Crazy Heart

2009, Rated R, 112 minutes, Directed by Scott Cooper, Written by Scott Cooper based on a novel by Thomas Cobb, Produced by Scott Cooper, T-Bone Burnett, Robert Duvall,  Cinematography by Barry Markowitz, Original Music by Stephen Bruton & T-Bone Burnett

With: Jeff Bridges (Bad Blake), James Keane (Manager), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jean Craddock), Colin Farrell (Tommy Sweet), Robert Duvall (Wayne)

I have always been interested in the creative process of songs. So many of them are heartbreaking and I wonder if that really happened to the artist. The tagline for Crazy Heart was “The harder the life, the sweeter the fall.” Let me just say that Bad Black (Jeff Bridges) had a hard life. The movie gives us an excellent and insightful picture into the life of an artist, but, moreover the life of a man struggling to overcome his past mistakes and confront his addictive present. It is a character driven film seen through the lens of music and life; both those elements of the film shine like a melodic sunset.

Broken Embraces

2009, Rated R, 127 minutes,  Directed & Written by Pedro Almodovar, Produced by Agustin Almodovar and Esther Garcia, Cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto, Original Music by Alberto Iglesias

With: Penelope Cruz (Lena), Lluis Homar (Mateo Blanco/Harry Caine), Blnaco Portillo (Judit Garcia), Jose Luis Gomez (Ernesto Martel), Tamar Novas (Diego), Ruben Ochandiano (Ray X)

Broken Embraces  is the fourth time Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz worked together, and it is this pairing of the two that creates a lush and enthralling noirish love story that will enrapture your senses. Broken Embraces is a beautifully created story about all kinds of love: obsessive love, passionate love, love of family, love of film and love of beauty. Almodovar constructs a beautiful world where Cruz is able to take her acting to places it has never been to breathe a beautiful depth to the film.

New Moon

2009, Rated PG-13, 130 minutes, Directed by Chris Weitz, written by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the book New Moon by Stephanie Meyer, Produced by Wyck Godfrey, Cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe, Original Music by Alexandre Desplat

With: Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black), Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen), Billy Burke (Charlie Swan), Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Anna Kendrick (Jessica)

I am not a die hard Twilight series fan. I let the young teenagers handle that department. I avoided seeing the movie in the theaters in order to avoid the rabid screaming fans that would have hindered the viewing experience. So the time finally came to watch New Moon  this weekend and overall, the movie is a marked improvement from the first installment but lacks certain cinematic essentials that make it a slightly below par flick.