De-Lovely - 2 stars out of 10

De-Lovely - 2 stars out of 10

My first mistake was that I thought I was watching “Beyond the Sea,” the Bobby Darin biopic that was released around the same time,  My second mistake was that, once I realized my mistake, I was hoping for a Cole Porter biopic.  Instead, I found a musical about the struggles of being a homosexual in a heterosexual marriage… Needless to say, “De-Lovely” was a big disappointment.  I do like the presentations of Porter’s music by popular singers of the modern age (particularly Alanis Morissette singing “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love)” and it is magic to see this composer watching the first performance of “Anything Goes,” but that’s where the positives of this film end.  I would love it if it showed the history and inspiration of each famous hit (a la “The Glenn Miller Story”), but the musical numbers are merely used as interludes between various moments in Porter’s personal life.  The best part of the film is the “So In Love” sequence, because it actually takes the time to tell the story behind the song and it becomes beautifully meaningful.  Kevin Kline is good, but not good enough to save this film.  “De-Lovely” strikes me as the type of film that took itself too seriously in anticipation of winning several Oscars, only to find itself without a single nomination.  I love Cole Porter’s music, but I would recommend watching any of his musicals in lieu of sitting through this one.

Inside Llewyn Davis - 6 stars out of 10

Inside Llewyn Davis - 6 stars out of 10

“Inside Llewyn Davis” is a creative period piece that portrays the 1960’s folk music scene.  The story meanders through the frustrating life of Llewyn Davis, who simply cannot find success in spite of his great talent.  The twists and turns of the story build an empathetic connection to the main character and this is the film’s downfall.  With such a strong connection to Llewyn, we need to know his fate but when it ends in ambiguity, it is simply dissatisfying.  If the Coen brothers wanted the focus of the film to be on folk music and leave the general fate of folk musicians ambiguous, that would be fine; however, Llewyn’s story becomes too important to skip the conclusion.  I appreciate the use of the story’s time loop, but this method only works when the story reveals what happens beyond the time loop.  At the end of the film, it seemed like the loop was unnecessary.  Although the film left me unsatisfied, the musical sequences are very entertaining and the acting is excellent.  While Oscar Isaac’s singing is mesmerizing, my favorite performances in the film were actually the character roles of John Goodman and F. Murray Abraham.  And of course, who knew that Justin Timberlake was such a great singer!  Oh wait... I just wish that there would’ve been more from Carey Mulligan.  I enjoyed this story but, after developing a strong connection to the main character, ending it without a conclusion is like me writing a movie review and