Posts tagged friends
“Country Strong” Country Cliche
Jan 27th
“Country Cliche”
COUNTRY STRONG is the story of a six-time, Grammy-winning, country-music superstar who starts off the movie in rehab for alcohol addiction, and thus the audience thinks, “So, what else is new?”
Unfortunately, that comment can be applied to the whole movie, as well.
Gwyneth Paltrow plays Kelly Canter, and we are told that she fell off the stage the year before in Dallas at her previous concert when she was drunk, disorderly, and pregnant.
Well, Kelly has become close friends with one of her sponsors in rehab, Beau Hutton, who is also a country-music singer and songwriter, but he is happy to perform just at local bars and clubs.
Then James shows up to get Kelly out of rehab a month early in order to start performing again. James is Kelly’s husband and manager, he is played by Tim McGraw, whose name country-music fans might recognize, and yet he is the only experienced professional singer who doesn’t sing any songs in the movie.
At one point, Kelly says to James, “I’m sorry about Dallas. We should talk about it sometime.”
Unfortunately, they don’t talk about it, and if they had, this might have been a better movie, but at least the music is pretty good.
Kelly wants to give Beau a break and let him be the opening act for her comeback tour, but James–in addition to being suspicious about Beau–has a new singer in mind to open for Kelly, a young and pretty beauty winner named Chiles Stanton, who is so new in the business that she gets stage fright and freezes up during her chance to audition for James.
Well, you can see that this story is headed for a love triangle if ever there was one, or more likely a love rectangle, and a square one at that.
So, there are the obligatory stops and starts and stops and restarts on Kelly’s comeback tour that James has lined up for her, which of course either helps or hurts the chances of Beau and Chiles to become successful and fan favorites.
In addition, there are the obligatory advances and setbacks in the love aspects of the characters, not unlike what the stories of most country songs say in music.
COUNTRY STRONG is more like “Country Cliche,” but at least the music is pretty good.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Get Low – Movie Trailer
Aug 24th
Inspired by the true story of Tennessee recluse Felix “Bush” Breazeale, who planned his funeral while he was still alive, director Aaron Schneider’s dramatic period thriller stars Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek, and Lucas Black. Few folks have spoken with Felix Bush (Duvall) since he disappeared into the Tennessee woods 40 years ago, and the ones who have don’t necessarily have the kindest things to say about him. Gruff, confrontational, and ill-tempered, Felix has been the source of many malicious rumors over the years. Some say he’s a cold-hearted killer and his penchant for walking into town with a shotgun, a wild beard, and threadbare clothes doesn’t exactly give the impression of a man who seeks to make friends. When Felix walks into Frank Quinn’s (Murray) funeral parlor and announces his intentions to throw himself a massive party before he passes away, word quickly spreads through town and anticipation starts to run high. Before long the big day has finally arrived, and Felix surprises everyone by revealing exactly why he shunned society to lead a life of solitude in the deep woods.