Kevin

We all know I have a thing for Kevin Spacey. He's far and away my favorite actor, but I also happen to think he's yummy. I know this is not the conventional view of Kevin. I'm not saying he's hot like Brad Pitt, or Jude Law, or Orlando Bloom. It's something more than that. It's talent and charisma and classic good looks. I've honestly given up trying to explain it. You either get it or you don't. "Beyond the Sea" is Kevin's biopic about Bobby Darin, and it finally opened here yesterday so you better believe I went and saw it. The movie could have sucked and I still would have been perfectly content just sitting and looking at Kevin for 2 hours. Fortunately the movie didn't suck though. It wasn't great, but it could have been much much worse. In addition to "Beyond the Sea," there have been a lot of biopics out this year (Ray, Finding Neverland, The Aviator, De-Lovely, and I think a couple of others). Some worked. Some didn't. This one sorta worked. The film is beautifully shot. Kevin directed the picture and he has a great eye. He uses a lot of soft focus techniques and really knows how to use color to draw your eyes where he wants them to go. Like "De-Lovely," this film was kind of disjointed. It jumped from wanting to be an actual dramatic telling of Darin's life to wanting to be a musical with big production dance numbers and all. They justified them by calling them "fantasy sequences," but still the contrast was kind of jarring. The film also drags a bit towards the end. Overall the cast is solid. The one disappointment was Kate Bosworth, whom I normally adore. She was born to play Sandra Dee and she just didn't deliver. She had a couple of good scenes, but generally speaking her performance was flat. This is a flawed film, but when Kevin comes on screen and starts to sing (and boy can he dance too), you forget all it's flaws. He is Bobby Darin. He sounds like him. He moves like him. He is absolutely fucking mesmerizing. Kevin's performance makes the film worth seeing and I'm not just saying that from my weird fan-girl perspective. Everyone in the theatre stopped moving whenever he started to sing. They were as enthralled as I was. I can't really give this film the glowing recommendation that I want to give it, but if you are a Kevin fan or if you go in knowing that this film doesn't compare in any way to a musical biopic like "Ray" then I think it's definitely worth your time to check out...
Wow, I think that was my longest review of the year... and it's about a Kevin Spacey film, go figure... Just think what would happen if Kevin and Angelina did a movie together. My review might go on for days :)

"Memories are like moonbeams. We do with them what we want." -- Kevin Spacey - "Beyond the Sea"