BLAZE

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Director Ethan Hawke does justice to the memory of Texas Outlaw Blues singer/songwriter Blaze Foley in this transfixing biopic.

Co-written with Blaze Foley's widow Sybil Rosen, Ethan Hawke employs a satisfying elliptical story form. The method proves especially practical in keeping the complex narrative grounded in the poetry and integrity of Blaze Foley's gentle demeanor and keen philosophies. 

Ben Foley's heartfelt songs take center stage.

Ben Dickey is a revelation in the role of Blaze; this is not your run-of-the-mill biopic performance. Damn this actor/musician is good — really fuckin' good.

Charlie Sexton brings illuminating thematic and character ballast as singer/songwriter Townes Van Sandt, in a portrayal that is wry as it is weathered.

Still, the role proves to be a thankless task in light of the grave-robbing that Van Sandt committed in order to get the pawn ticket out of Blaze Foley's jacket pocket that Van Sandt could redeem for Foley's last guitar.

Classy.

Sybil Rosen seems to take direct aim at Townes Van Sandt as being a class-A asshole who contributed to Foley's failed music career. Backstabber? Seems like.

The deep love connection between Blaze and his actress girlfriend Sybil (Alia Shawkat) gives this impressive film its emotional core.

The roots of American social themes and attitudes run through "Blaze" like a twisting river.

The life of a troubadour is always a difficult one. Blaze Foley proves up to the challenge.

Damn, this is a great movie.

Rated R. 129 mins.

DRIVE — SHOCKTOBER!

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Playing with a William Friedkin-like level of patient intensity, atmospheric style, and shocks of violence Dutch director Nicolas Winding Refn creates his own 21st century dialectic of cinema. Part love story, part black comedy, and part crime thriller "Drive" is a film-lover's dream. Hossein Amini's adaptation of James Sallis's pulp novel provides Ryan Gosling with the kind of cool-blooded character actors would kill to portray.

Known only as Driver, Gosling wears a trademark silver racing jacket with a big gold scorpion embroidered on the back. His curious fashion sense matches his singular motivation to drive...fast.

Driver is a "five minute" man. For the right price he will navigate L.A.'s "100,000 streets" as a getaway driver. Whatever happens before or after his five minute work schedule begins or ends is up to the client. One thing is guaranteed; his escape will be clean. His clients' fates are less certain. During the day Driver works as a mechanic when he isn't performing driving stunts in Hollywood movies. When we see Driver dressed as a cop before filming a stunt, it's telling how convincing Driver is as an actor. The layers of Gosling's stoic Driver run thick and many.

Driver's apartment neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) snaps him out of his laconic loner routine. Irene has a boy named Benicio whose dad's release from prison is coming up. Such unnecessary exposition is mercifully kept out of the way of the mostly silent chemistry that passes between the would-be lovers. Careful and restrained, a romantic tension slowly builds. It crescendos with an elevator kiss in the presence of a hit-man. When Refn breaks the spell with a disgusting act of violence, every plotline and character line that has come before coalesces into a vortex of repulsed emotion. The lovers have a test. How much uncertainty can a new relationship withstand?

To give anymore of the plot away would be a sin. Suffice it to say Driver is a man of secrets. He lives by a strict code that only becomes apparent through his actions. Driver isn't telegraphing anything. Still, he does have a temper.

"Drive" is an impossibly glamorous and gritty film filled with nooks and crannies bursting with action goodness. Sam Peckinpah has clearly been a profound influence on Nicholas Wending Refn. Like Peckinpah — the genius filmmaker behind such classics as "The Wild Bunch" (1969) and "The Getaway" (1972)--Refn understands the menace of sensuality and the sexiness of machines. He knows how to exploit these cinematic elements for all they're worth. Hopefully, Refn will not be co-opted and degraded by Hollywood as so many gifted directors before him have been.

The moody techno soundtrack by Cliff Martinez is the hippest thing around. Sexy, violent, and stylized like you can’t believe, “Drive” is a big-screen movie that oozes charisma and pops with brutality. Yum.

Rated R. 100 mins.

THE FABELMANS

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No one does populist pap like Steven Spielberg.

I say that in a good way.

"The Fabelmans" carries such rich generational, emotionally driven, '50s era touchstones to entertain and touch us.

Damn, this is a good movie.

Tearjerker.

This may well be Steven Spielberg's best film.

You couldn't ask for a finer swan song if that turns out to be the case.

Michelle Williams is remarkable in her role as Mitzi Fabelman, a complex mother, wife, artist, musician, dancer, and free thinker.

Seth Rogan has matured nicely, as displayed in his commanding performance in a thankless role that Rogan elevates to something important, inspiring, and real.

Cool man. Nice work.

Which brings us to Gabriel LaBelle, the hotshot rookie actor showing off his stuff with serious feeling, timing, and physicality.

Impressive.

Gabriel LaBelle is the new Dustin Hoffman.

Gabriel LaBelle is Spielberg's not-so-secret asset to this very satisfying movie about movie-making toward different motivations and skills.

I would be remiss to leave out the always wonderful Paul Dano, handling a difficult role with perfect mastery.

Beautifully understated and profound is Dano's rendering.

Steven Spielberg and his ensemble had a lot of fun making this exquisite movie, and it shows in every frame.

"The Fabelmans" is a memoir imagined. It is an important artistic achievement that wears its heart on its cotton sleeve.

At least someone still knows how to tell a story on film.

Cheers to Steven Spielberg for this full-on masterpiece of the seventh art.

Rated PG-13. 151 mins.