I'm a huge fan of the late country singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. I could listen to him everyday, all day. A lot of people I know appreciate Townes, but they tell me he's too sad to listen to for very long...I disagree. Well, if you love Townes, or even just appreciate him, or if you are interested in country music, or specifically the Texas Outlaw Country scene of the 1970s and 80s, you will probably quite enjoy Blaze. Blaze is a new film from actor/director Ethan Hawke. It's about the late country singer-songwriter Blaze Foley, a lesser known contemporary and close friend of Townes. Not a heck of a lot is known about Blaze so the film only loosely considers itself a "sort-of" biopic. It's really just creates a feeling and gives an impression that is rich and authentic. To achieve this, a good deal of the film is devoted to telling stories about Blaze, rarely allowing the audience in on Blaze's own perspective. The film dedicates itself to blatant myth building, using the spot-on incredible Charlie Sexton as Townes spinning yarns as Townes was well-known to do. It's explicit that we're being told about Blaze and Blaze is not speaking for himself. The film leaves large gaps instead of trying to fill in every aspect of Blaze's life, history, and experience. We tend to be always watching him while he's often making a spectacle of himself. A word on the casting: Hawke did very well here, using real musicians who are not actors in two of the three lead roles. Musician Ben Dickey is absolutely astonishing in his first role, as Blaze. I heard him explain in an online interview that he for the role he learned Blaze's entire 60-ish song catalogue and indeed played live on set throughout the film--most notably in the sections devoted to the entire performance and recording of Live At The Austin Outhouse album, including all the banter. Meanwhile, musician Charlie Sexton is incredible as Townes. It's uncanny; he nails Marie, and it is so exactly perfectly Townes. Alia Shawkat is terrific and rounds out and grounds the film as Sybil Rosen, Blaze's one known, longtime girlfriend whose memoir 'Living in the Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze Foley' inspired a large portion of the film. I highly recommend this raw, beautiful sort-of, kind-of biopic. 5/5 |
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Right off the bat there are three excellent reasons to see Warrior. They are, in no particular order: Nick Nolte, Tom Hardy, and Joel Edgerton. Warrior is an excellent family drama about an estranged family comprised of two brothers, an AWOL but war hero Marine, an ex UFC fighter turned teacher, and their recovering alcoholic father. This is a very moving film about broken masculinities. This movie is really about the performances. Edgerton is phenomenal. He's one to watch for. I have always loved Nick Nolte. He's stellar here as the desperate, aging father. If you aren't already on the Tom Hardy train, get on! Also, check out Bronson, The Drop, and Mad Max: Fury Road. 4/5 I'm always up for a good biographical documentary, particularly about obscure, lesser known, often critically acclaimed outsiders artists. Those who though critically acclaimed, never really broke into the mainstream. The Harry Nilsson, Daniel Johnston, and Townes Van Zandt docs are fantastic. Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me is that kind of a doc, and the doc Big Star deserves. Now both deceased, there is a bit more attention paid to Alex Chilton's genius, and his lengthy and prolific career. There is also due respect to paid Chris Bell, as well as to the band's lasting influence and musical legacy. If you don't know Big Star, you aren't alone. Check this out. 5/5 Barfly is some kind of masterpiece. A thing of legends. Charles Bukowski wrote the screenplay. He wanted Sean Penn to star but Penn insisted Dennis Hopper direct it, and eventually it was sent to Barbet Schroeder. I've seen Barfly 3 times, but I finally saw a good clean copy and it made 900 million worlds of difference. It's rather ridiculously difficult to find due to North American licensing. For the first time, I was able to appreciate Robby Mueller's cinematography (that was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award). His work is all but lost on ancient VHS rips; you miss all the drunken swooping and swaying. Meanwhile, Schroeder is an interesting director who's made some very impressive documentary films including one on Koko the gorilla, and one on Idi Amin. He also made Single White Female... In terms of performances, WOW. Mickey Rourke at the height of his career--not long after Rumble Fish--and Faye Dunway at the moment her career is beginning to wane--this is many moons after Chinatown and Bonnie and Clyde. She was nominated for a Golden Globe. Rourke fully inhabits the slithery salty Henry with such zeal. But, don't get me started on Bukowski (the key figure in a documentary also by Schroeder), I find him problematic at best. 5/5 Anna Christie is based on the play by Eugene O'Neill about a young but bitter, alcoholic, former prostitute who quits the life, tracks down her estranged father, and moves onto his barge. After a while, they come upon 3 stranded sailors and Anna falls in love with one. Of course, her past torments her and so she wrestles with revealing her past to her father, and the sailor, Matt. In early Hollywood things were pretty lax until 1934 when the Hays Film Production code (film censorship) was implemented by Joseph Breen. The code feel apart in the mid 1950s and was replaced by the MPAA in the late 1960s. As a result, films before 1934 and between 1954-1968 often have darker, more adult subject matter. Anna Christie is pretty dark. Anna Christie was Greta Garbo's first talking picture, she starred in both this (English) version and the German language version, both in 1930. Her accent is a bit jarring, especially given that Anna is supposed to be from Minnesota. It's also very early talkie, and feels like one. Before subtitles became common place they used to shot multiple language versions of the same film for export. Most are lost but both the English and German versions of Anna Christie exist. 4/5 Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola, US, 1983) Rumble Fish is one of Coppola's lesser-known films. Rumble Fish was written during days off while shooting The Outsiders in Tulsa Oklahoma and was shot in the weeks following The Outsiders. Both films are adaptations of books by SE Hinton, about young people growing up in the early 1960s. While The Outsiders is a more straightforward adaptation, Rumble Fish has been described (by Coppola himself) as an art film for kids. As a result, the film is crammed with symbolism and literary references. Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, and Dennis Hopper make this film. Keep your eyes peeled for a baby Nick Cage and Vincent Spano, and Tom Waits. The heavy percussive score by Stewart Copeland is intense. This is truly a masterpiece shot in glorious black and white. 5/5 Amy is a new documentary about the late, great singer Amy Winehouse. This doc is comprised wholly of found footage, that is often set to off-screen interviews about Amy. There are no talking heads or experts in this film. These are the voices of Amy's friends, family including her father Mitch Winehouse, her ex-husband, and her a few colleagues including her former manager Nick Shymansky and producer Salaam Remi. The film focuses on Amy's rise to stardom, her short but impressive career, and her tumultuous personal life during those years. As such, it was a concise (at 2 hours and 8 minutes) portrait of the road to fame its subsequent path of destruction. It's about addiction, self-destruction, eating disorders, fame, talent, heart, and love. Along the way there are several impressive performances, though the documentary is not overly pre-occupied with performance footage. Amy is gut wrenching. I cried. 4/5 Black or White is a family drama starring Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer. After the sudden death of his wife, a grandfather finds himself in the middle of a racially heated custody battle with the paternal grandmother of the granddaughter he has raised from birth--after the sudden death of his 17 yr old daughter during childbirth. This movie family dramas all over the place. I guess it's inspired by real events... Nothing's perfect, this is an adequate drama. The young Jillian Estell is great as Eloise the granddaughter. Bill Burr shines as the totally straight laced lawyer/friend. I've never been a Costner fan; he's solid here. 3/5 Joe. Wow. So good. I'm not typically a Cage fan, but he's great when he's great. In Joe, he is great. Tye Sheridan. Wow, keep your eyes peeled. This kid is the real deal. Joe is his third film of, no doubt, many to come. You may have seen him in Mud (also stellar), and Tree of Life (again, stellar). I'm so pleased for David Gordon Green to come back to his Southern American Small Town thing after a strange journey through Franco/Rogen stoner comedies. If you caught Prince Avalanche, Joe capitalizes on the best part of that film here. That being, the one scene with the non-actor woman looking through the charred remains of her home. Joe is full of wonderful casting choices made up of non-actors. I'm so pleased that it seems Green is back where he left off with Undertow, which I though was a phenomenal film. Joe is about the friendship between a 15 yr old boy from an alcoholic/abusive home who works on a tree killing crew for an ex-con with a violent past. Joe's intense and quiet and brooding, and has a punch you in the guts kinda vibe overall. I loved it. 4.5/5 |
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