Troutblog

The men on American Idol tonight were incredibly boring. Talk about a black eye for music. (The woman were FAR more musically interesting)

Thanks to Oscar publicity — two films that have languished with limited distribution finally made it out to local theatres this weekend for the prerequisite (“but yes — they’ve been nominated for oscars!”) rubbernecking.

Crazy Heart is the more accessible of the two — Wonderfully scripted, and nicely acted —  a film that allows plot to follow character rather than formula — resulting in an an authentic and touching story — even if its one we’ve seen before.

The film is reminiscent of last year’s “The Wrestler” by way of 2005′s “Walk the Line” but without the celebrity baggage of the latter.

Jeff Bridge’s brings his charm, and selfless, lived-in authenticity to this solid performance.  Both he and an unrecognizable Colin Farrell do a very credible job singing the great songs produced and written by T-Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton, and Ryan Bingham.   I imagine Bridge’s will be the Oscar Favorite since self-destruction, alcoholism and singing country music gains more academy respect than subtler, closer-to-home performances like George Clooney in “Up in the Air.”  Such is the nature of horseracing — but Bridges is quite enjoyable here and its a more reserved and honest performance than  Joaquin Phoenix’s melodramatic turn.  This film also has very nice work from Maggie Gyllenhall — and how many films can quietly reserve Robert Duvall to show up in a quiet, supporting role 2/3rds into the movie? (And Duvall does a very authentic little vocal in the film as well!)

Why does a film like this linger without a major release? If the Academy Awards are good for nothing else — it provides the marketing edge it takes to bring small-budget films around.

While I’m on the subject of films that don’t get released outside the major markets — also had the opportunity to see the little heralded “An Education” this weekend. Carey Mulligan’s performance has been rightly praised, but not enough has been said about what a lovely, adult film this is with its sharp script by Nick Hornby.  Its a rare depiction of the 60s that doesn’t wallow in the ‘cuteness’ of the period — but instead looks honestly at the limits that existed for women back at the time. The film adroitly presents a heroine with the appropriate naivete’ for her time and age — but also makes her smart, sharp, and avoids presenting her as a victim. Great supporting performances all around in this film, with even the parts that could have descended into caricature showing surprising definition and depth. The film does a great job of keeping you inquisitive, nervous, and slightly on edge – without tipping its hand about where its headed.  The film has no ‘high concept’ at all — so marketers probably floundered at finding an angle to ‘pitch’ this film with.  Too bad — its an interesting ‘coming of age’ film, from a young women’s point of view for a change. Good stuff!

Testing twitter integration with Troutblog. Does it work? If so…my blog is about to get rather tweety.