Country Strong

First Hit: A far cry from last year’s intense and well executed “Crazy Heart”, this film falls flat everywhere.

I really wanted to see this film. I wanted to see Gwyneth Paltrow deliver like I know she can.

But what this film does is compromise every character in every way. If you want us to believe Kelly Canter (Paltrow) is a raging out of control drunk, and then give it to us – early. What we get is her lying on her bed in rehabilitation, dreamy eyed while listening to Beau Hutton (played by Garrett Hedlund) create a song.

When they decide to show us her darker drunk side, believe me it doesn’t stand up as real. Her husband James (played by Tim McGraw) is her manager and has, long ago, lost contact with Kelly. But why? He keeps her going with stories of their past about how much he loved her. He is also in pain because Kelly, while drunk, fell off a stage a year earlier while 5 months pregnant and lost their baby.

Maybe this is where the film needed to begin. Maybe the film needed to identify what their relationship was like prior to Kelly being pregnant. But this isn’t what happened. Kelly is having an affair with Beau. Kelly thinks James is having an affair with new singing talent Chiles Stanton (played by Leighton Meester).

James is obviously attempting to keep the gravy train rolling while hoping to heal his inner demons. Kelly is clearly a lost woman and only seems to light up with someone compliments her or when the audience praises her. Beau pretends to be the keeper of the truth in the film, but he is just a screwed up in his ability to communicate effectively. Chiles is simply starstruck and believes in fairy tales and that she will be happy being a big country star. She is totally unprepared for her next step.

The only time the film tries to put context to Kelly's life as a star against Chiles naivete is when Kelly comes into her dressing room and tells her all that she knows to be true about this life Chiles has chosen.

Paltrow is either a victim of a poor script, poor direction, or just a poor performance. I think she tried, but the basis of this story needed to be re-worked. McGraw is very reserved and felt very constricted in this role. Again, the script, direction, or that he lacked the chops to deliver something other than a mediocre performance. Hedlund felt like a one trick pony. He provided little depth throughout the film although he probably had the best lines and enough screen time to make something work. Meester is moderately believable and her doe eyes and innocence wouldn't have allowed her to get as far as she had gotten in the music world. Shana Feste wrote and directed this poorly constructed film. It was a long way from being well thought out. How she got this kind of talent engaged with this script is beyond me.

Overall: This is a barely watchable film with no lessons or redeeming value.

The Blind Side

First Hit: This is an interesting story but it's Sandra Bullock’s performance that kept me engaged.

This film is based on a true story about Michael Oher a young man who was homeless at age 16 but ended up getting the help and support he needed to end up being drafted as a 2009 first round (23rd) draft pick in the NFL.

This is the story about how he got to that place. While driving home one evening Leigh Anne Tuohy (played by Sandra Bullock), a wealthy Republican whose husband owned a bunch of Taco Bells, happens across Michael (played by Quinton Aaron) walking down the street in freezing rainy weather.

They stop the car and Leigh gets out of the car and asks him where he's going and if he has somewhere to stay. He answers “no” and before you know it he’s staying in the Tuohy’s house.

The whole film is about how be begins to trust the Tuohy’s and they begin to trust him. He begins to learn in school as well as how to play football. There are touching scenes and there are funny scenes.

There’s nothing you wouldn’t expect this film to have, but what made it work for me were two of the actors and a relationship: One of the actors is the Tuohy’s son S.J. (played by Jae Head). This kid was fun to watch and fully engaged in his character.

The young and physically small boy was a great foil for the large slow moving Michael. Together they make up a dynamic duo and their scenes together are wonderful. The other actor who impressed me was Sandra Bullock. She did an outstanding job of showing strength, courage, intelligence, and compassion with her character. She was believable.

The relationship which endeared to this film was the one between Leigh and her husband Sean (played by Tim McGraw). I loved how they accepted each other’s strengths and weaknesses with openness and support.

Bullock was wonderful and could get an Oscar nod. Not necessarily because it was such an outstanding performance (it was a very strong performance) but also because there weren’t a lot of strong woman’s roles in this past year's films. Head was great, engaging and funny. Aaron was good, however there was a lack of spark which left me wondering about the character.

Overall: This was a predictable entertaining film with some wonderful scenes.