Hearts Beat Loud

First Hit: It was an obvious feel good movie and it worked reasonably well.

Frank Fisher (Nick Offerman) is a failing vinyl record store owner in Brooklyn, NY. He’s raising his biracial daughter Sam (Kiersey Clemons) alone and she’s just about to go away to UCLA enrolled in their pre-med program.

He seems stuck in his record store and in an early scene, he lights up a cigarette while standing behind the cash register. When his only customer points out that it is against the law to smoke, Frank doesn’t care. The customer leaves and in view of Frank and the audience, he makes the vinyl record purchase from Amazon via his phone.

Frank is staying in Brooklyn because his mother Marianne (Blythe Danner) is struggling in her old age. At one point, early on, he’s called to pick her up from a small store because she was caught shoplifting. His Brooklyn store is also near where his wife died while riding a bicycle.

Frank and his wife were in a band together and his first love is performing music. To satisfy his urges, he and Sam do jam together when she’s not studying. The audience gets treated to some of their work together.

Besides having strong, yet mixed, feelings about heading to UCLA for school, Sam is leaving her dad in his failing record store, and is falling in love with Rose (Sasha Lane) who is a local artist. Rose is her first love and is encouraging Sam to follow her passions.

Jamming one day, Frank and Sam tape a song Sam has written. Frank, without Sam’s permission, uploads the song onto Spotify under the band name of, “We’re Not A Band.” Somehow the song ends up on the Spotify Indie Play List.

Encouraged that Sam has real talent, Frank attempts to keep his daughter around by telling her she has a real talent and they could make a go of it in the music business.

Because the store is failing, he decides to tell his landlord Leslie (Toni Collette) that he’s vacating the space. His closest friend, local bar owner Dave (Ted Danson), tries to help Frank get over the hump of closing down the business.

The stories and sub-plots in this movie are: Frank's failing record store and inability to support Sam’s college tuition, Marianne’s failing health, Sam moving to California, Rose and Sam’s relationship, Frank’s feelings for Leslie, Dave’s love of trees, and most of all the music that Frank and Sam make together.

Offerman was OK as the father. For some reason it was difficult for me to really feel his angst towards his situation. This difficulty could have been partly due to the script and direction versus his ability. I did sense his character's love for music. Clemons was wonderful. I thought that she did a great job of showing her love for her father, leaving home for the first time, and falling in love. Danson was fun as the long time Brooklyn barkeep and Frank’s friend. Collette’s role was interesting because she was very cagy about her feelings for Frank, as a friend and landlord. Lane was fantastic as the struggling artist who fell in love with Sam. Danner was excellent as Frank’s mom who was slowly losing her ability to function in the world. Marc Basch and Brett Haley co-wrote this script that lacked some background story but created wonderful interactive dialogue. Haley also directed this effort and it was generally on target.

Overall: The songs brought forth joyful emotion and were definitely a bright spot in this film.

The One I Love

First Hit:  Interesting concept but I’m not sure the acting raised the story to a level worth watching.

A young couple, Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elisabeth Moss) are having marital problems. The trouble began with a lack of communication,  physical connection and resulting in Ethan having an affair.

Sophie is having difficulty in forgiving her husband and they decide to see a therapist (Ted Danson). After a number of sessions he suggests a weekend trip to a home he uses to assist couples in healing. They arrive and soon discover there are a couple of abnormalities in this retreat home. The story then revolves on how the couple deals with the abnormality and their real dreams of a relationship.

The unfortunate part of this film was in the acting. The actors just didn’t seem strong enough to hold this, possibly interesting, story together.

Duplass is weak as the husband that realizes he’s made a mistake and wants his wife back. His reaction to the abnormity just seemed weak and lifeless – it lacked passion. Moss was better in her role and made the story more interesting. Danson was fine in this limited role. Justin Lader wrote an interesting story and script but it was either Charlie McDowell’s weak direction or the weak acting by the cast that dragged this film down.

Overall:  I loved the idea in the storyline, it just wasn’t executed well.

Big Miracle

First Hit:  This film is predictable but interesting enough to stay watching.

The “Big Miracle” lets the audience know the outcome before you even buy a ticket. Nevertheless it is film version of a real story that took place back in 1988 when Ronald Reagan was president.

Three California Grey whales were trapped 5 miles from the ocean and were only breathing through an air hole in the ice. The air hole was closing fast and the native Eskimos wanted to harvest the whales for food.

Adam Carlson, local reporter (played by John Krasinski) had been trying to find fame in a story so that he could move to the lower 48, filmed a segment which got picked up around the world and all of a sudden the whales had a rooting gallery.

Adam feeling the plight of the whales call his former girlfriend Rachel Kramer (played by Drew Barrymore) who is a Greenpeace honcho. Rachel comes up to rally everyone to save the whales and also makes some enemies while she is as it. The one machine which can break up the ice is owned by an oil company which is run by J. W. McGraw (played by Ted Danson).

He’s always at war with Rachel over the oil drilling rights to a wildlife sanctuary. He thinks it will be good press to help. Everyone in this film has an objective to better their standing in the community. Rachel is the only one who is focused on only doing her job but as pointed out by others this publicized effort will provide a campaign boost for Greenpeace. T

he Russian’s assist in the end with an ice breaker ship and there is a reasonably happy ending to it all. However, the film is extremely predictable, even if you weren’t alive in 1988. The set-ups are very obvious and there is really no suspense to this.

I don’t know if the director made it this way to make it PG friendly or if the story really was this obvious. The highlight of the film was in the credits, where they showed the real people in scenes who really saved these whales back in 1988.

Krasinski does a good job of making us believe his character makes the right choices for his career and life. Barrymore wasn’t her best here. Some scenes she was great and others, she came off a little shrill and without a deep basis of the knowledge of her position. Danson was particularly over done as an oil company executive. Ahmaogak Sweeney as Nathan a native young boy caught between the modern world and his ancestral ways was good and very entertaining. Jack Amiel and Michael Beglar wrote this mediocre script. Ken Kwapis directed this with a lighthearted hand especially when he brings in two guys from Minnesota who have a machine that keeps the ice holes open longer.

Overall: A light-hearted film which was entertaining and interesting enough to have it be enjoyable.