Jane Heller

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Movie Day: "Inside Llewyn Davis"

November 23, 2013

9.1.1

I love the Coen brothers’ movies, so I figured I’d be in for an entertaining, if quirky, couple of hours at today’s Cinema Society screening. “Inside Llewyn Davis” was just that – entertaining and quirky – but also superbly acted and interwoven with the sort of ’60s coffee-house, pre-Dylan folk music that’s long vanished from the music scene.

Set in New York City in 1961, Llewyn (Oscar Isaac) is a failed musician who’s sleeping on friends’ couches and wandering the streets and subways looking hapless in between the occasional gig. One friend (Justin Timberlake) is more successful and is married to a woman (Carey Mulligan) whom Llewyn may or may not have knocked up. Another friend is a professor at Columbia whose cat Llewyn mistakenly allows to escape its Upper West Side apartment. Llewyn is lost, emotionally detached from everything and everyone, except when he plays his guitar and sings and then he comes alive. The trouble is no one wants to hear him/pay him.

There’s a sequence involving a road trip with the always hilarious John Goodman, but this isn’t a particularly funny movie. It’s a character study of a man who strives for authenticity in his music and can’t find acceptance. I can’t say it was one of my favorite Coen Brothers films – it’s about a sad sack, after all, and the song lyrics are all gloom and doom – but the performances were uniformly great. In the Q&A after the screening with star Oscar Isaac and music producer T. Bone Burnett, we learned that all the singing was shot live – we’re talking about entire, three-minute songs, not snippets – and that Isaac had to learn real guitar picking for the role. Carey Mulligan, who seems to be able to pull off any sort of role that’s thrown at her, is utterly believable as a New York folkie (who knew she could sing).

Quite a few of my friends didn’t like the movie at all and while it’s true that the story doesn’t really go anywhere, as T. Bone Burnett pointed out, neither do folk songs. They start and end with the first verse, and so does “Inside Llewyn Davis.”

Filed Under: Mainly Jane, Movies, Music Tagged With: Carey Mulligan, Cinema Society, Inside Llewyn Davis, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake, Oscar Isaac, T. Bone Burnett

Movie Day: "Trouble With the Curve"

September 23, 2012

I had to skip the Q&A after today’s screening with the producer and screenwriter, so I missed hearing what they had to say. But I enjoyed the movie itself in spite of my reluctance to see it. For one thing, the reviews were mixed. For another, I got the sense that Clint would be playing Clint – the same crabby, crusty guy from “Gran Torino,” “Million Dollar Baby,” etc. For a third, I wasn’t up for two hours of baseball cliches, no matter how big a baseball fan I am.

However, the movie got to me, cliches and all.

Yes, Clint was crabby, very much the guy who talked to a chair at the Republican convention. The raised eyebrow, the lip curl, the salty putdowns – all in evidence.

But then there was Amy Adams, who can do no wrong, as far as I’m concerned. She created magic as Clint’s lawyer daughter – feisty yet vulnerable, tough-talking but charming – plus she had the best hair of any woman I’ve ever seen (she should do shampoo commercials).

Justin Timberlake continues to grow as an actor, and he was perfect as the former pitcher-turned-scout and Amy’s love interest.

There aren’t a lot of surprises in “Trouble With the Curve” – the villains are one-note villainous, the good guys (especially John Goodman) have hearts of gold and there’s no question how the story will end. And the big “reveal” – the reason Clint and Amy have been estranged – was downright weak. But I’m a romantic sap and a sucker for schmaltz and I love baseball movies, so I walked out of the theater feeling glad I’d come.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Mainly Jane, Movies, Sports Tagged With: Amy Adams, Baseball, Clint Eastwood, Justin Timberlake, Trouble with the Curve

A Moment Or Ten About Justin Timberlake

May 22, 2011

(courtesy: people.com)

I admit it. I was never a fan. Maybe it was the falsetto. Maybe it was the mimicking of Michael Jackson’s moves. Maybe it was his path to stardom – a combo of his role on the “New Mickey Mouse Club,” his fronting of ‘N Sync and his relationship with Britney Spears. I wrote him off as a boy band dweeb.

But then came the hosting gigs on “SNL” and “What Goes Around Comes Around” (a recording I actually bought) and, ultimately, his movie roles, including his genuinely impressive turn in “Social Network,” for which I thought he’d get an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor.

http://youtu.be/uC5wVJrhzl0

Last night he hosted the season finale of “SNL” and his opening monologue convinced me – a little late to the party, granted – that he’s the real deal.

http://youtu.be/K7heLbANzTU

I was spellbound by his musical number. The guy is so versatile he could probably anchor a Broadway show. And he has comic chops too.

So I was wrong, Justin. I’m sorry. You’re talented. Forgive me.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Food, Movies, Music, Popular culture Tagged With: 'N Sync, Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live, Social Network

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About Jane Heller

Jane Heller is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her fourteen breezy, witty novels of romantic comedy and suspense are now entertaining millions of readers around the world, along with her two books of nonfiction.

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