Post by CMF Newsman on Apr 22, 2009 14:43:28 GMT -5
I was sitting in my theater seat the other day taking in some truly horrendous trailers before watching a real movie when one of my friends leaned over to me and said, “I forgot how bad spring movies are.” How right he was. Does anyone with a lick of taste really want to go see Dragonball Evolution or The Haunting in Connecticut? You can answer that for yourself but thankfully, this week offers two wide-release options that should give audiences some relief from the movie dregs of spring.
The first is director Joe Wright’s new film The Soloist, starring comeback kid Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. Playing in theaters everywhere, the film is based on the true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a Juilliard-trained cellist plagued with schizophrenia. At the film’s start, Ayers (Foxx) finds himself homeless and impoverished, playing a cello with just two strings. Struggling journalist Steve Lopez (Downey Jr.) of the Los Angeles Times discovers Ayers and writes an excited column about him for the paper.
But he doesn’t stop there. Lopez enlists the help of doctors and professional musicians to help get Nathaniel off the street. To let Ayers’ musical talent go to waste would be a crime and Lopez uses his position at the Times to help get the talented and afflicted musician back into the spotlight.
God forbid that The Soloist becomes a slimy sob story complete with incessant screaming at life’s hard knocks and a mopey climax. It very well could, but Pride and Prejudice and Atonement should instill in audiences enough faith in Joe Wright to make this story just what it needs to be. Wright is very crafty at achieving that earned brand of melodrama that can produce plenty of tears…but not the ones you’ll feel guilty about.
www.chattanoogapulse.com/film/film-reviews/13-film-reviews/810-relief-from-spring-screen-drought