Robert Duvall...

I know Dennis Hopper has passed and I haven't acknowledged it much, but its probably because he never affected me, hardly at all. I remember him most as the bad guy in 'Speed'. Dennis made so many random films with such little critical acclaim I think that is what tainted his name. The film he may be known best for, 'Easy Rider' has gone unseen by me. It is on the long list of must-see films and I anticipate it to be one of his better performances, but so far as the films that I know him from go, it just isn't good. "Super Mario Bros." tops the embarrassing list, but the bad list goes on and on.

Even Heath Ledger's death made Charlton Heston a shadow at the award shows and in the media. Charlton Heston gave more to film than Heath's big toe. I am not one to celebrate or mourn deaths almost at all, especially from people in Hollywood, but what I am willing to do is honor the sweat of the men and women who paved the way for great cinema.

A name I would like to devote a moment to is Robert Duvall. In recent years I have watched countless films starring Duvall, and every time a camera captures a moment with him in it, the film becomes larger, and a more quality picture.

As an actor Duvall has taken part in well over a hundred characters on the screen. He is known as a late bloomer at the age of 31 in "To Kill a Mockingbird" (which has also gone unseen by me and on the long list as well). He has starred in "The Godfather" series, "Apocalypse Now", "The Apostle", the original "True Grit", "MASH", "THX 1138", "Joe Kidd" with Clint Eastwood, original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", "The Natural", "Falling Down", "Open Range". He also appeared in recent work such as: "The Road" and "Crazy Heart". Every time I see Duvall on the screen I become more interested in what will be said. I believe he will go down in my book as one of the greatest ever, as the man has only aged twice, once as a middle aged man and second as an old man. He is great, I intend to take a closer look at his work which I have not had the pleasure of taking the time to see yet.

Review: David Cronenberg's "A History of Violence" (2005)

This movie didn't give me what it did as an early film devourer a handful of years ago. Since I have engaged in more films, particularly more quality films, I have found myself not immune to bad acting. Bad acting didn't exist till about 5 years ago, just after I watched this for the first time.

I think this movie made it passed the radars of major critics. The reviews for the film I find very unjustified. The performance by Viggo Mortensen is extremely good as almost always, but the only other actor who provides an above decent to good performance is Ed Harris as the villain. Viggo's character, Tom Stall, has a family in a reclusive town and owns a small diner. When one day a group of people accuse him of being someone else.

Viggo was a great casting choice for the film, but unfortunately his son in the film was a dramatic over-actor with little displayed talent. There are a handful of scenes where the acting becomes broken glass, fully revealing what flaws there are.

The story is definitely an intriguing one, and it is Viggo's performance and the story which carries the film, but in order to be considered more than a successful outing at the movies, your whole ensemble needs to be together and on the same page, where this one wasn't. The sensuality in the film is also a huge speed bump. The director wants to build the relationship between Viggo and his wife but he only builds their relationship with sex. It is as if the only thing holding their love for each other together is exactly that, because that was all the director showed us. If the director decided to show us what a loving relationship might look like he might have taken his camera out from the bedroom and make the "strong" relationship believable.

In the end the speed bumps spilled my drink all over while I steered my car into an embankment. I just couldn't wait for the movie to be done, even though I didn't want to wave goodbye to Viggo's character. In a similar genre, Viggo shines much better in 'Eastern Promises', which is also sensual with scattered nudity. Viggo and nudity are something you must be aware of when you watch him perform in almost everything but Lord of the Rings. Boo to nudity and sensuality, directors just show themselves lacking skills in storytelling when they require to use it to tell a sensual story. So many more successful directors show their talent in giving us a loving and intimate relationships without having to force us to watch an overdose of sensuality.

"A History of Violence"
6.5 / 10

Review: "Crazy Heart" (2009)

Jeff Bridges to me has been a mystery for a long time. He is referred to as one of the legends in Hollywood, but I just haven't felt the same, till now. Before 'Crazy Heart', I knew him from 'The Big Lebowski', 'Iron Man', 'Tron', 'Starman', and a few others. The only film that I had seen him in and stood out was 'The Big Lebowski'. He is playing a role for the upcoming Cohen Brothers' film 'True Grit', my most anticipated film of the year.

Crazy Heart was truly a great character study done well by about everyone in the film, I don't want to say everyone because there might have been an extra somewhere in the midst that didn't fulfill the role. Really great acting throughout the piece. I have zero interest in country music or the life of a country musician but for 2 hours he made me desire it. The music itself in the film was good and performed even better.

The story of the movie was far above average and easily justifiable to add to the 10 nominations list at the Academy for 'Best Picture'. 'The Blind Side', 'Up', 'District 9', and 'Avatar' all polluted the 10 nominations which Crazy Heart deserved.

The film is carried by ridiculously good acting, with a good casting choice. There are just a couple sensual scenes, but no nudity. The film should still be avoided by anyone 17 and under.

There were several moments of the film that I had to pause the footage and just say "wow". There were so many scenes which screamed perfection in translating from paper to camera. The story will take you into a life of a drunken has been and all the glory that comes with it, to happy moments, and then take you to awkward old groupie moments.

There really isn't much to say negatively about the film other than some sensual scenes that could have been either cut or edited to be less sensual, but overall this appears to be a film with a prefect take on what was written. The film will not rock your socks, it probably won't reach the top 5 list of 2009, but it is surely a great investment of 2 hours to film.

"Crazy Heart"
8 / 10