The Hurt Locker and Crazy Heart

It just so happened that I went to two movies in one day (I had already gone to The Hurt Locker and got an invitation to go to Crazy Heart) which forces me to compare these two movies: one intense and stressful, and one slow and drowsy.

The Hurt Locker
Before going to Hurt Locker, I had a knotted muscle in my back and believe me this movie did not help me de-stress. I was tense throughout the movie and my face held a cringe. Even though it is not the type of movie I usually see – it has all the elements I usually like to avoid: war, blood, macho men with guns – I was too intrigued to miss it, especially when it can be found at our new independent theater. In its simplest form Hurt Locker is just three guys who go from one potential deadly threat to another, diffusing the situation or in some cases creating some added drama. Their leader and the man who wears the padded bomb suit, is Will James played by Jeremy Renner, and he is a reckless adrenaline junky but incredibly skilled at what he does. He says nutty threatening things and then says, “Just kidding” in a way that makes him seem crazy – but you can’t keep your eyes off of him --he is interesting on screen except when his team member Sandborn, played by Anthony Mackie, is onscreen – he also gives an amazing presence. Do I recommend this movie? Yes, I think for the performances and the intensity, but no if you don’t want to be freaked out and make your back get even more knotted up.

Crazy Heart
Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart plays a broken down alcoholic country singer. This movie is a character study and the character, Bad Blake. His performance basically IS the movie and the movie may be worth going to if only to see his performance, I guess. But it is also pretty plotless and too slow-paced. It was like they tried to slap a pretty cliché plot structure around a great character and some good songs and performances. Giving him a love interest of the beautiful and way too young Maggie Gyllenhall seemed all wrong. Bad Blake is gross – who but a star struck drunk fan would want to kiss him? And the ending definitely falls flat. After hearing an interview on Fresh Air with T. Bone Burnet who produced and wrote some of the music for this movie I had high hopes for this movie, but maybe because my expectations were too high, I was disappointed.

It Might Get Loud

It Might Get Loud profiles three accomplished guitarists: Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. I went to it with my friend and her 8 and 10-year-old kids and the 10-year-old's friend. The 10-year-old is a budding guitarist, so his mom wanted him to learn from the legends. So, from the pre-teens view the movie was a little long and at times confusing. The friend thought it would be more fun if they were playing Leggo’s while listening to some of the music. The 8-year-old was aghast at Bono’s leather pants: “He must get sweaty in those pants.”

From an adult perspective, one who was wondering if she was going to be bored, I thought that overall, the film was not boring. It zipped around from guitarist to guitarist like a flung bouncy ball in a classroom, which was often jarring. And there were parts that were too guitar-wonky, snooze, but there were also some amazing scenes. At the center of this zig-zagging is the three interesting men filmed on what looks like a living room scene on a stage talking about playing the guitar and doing some jamming. What makes the movie come alive are some great moments that are captured on film: Jimmy Page playing a classic tune while Jack White and The Edge look on and beam with pleasure. And there’s fantastic concert bit of U2 playing Sunday Bloody Sunday (which I wish could have lasted longer). Plus, there were charming first guitar stories. I wanted more stories about their lives and guitars and more of them playing together. I think the film makers were trying to create a very stylized and unique documentary that looked cool, but they did the overdo on the stylishness and ended up with some good, some boring, but some amazing.

P.S. Saw this movie at the Zinema, our new independent theater. Love it! Plus, you can get free refills of popcorn! Bonus!

I almost saw Into Temptation

Patrick Coyle, director and writer of Into Temptation, was in Duluth to discuss his Minnesota-made movie. The movie was at the Zinema, our town's great new independent movie theater. At the start of the movie, the director sat on the aisle steps. The movie begins with Father John listening to a parishioner in the confessional complain about her husband. Then . . . skip . . .skip . . .skip. The disc kept skipping like a bad movie night in your living room. Coyle ran out to see what was happening and then returned apologizing and saying he would pop over to his car and get another disc. A director who has an extra movie at the ready seemed handy and kinda weird. Then after a few minutes of disc 2, skip, ... skip,... No director appeared to apologize. The audience sat for about 20 more minutes before starting to file out of the theater. We got our money back but wondered what the deal was. It's too bad too since the 30-40 minutes of the movie I saw (parts from the beginning, middle, and end, by the way) was pretty good. Jeremy Sisto (of Law and Order and Six Feet Under) plays a gentle Catholic priest who tries to help a woman who has confessed that she plans to kill herself. But what actually happened at the Zinema last night? Who knows?