GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

jpblair-07110 I don't think I've ever caught a movie on opening day, but I couldn't resist fighting the crowd to see "I Saw The Light" on opening night. Wasn't much crowd to fight. I was the first to purchase tickets for the 7:15 show at the Warren. The reviews haven't been good, but I want to start out and say if you are a fan of Hank Williams, go see the movie. I read all the books and watch all the movies. I appreciate any attempt to keep the music of Hank alive and on the forefront. The last few days, there has been a lot of talk about Hank and this latest film. Sixty-three years after his death, and we are still talking about him and the media is putting out stories on this latest biopic about the greatest hillbilly singer ever. Over sixty studio recordings of which over 30 charted. No one else has done that! It was a short career, but will probably require a mini-series to actually tell the story to meet our expectations. Tom Hiddleston's performance is commendable. He has the look and is a great actor. He also had the benefit of working with country legend Rodney Crowell to prepare for the film. With today's recording technology, the music will be perfect. However, Tom fails to capture that "tear" (as in crying tear) in his voice that Hank had. He didn't appear to be about to lose control of his emotions when singing "Lovesick Blues" or "Cold Cold Heart". The music is great, with some of the best sidemen in Nashville contributing. Tom's movement while singing seemed a bit awkward. It seemed instead of bouncing up and down, like Hank did from exerting the emotion in his music, Tom had a choreographed circular motion. However, he looked like Hank. I became immediately jealous of his perfect "Hank" nose (which makes mine look like Jamie Farr). I give Rodney an "A" for his production of the music. The movie tends to jump around all of the dark characteristics of Hank without fully exploring them. These "dark" areas haunted Hank during about 5% of his time of stardom (in my opinion) while the other 95% was great music and good times (albeit in pain). While the Colin Escott autobiography is considered one of the best, other books by band members Jerry Rivers and Don Helms give a more accurate allocation of the fun Hank vs the dark Hank. The film missed an opportunity to create an epic moment during Hank's opry debut when he reportedly performed numerous encores of Lovesick Blues (and I've heard first hand reports from Martha White, who happens to be my Mom, who was there that night). I'm not a director of any sorts, but I would have used the title song performance of "La Bamba" as my example of creating such an epic moment. I think they also missed an opportunity to tie in the hospital scene of Hank bringing Audrey roses resulting in his writing Cold Cold Heart. And why not some drama surrounding Lilly boarding a pregnant Bobbie Jett and Billie Jean at the same time? Or the drama of the three way fight between Lilly, Billie Jean, and Audrey after Hank is dead, resulting in Lilly and Audrey "tag teaming" against Billie Jean. Or the birth of Bobbie's baby, Cathy, just days after Hank's funeral with Bobbie turning over custody to Lilly before moving to California? I didn't see any glaring inaccuracies, probably due to Colin Escott being an advisor. They give a disclaimer at the end of changing some timelines for dramatization, but none immediately stood out to me (possibly leaving out The Willis Brothers as the first band he recorded with on Sterling instead of Red Foley's band?). The wardrobe, instruments, amps, and cars were fun to watch in the film along with the vintage scenes from the opry. Audrey's (Elizabeth Olsen) vocals were very close to real, in my recollection of her recordings, so I'll give Elizabeth an A also. I'm not a professional movie critic, but if I were directing it, I would have added a "National Lampoon" ending like Animal House and Stripes where a short bio tells what happened to each character after Hank's death. Toby Marshall, Audrey, Bobbie's baby, Bocephus, and Billie Jean are stories in themselves. Again, please go see the movie. Maybe the movie's success will inspire other artists or even a mini-series (I'll nominate Jason Petty to play Hank and maybe he will let me play Big Bill Lister or George Morgan). Or better yet, go buy Colin's book, and Jerry's and Don's and check out Brian Turpen's books. For what it's worth, that's my review. Couple more things. Tom's version of the Luke The Drifter recitation was very good. He did better at mimicking Hank's vocal intonations on that number than he did with the regular speaking role. Also, another interesting scene that I would have added would have been Hank's dealings with Jack Ruby in Dallas (and using his alias, Herman P. Willis to avoid him).

Hellmant 'I SAW THE LIGHT': Three Stars (Out of Five)A biopic based on the life, and death, of country and blues music legend Hank Williams. The movie stars British actor Tom Hiddleston, as Williams, and it costars Elizabeth Olsen, Cherry Jones and Bradley Whitford. It was written and directed by Marc Abraham, and it's based on the book 'Hank Williams: The Biography' (by Colin Escott, George Merritt and William MacEwen). The film underperformed at the indie Box Office, and it's gotten mostly negative reviews from critics and fans alike. I think it's about average for a biography, which means it's pretty boring stuff (despite it's involving subject matter).The movie begins when Hank Williams (Hiddleston) was already a well known country and blues singer, and songwriter. He was also already unhappily married to Audrey Sheppard Williams (Olsen), who was also his duet partner and manager. He also already had a serious alcohol and drug problem as well. The movie chronicles his rise to fame, and further descent into health and relationship troubles, up until his very young death at the age of 29.Hiddleston, despite not being an American actor (or especially from the South), gives an awesome performance in the film (he also did all of his own singing in it)! His performance is actually the highlight of the movie, but the character (and the music legend that he plays) should be a lot more fascinating. The movie recounts the details of his short life, and stardom, but it doesn't actually breath any real life into them; it's just not very involving at all (like it should be). Most biopics have this too annoying flaw though. The film is OK, especially for a Hank Williams fan, but then again, Hank Williams fans are the ones who should be the most eager for more.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/mFAp0zxR-lY

zkonedog When I see a film like "I Saw The Light", it reminds me of how fine the line is between being "great" and being "just okay". This film has great acting, wonderful song numbers, and tells a dramatic story…all things that it's "spiritual" successor "Walk The Line" does. However, there is one key difference (that makes all the difference): That earlier Johnny Cash flick had a lot of heart. This Hank Williams biopic? Not so much.For a basic plot summary, "I Saw The Light" tells the story of Hank Williams (Tom Hiddleston), the mega-popular but also severely troubled country music superstar. The film begins with his rushed, low-key marriage to Audrey (Elizabeth Olsen), then chronicles his rise to stardom in line with the promiscuity and alcoholism that defined his personal life.The problem that holds back "I Saw The Light" is simple to identify, yet tough to disseminate: it lacks that "spark", or heart, that previous biopics on other topics have provided. I think the primary culprit in this case is that it doesn't include much of a personal narrative for any of the featured characters. It's about as "straight" of a biopic as one will ever see, not providing any "editorializing" (for lack of a better word) on Hank or his life. Simply put, there is no backstory given, so how can we ever really feel for the events on screen without that context?Fortunately, the acting in this film is terrific…every bit as good as "Walk The Line", to be completely honest. Hiddleston captures the awkward skinny-ness of Hank's physical presence, while Olsen often steals the show as Audrey. Usually, acting like this can propel a film to great heights, but (as previously mentioned) there just isn't enough meaty material to create the kind of dramatic tension needed to make that happen.The musical numbers are a treat, as Hiddleston does a remarkable job of mimicking Hank's unique sound. I like it when films like this let the actor cover the songs…so long as the performance isn't totally butchered. Hiddleston shines in that regard.Overall, though, the lack of drama/energy in "I Saw The Light" ultimately doom it to its 3-star rating. It's a bit sad, as all the other components are firmly in place, but it just lacks that dramatic narrative that needs to drive any biopic. A film like this can't just "portray real life" (as where is the spectacle in that?). It has to tell its own story, and that is where "I Saw The Light" fell short.

Lori Sloan I really wanted to like this movie... I wanted it to be a huge breakout solo hit for Tom Hiddleston, but it just wasn't that great. The writing seemed a bit cheesy and it took a while to get moving and that didn't happen until pretty far in, about the time his back problem was finally explained. From there on out, his drinking becomes obvious, but there is still too much left unmentioned about his marriage and what lead him to such destructive behavior. Hank Williams has been gone for a long time... I think we needed more of a reminder about who he was and what he went through. The music is great... there is talent in the film and you can tell that Tom Hiddleston put a lot of work into it, but it just doesn't come together. I guess in the end there was just too much left unexplained.