REVIEWS COME IN FOR "COUNTRY STRONG"

Still from Country Strong

One of the Films I am most excited to see right now actually won’t be opening over the Holidays in these parts, but it opens today for the lucky people of Los Angeles and Nashville. Country Strong from Director/Screenwriter Shana Feste, stars Gwyneth Paltrow as an unlucky Country Singer with a few vices, on the comeback trail. Believe it or not, Feste has cited Britney Spears’ downward spiral a few years back as being the inspiration behind her Heroine, Kelly Canter (Paltrow).

Previewing its Soundtrack last night for the first time, I was rather impressed by Paltrow’s conviction on the four tracks in which she appears, like the rockin’ swagger of Shake That Thing and the Film’s title track. Garrett Hedlund from TRON: Legacy is convincingly Bluegrass with that lower Baritone register on his sole track Chances Are. Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester does a credible job too on her one track Words I Couldn’t Say, although there is no doubting who the real star is in Paltrow. It appears co-star Tim McGraw might have lent her a pointer or two.

Reviews are starting to come in for the Musical Drama and although mixed unsurprisingly with the most telling sign being its snubbing at last week's Golden Globe nominations in the Acting and Best Motion Picture categories, Variety Magazine’s Justin Chang praised it still.  Chang in a review just published last night says it is a “rare ensemble piece in which all four principals are not only compellingly drawn but handled with an astute sense of dramatic balance.”