Something to watch tonight: Tuesday 24 September

Crazy Heart (Cooper, 2009)

Jeff Bridges is back on TV in the second season of his spy thriller The Old Man. We enjoyed the first season and I wasn’t expecting another so it’s a pleasant surprise to see the algorithm suggest it to me.

We are a bit backed-up for TV, though, so it might be a few weeks before we get to it.

While I’m thinking of Bridges (and Disney+), I thought I would check in on my March 2010 review of his Oscar-winning performance in Crazy Heart:

Performance of the year so far is the great Jeff Bridges as country singer Bad Blake in Crazy Heart. Bridges has always been a wonderful screen presence but his recent performances have sometimes seemed a little like treading water (for every Big Lebowski there seems to be a Stick It) but this turn as an ageing hero on a lost highway may well be his finest ever. Blake was one of the legendary singer/songwriters of the Outlaw era and Bridges gives him the stage presence of Waylon Jennings, the singing voice of Guy Clark (he does his own singing and playing I should emphasise) and the drinking habits of Townes Van Zandt.

For all the greatness on display from Bridges, Crazy Heart itself is a bit of a let-down. The central relationship with beautiful single mom Maggie Gyllenahaal doesn’t work for a nanosecond and the happy ending comes too easy – it’s as unearned as Blake’s own redemption.

So, not a wholehearted recommendation today but I should point out that Gyllenhaal also won an Oscar for this film and that the soundtrack was steered by the great T-Bone Burnett and features performances from Bridges, Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell.

Also reviewed in that Capital Times column: Scorsese’s great Shutter Island with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jane Campion’s beautiful Bright Star, Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker in the “dire” Did You Hear About the Morgans?, a “little gem” of an Algerian comedy called Masquerades and a 3-D double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2.

Thanks to everyone who responded to the offer of a 50% discount on a paid subscription yesterday. It’s very gratifying. That deal is on until the end of September so if you’re wavering …