Crazy Heart (2009)

    I hadn't heard about this movie until the Oscar nominations when Jeff Bridges was nominated for Best Actor. I love Jeff Bridges. He has starred in some of my favorite quirky movies and I think the guys is an amazing actor. As The Dude in The Big Lebowski the man is a legend with an attitude and quotes that make me giggle every time. In Men Who Stare at Goats he almost reprises the role as the man who founded the US Military's psychic division (apparently this is also based in truth somehow, gotta love the 80s). In Crazy Heart he plays fictional country legend Bad Blake, a burned out musician who has fallen to playing Bowling Alleys for chump change while his protégé has gone one to ridiculous success. Blake is fading into obscurity and he knows it and rather than fight it he helps it along with cigarettes, booze and women… until he meets Jane. Bridges deserved the Oscar for this performance. Blake runs the gamut of emotions once he realizes he may not be going quietly into the good night after all. He finds the love of a younger woman who has a son who loves him too. Late in life he find the family that has always eluded him and is inspired to be better.

    The music in this movie is equally amazing. I hate modern country, but thrown on some Johnny Cash and I'm there. T-Bone Burnett, who has produced some amazing soundtracks in the last couple of years, notably Oh Brother, Where Art Though provides the kind of music one needs to make a film like this work. This film needed to be full of country music that was good enough to make you wonder why you had never heard it before. Bad Blake is a legend because of his songwriting and this movie could have failed outright if it had terrible music but I have to say it is totally amazing. It is deep and soulful, thought provoking and sorrowful… reason enough to see the movie.

    I think the thing that blew me away about the movie in the end is how optimistic it really is. We should never count ourselves out or give up just because life is in a downward swing. You never know what will happen next, where you will be taken. Its tough to feel depressed after Bad Blake gets done with you, that's for sure.