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Academy Award winner Robert Duvall (1983, Best Actor,
Tender Mercies) is Felix Bush, the “Hermit of Caleb County,†a man so haunted by his secrets that he has lived in quiet desolation in the Tennessee backwoods for over 40 years. Realizing that he is near his own mortality, Bush decides to have a “living funeral party,†inviting people to tell their stories about him. Enlisting the help of Frank Quinn (Golden Globe winner Bill Murray, 2004, Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,
Lost in Translation) and Buddy Robinson (Lucas Black, Legion), Bush goes through a process of self-discovery, allowing him to deal with his past secrets, including ones involving old flame (and new widow) Mattie (Academy Award winner Sissy Spacek, 1980, ! Best Actress,
Coal Miner's Daughter). Comedies about death aren't exactly a novel proposition, but
Get Low, which draws from a real 1930s incident, leaves the gallows humor behind for a lighter touch. After losing the love of his life 40 year before, Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) has lived like a hermit ever since. With death on the horizon and guilt weighing him down, the "crazy ol' nutter" decides to go out with a party. As he tells funeral director Frank Quinn (Bill Murray in top form), "Time for me to get low." Frank and his assistant, Buddy (Duvall's
Sling Blade costar Lucas Black), find the request bizarre--since Felix plans to attend--but they can't afford to turn him down. Quips Quinn, "One thing about Chicago, people know how to die. People are dying in bunches, but not around here." So, they fit Felix for a suit, post invitations up around Caleb County, and set up a land raffle to encourage everyone to show. Before he leaves this mortal coil, Fe! lix longs to hear the tall tales the town folk have been sprea! ding abo ut him. While preparing for the big day, he reconnects with Charlie (Bill Cobbs), a preacher, and Mattie (Sissy Spacek), an old flame who returned to the county after her husband's death. Their encounters, which have a gentle sweetness, encourage Felix to share the truth he's kept bottled up inside for decades. After that big buildup, his confession feels a little anticlimactic, but cinematographer-turned-director Aaron Schneider's affection for his characters always shines through.
--Kathleen C. FennessyAcademy Award winner Robert Duvall (1983, Best Actor,
Tender Mercies) is Felix Bush, the “Hermit of Caleb County,†a man so haunted by his secrets that he has lived in quiet desolation in the Tennessee backwoods for over 40 years. Realizing that he is near his own mortality, Bush decides to have a “living funeral party,†inviting people to tell their stories about him. Enlisting the help of Frank Quinn (Golden Globe winner Bill Murray, 2004, Best Actor ! in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,
Lost in Translation) and Buddy Robinson (
Lucas Black,
Legion), Bush goes through a process of self-discovery, allowing him to deal with his past secrets, including ones involving old flame (and new widow) Mattie (Academy Award® winner Sissy Spacek, 1980, Best Actress,
Coal Miner's Daughter).Comedies about death aren't exactly a novel proposition, but
Get Low, which draws from a real 1930s incident, leaves the gallows humor behind for a lighter touch. After losing the love of his life 40 year before, Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) has lived like a hermit ever since. With death on the horizon and guilt weighing him down, the "crazy ol' nutter" decides to go out with a party. As he tells funeral director Frank Quinn (Bill Murray in top form), "Time for me to get low." Frank and his assistant, Buddy (Duvall's
Sling Blade costar Lucas Black), find the request bizarre--since Felix plans to attend--but! they can't afford to turn him down. Quips Quinn, "One thing a! bout Chi cago, people know how to die. People are dying in bunches, but not around here." So, they fit Felix for a suit, post invitations up around Caleb County, and set up a land raffle to encourage everyone to show. Before he leaves this mortal coil, Felix longs to hear the tall tales the town folk have been spreading about him. While preparing for the big day, he reconnects with Charlie (Bill Cobbs), a preacher, and Mattie (Sissy Spacek), an old flame who returned to the county after her husband's death. Their encounters, which have a gentle sweetness, encourage Felix to share the truth he's kept bottled up inside for decades. After that big buildup, his confession feels a little anticlimactic, but cinematographer-turned-director Aaron Schneider's affection for his characters always shines through.
--Kathleen C. FennessyTrue Grit is a powerful story of vengeance and valor set in an unforgiving and unpredictable frontier where justice is simple and mercy is rare. Mattie Ross! (Hailee Steinfeld), is determined to avenge her father's blood by capturing Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who shot and killed him for two pieces of gold. Just fourteen, she enlists the help of Rooster Cogburn (Academy Award® Winner Jeff Bridges), a one-eyed, trigger-happy U.S. Marshall with an affinity for drinking and hardened Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Academy Award® Winner Matt Damon) to track the fleeing Chaney. Despite their differences, their ruthless determination leads them on a perilous adventure that can only have one outcome: retribution. A 14-year-old girl needs a man with "true grit" to help her bring in the fugitive who killed her father. That she settles on Rooster Cogburn--a one-eyed, booze-soaked, potbellied U.S. marshal on the downward curve of his career in law enforcement--is the glorious springboard for all versions of
True Grit: the Charles Portis novel, the 1969 western that won an Oscar for John Wayne, and the 2010 Coen brothers adaptation. ! The Coens have some mighty shoes to fill in their version, and! their c hoice for the eye-patch is Jeff Bridges, who growls his way through an understated take on Rooster. Matt Damon plays LaBoeuf, the Texas Ranger who joins the hunt; Josh Brolin is the scurvy killer; and Barry Pepper is the leader of the outlaw gang. Working as usual with cinematographer Roger Deakins, the Coens exhibit their clear, crisp view of western places, thrillingly creating new takes on recognizable vistas such as the frontier town, the snowy forest, and the isolated cabin at night. The Coens revel in the incredibly ornate dialogue, which allows their sardonic attitude to bleed into the material--young actress Hailee Steinfeld doesn't seem at all fazed by the language, which may be a key reason she got the job as heroine Mattie Ross. While
True Grit doesn't have the heft of the best films in the Coens' arsenal (there's something very formal and even a wee bit academic about their stroll through this familiar text), they do create a pleasant sense of a good yarn,! retold around the campfire for the umpteenth time.
--Robert HortonJoin the ShapelyGirl Revolution with Let s Get Moving! Let s Get Moving for ShapelyGirls is highly effective in burning calories and toning your body. This is a Beginner/Intermediate workout including warm up, cardio, and cool down exercises, a bonus floorwork track and a special feature, Debra Mazda s Circle Time when the ShapelyGirl team talks about working out as healthy, plus-size women. No matter what size you are - even if you've never worked out before - start moving, breathing & feeling great with Debra Mazda. Debra is living proof that you do not have to be a size 2 to be fit and fabulous. At 315 pounds, Debra decided that diets were not the answer and discovered that exercise can transform your body and your life. Debra and her ShapelyGirl team will work out right along with you and teach you to embrace your curves while getting fit and healthy. Together we can do this! Debra Mazda, M. Ed. i! s an Exercise Physiologist and Wellness Coach with over 2 deca! des in t he fitness industry and she is the #1 leader of the plus-size fitness revolution.Academy Award® winner Robert Duvall headlines this touching story of a down-and-out country singer named Mac and the young widow (Tess Harper) he meets in a small Texas town. But as their relationship blossoms, Mac’s years of hard living resurface when his music star ex-wife (Betty Buckley) appears bringing his estranged daughter (Ellen Barkin) with her. Will Mac’s painful past lead him toward an uncertain future â€" or will he find a way to move past his sorrow and start a fresh new life?Sometimes everything comes together in a movie and it becomes something so much greater than the sum of its parts that it can only be described as a miracle. That's the case with
Tender Mercies, a quietly luminous character piece about an alcoholic, washed-up country singer named Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall in an Oscar-winning performance) who hits bottom in a motel room one night and then slowly find! s his way back into the land of the living with the help of the widow (Tess Harper) and her young son. It's a low-key, contemplative film that feels like a rural American family comedy in the vein of the great Japanese director, Yasujiro Ozu.
Tender Mercies was directed by Australian Bruce Beresford (
Driving Miss Daisy,
Breaker Morant), written by Horton Foote (
To Kill a Mockingbird), who won an Oscar for his screenplay, and has an unbeatable cast. This is one of Duvall's most intimate and deeply personal performances, matched only by his debut 14 years later as actor-writer-director in
The Apostle.
--Jim Emerson Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/28/2010 Run time: 121 minutes Rating: RThe man who put the rock in raucous, Aldous Snow, returns to new levels of debauchery in
Get Him to the Greek, something of a spinoff of the character's first appearance in
Forgetting Sarah Marshall. As played by the equall! y naughty Russell Brand, Aldous has fallen off the wagon and i! s more o bnoxious than ever, a condition that will make Aaron Green's job more difficult. Poor Aaron (Jonah Hill) is the goggle-eyed record-company stooge whose job it is to transport Aldous from London to Los Angeles in the course of 72 vodka-saturated hours--specifically to the Greek Theatre, where Aldous is supposed to revive his stumbling career with a comeback show. Now, given Russell Brand's raggedy hilarity in
Sarah Marshall, this movie should be a slam dunk, as it imports that film's director (Nicholas Stoller), the "produced by Judd Apatow" imprimatur, and Jonah Hill in his deadpan stride. (Hill's character isn't related to his
Sarah Marshall role, by the way.) And yet
Get Him to the Greek summons up only sporadic laughs and commits the comedy crime of trying to explain Aldous's bad behavior, instead of simply letting his freak flag gloriously fly. So we are treated to the spectacle of Aldous's father (Colm Meaney, nice casting), who never loved his son ! enough, and Aldous's ex (Rose Byrne), who appears a little too inclined to spread the love around. Meanwhile, the comic situations that do arise are divorced from plausibility, whether it's the logistics of how a program like
The Today Show works or the likelihood of a three-way involving Aaron's girlfriend (Elisabeth Moss, from
Mad Men). One surprise: as Aaron's hard-driving boss, Sean "Don't call me Puff Daddy" Combs is thoroughly amusing. Rushed and choppy by comparison to other comedies from the Apatow mill,
Get Him to the Greek feels like the sophomore slump for Aldous Snow--and possibly the swan song.
--Robert Horton
