Country Strong. When I heard the title, I had hopes it was about the Incredible Hulk running for president. Then I heard Gwyneth Paltrow was in it. I still had hope. Then I heard that it was about a disgraced country music star, attempting to revamp her career, perhaps bringing some up-and-comers along for the [...]
Read More blu-ray, Country Strong, drama, DVD, Garrett Hedlund, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leighton Meester, music, PG-13, Tim McGrawWhen I first heard this project was in the works, I groaned. I’m not a Beatles fan, never have been. The first time I saw a picture of the group I immediately recognized Paul McCartney as the guy who tried to steal Michael Jackson‘s girl, but thought that whoever this other band was they were [...]
Read More Aaron Johnson, Beatles, biography, blu-ray, drama, DVD, John Lennon, Kristin Scott Thomas, music, Noah, Nowhere Boy, RI can’t say enough bad stuff about I’m Still Here. 50% of the critics totally agree with me, and 50% “got it” in a way I didn’t, and thought it was artful or ingenious, or something good.
Read More Casey Affleck, comedy, DVD, I'm Still Here, Joaquin Phoenix, joyce, music, RI wish I had the time to watch again The Doors (biopic) and read again No One Here Gets Out Alive (biography of The Doors). I could add to this review a comparison of these other treatments of the lives of Jim Morrison and the other Doors. But here’s my stand-alone review of When You’re [...]
Read More documentary, DVD, Jim Morrison, Johnny Depp, joyce, music, R, Robbie Krieger, The Doors, Tom DiCillo, When You're Strange3:00 AM arrives and a house like something from a Ray Bradbury story is suddenly awash in light. For the spirits who live there, the only family that Zel (Angela Bettis) the fortune telling owner has ever known, it’s a sign that they can move on. Finding themselves unable to leave and despite their own [...]
Read More All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, Angela Bettis, comedy, drama, DVD, music, thriller, Tim RutiliCrazy Heart is your solidly good movie. I was expecting that Jeff Bridges’ acting would be more than adequate in his role as Bad Blake, but he surprised me by being really outstanding. So his Oscar for Best Actor was not one of those rewards for his entire body of work, but rather well-earned for [...]
Read More Colin Farrell, Crazy Heart, drama, DVD, jeff bridges, joyce, Maggie Gyllenhaal, music, Robert Duvall, romanceDirector Richard Curtis acknowledged in an interview that while someone should definitely make a serious movie about offshore radio broadcasting to the U.K. in 1966, his comedy Pirate Radio, which uses the issue as its backdrop, is merely meant to entertain. It does just that, too, using a hilarious cast and loads of great music [...]
Read More Bill Nighy, blu-ray, comedy, David, drama, DVD, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, music, Nick Frost, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Pirate Radio, R, Rhys Ifans, Richard Curtis, romance, Tom SturridgeLet’s say the electric guitar had never been invented. Pop music wouldn’t be the same. Would all the artists on the Billboard charts ‘lo these many decades have even existed? What colors would be missing from music if you take away how an electric guitar acts/responds through different amplifiers and effects? One answer is the [...]
Read More blu-ray, Bogglejester, David Guggenheim, documentary, DVD, It Might Get Loud, Jack White, Jimmy Page, music, PG-, The EdgeFor me, the first part of Taking Woodstock was pretty awful. You have Imelda Staunton, miscast as Elliot’s mom, screaming about Jews being gassed while she’s trying to get a bank loan, plus a weird over-the-top drama troupe interpretatively prancing, and living in the barn of Elliot’s family’s motel, and if that weren’t enough, poor [...]
Read More Ang Lee, comedy, Demetri Martin, DVD, Emile Hirsch, Eugene Levy, Henry Goodman, Imelda Staunton, joyce, Kelli Garner, Liev Schreiber, music, Paul Dano, R, Taking WoodstockAnvil! The Story of Anvil is the true story of the failing 80′s real life “Spinal Tap”. Having said that, don’t go into this hoping to see miniaturized European landscapes, cucumbers wrapped in tin foil or any sort of amp that goes to eleven because you won’t. Unlike Spinal Tap, Anvil is a real band, [...]
Read More Anvil! The Story of Anvil, documentary, DVD, music