Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

SnoopyStyle Fleming Bloodworth (Reece Thompson) is desperate to leave his small town life. His uncle Warren (Val Kilmer) is a wild man with Hazel (Hilarie Burton) in his car. He's too drunk to drive. He pushes underage Fleming to drive him and passed out Hazel to Louise Halfacre (Sheila Kelley). This leads to a drunken fight between Hazel and Louise. The good part is that Fleming connects with Louise's daughter Raven Lee Halfacre (Hilary Duff). His grandfather E. F. Bloodworth (Kris Kristofferson) returns after 40 years on the road as a traveling singer. He had abandoned his wife (Frances Conroy) and his 3 sons. The Bloodworth men are all broken and bitter.The problem seems to be that the characters are all random wild southern screw ups. The script is a mess of characters going every which way. Things happen that I'm uncertain about. A pig shows up in the middle for some reason. I'm fine with Reece Thompson but Hilary Duff leaves me with concerns. She has this bubbly personality that can't be restraint but her character needs to be darker. Her mother is such a mess that it has to show up in her performance. At first glance, the problem basically boils down to director Shane Dax Taylor in his second movie and screenwriter W. Earl Brown on his first film script. The inexperience really shows.

jotix100 E.F. Bloodworth, a country singer now in his old age, wants to go to the place where he was born and which he left hoping for a fame that obviously never came. In fact, the old man is coming home to die, but what he finds as he gets there is nothing but hatred from the family he left behind. Only his grandchild Fleming appears he is the only one welcoming his return.E.F. had three sons, Warren, Boyd, who is Fleming's father, and Brady, the only one that stayed to work the place and his mother Julia. Fleming is an ambitious young man who knows he must leave the rural area where the land is located if he is to make something out of himself. Encouraged by a local teacher, he secretly years to break out of the environment.Warren, a man that loves his women and booze, introduces his nephew to the pleasures of the flesh. One day Warren takes Fleming to a house where a prostitute Louise Halfacre lives with her daughter, the beautiful Raven. It is clear Fleming sees in the girl a kindred soul. She in turn, introduces the young man in the pleasures of sex, but little does he suspect she has been quite busy with the uncle."Bloodworth" based on a novel by William Gay, which we have not read, kept reminding us of a much better film, "Winter's Bone" in which a much backward family is at its center. Not being able to compare the narrative with the written text, one can see how W. Earl Brown's attraction in adapting it to the cinema. As directed by Shane Dax Taylor, the movie is worth a view by serious viewers. The first half of the film is excellent, making us want it to have kept the good intentions of Mr. Brown until the end.Kris Kristofferson is a busy actor who makes justice of his character. E.F. is not seen much in the film, but in his scenes, the actor makes us understand why he has been so good in his career in front of the camera. A surprising performance by Reece Thompson as Fleming, shows an interesting new face in the movies. We were quite surprised by Hillary Duff's Raven. This actress has wasted too much of her career playing light characters and she clearly made an impression in a more dramatic role. Val Kilmer does not have much to do, and neither does Dwight YoaKam for that matter. The adapter W. Earl Brown has some good moments in the film. Frances Conroy is seen as the mother.

ziploked This story takes place in a beautiful country setting somewhere in Tennessee. It revolves around a young man whose family was splintered apart by his grandfather's (Kris Kristofferson) departure long before he was born. Grandpa Bloodworth left behind boys that grew up carrying the pain of their father's departure, and we watch how it all manifest upon his return.This is an excellent piece of storytelling using a rural setting to tell a story from a part of America that the movie explores without any condemning bias about the South or Southerners. This movie simply tells a story from a corner of America that anyone can relate to if you pay attention to what's being said.Some say it moved along slowly, but I thought the pace completely appropriate with the story being told. The movie keeps you glued wanting to know the "why's and what's" of upcoming events, while the ending will certainly pull your heartstrings.Outstanding acting by great performers, a great story, and definitely worth a watch.

analogcassettes As a long time fan of Kris Kristofferson I was eager to see what he had to offer to the screen, not having seen any of the other films he has acted in. I sort of scoffed when I saw Hilary Duff in the opening credits, but decided it had been a long time since her dumb kid movie days and that I should give her a fair chance.Opening scenes are nice, seem to be establishing a good amount of visually pleasing imagery, the characters seem really interesting. I was intrigued. I did remain intrigued for much of the movie, but once it hit the two thirds mark I really felt like something was missing. I was having a hard time putting my finger on it, but really once I got to the end of the movie it felt like there was so much that was unsaid, unexplained and un-followed through with. The story seemed to addle on and continue moving, but nothing really follows through with Dwight Yoakum's character Boyd. The eventual reunion of E.F. Bloodworth and his ex wife Julia just really falls short. I enjoyed Kristofferson on screen, but it just seems that the story went too many places at once (Not to mention the horrible dream sequences! I felt like I was watching a TV re-enactment!) and didn't carry enough weight in any of them to tie them together very well. Val Kilmer's character is interesting and pretty well played and his part of the story plays out in it's entirety, it seems. Pretty great scene in the end between Fleming and Warren. But Hilary Duff did not really redeem herself, in my eyes. Some OK acting, but still, less than what I was expecting from such a good-looking movie. It was sort of like watching a movie based on a book that you really like and just noticing how much had fallen through the cracks. Except I didn't quite know what was being lost. Maybe it was a book first and I should read that instead.All in all: enjoyable, worth watching but don't get your hopes up too high. This is no Crazy Heart.