buy a small country was good for something.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Avatar" - Did you expect anything else?

Best Sound Editing Nominees:

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Star Trek

Up

Joe's Prediction: "Avatar" - Its huge budget may have gone almost entirely to the visual effects....but let's give credit to the sound...because I will never give anyone credit for that script.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Avatar" - Because Joe seems to know what he's talking about.

Best Sound Mixing Nominees:

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Star Trek

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Up

Joe's Prediction: "Up" - Similar to my first comment about the score. The movie sounds great...although I have a hard time differentiating sound editing and sound mixing.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Up" - Again because Joe seems to know what he's talking about.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Joe's Prediction: "Das Weiss Band" ("The White Ribbon") - I haven't see it, but it has gotten great reviews.

There you have it! Make your own predictions and see if you score better than we do!

Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson is back! Thank the acting gods for a moment please. All right, I may love Mel Gibson a little much but the man has been in some fantastic movies - i.e. "Braveheart," "The Patriot," "We Were Soldiers," cough "What Women Want" cough. Many of us have been waiting since 2002's "Signs" hoping to see Mel get out of the directing chair and flex his acting chops together.

Gibson plays Boston police detective Thomas Craven. Craven is eagerly awaiting the arrival of his daughter, Emma Craven, who has been working for Northmoor, a privately owned company that does research for the US military. It is a typical family reunion in which we learn that Emma is pretty much Craven's entire life. There's no mention of a mother at all. I'm not sure if she died, he adopted Emma or she just kind of showed up on his doorstep as a kid, or whatever. It's Emma's first night back and you already know somethings wrong; she's getting nosebleeds and throwing up and all sorts of gross stuff. Craven rushes to take her to the hospital and as soon as they walk out the door, a masked gunman blasts Emma with a shotgun. She flies back like she was just clotheslined by a low flying 747. The police tell Craven that the gunman was aiming for him, but whose going to fall for that? Pssh not me, and neither is Mel Gibson, especially after watching Emma barf up something awful and take 200 grams of buckshot to the chest.

It may have taken you longer to read that paragraph then watch that scene in the film. Which is great because as much as I love Gibson (a lot), he's not very good at the small talk, and the first 8 minutes of the film is small talk. What Gibson capitalizes on is intense emotion. The man knows how to contort his face into something that just twists your soul as he watches his daughter die. In "Taken" I had to sit through almost 20 minutes of cheesy dialogue before Liam Neeson opened up a giant can of whoopass on European scumbags. "Edge of Darkness" throws you right into the action almost as soon as the opening credits scroll past.

"Edge of Darkness" consistently amazed me with its cinematography. Every action scene is beautifully done, and everything just feels real. Its rated R, but the gore is toned down enough to not make me want to cringe in disgust (I'm looking at you, "Zombieland") but is enough to still convince me that yes, this person was shot and that's probably how they would look if a bullet penetrated their eyeball and exited through their brainstem. My mouth was open enough during this movie in awe of the scenes that I'm pretty sure my moviegoing neighbors thought that might be a permanent condition of mine (it's not).

Well, now that I've written the equivalent of a short story on the movie's good sides, it's time to look at the bad things. The plot of "Edge of Darkness" is incredibly large and can get a little muddled. It is just one of those things that just doesn't feel right within the story. I'll throw out words and let's see if you can connect them: conspiracy, murder, radioactivity, nuclear bomb and, extreme leftist hippie groups. Yeah, I didn't think so.

Much of the plot is lost as well. Some bad company hires this British guy to help clean everything up and whenever he has a conversation with Mel Gibson, almost every word is lost to what I like to call "old man jabber." They just jabber back and forth slurring words - one of those occurrences in nature that catches your attention for a few moments before you realize whatever they're talking about is probably really boring. The sound system in the theatre was perfectly fine, but the way they interacted took away anything that might have explained the plot a little better.

"Edge of Darkness" is a pretty decent flick, entertaining at best and muddled at worst. Definitely go if you love Mel Gibson, and remember: everything is illegal in Massachusetts.

Grade: two and a half stars

-Christopher O'Connell

Body of Lies: A Quick Review

Well I really like Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. They are great actors. "Body of Lies," however, was so unbelievably confusing that i didn't know what was going on most of the time and finally just completely lost interest. The actors are good, but the movie is poorly put together and I feel like Ridley Scott was making stuff up...as filming was taking place...it's strange. I'm pretty sure the plot had something to do with the CIA and terrorists though..beyond that, I'm not completely sure.

-Joseph Sbrilli

The Hangover: A Quick Review

"The Hangover"... You come across these people in life who think this is the greatest movie ever. These people are lying to you on a couple of different levels. The movie made a ton of money last summer and got positive reviews. It is also very over-hyped; which isn't to say it's not a funny movie...it actually is pretty funny. It was way better than the trailer would lead me to believe. I originally wanted to avoid it at all costs because the trailer was terrible. But I went to see it in theaters and saw it again recently on DVD. It kind of grows on you. It is a ridiculously stupid movie and at times more gross than legitimately funny, but there are several funny lines and scenes to be had...such as Mike Tyson's cameo and Ken Jeong. The four main guys also have their moments...mainly Zach Galifianakis. And Jeffrey Tambor is great in his small part at the beginning of the movie. Well I'm assuming the majority of people have already seen it and know what it's about, but here's a summary in a long sentence: Four guys are on their way to Las Vegas for their friend's bachelor party, but once they get there they get drugged and don't remember the night before, and the soon-to-be groom goes missing and they have to try and find him and return Mike Tyson's tiger before the wedding starts. It's worth seeing a couple times, but it's not as great as people claim. It's pretty funny, but I would be embarrassed to own it and I personally thought "Zombieland" was funnier. Bill Murray's cameo...enough said.

-Joseph Sbrilli

District 9: A Quick Review

"District 9" came out last summer. I never saw it in theaters because I don't really like science fiction movies. Then one night I watched it because it didn't cost me any money and that is usually a big selling point for me. Twenty-eight years ago a ship full of aliens ended up in the vicinity of South Africa. Now, in present day, the aliens are living in slum-like living arrangements and are in the process of being evicted. The guy in charge of this gets some weird alien stuff on him and starts to turn into an alien. (No, this is not a true story and yes, I am aware I am awful at giving the synopsis for movies...but if this plot summary doesn't impress you then just spring for the dollar rental and make your own summary.)

I enjoyed this movie...except for the part that was skipped over because the Blockbuster Express kiosk enjoys putting the DVD's in cases that could easily scratch the discs. The plot line was interesting and highly entertaining. The whole thing was done in a documentary style which worked out well. Special effects were also used pretty well. Not a bad directorial debut for Mr. Neill Blomkamp. Most people have no idea who this man is so they slapped Peter Jackson's name on it to essentially trick people into going to the movies...it worked and we can expect a "District 10" in the very near future. I wouldn't buy it, but if you are one of those people who like science fiction then give it a try.

-Joseph Sbrilli

Daybreakers

It would seem only natural, with the renewed interest in vampires and werewolves due to the recent success of the "Twilight" movies, that movie studios would try to tap into this reemerging genre. In contrast to the more romantic light that vampires have been shown in “The Vampire Diaries” or “New Moon,” "Daybreakers" returns to the darker elements of vampire lore in its quest to give the viewer a deeper movie-going experience. In this endeavor the movie falls flat on its face.

The year is 2020 and most of the world has been turned into vampires by a plague and the world exists as it once did with one major exception: everyone is now drinking blood. In the ten short years since the outbreak of the plague the world has nearly exhausted its supply of human blood. Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke, "Lord of War") is a hematologist working to create a synthetic blood supply so that humans no longer need to be harvested. Unlike just about every other vampire in the movie, he has pity for the way humans are sucked dry to feed society and resents being a vampire. In addition to his moody personal issues he doesn’t see eye to eye with his human-hunting brother Frankie (Michael Dorman, "Triangle") and resents the money and power-oriented focus of his boss, Charles Bromley (Sam Neil, "Event Horizon"). After an explosive failure of his latest blood supply, Ed has a chance encounter with a group of humans led by Audry Bennet (Claudia Karvan, "The Long Weekend"). After saving them from a roaming patrol they contact him with information about a possible cure for vampirism. He meets up with Lionel Cormac (William Defoe, "Antichrist"), a vampire turned human - the key to cure. They spend the rest of the movie running from the human-hunting army and trying to perfect the cure for the rest of society.

"Daybreakers" is a silly movie that tries to take itself seriously. Apparently the writers thought that the best way to contemplate what it meant to be human was to have Edward sulk for most of the movie. There is no chemistry between any of the characters and the eventual romance that develops between Edward and Audry feels so forced that it’s hard to watch. With the exception of Frankie, not a single character is developed beyond their stock archetypes. The movie is full of extraneous side stories. One of the more ridiculous aspects of the movie was that a vampire who goes without blood for too long turns into a winged beast that resembles something out of "Nosferatu." The problem with this is that the movie spends most of its time discussing the problems that these creatures are causing and then in the course of five minutes they are all rounded up and killed, amounting to one of the greatest wastes of time in the entire movie. Another useless story was Bromley’s daughter; he spends half the movie talking about how his daughter committed suicide then we find out she is alive but then is killed a few minutes later, contributing nothing to the story line. Sam Neil and William Defoe are underused and their characters have nothing to work with to bring any redeeming qualities to the acting. The special effects were laughable, amounting to nothing more than cheap CGI and buckets of blood. Another problem I had was how apparently the whole of humanity becomes vicious individuals who are perfectly fine with killing a lot of people because they need to drink blood. It just didn’t make much sense.

In short, the movie was a long list of wasted opportunities and underused talent. It never really caught my attention as it meandered through a story that paled against the setting of a world full of vampires. If you are looking for a good suspenseful movie that touches the deeper side of humanity I would suggest "28 Days Later."

Final Verdict: 1 ½ stars out of 4 or a 60%. Get this one online for free or from Netflix; otherwise you'll be angry you spent the money

Side note: with all the names in the world they had to choose Edward as their main vampire...

-Jeremiah German