Crazy Heart (2009/Fox Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: D Film: C+
Crazy Heart had a lot of Oscar buzz, but it
was mainly surrounding the actors and no the film itself. Writer/Director Scott Cooper’s film is one
that boasts wonderful acting, but a horribly dry and drab storyline. There was tough competition at the Oscars,
but I can say that Jeff Bridges earned his Oscar.
Crazy Heart is the tale of a lonesome
alcoholic who is trying to find his place in the world after being chewed up and
spit out time and time again. Jeff
Bridges plays a country singer (Bad Blake) who has made his share of bad
choices. He is found playing dive bar
after dive bar, along with getting mixed up in bad relationships and feeding
his thirst for booze. The movie then
moves forward clearing a path of recovery and redemption for Bad Blake when he
has a chance meeting with journalist Jane Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Jane shows Blake that there may be more to
himself than he thinks and begins a relationship with the teetering country
singer. The path is not a clean and easy
one and Blake is hit by more than one difficulty along the way; forcing him to
face past demons and look hopefully to a better future.
As I said
the performances are gripping, emotional, touchingly humorous and embody an
overall warmth that is admirable; but in the end the performances are the only
thing that save the all too clichéd film.
Gyllenhaal and Bridges work well off each other and manage to compensate
for the story’s boring shortcomings.
For an
independent film Crazy Heart actually
appears quite nice on Blu-ray. The 1080p
2.35 X 1 AVC @ 32 MBPS encoded picture is mostly clean and polished with
vibrant colors and bold, dark blacks.
There is a degree of grain throughout that I was expecting, but the
level of detail remains surprising. The
sound is a DTS-HD Master Audio lossless 5.1 track that is not very immersive as
action is minimal, but presents the dialogue in a warm, crisp and clear
manner. The musical scores make solid
use of the bass and the surrounds are adequately used for these tracks and
ambient noises. As previously mentioned
the technical features are not amazing, but much better than other recent
independent film releases.
The
extras only include about 30 minutes of alternate music sequences and deleted
scenes that add little to the film, as well as including a theatrical
trailer. A Digital Copy DVD-ROM is also
included with this Blu-ray release.
Outside
of the superb acting and cast, I can’t recommend this film. It may be worth a once watch, but hardly
worth owning.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
