Being a music lover myself, and someone who truly believes in the healing power of music and can testify to the power of music, when I first heard of August Rush, I knew I was going to see it. I’ve been recommended this movie by many close friends, some friends who knew how much I loved music, and then friends who just found this to be a quite moving film. They were both right!

August Rush is a beautifully, evocative, musical journey that deals with issues of abandonment, neglect, and speaks about faith in things unseen…but felt. I loved the way music was so neatly and wonderfully interwoven throughout this film, it literally was the dialogue. Seeing as how there wasn’t much in dialogue between the characters, music had to be what communicated emotion, it was the bridge and the glue that made this movie whole and complete.

From the opening scene (which is my favorite scene), a masterpiece of emotion, wind, and nature, all within the confines of an epic wheat field, I was swept away by the movement and connection that August had with sounds and his surroundings. That was the perfect way to open this movie, it immediately brought the audience into August’s world and gave us a touch of the warmth August embraces for music. I love that he’s so young and doesn’t even really know what “music” is, he just hears everything, down to the electricity running through the wires, all the way to how a car horn sounds, and it’s all, to him, harmoniously leading him to his family that he never knew.

If you go into this movie wanting to pick holes apart in its story, you will find that the film falters. You have to go into this movie suspending disbelief and let the emotion, the visual poetry, the heart of this movie sweep you away: music and the passion to create it. Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers play August’s parents, Keri is a successful classical cellist, and Jonathan is a rock ‘n’ roll guitar player. The musical heritage that’s found in this family seen is early on, particularly in one scene where Keri Russell and her cello and Jonathan and his guitar are juxtaposed, creating this intriguing, haunting, classical rock-hybrid that’s a great metaphor for who August is.

The performances are believable and heartfelt, even if the plot and story are a little far fetched. One particular performance really got to me, and that was Robin Williams’ portrayal of “Wizard,” who was a Fagin-esque character, a guy who seemingly wanted to help runaway kids, but who actually exploited their musical giftedness and set them up on street corners playing music, in which, of course, he received a cut of the money they earned. He was almost like a musical pimp to these kids, and I have to be honest, he was a creepy character. What made it even more weird was the fact that he basically looked exactly like Bono, which is who, from what I’ve read, he based his character off of…hopefully in look alone.

The ending of the film, in my opinion, was its weakest part. It seemed like they spent so much energy and time in developing the first and second act to make it believable and heartfelt, which it was, but when it ended, it was so abrupt and left a lot of things unfinished. I realize that a good ole’ happy ending is great to have at times, but still, I would have liked to seen a little more development in the end, if anything, just to give some closure to the story.

It’s wise to ignore the predictability of the plot and the believability of the film and let yourself be captivated by the spell of its intensely passionate tribute to melody and harmony.

Content Warning: Rated PG for some thematic elements, mild violence and language.

I want to start off this review by thanking my good friend Chris Blanchett for introducing me to the world of Once. He is the one who suggested I check out this soundtrack from a movie called Once, this little nothing of a movie that completely captured his heart. So, Chris, thank you!

If you’ve never heard of Once or don’t know what I am talking about, then that’s great! Here at ToC, I get the privilege of introducing you to the wonderful and amazing little world of Once, a dramatic, romantic, musical filmed entirely around 2 characters, “Guy” (played by Irishmen Glen Hansard) and “Girl” (played by Czechoslovakian Markéta Irglová) in and around the streets of Dublin. This little movie that came out of nowhere utterly captured my heart with warmth, reality, authenticity, humility, and true love…all centered around some beautiful love ballads written by Glen and Marketa.

This movie shouldn’t work. It’s filmed on a shoestring budget with one camera starring very inexperienced actors, and yet it brims with small pleasures that pay major dividends. The story is simple, Hansard stars as a Dublin songwriter who takes his guitar to the streets and sings himself hoarse to people who could care less. He barely makes anything from playing, but that isn’t his goal, he just wants to sing his songs. Supplementing his non-existing singing career is his job as a Hoover vacuum repair man with his Dad. Can you get any more real or depressing than that? His life seems to be heading nowhere until he meets a pretty Czech pianist (Marketa Irglova) who gives him the guts to quit his dad’s repair shop and start finding the bucks to make a recording. That’s it for the story. It’s a bittersweet love story that has Hansard’s gorgeous music at the center with an aching romance for the soul.

There is something so hauntingly mesmerizing about the music that pervades this entire film. It’s music in its rawest form, no studio extras, no synthesizing, just emotion, heart, and a broken guitar with lyrics that paint a sad and bare picture of heartache. The film is driven by and depends on the power of the songs for its heart and they become indispensable towards the end of the film. It’s the uniting power of music that keeps this movie together, without Hansard’s songs this movie doesn’t work, it would fall away into oblivion just like every other small film. It would still be a good film if the songs played over the action as like in every other movie, but the fact that they drive the story, the fact that both Glen and Marketa actually sing them on film at the most poignant times in the story is what makes this film GREAT!

You can’t afford to miss this movie. In a world full of dramatizing and analyzing and “blockbustering” love, this is a quiet little film that shows the reality of love, the pain of love, the joy of love, the awkwardness of love…the song of love. Writer-director-musician Jon Carney (he played bass in Glen’s band “The Frames” until 1993) has made a sweet film, which elevates itself to an entirely different plane of film musicals, by using the simplicity of plot, character, and style to craft a sort of cinematic poem. After you see this movie, you will immediately want to buy the soundtrack and check out Glen’s band “The Frames…” because that’s what I did. Of course, I already had the soundtrack, I just moved it to the top of my iPod in listening priority.

We rarely fall in love at the movies enough, but this is one to adore.

Content Warning: Rated R for language. They use the “F” word as much as we would use the word “the” in a sentence. The funny thing is that because of their accents, it doesn’t seem as harsh sounding. Be warned, there is a lot of language, but believe me, it did not take away from the movie, it actually fit within the context of the story. It was more cute than harsh…you’ll just have to see for yourself.

The movie never really took off for me. The romance nor the pain never reached the point of engaging my interest enough to really care about it. I really like Greg Kinnear as an actor and love most, if not all, of his movies, and so it was real hard to see him in this one, especially as the hated “heartbreaker.” I couldn’t help but think of him in the quirky, funny, genius way that I normally do, so I didn’t buy him as the bad guy, even though the movie would want you to hate him, I secretly loved him. I actually like when movies feature actors in a much different role than what the American audience is used to seeing them in, but with Greg Kinnear, it didn’t work for me. The script wasn’t strong enough to make me hate him, I mean, come on, did you see Little Miss Sunshine?

I do have to honestly admit that I am a small closet Ashley Judd fan and I know that may cause some of you to question my credibility (like you don’t already do that), but as for an emotional actress, she can REALLY bring on the tears. I really liked her in Where the Heart Is with Natalie Portman, I thought she played that white-trash-on-the-outside-yet-high-class-on-the-inside very well and honestly. She did have a few highlight scenes that I may have giggled about out loud, 1 being the cheer scene when the “other woman” walks out of the bedroom wearing only a sheet, and the other being the scene in the hospital with her sister as she comforts her; both scenes showed her range of humility and vulnerability, which totally defines her roles.

Hugh Jackman turns in a typical “sexist” role and doesn’t ever really grab me with anything. It was a little refreshing to see him open up and expose a softer side when he talks about his breakup, but it was for only a second and then it was quickly covered up by him walking around his loft wearing only boxer briefs…good grief.

This was a movie that I’m sure was forgotten when it came out because of its predictability and its cookie-cutter formulaic approach to the romantic comedy genre.

Content Warning: Rated PG-13 for sexual content including dialogue, and for some language. There’s not much to worry about in this movie, but say for a couple of scenes that quickly show Hugh Jackman without a shirt and wearing only boxer briefs.

There isn’t another way to review this movie other than to say, don’t go see it. I really want to be more positive and search throughout the entire film for some saving grace, but honestly folks, I wasted an hour and a half of my life sitting through this movie.

Debra Messing is awkward on screen, her dialogue never seems to connect with the audience, her chemistry with walking robot Dermot Mulroney is about as passionate as a wooden chair, the way she drudges along hopelessly playing the victimized older sibling never suits her well…she just needs to stick with playing a gay man’s roommate. I first thought this was an older movie, probably made around the time Will & Grace was taking off figuring the execs would try and cash in on her sitcom-star status and see if she would resonate on screen, but to my dismay, this was made only 3 years ago! The scenery, the jokes, the actors, all of it just seemed to be trapped in the late 90’s in its function and workability.

My wife and I put this movie on our Netflix queue after reading about it, remembering how funny Debra Messing was in Will & Grace and hoping that with a male counterpart that was heterosexual, she would really drive the movie and the story…nope! I can’t say I had a lot of expectations for the movie, but I at least expected to be, at the least, entertained, and that didn’t even happen.

Folks, just pass on by this movie. You won’t be happy, you won’t feel romantic, and you won’t laugh, you’ll just leave the movie wishing you had that hour and a half back.

Content Warning: Rated PG-13 for sexual content including dialogue. This movie should have been rated R. It had some surprisingly sexual scenes, 1 being a mild sex scene that resulted in me having to avert my eyes for a bit. Stay away!

**SPOILER ALERT**
If you don’t want to know what happens in this movie, then please just read the front page summary. There are plot details revealed in this review.

I love to watch a movie where the child actor steals the movie. It just warms me when a little child (male or female) can deliver a performance that totally outshines their adult counterparts. Those child actors are why I loved Jerry Maguire (Jonathan Lipnicki), Man on Fire and War of the Worlds (Dakota Fanning), and as of late Signs, Little Miss Sunshine and No Reservations (all with Abigail Breslin). There’s just something authentic and innocent about them that really engages me and forces me to follow along the movie to discover how the world around these children changes because of them.

In this movie we find Catherine Zeta-Jones, a high powered chef in an upscale New York restaurant, having to deal with losing her sister in a car accident and becoming a new parent of her niece Zoe, played wonderfully and emotionally by Abigail Breslin. The story is kind of a cookie-cutter pattern to the typical (independent adult who after life altering circumstances has to take care of a kid who eventually softens their heart and shows them the true meaning of closeness) and at times feels like just your average romantic comedy. The romance part comes in when Catherine Zeta-Jones’ boss hires Aaron Eckhart to be the sous-chef, after Catherine is forced to see a therapist and kind of freaks out because of the loss of her sister.

Naturally, Aaron is a polar opposite to Catherine, he’s free and likes opera, he wears 80’s MC Hammer pants when he cooks, sings in the kitchen, all of the things opposite to Catherine who is strict, stern, structured, and works like a machine…classic opposites-attract scenario that you will find in MANY romantic comedies. Again, if that’s all the movie was, I would not have liked it, I would have probably reviewed it like, “It was just eh” but because of Abigail’s performance, I must say that I at least enjoyed HER.

She’s just great! From the moment you meet her on screen, you can just feel like something bad is about to happen. Her odd and quirky little face reveals so much character and personality when she acts. You can really feel her pain when she is lying in the hospital and realizes that her mom has passed away. I didn’t buy into any of the other actors emotions throughout the movie like I did with Abigail. She sold me.

I realize this review is very one-sided and it’s not actually a review of the movie, it’s more of a review of Abigail Breslin. The movie was ok. I never really felt the chemistry between Aaron and Catherine, and I truly didn’t feel, apart from 1 breakdown scene in the freezer at the restaurant, like Catherine mourned that much over her sister. It was a slower progressing romantic comedy than I’m used to, and in the end, I really think it was less about the romance between Aaron and Catherine as it was about the relationship between Abigail and Catherine. Abigail made this movie watchable for me.

I wouldn’t have paid money to see this in the theaters, and it would have garnished a pretty low spot in my Netflix queue. It’s a movie that you watch with family, when a lot of people are around…but don’t miss Abigail’s performance.

Content Warning: This movie is rated PG for some sensuality and language. There’s some intense kissing between Catherine and Aaron, but that’s it. The movie is actually pretty clean and it’s quite surprising that a romantic comedy would actually make it as a PG movie.