Shale
Bluelighter
The Hero
Movie Blurb by Shale
July 1, 2017
This movie has been out since June 9th, but it just caught my attention when perusing current movies, none of which appealed to me. Then I noticed that is stars Sam Elliott a contemporary of mine (we were both born in California in 1944 - he's 3 months older than me).
This is what would qualify as an "Art Flick" that studies a slice of life of a particular character, showing their humanity in a day-to-day existence. I have noticed that I have lost interest in a lot of the action flicks that I once watched, like the latest Fast & Fuious, Pirates of Caribbean, and Transformers, which opened last week. Maybe I am maturing into more adult movies.
Poster
Or, I just like Sam Elliott whom I last saw in I'll See You in My Dreams, with Blythe Danner another mature actor about our age that I enjoy on screen. (BTW, Director Brett Haley and Cinematographer Rob Givens also worked on that movie).
Those familiar with Sam Elliott know that most of his acting is as Western characters both on the big screen and TV. His character in this movie is Lee Hayden, an old actor in Southern California whose most notable movie was a Western known as "The Hero." Now he is only getting voice acting roles (Something else Elliott has done with his unique, deep comforting voice). But doing dreary commercials is not fulfilling except for a paycheck.
Like many our age, Lee has history. He is divorced and his 30-something daughter Lucy (Krysten Ritter) has abandonment issues with him. He has one friend, Jeremy (Nick Offerman) a former co-star on a TV Western and now his weed supplier. While at Jeremy's house he meets Charlotte (Laura Prepon) who came to pick up some drugs. They meet again in the neighborhood and kind of hit it off with 30-something Charlotte taking an interest in a guy older than her father.
Jeremy & Lee
Lee's agent has informed him that there is a Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony by some Western Preservation group and he agrees to attend. When his daughter declines to accompany him, he asks Claudia and she accepts.
Lee & Charlotte at Award Ceremony
Their relationship does turn intimate and there is some nice play with the fact of their 40-year age spread. (On a personal note, I have been approached by younger guys, some 20 or 30 years younger and two that were 40 years younger. However, haven't had that happen with women yet. Maybe I need a deep baritone voice)
I enjoyed this movie, but it may be for a select audience. Of the half-dozen ppl in the early matinee, all appeared over 50 and most were women. It got good reviews. The aggregate critics at Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 76% Fresh and 73% of audiences liked it. The Critics Consensus was "The Hero rests on Sam Elliott's understated performance, which proves more than capable of carrying the film through the less inspired moments of its somewhat clichéd story."
Oh, on another personal note, I think Sam looks considerably older than me and we are the same age of 72. Could just be genetics, or maybe he smokes but his skin wrinkles go much deeper than mine at this age.
Lee, Looking at the Pacific
Movie Blurb by Shale
July 1, 2017
This movie has been out since June 9th, but it just caught my attention when perusing current movies, none of which appealed to me. Then I noticed that is stars Sam Elliott a contemporary of mine (we were both born in California in 1944 - he's 3 months older than me).
This is what would qualify as an "Art Flick" that studies a slice of life of a particular character, showing their humanity in a day-to-day existence. I have noticed that I have lost interest in a lot of the action flicks that I once watched, like the latest Fast & Fuious, Pirates of Caribbean, and Transformers, which opened last week. Maybe I am maturing into more adult movies.
Poster
Or, I just like Sam Elliott whom I last saw in I'll See You in My Dreams, with Blythe Danner another mature actor about our age that I enjoy on screen. (BTW, Director Brett Haley and Cinematographer Rob Givens also worked on that movie).
Those familiar with Sam Elliott know that most of his acting is as Western characters both on the big screen and TV. His character in this movie is Lee Hayden, an old actor in Southern California whose most notable movie was a Western known as "The Hero." Now he is only getting voice acting roles (Something else Elliott has done with his unique, deep comforting voice). But doing dreary commercials is not fulfilling except for a paycheck.
Like many our age, Lee has history. He is divorced and his 30-something daughter Lucy (Krysten Ritter) has abandonment issues with him. He has one friend, Jeremy (Nick Offerman) a former co-star on a TV Western and now his weed supplier. While at Jeremy's house he meets Charlotte (Laura Prepon) who came to pick up some drugs. They meet again in the neighborhood and kind of hit it off with 30-something Charlotte taking an interest in a guy older than her father.
Jeremy & Lee
Lee's agent has informed him that there is a Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony by some Western Preservation group and he agrees to attend. When his daughter declines to accompany him, he asks Claudia and she accepts.
Lee & Charlotte at Award Ceremony
Their relationship does turn intimate and there is some nice play with the fact of their 40-year age spread. (On a personal note, I have been approached by younger guys, some 20 or 30 years younger and two that were 40 years younger. However, haven't had that happen with women yet. Maybe I need a deep baritone voice)
I enjoyed this movie, but it may be for a select audience. Of the half-dozen ppl in the early matinee, all appeared over 50 and most were women. It got good reviews. The aggregate critics at Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 76% Fresh and 73% of audiences liked it. The Critics Consensus was "The Hero rests on Sam Elliott's understated performance, which proves more than capable of carrying the film through the less inspired moments of its somewhat clichéd story."
Oh, on another personal note, I think Sam looks considerably older than me and we are the same age of 72. Could just be genetics, or maybe he smokes but his skin wrinkles go much deeper than mine at this age.
Lee, Looking at the Pacific
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