Bloodworth

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.

I love Val and Kris. And recently, Dwight has shown his acting chops so I had to see this. This is a slow moving story with mostly great acting so it was able to maintain my interest. The Brady Bloodworth character (W. Earl Brown) is over-acted in my opinion but the rest of the characters can hold your interest. You want to see what ultimately happens so you keep watching.

Watch this if you are willing to give it time but don't watch if you need car chases, or something to blow up. Mostly great cast and a few classic lines from some Hollywood legends. Beautiful scenery is just a bonus to this film. Bright, vibrant scenery adds to the overall experience of this down home Americana type film.

For better or worse, this story is very believable on many levels. Relax, turn off the phone and enjoy.

"I'm Warren, your son. When I was a boy you said you'd take me fishin, you never did. C'mon."

I rented this at Redbox after seeing the 7.2 IMDb rating. I forgot to check the number of IMDb votes. With only 300+ votes, it's obvious that many of the reviewers worked on the movie or were related to the cast and crew. Their praise was the praise of a parent for a dearly loved, but completely ungifted, child. This movie basically stank. It has some big name actors and it appears to have been made with a reasonable budget, but the general acting, directing, and storyline were BAD, BAD, BAD. Did you see Winter's Bone? If so, Winter's Bone probably inspired this movie, but the inspiration was drowned by a lack of writing, acting, and directing talent. My general rule of thumb is that you can ignore an IMDb rating until you have over 1,000 votes. The first few hundred votes are anything but unbiased. I forgot to check the number of votes and wasted $1 on another Redbox stinker.

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.

(2011) Bloodworth/ Provinces of Night DRAMA

Adapted from the novel ""Provinces of the Night" by William Gay, with the word "Bloodworth" as the title indicates, I have to say fans of horror may be disappointed since it has a title one could see for a scary movie, but it's really the last name of a redneck family centering on a father E. F. (Kris Kristofferson) making attempts to reconcile the family that he left behind many years ago once finding out he has cancer. Although, the music sounds great, it wasn't enough to keep this film afloat since they're several familiar nuances making it way too simplistic. The point of view is from the most educated one in the "Bloodworth" family whose inspired to be a writer, Fleming played by Reece Thompson who falls for Raven played by Hillary Duff. Also stars is Val Kilmer as the bar owner Warren Bloodworth and Dwight Yoakam as Boyd Bloodworth. Doesn't offer anything new the genre.