Ed's Review Dot Com

20th Century Fox

Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell

I really enjoyed this movie.  I have been anxious for it to arrive on DVD since I heard about it at the Oscar’s last year.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Jeff Bridges isn’t always on top of his game, but he did an amazing job in this movie.  Heartwarming,  it was very “A Star is Born“ish in a way, and all the way through Jeff reminds me of Kris Kristofferson in a lot of ways.  But the story is very complex.  I loved the way Colin Farrell played his character.  He should have been very stuck up, proud of what he was, and eager to step on poor Bad (Jeff Bridges) on the way up, but he wasn’t.  He appreciated, and he cared, and he was a genuine nice guy.  This makes you get angry with Bad, but watching him struggle, you turn from disliking him to pitying him, to rooting for him.

Jeff and Colin did the singing in the movie, with the help of a singing coach, and they did a way better than expected job of singing the music in the film.  It was quite believable and it was a nice touch that they did their own.  The music was good, especially if you have a hankering for horsey tunes in the first place.  It’s good country.  But my wife who is NOT a country fan, still loved the movie because of the strength of the story.

It’s a story that’s been done before, and done very well, but this one is a bit unique, and really gives a feel for how hard it is to give up you life to live on the road driving from town to town to simply sing your old songs with a pick up band of local kids.  It’s got to be a hard life that many musicians know.

I recommend this movie as one of the best rentals I’ve had in a while!

Alcon Entertainment

Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman, Jennifer Beals

The best way to describe this film is a “post-apolcalyptic western”.   I was a bit surprised by this film.  I had heard nothing but good things, but I didn’t expect anything too great.  Well, it was pretty good, considering.  It’s pretty much like Mad Max with religious overtones.  The bad guys ala WaterWorld’s “Smokers”.   Eli has a book.  The book is pretty important, and he’s been protecting it forever, since the big war tore a hole in the sky!

Well, it’s not what you’re expect, and there is a surprise or two.  Mostly the martial arts (Denzel studied martial arts with Dan Inosanto who was trained by Bruce Lee) is really good.  Denzel did his own stunts.  There is a lot of action, killing, betrayal, ambushes, etc., and it keeps the movie moving right along.  Then when you get to the end, you’ve got a few more surprises coming.

I enjoyed watching this.  It was much better than I expected it to be.  Most action, shoot ’em up, end of the world type movies leave me cold, but this movie had a lot of stuff to keep it interesting.  I enjoyed it a lot.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog