This issue, Bridges wins an Oscar and we bid Ledger goodbye.

Crazy Heart

(R, Now Avail.)

Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) was once at the top of the country world, but as the popular sound has veered further away from his own, he's found himself driving his truck to play at bars and bowling alleys across the southwest. At 57 his only remaining fans seem to be other musicians and people in their sixties.

It is prior to one of his shows that he meets Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a reporter for a small paper in New Mexico. Bad makes no secret of his attraction to her as she conducts her interview. It doesn't hurt that she has an appreciation of his music. Jean, a single mother of a four-year-old boy, is reluctant to embark on a relationship with an alcoholic musician twice her age, but she's won over fairly quickly. This could have sent "Crazy Heart" off the rails about half an hour in, but as written and directed by Scott Cooper (based on the novel by Thomas Cobb), the character motivations do make sense, aided in no small part by the performances of Bridges and Gyllenhaal.

"Crazy Heart" as a story feels familiar at most every turn. Bad's alcoholism, his divorces, the fact that he hasn't seen his son in almost 25 years, and the ups and downs of his relationship with Jean are all things we've seen before. Cooper and Cobb get no points for story originality, but the characters make complete sense. It's a wonderful showcase for Academy Award winner Bridges. He is also a fantastic singer.

Gyllenhaal does a terrific job as Jean. We know she should know better than to let Bad into her life and the life of her child, but we understand her. Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall provide nice support in what little screen time they have as well.

Cooper's film is held back by the story's predictability and familiarity, but well-crafted characters make this very worthwhile. 7.5/10.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

(PG-13, Avail. 4/27)

When Heath Ledger died two years ago, he was in the midst of filming with Terry Gilliam. I was of course saddened by Ledger's death, but the movie geek in me couldn't help but think, "Well, it figures it would happen to Gilliam."

He's faced severe adversity on seemingly every movie he's made. When he's managed to overcome it, he's produced some amazing work, particularly "Brazil" and "Twelve Monkeys." Lately though, he's been a bit off his game. "Tideland" was certifiably unwatchable. Seriously, I couldn't bring myself to finish watching it. But the hope for Gilliam fans was that he could overcome adversity once again to produce something special. Unfortunately, his latest effort is a film that's so maddening and unfocused that I really think Terry Gilliam is done as a filmmaker.

Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer, "The Sound of Music") runs a traveling carnival around London. To all the world, it appears to be a cheap show with a rather sad troupe of performers. There's a little man in an animal costume (Verne Troyer), awkward Anton (Andrew Garfield), and the Doctor's daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), who's fifteen going on sixteen.

When Valentina turns sixteen the Doctor's going to have hell to pay, literally. Long ago the childless Parnassus made a deal with the Devil, or Mr. Nick (Tom Waits...naturally), that if he was ever able to have a child that she would become Nick's the day she turned sixteen.

As it turns out, the carnival features a mirror that leads into another dimension. It's limited only by the imagination of whoever steps through it. Nick enjoys his interactions with Parnassus so he offers him a new deal days before Valentina's birthday. The first to capture five souls will claim her. This seems an impossible task for Parnassus until the troupe finds Tony (Heath Ledger) hanging from a bridge. As it turns out though, he's still alive, thanks to a little ingenuity on his part. Parnassus takes this as a sign that he is going to win and the fight for Valentina's soul begins.

The answer to the question of how they got around Ledger's death with filming not yet completed is surprisingly simple and it's actually one of the few things about "Parnassus" that works. Every scene in which Tony appears in the real world, Ledger had completed. Only the sequences in which he goes into the imaginarium remained, so it was written into the script that Tony would take on a different appearance whenever stepping inside. Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell all appear as imaginarium Tonys, and each does a surprisingly good job at keeping the character consistent, or as consistent as possible with this script.

While it's unfortunate that this is Ledger's last film, and unfortunate that the film itself is a failure, it's in no way Ledger's fault. He's as charismatic as he ever was as a schemer whose true nature is never fully explored. He does a terrific job with a character who sadly remained underdeveloped in the script by Gilliam and Charles McKeown.

Plummer and Waits each do fine work as well, but Cole and Garfield are forgettable and Troyer gives a performance so abysmal I don't know how he gets work as an actor. I can't remember the last time I saw an actor so inept at simply delivering lines. It's of little consequence though when the script and direction are as clunky and unfocused as they are here. It certainly doesn't help matters that its two hours feel more like three.

It's a shame for so many reasons that "Parnassus" just doesn't work, despite the valiant efforts of Ledger, his replacements, Plummer, and Waits. Ledger will be remembered for far better things. So will Gilliam for that matter. 4.5/10.

Also New to DVD and Blu-Ray

Now Available:

The Young Victoria (PG) - 7/10

The Lovely Bones (PG-13)

April 22:

Avatar (PG-13) - 4/10

April 27:

It's Complicated (R)