Runaway Jury is not a movie about gun control. Despite what many reactionary pundits might say, this 2003 legal thriller based on a book by John Grisham is about the nature of influence in justice. It is about how people shape their opinions and choices and about what can influence a jury in the imperfect, subjective courtroom.

Directed by Gary Fleder, Runaway Jury utilizes an ensemble cast in bringing Grisham’s novel to life. There were a few changes to the story, with the main one being a shift of the case from Grisham’s idea of a tobacco company to the more updated version of a firearms manufacturer. Even so, the basic components of the story remain and the basic premise, one couched in the notion of jury selection and tampering, remains as well.

The film centers on a woman (Joanna Going) whose husband is killed in a workplace shooting. She decides, given the fact that the gunman killed himself in the crime, to take on the gun manufacturing company on the grounds of gross negligence. This leads to a firestorm of publicity, as one might imagine, and she gets the services of pro bono attorney Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman) to help her take on the massive gun manufacturer.

Of course, the gun manufacturer outweighs Rohr and his client in almost every fashion, hiring “jury consultant” Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) to set up an ideal jury. The process to do this is meticulous and there is quite an elaborate and far-fetched operation put into place to get the jury just how the gun group wants it. In the end, however, one particular juror (John Cusack) turns out to have motives of his own that throw the whole outcome of the trial in the air.

The whole gun control issue really is just the backdrop to this tale of the lengths people and organizations will go to in order to get the wheels of justice to turn their way. There’s a lot of posturing and moving around in this motion picture and some of it works rather well. Most of it, however, feels implausible and borderline ridiculous.

Cusack’s character, together with the help of his accomplice (Rachel Weisz), manages to manipulate the process with the greatest of ease. He passes information to his accomplice on the outside easily, despite being in one of the most important juries in the country, and is able to freely exchange information with her without much trouble from the law. Despite all the trouble Fitch and his team go through, they aren’t very effective at stomping out this problem either.

Fleder’s approach the material here is bland tech thriller stuff, with the use of slo-mo and all sorts of other old tricks packed in to help boost some of the “action.” Unfortunately the director adds nothing of interest to Runaway Jury, so it’s up to the actors and the team-written script to get things done.

The performances are quite good, although none really stand out as being all that remarkable. Hackman is the best of the bunch, putting a decent dose of slime into Fitch and creating a character whose only motivation appears to be profit. It’s a stereotype, sure, but all the characters (include the scrubby guy who yells “bullshit” at the end of the trial) in this movie are stereotypes.

In the end, Runaway Jury is just barely recommendable. The story probably owes more to Grisham’s book than it does to anything going in Fleder’s movie, however, and one will probably get the same idea without all the formulaic nonsense by just reading the novel. Even so, Runaway Jury is probably worth a look if it happens to pop up on television when there’s nothing else on.

5.6/10

Trailer:

I’ve got university presentations today and tomorrow so I haven’t got anything other than a review to give you today. I’ve been working my socks to the bone to get all my work done, pretty sure that’s not a real saying but it darned well should be. Saying or no saying the point is I’ve been busy, personally I think you should bake me a hero cookie for even keeping to my blog schedule. No? Dam it. Anyway, you being a selfish bastard aside here’s my blog for today…

I saw Law Abiding Citizen on Friday night (if you hadn’t already figured that one out for yourself). We arrived late due to my friend Rosina being incompetent at following a time schedule, luckily they were still showing adverts when we got there. Unluckily however, we had to sit at the front because all of the other seats were taken. Our just spread out between groups of people with one chair between them because they are scarred of catching rabies or something, I hate it when people do that (spread out so you can’t sit down, not give you rabies I mean).

I liked this film, it’s entertaining and it even snuck in laughs despite it being billed as a ‘thriller’. I didn’t actually think it was a very good thriller. By that I mean, we knew who was doing everything and why. I was puzzled about who I was meant to be rooting for however. Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) had lost his family and seen the legal system let him down and the killer let off with a weak sentence, but I didn’t think Jamie Foxx’s character Nick Rice had done that much wrong. He was just following the way the system worked after all and he seemed like a pretty nice guy really. Sure he over worked and didn’t see his kid enough, but a nice guy really. It would have been easier if everybody involved with the legal system was a complete bastard so you could really root for Butler.

There’s a lot of negative reviews floating around about this film, but I think they’re being harsh. When you can sit there watching a film, pain in your neck due to the annoying angle you are sitting in, and still find the film enjoyable to watch. Then you’ve got a good film. Simple.

This year, the rather uneventful year of 2009 has held what could be described as several, rather futile attempts at creating true action movies. I mean the ones with more explosions than if Michael Bay directed Die Hard 4.0, or enough cunning to outwit the beautifully crafted stratagems of The Italian Job.

And you really don’t see enough of them these days, especially within the last few years, the action franchise is unfortunately going to the dogs. That is, before Law Abiding Citizen came along. There’s a line, just one line within the film, even in the trailer which sums up the extent of this film, “It’s going to be biblical.” That, is truly a line which will go down in the film industry. Why? Because of any great film that’s worthy of remembrance, there’s always a line or two that stands alongside it, sharing its glory.

Unsurprisingly, these quotes are often from some of the best Action films to date, whether it be ‘ The name’s Bond… James Bond,’ in the billion dollar franchise which is now entering it’s 23rd film. Or it may be ‘I’ll be back‘ or ‘Come with me if you want to live,‘ or more even more recently the somewhat humorous scene in T4, where Christian Bale merely shouts ‘CONNORRRR!‘ down the radio. Law Abiding Citizen is one of those sort of films. Unfortunately, my love for it, and it’s success is not something which is shared globally, raking in just over $80 million worldwide, on it’s $53 million budget. Sure, it’s a financial success, but hardly.

However, maybe the short-lived success was somewhat deserved, there were many instances where the film could have been considerably better, and with a slightly disappointing ending (by my standards), it’s not truly a surprise why the film didn’t hit the $100 million mark. Despite the film’s downsides, there is some fantastic acting by Gerard Butler (Phantom Of The Opera, 300, PS. I Love You), who portrays an emotional widower who has also lost his children at the hands of a murderer who has subsequently been freed due to a corrupt justice system. In many cases it’s an accurate representation of what happens today, in our society, and it really does. Jamie Foxx (Ray, Collateral, The Kingdom) on the other hand, demonstrates some less favourable acting as a corrupt prosecutor who is obsessed with his 96% conviction rate. To be frank, his character is a bit of an ass, but in these days, what can you do?

As I previously mentioned the explosions, I’d just like to point out that Michael Bay should give his job to the special effects guy/girl, because they are true action movie explosions, not manageable sparks, but full on, “Ah, if we’re caught in this, we’re -insert multiple cursings here-.” With an epic score to match, it’s no wonder why I was on the edge of my seat, and for all the right reasons. A great action thriller which certainly makes you think, worth a place in anyone’s DVD collection. If you like ‘The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3, you’ll love this. View the trailer here.

I must start this review by saying this is the best film I have seen for quite a while, and I am hoping that I will continue to say that about films in the next couple of months as we move closer to awards season.

A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family’s killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.

Clyde watches as his wife and daughter are murdered in front of him, knowing exactly who committed the murder. Yet his lawyer Nick decides against going to court and cutting a deal instead. The deal which actually sets the killer free, Clyde sees all of this and it takes him 10 years to figure out how to seek vengeance. Does Nick still believe that he made the right decision in regards to that case? Clyde has had a plan building up and on the day one of the men is eventually killed after being on death row for 10 years something goes terribly wrong, but who is to blame? The other man Clyde keeps for himself, subjecting him to an awful death, torturing him. But who would be next on his list? Even if he had been put in prison . . . as he begins to target all of the people who were involved in the case.

I have to admit that I was right into this film, paying full attention and enjoying the twists and turns it took all the way through and eventually saying ahhhh right I get that now at the ending which I will not spoil, and also which I did not see coming at all. (I was not really trying to guess the eventual outcome, I was just enjoying being lost in the film). The screening I was at on Friday night was full and everyone seemed to enjoy the film, laughing at the funny lines which must have been put in to take off some of the edge a film like this can have. People laughed and everyone jumped at one part, myself included . . . to which everyone then laughed because while it was obvious that something was going to happen, you had the uncertainty of not knowing what exactly was going to happen. Which I felt was very good in regards to storyline and action.

I guess the main talking points found in this film had to be does the justice system always serve a good purpose or do things slip through the net and therefore people get away with doing just horrible crimes or can they get away with it?

Performance wise I thought Foxx and Butler both put in very good performances and had good chemistry when on-screen together, especially when Clyde was getting inside Nick’s head and really winding him up. Foxx as the lawyer who’s morals have to change especially 10 years later he has a daughter and he knows he would have done exactly the same thing that Clyde had done. Colm Meaney is an actor I really enjoy seeing in different films, while he always seems to play the supporting role he does this very well. The reason I look out for him now is since seeing “Moon for the Misbegotten” in the West End a couple of years ago now, which he was in alongside Kevin Spacey.

So I really did enjoy this film because I found myself totally lost in the storyline and enjoying the twists and turns it took along the way.

When it comes to trashy movies, there are generally two different categories. The first is the trashy movie that knows it’s a trashy movie, while the second and much, much worst category is the trashy movie that has no awareness of its trashiness. Luckily, Obsessed falls into the former category and builds to the climax that everyone who’s anyone wants to see. It also manages to reach the inexorable apex of its story without being boring along the way, which certainly earns it some points.

Directed by Steve Shill, who has worked on some pretty terrific HBO programs, Obsessed picks up on the scenario from Fatal Attraction somewhat and builds it to a knock-down-drag-out fight in the final sequences. This is a movie that is all about the build and all about the tension of what will happen and it uses every resource imaginable to do so.

Idris Elba is good as the happily married Derek Charles. He’s a successful executive vice president of a successful company and he’s living the dream. Derek’s marriage to Sharon Charles (Beyoncé Knowles) is a happy one and their child, Kyle, is the centre of their universe. As one might expect, everything changes when temp Lisa Sheridan (Ali Larter) steps into the picture. She meets Derek in an elevator and instantly becomes envious of what he has.

Lisa obsesses over Derek, using all of her assets to get at him in any possible way. She aims to seduce him initially, but the obsession grows and she begins to want to be in his life as a permanent fixture. Derek is having none of it, however, and this puts a significant strain on her plan. She works hard to get at him, drugging him at a business retreat and taking advantage of him. This leads to difficulty between Derek and Sharon, but the truth eventually comes out and leads to Sharon “asserting herself.”

One doesn’t go see a popcorn flick like Obsessed to ruminate about the nuances of the performances or the direction. Shill does work some nice tricks, though, and his approach to the material is clean and unfussy. He builds objects well, like a drink with a drug in it or a glass table, and knows how to draw our attention to the right places.

The match-up between Larter and Knowles is every bit as good as it should be, invoking every piece of cheesy fight cliché to get the job done in a sequence that literally tears the house apart. The two women really go at it and it works as a fun, thrilling sequence that ends as it should. It is the main event of the picture and Shill delivers the goods with a combination of timing and over-the-top glee. It’s a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

Obsessed is really a simple motion picture. Everybody holds up their end of the bargain and nobody comes up short, including the supporting cast. This is a movie that doesn’t stretch, doesn’t move mountains and doesn’t overreach. It certainly knows its boundaries and Shill does well to work within his parameters, taking few risks and delivering an entertaining, satisfying guilty pleasure of a picture that boasts a really cool fight scene to close things off aptly.

The film doesn’t bore along the way, either, and it’s fun to watch Larter attempt to scoop Elba’s character with a variety of sneaky attempts. She plays a good villainous woman here and matches up well with Knowles’ assertive but happy Sharon. There are also some good early moments that allow each actress to try their hand at subtle digs. Overall, Obsessed is just good fun. It’s a good matinee or drive-in picture that goes down easy with a soda and a nice big tub of popcorn.

5.9/10

Trailer:

In the 80s and 90s Michael Douglas was the go-to guy to play men harassed, used, abused and manipulated by women, as seen in the White-Men-Under-Attack trilogy of Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct and Disclosure. After his screen avatar’s bad luck was purged by David Fincher in The Game his screen appearances have become sporadic. The next generation demands a new macho hero who can be hunted by the kinds of obsessive, dangerous women that only exist in movies. In Obsessed, the man attempting — and failing — to fill Douglas’ shoes is Idris Elba, who plays executive Derek Charles with a relentless and tiring intensity the movie doesn’t warrant. Happily married to his former assistant Sharon (Beyoncé Knowles), Charles is stalked at work by a temp assistant, Lisa (Ali Larter). At first she merely seems infatuated with Elba, but after he rebuffs a couple of aggressive approaches she becomes crazed, interpreting his rebuffs as evidence of his love for her, prompting her to insinuate herself into his life a la Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction and Jessica Walters in Play Misty For Me.

Those movies showed the male protagonist’s culpability, with the message being “Mess around, and you will suffer for it.” Here writer David Loughery and director Steve Shill seem to be saying “Guys, there are some crazy women out there, and they’ll fuck up your life for no reason.” This doesn’t even pass muster as a morality play. It’s just another movie stating that there is no such thing as the Other any more. No matter how well you live your life, people are going to hunt you down, drug you with Rohypnol, rub up against you while you are in a fugue state, and listlessly kidnap your child, though “relocate” seems to be a more accurate description for what she does, as the nefarious Lisa merely moves Derek and Sharon’s son from his crib to their car.

The worst that happens to Derek is that he is accused of having an affair. The evidence for this is entirely provided by Lisa, and yet despite the flimsy nature of it (for example, listing him as an emergency contact number, or writing about the imaginary affair in a diary), at least two women automatically believe he is in the wrong. In one of the stupider scenes of the year, a police detective (Christine Lahti) investigating a suicide attempt by Lisa interrogates Derek in the crowded waiting room of a hospital with Sharon sitting next to him. As the scene descends into incomprehensible histrionic chaos, we see Elba desperately trying to prove his innocence while both women irrationally dismiss his pleas. The movie seems to be saying that it just doesn’t pay to be honourable, because women will always distrust their man.

It’s tempting to think Obsessed is intentionally trying to trade in the most witless and offensive gender stereotypes possible, as some kind of poorly signposted satire on gender politics. The male characters (including Jerry O’Connell and Bruce McGill) are either flamboyant homosexuals mincing around the office or leering sexist pigs whose idea of small talk is to discuss how sexy women love to extort money from them with their feminine wiles. Still, at least gender politics are addressed, albeit ineptly. The potentially inflammatory racial implications of having the only black characters in the film threatened by a predatory and insane white woman are ignored altogether. Apparently, this was to avoid repeating the themes of Loughery’s previous movie Lakeview Terrace, which featured a racist black cop menacing a white family.

It quickly becomes clear the filmmakers are only interested in cranking out the least provocative thriller possible. With a blameless hero victimised by a villain who has no recognisable human qualities, even the dependable nightmare scenario of being framed and losing everything is diluted by the vast amount of contrivance needed to place our hero in jeopardy. We’re merely expected to wait — unmoved and unoffended by the mild PG-13 thrills — for the villain to get her comeuppance, which comes in a protracted and absurd finale, when Sharon returns home to find Lisa in bed. The poorly choreographed catfight that follows is violent but bloodless, and finally provides Knowles with something to do other than chide Elba. After mouthing some unconvincing threats and killing Larter, Knowles is comforted by her husband, and the last shot is of her, not the man who has been onscreen for most of the film. I’m not the only person confused by this shift in focus. Did Knowles — who co-produced the movie with her father Mathew – sign on just so she could film a long fight scene? Why would that appeal to her? Did she hate the third season of Heroes even more than I did? This mystery is the only aspect of the movie that invites further reflection.

Obsessed is as dreary and toothless a thriller as you’re ever going to see. Unimaginatively plotted by Loughery — the man who wrote Star Trek V: The Final Frontier — the viewer waits for anything shocking or interesting to happen and gets little more than some one-note shouting from Elba and some lazy misogyny. All that’s left for the viewers to occupy themselves is mockery of the risible dialogue (“I’ll take up that slack. That is one smoking hot piece of ass!”) and direction. TV director Shill has worked on almost every notable show of the past ten years, including The Wire and Deadwood. However, he started out with EastEnders, Emmerdale, and The Bill, and it is these uncinematic melodramas that provide the closest link to his work here. Overlit, poorly blocked, and littered with even more establishing shots than in Tommy Wiseau’s notorious bad movie classic The Room, Shill fails to transform Loughery’s script into even a passable movie. Apparently the working title for Obsessed was Oh No She Didn’t. It’s a pity they went with the straight-to-DVD-esque title it now has. If they’d retained the original title, at least the laughs elicited by this dismal failure might have seemed intentional.

Law Abiding Citizen, the new film by F. Gary Gray, is a far-fetched fantasy disguised as a gritty serial killer thriller. There are also hints of social commentary that get interesting for half a second before diving into the realm of the ludicrous. Gray mixes and matches genres and ideas so liberally that the whole thing turns out to be a somewhat garbled mess. The idea of a man who got screwed over by the justice system deciding to try to take it down, and the man who cut a deal with a known rapist/murderer and then having to pay for his actions, are the material of a ripe Greek tragedy. Instead, Hollywood gets in the way, and the tones clash due to several key missteps.

Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is an engineer whose house is invaded, and his wife and daughter are raped and murdered right before his eyes. Gray knows that the audience has zero chance of thinking of Clyde as anything but a brutal serial killer after the first half hour of the film, but wants us to sympathize with his plight until then, so he makes the unfortunate decision of showing us the viciousness of the home invasion. We see the knife enter the wife, we see her pants pulled down, we see the daughter walk in on the killer having mounted her mom, and we see the killer walk towards the girl, saying, “Little girls like me,” fully eliminating any trace of character dimension and replacing him with a murderous cartoon. Not surprisingly, later in the film, Clyde systematically tortures and kills the killers. It’s bloody and awful, but we still have traces of sympathy.

Then, the film starts to go from unpleasant to just plain bad. Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) is the assistant district attorney who is more concerned with keeping a high conviction rate than serving justice, so he cuts a deal with the rapist, getting death penalty for the other home invader while the rapist goes free in eight to ten years. When Clyde starts exacting his revenge, however, it’s not just on the killers– it’s on anyone in the justice system involved with the events. He feels the system is broken, and he’s going to bring it all down. What follows are five ways in which the film messes up.

1. It doesn’t matter how badly the main character suffered– in a thoughtful film, brutal torture and slaughter of essentially innocent men and women will not be condonable. Ever. In The Transporter or some other Jason Statham film, this would be acceptable and in good fun, and starring Jason Statham, Law Abiding Citizen might have been a more successful (albeit different) movie. However, Gray tried to get us to sympathize with Clyde, and the way Gerard Butler is playing the part, it’s more like Hannibal Lecter than mournful parent/husband. It’s revealed that he used to be the brains for a spy organization, but that’s still not justification for what he does. The slimy people involved, who are self-centered and obnoxious? Of course, they need to die. But sweet, sympathetic supporting characters? And sending a video of vicious dismemberment to Rice’s 9-year-old daughter?

2. Be thoughtful or don’t– but if you don’t pick a side, it doesn’t work. There are moments of discussion about the flaws in the justice system, and how it can be easily manipulated so that murderers go free. The most interesting moment in the film is when Clyde acts as his own attorney and reveals that despite the very evident fact that he committed the murders, there’s no evidence that will stand up in a court of law. The judge agrees, and agrees to give him bail. Moments like this reveal the direction in which the film could have gone. Instead, it prefers to have outrageous twists and death scenes. One of the deaths is ludicrous, inventive, and shocking, and would fit perfectly into some B-film (my audience laughed out loud in delight). However, following the discussions of the justice system, it shifts the film from being thoughtful to thoughtless. It’s like a tug-of-war between those desirous of an intelligent film, and those desirous of turning their brain off before stepping into the theater. You can balance both, but this film doesn’t attempt to balance– it merely mashes one into the other.

3. If you set up a seemingly impossible scenario, and you don’t have an intelligent ending, your audience will rebel. I can forgive the tonal shifts. There is some good cinematography and a few cool deaths (though you can tell intelligence goes out the window in dealing with this film when the best compliment I can give it is some “cool deaths”). However, the ending has me scratching my head still, twelve hours later. Not only is the twist regarding how Clyde manages to kill all these people from the confines of his jail cell an enormously stupid cop out, the character who receives his just desserts (I won’t say if it’s Nick or Clyde) receives them in a way that is implausible at best and laughable at worst. I would be happy to hear an explanation in the comments section below, with spoilers and all. I simply don’t know how the ending was pulled off.

4. If your supporting actors are more interesting than your main ones, you have a serious problem. Bruce McGill and Leslie Bibb both do nice work battling with their moral dilemma, whether they did the right thing and if they earned the death that’s coming for them. Jamie Foxx is the stubborn one, who only contemplates his responsibility for what happened maybe once, before continuing to do the necessary police work to save the day (even though he’s a lawyer, not a cop… the line is blurry in Gray’s world between lawyers and cops). Finally, Gray should have seen the work Viola Davis was doing as the mayor of Philadelphia, noted how she was exerting more force and power on the screen than any other character by a long shot, and written more scenes for her. She outclasses Butler and Foxx by a country mile in this film.

5. Don’t let Hollywood dictate the path of your film. Somewhere, I have the feeling there was an interesting movie– in fact, I read that Jamie Foxx was originally set to play Clyde with Gerard Butler as Nick. This intrigues me… Foxx would have likely been a more pensive, less psychotic killer, and Butler would have been more emotional as the assistant D.A. (at least, I’m basing this on their strengths as performers). This might have lent itself to a more intriguing thriller, laced with moral dilemmas and not merely packed with killing for the sake of blood. But that’s not what’s “in” in Hollywood right now, is it? Why have thoughtful thrillers when people’s phones can blow their brains out and twist endings can ruin any semblance of logic? In the end, while Gray and company might have abided by the laws of the brainless Hollywood thriller, he is guilty of a first-degree waste of talent.

NOTA : 7 RECOMANDAT

Download subtitrare The Lookout

Trailer The Lookout :

Law Abiding Citizen stars Jamie Foxx (who I am  now growing to love more and more) as a district attorney and Gerard Butler as something of an “everyman”, a man unfortunate enough to witness the murder of his wife and daughter and subsequently suffer through what he sees as a complete fumble of the case by the DAs office and/or justice system, where a deal is made with one of the killers and he is set free after only a short time in jail. Our friend Butler decides this is bullshit, takes matters into his own hands and begins to kill everyone he feels is responsible while standing up for a less awful justice system in the process.

Let this be said: I loved the court scene pretty early on. If only the film was made as a coutroom drama rather than throwing a lot of its brilliant justice system criticism out the window to become a thriller pretty early on it would probably have been great, because this scene is absolutely fantastic. That said, the thriller bits work pretty well as well, and Butler’s character has something of a Silence of the Lambsian charm about him, as well as him more or less having an excellent point meaning its hard to know who to root for most of the time.

I’ve come to a point where I really like Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler. They both carry enough screen presence for one film on their own, so the fact that they are both present here is a huge point in its favor. It cops out a bit in the end, and again I wish it would have focused more on the justice system criticism which is at times in the beginning profound, but I was pretty happy with this nonetheless. Not a perfect film, but an acceptably good thriller with a point.

3,5/5

Opening 27th of November at MAYO MOVIE WORLD CINEMA

Synopsis: In LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, a prisoner’s incredible reign over the city outside his cell is interrupted by an assistant district attorney. Gerard Butler (300) stars.

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler, Viola Davis, Bruce McGill, Leslie Bibb, Colm Meaney, Regina Hall

Director: F. Gary Gray

- John David

well, gerard butler looks pretty awesome with his shirt off.  and i’m really starting to miss the in living color jamie foxx days.  dude is just way too serious.

other than that, i really can’t say a lot about this film.  other than people seem to like it.  the friend i was with when i saw it really liked it as well.  i think i’m just an uber critic.

i think their objective in this film, other than blowing a bunch of stuff up, was to point out some flaws with our legal system.  like making deals with murderers and bad guys and giving them lesser sentences so they can give another bad guy and murderer a harsher sentence.  and i know this goes on.  i’ve seen it in other movies.

ol’ gerard loses his mind when the murderer of his wife and daughter get off with a light sentence because the guy testifies against another bad guy.  and he really does kill everybody.

it’s one of those deals where they set him up like a regular dude then we find out he’s got some mysterious lump sum payments made to him by the department of defense.  and no one thinks anything of it until people start dying.  turns out he’s like some brilliant black ops mastermind.

wow, who saw that coming?

i did come in late, which i really hate to do, and missed the terrible murder that started it.  maybe i would have bought into it a little more.  i just didn’t think all that was necessary.

there are some good action sequences and the actors all do a good job.  i particularly liked leslie bibb who plays jamie foxx’s assistant and bruce mcgill who plays the old lawyer confidant.  colm meaney is good as the cop.  i love that dude, he used to be star trek: the next generation and also in one of the spin offs.

two large movie theater popcorns out of five.  go see paranormal activity.

My little insignificant review. Beware, this is a complete spoiler so go somewhere else if you haven’t seen it and plan to.

A good, law-abiding citizen named Clyde Sheldon (Butler), a retired “think tank” (still not completely sure what that is but it’s explained subtly in the movie later), is at home enjoying the company of his wife and young daughter. Knock at the door of his nice home, opens the door and BOOM! A wooden bat hits him in the mouth. A man comes in and stabs him in the stomach while he’s on the floor, another fat white guy comes in behind him, tackles and stabs Clyde’s wife and rapes her while the other guy steals the Sheldon’s valuables. Clyde’s daugther walks to the front door area to witness her bound-up father and now-dead mother. The intruder that raped Clyde’s wife walks over and takes his daugther off somewhere into their house before Clyde passes out.

Clyde goes to Nick Rice (Foxx) seeking charges to be brought up against both the murderers, Rupert Ames and Charles Darby, but Rice decides he doesn’t want to risk losing the case because of his 96% conviction record. Apparently the case is murky because the crime scene investigators screwed up the evidence somehow and Rice tells Clyde that “it’s not what is right, it’s what you can prove it court”. However, had Rice tried to take both Ames and Darby to court, there was always the very slim possibility that Rice and Clyde could’ve won the case. Rice not taking that chance is the entire premise of the movie. Darby, the bad ass of the theft/murder, testifies against his [relatively] innocent partner in Ames and only serves a few years while Ames, who only stole a few things, is sent to deathrow.

Fast forward 10 years down the road. Rice’s relationship with his wife (Hall) is strained due to his work, who was pregnant 10 years ago and now shares with him a 10-year old daugther. Ames’ execution is being held for the murders he did not commit and Rice is in attendance with a few of his other colleagues, including his [gorgeous] assistant Sarah Lowell (Bibb) and the District Attorney, Jonas Cantrell (McGill). It was sad; Ames was teared up, his last words being “the wrong man is dying here today”. Apparently its death by lethal injection. Three cylinders of liquid in a machine are injected into him and he falls asleep. It’s over, right? All the sudden, Ames jerks up and starts jerking in obvious pain. Almost every one of his veins are showing and from the white hospital-like gown he is wearing, several blood stains start to show as it his body was exploding from the inside. Don’t know what it was but it was obviously an absolutely excruciating death.

Switch over to Darby, in a grimey apartment somewhere sniffing cocaine with a prostitute sleeping on his floor. Darby gets a call from an anonymous person on his cell phone, telling him to look out the window. I was waiting for a sniper bullet to shoot through his window and take his head off but apparently the cops were coming for him, in one of the cops car is Rice. Darby flees the apartment and finds the isolated cop car the anonymous caller directed him to. The caller tells him that “he wants to keep [Darby] out of prison”. I was waiting for the cop car to blow up but instead there was a cop lying asleep there (Clyde in disguise).

The “cop” drives him to an abandoned warehouse somewhere under a freeway and reveals himself to Darby. Darby took the gun out of Clyde’s holster when he got in the car and was about to execute him with it but apparently there were several needles in the handle of the gun, which Darby somehow didn’t feel when he first grabbed it; the needles injected Darby with a neurotoxin from the liver of some blowfish which paralyzes him but still allows him to feel pain. Darby’s limp and fat body is taken into the warehouse, which Clyde apparently owns, and Clyde dissects him. Darby is found at the warehouse by detectives Dunnigan (Meaney) and Garza (Irby) in 25 different pieces; his limbs cut off, his head lying on another table, his eyelids cut out (never heard that one before) and other grimey stuff.

With all signs clearly pointing to him, Clyde is arrested at his home as a suspect where he was apparently waiting for the cops, buttnaked at that. Rice is there during his arrest, having the usual “staring contest” you see in movies with Clyde as his head is shoved into the cop car [they put some pants on Clyde after they grabbed him, hilarious. Did they have spare pants in the back of the cop car or did they actually go to the dude's closet and pick out a pair? Hilarious].

Clyde is very briefly interrogated by Rice as Clyde gives a few indirect answers to Rice’s questions as to whether or not he murdered Ames and Darby. Clyde says that “he planned it out several times in his head” but then turns around as says that that isn’t really something that could be used against him, stating that he could have said he planned it out but that doesn’t mean he did it or that he is saying he did it. Clyde, however, says he agrees to testify on the condition that he be given a TemperPedic mattress for his jail cell. His roomate, and all the other prisoners, obviously weren’t all too happy.

When Clyde was butchering Darby, he had a camera recording the entire event. During Rice’s first interrogation of Clyde, a DVD arrives from a mailman to Rice’s home with his wife and daughter believing it to be the video of the daughter’s music recital that Rice never showed up to. The daugther wanted to watch it immediately but the wife, busy cooking and on the phone, said they all decided to watch it when Rice arrived home. Sneakly little girl decides to pop the tape in behind her mom’s pre-occupied vision. It turns out to be the video of Clyde sawing Darby into pieces. Clyde obviously wasn’t the mailman, as it arrived simultaneously with the interrogation’s beginning, so you begin to believe that Clyde has an unknown accomplice outside or in the prison staff.

In court, Clyde, who chooses not to have a lawyer, uses very specific law scriptures to say that the lack of evidence against him requires that he receive bail, which he was previously denied. Looking back a moment, when Clyde was arrested at his house, he was found in a room chocked full of law books, obviously pointing out in the 10 years since his family’s murder that he’d been studying the ins-and-outs of law, forming the whole premise of his actions. The judge, who presided over the case 10 years ago against Ames and Darby for Clyde’s family’s murders, is forced to agree with his concrete statement but before she can, Clyde erupts in an outrage saying that he can’t believe the judge was going to let him go free when it was painfully obvious that he did kill Darby and Ames.

Clyde testifies to the murder of Darby to Rice, giving explicit details to ensure he’s not pulling their chain again (a long list of detailed tools used in butchering Ames is mentioned, the only one I can remember being that he removed his penis with boxcutters) as well as the tampered execution of Ames, saying he hacked into the shipping ystem to receive the leathal injection machine. Before Rice leaves, Clyde says he has another “deal” to make with Rice; Clyde makes a deal for the life of Bill Reynolds, Darby’s attorney 10 years ago, for a steak and macaroni and esparagus dinner at his jail cell at precisely 1 PM. He also asks for his iPod to be delivered to him during the dinner as well. The stubborn warden of the jail holds off on giving him his dinner until 1:08 PM. Clyde receives his meal and gives them Reynolds’ location. Rice takes a 15-minute helicopter ride to the location where Reynolds is buried alive in a small metal box, hooked up to an oxygen machine. The oxygen machine was triggered to go off at 1:15 PM; meaning, if the warden had given him his meal at 1 PM, the 15-minute helicopter ride would’ve allowed them to arrive before Reynolds suffocated.

Clyde, up to this point, has covered his tracks very well; he had testified to the murder of Ames and Darby only by choice and the murder of Reynolds couldn’t be pinned on him simply because he knew where Reynolds was. Smart guy, right? No, wrong. Clyde is in his cell eating his meal with his cellmate, who he decided to share it with, and right when he gets his cellmate comfortable, he shanks the hell of him in the neck, killing him. He was drenched in blood, it was nasty. They showed every bit of it too, it was like a damn war documentary. Brutal! Clyde is then sent to solitary confinement. Poor…convict

District Attorney Cantrell takes Rice out to a small subway tunnell to meet with someone “who does a lot of nasty shit to maintain our freedoms” (not the exact words but generally). He explains that Clyde is an extremely smart inventor and someone who, like him, worked with the CIA in creating various ways to kill people. He states that Clyde is unstoppable, which he really appeared to be, and that if he wants someone dead, they are dead.

Rice and Cantrell visit the judge the next day, asking her to try and limit Clyde’s rights in jail to ensure he isn’t making any moves to kill people while still in jail. She agrees and signs a paper to help them out. Her phone rings, Rice joking with her that it’d be rude for her to answer after she heckles him for answering his cell in the court room, but she says she’s a judge and can do whatever she wants. Clicks the answer button, puts it to her ear, BAM! Phone blows up, taking off the back of her head and kills her right in front of them on the other side of the small desk.

Rice confronts Clyde, telling him that all this isn’t worth it just for revenge. Clyde states that all he is doing isn’t for revenge but that it is to try and change the flawed justice system which allowed his wife and daughter’s murderer to walk free after serving only 5 years. Clyde then presents another deal; if he isn’t released from prison with all charges dropped by 6 AM the following day, “everyone dies”.

The next day, everyone in the D.A. Office working the case, including Sarah, waits at the prison office for 6 AM to pass. Nothing happens. They decide to go home and take a day off from the case. Everyone is walking to their cars. You can see it coming a mile away. Sarah gets into her car and suddenly several cars blow up, those of the other members of the D.A. Office who’d gotten into their cars previously. Sarah can’t get out, the doors apparently locked somehow. Rice and Sarah make eye contact for a moment before her car blows up.

Rice and Cantrell attend the funeral.

Cantrell: “Did we bring this on ourselves?”
Rice: “…absolutely not.” (He was hesitant).
Cantrell: (Tearfully) “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

Cantrell says it tearfully, questioning the decision on Rice’s part on taking the plea bargin from Darby in order to save his conviction percentage. The two leave in a motorcade in separate cars, Cantrell’s car being in front. A small, rolling drone machine moves through the cemetry. It is armed with fat-ass bullets and a large tube, appearing to be a rocket launcher. They show a person operating the drone from a machine and surveying the motorcade through the camera on the drone. Tn the corner of the screen you see tombstones signifying the operator is there at the cemetry. Rice notices it only a second before it empties its bullets into Cantrell’s car. Rice gets out and almost runs over to the car before being stopped by Dunnigan and Garza (making you say “thank goodness”). The rocket launcher finishes the job.

The press learns of everything, even the tampered execution of Ames, and the entire city goes on lockdown. People stop sending their kids to school and stuff like that. Why? I don’t know; Clyde was obviously targeting specific people, those involved with the case 10 years ago, and not random people. Whatever.

Earlier in the movie, it is revealed Clyde purchased several properties, including the warehouse where he butchered Darby, but they couldn’t get the records of his purchases because of some technicality. A few people in the case decided that they wanted to use improper channels to get the purchase records but Rice decided he didn’t want to do anything illegal to solve the case. After searching through Sarah’s emails, he finds an email from Sarah’s friend, Chester (no idea what his job was), titled “You didn’t get this from me” that was sent after she died that lists Clyde’s purchase history. After searching through the purchase histories of Philadelphia (where this all takes place), he finds a matching expense list on Clyde’s purchases: a garage right next to the prison.

Rice calls Dunnigan to the garage on a dark night. Rice says he wants to break in and search for clues. Dunnigan asks “What about his rights?”. Rice: “Fuck his rights.”

They break in the garage and find the car that was outside Clyde’s house when he was arrested (a nice classic Cadillac). The car is apparently on top of a lift and once they lift it up, they find a hole dug into the ground. At the bottom of the hole is a tunnell. At the end of the tunnell is a long hallway with several ladders leading up to holes in the ground above. The first one Dunnigan climbs up to, there is a small door on the floor. The door leads into Clyde’s solitary confinement cell and every other one in the prison. Clyde had been using this passageway in order to commit every murder while thought to be locked in confinement. He anticipated that once a murder happened while he was in there that Rice would ask the judge to limit his movements, meaning he’d be left in the confinement cell unchecked for long periods of time. He planted the bomb in the judge’s cell phone, the bombs on Sarah and the other D.A.’s cars and operated the weaponized S.W.A.T. bomb disposal drone that killed Cantrell at the cemetry. He had no accomplice, it was him the entire time. He had buried Reynolds in the ground 3 days before he was arrested, with Reynolds having sat in the hole with enough oxygen up until the point that he died.

Clyde is, however, not in his cell. In a janitor’s disguise, he arrives at the building where the mayor (Davis) is holding a conference to decide what to do with him. Rice, Dunnigan and Garza arrive there after Clyde has left the building, finding a small suitcase with a napalm bomb inside it. It is hooked up to a cell phone which, if called, will detonate about 30 seconds after.

Clyde arrives back in his dark confinement cell through the small passageway with Rice waiting in the shadows. Clyde offers Rice one last deal, but Rice refuses saying he no longer “makes deals with murders” (referencing the plea bargin made with Darby 10 years ago), saying that Clyde taught him that. Clyde sits on his bed and pulls out the phone, dialing the numbers to call the cell hooked up to the bomb at the conference building. Rice says that if he decides to detonate the bomb, he would have “to live with that decision for the rest of your life”. They show the number on the phone (much more than 10 digits) with Clyde pausing for a moment, apparently to consider. Can’t remember his exact words but he presses the call button.

Rice says that he’ll have to “live with the decision” and walks out the front door of the cell and locks it shut behind him, continuing “which I believe will start in about 25 seconds”. Rice shuts the second door on the confinement cell and starts to run before the detective locks the small hidden door from inside Clyde’s hidden passageway, sealing Clyde inside the cell. Another cell phone beats under his bed; Clyde looks under his bed, revealing the napalm boom suitcase undeneath the mattress. He resigns himself to his fate and sits down calmly on top of the mattress and stares at the small bracelet that his daughter made for him just before Darby murdered her. It says “Daddy”. The walls of the cell ignite in flames in slow motion as Rice and the detective are seen running away from the cell in the hidden passageway and the prison. Rice walks out the parking lot as a large section of the prison where Clyde is finally explodes.

It then shows Rice’s daughter playing a solo on a Cello at her music recital. They show Rice’s wife first before slowing shifting to Rice sitting next to her, having finally made it to one of her recitals in all the time she’d been playing it. The movie ends with everyone applauding her and Rice taking a long and almost teared up stare at her, signifying his learned appreciation for his family and their safety. I was waiting for her Cello to explode and let out a big sigh when the credits came the next second.

…great movie ♣

Jamie Foxx as Nick Rice
Gerard Butler as Clyde Shelton
Viola Davis as the Mayor of Philadelphia
Bruce McGill as Jonas Cantrell
Leslie Bibb as Sarah Lowell
Colm Meaney as Detective Dunnigan
Regina Hall as Kelly Rice
Michael Irby as Detective Garza
Roger Bart as Brian Bringham

Jamie Foxx stars as an assistant DA who finds himself at the mercy of a spiteful vigilante (Gerard Butler) hell-bent on avenging the death of his wife and daughter, whose murderers are set free due to legal loopholes. F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job) directs from a script by Frank Darabont and Kurt Wimmer.

Like any self-respecting/self-deprecating entertainment sit, we’re all about lists. Here’s Bill Bodkin’s Top Fall Film List.

***Due to the tardy nature of the post, I will be eliminating two of my top picks- The Invention of Lying and Zombieland, they’ve been out two weeks so I while they are high on my list, I can’t put them in a “preview post.”***

1. Sherlock Holmes
Release Date: December 25
Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong
Bill Says: I’ve been a Guy Ritchie fan from the first time I saw the opening credits of Snatch. He’s had some missteps- Swept Away, Revolver- both terrible. However after the mild success of the superfun yet flawed RocknRolla, I feel Sherlock will be Ritchie’s masterpiece- a brilliant story with a brilliant cast and Ritchie’s trademark intriguing camera work. The cast is tremendous as I feel Downey and Mark Strong will own this pic. I feel Russell Crowe would’ve been better than Law as Dr. Watson, but the trailers have won me over. A must-see in my opinion.

2. The Men Who Stare at Goats
Release Date: November 6
Director: Grant Heslov
Starring: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey
Bill Says: This looks absolutely brilliant…and based on a true story? To me Clooney is at his best in quirky Coen Brothers films (O, Brother Where Art Thou or Burn After Reading), and here as a “Jedi warrior” he looks in top form. The ridiculously madcap plot really intrigues me and Jeff Bridges playing a “dude” like character is like a warm cinematic blanket.

3. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Release Date: November 25
Director: Wes Anderson
Voices of: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Williem Dafoe, Anjelica Huston, Brian Cox, Michael Gambon
Bill Says: If you know, you know I am a Wes Anderson superfan. I’ve seen all his films and the Royal Tennenbaums ranks amongst my favorites of all-time. This movie’s stop motion animation, whimsical tone and a vocal cast of some of the best actors ever to be in his films (Huston, Murray, Schwartzmen, Brody, Dafoe, Wilson) I believe will make for a classic film that both children and adults will love.

4. Where the Wild Things Are
Release Date: December 25
Director: Spike Jonze
Starring: Max Records, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, Forrest Whitaker, Chris Cooper
Bill Says: This movie has a lot going for it. A beautifully illustrated and written children’s book as a starting point, a script co-written by a brilliant writer (Dave Eggers), a tremendously talented director (Spike Jonze) seemingly throwing his entire being into the film and puppets done by the Henson company. I think this movie will be tremendous and touching.

5. Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day
Release Date: October 30
Director: Troy Duffy
Starring: Sean Patrick Flannery, Norman Reedus, Billy Connolly, Clifton Collins, Peter Fonda
Bill Says: I am a bit cautious about being excited for this film as it has been rumored to be released since 2005. However due to legal issues the film was held up. With that said, the sequel is going to be awesome. If you’ve never seen the bloody cult hit Boondock Saints- see it ASAP. It’s a classic action film, and if you love all things Irish (like I do) you’ll love the original. The sequel should be bloody fun.

6. Up in the Air
Release Date: December 25
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Jason Bateman, Anna Kendrick, JK Simmons, Zach Galifianakis, Danny McBride
Bill Says: This is the season of Clooney. I think this could nab him the Oscar, although the presence of Daniel Day-Lewis has robbed him before. I think this will be at the same time genuinely funny and genuinely sad. The cast is great and seeing Clooney interact with Zach Galifianakis will be a kick for me.

7. Ninja Assassin
Release Date: November 25
Director: James McTiegue
Starring: Rain, Naomie Harris
Bill Says: Check the trailer for this movie out, its unreal. Normally this would be a “get it on Netflix” movie, but with James McTiegue, the director of V for Vendetta, at the helm, it makes me really interested.

8. Pirate Radio
Release Date: November 13
Director: Richard Curtis
Starring: Rhys Ifans, Bill Nighy, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh
Bill Says: Formerly known as The Boat that Rocked, this movie should be a lot of wanky British fun. Directed by the guy who did Love Actually and starring two of my favorite Brits- Frost and Nighy, this is one you shouldn’t let go under the radar.

9. Law Abiding Citizen
Release Date: October 16
Director: F. Gary Gray
Starring: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Colm Meaney, Bruce McGill
Bill Says: The appeal for this movie is solely based on Gerard Butler’s Hannibal Lecter-style character. I think it’ll be his best performance to date. And any movie with Colm Meany and Bruce McGill in it, has got to be enjoyable!

10. Black Dynamite
Release Date: October 16
Director: Scott Sanders
Starring: Michael Jai White, Tommy Davidson, Arsenio Hall, Brian McKnight, Mykelti Williamson, Bookeem Woodbine
Bill Says: I saw the trailer earlier in the year and it looks pretty good! This is a dead serious spoof of the classic blaxploitation flick, definitely worth a view.

Gerard Butler

Anne Lu – Celebrity News Service News Writer

Los Angeles, CA (CNS) – Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx team up in the upcoming drama/thriller film from Overture Films. “Law Abiding Citizen” will unspool in theaters next week.

Butler stars as Clyde Shelton, whose family was brutally killed in a home robbery, while Fox stars as Nick Rice, the D.A. who got one of the murderers off so that the other would be put in the death row.

Clyde then extracts his revenge, not only to the killers, but also to the justice system that failed him, including Nick.

Jamie Foxx

Directed by “The Negotiator” helmer F. Gary Gary and written by Kurt Wimmer, the film also stars Leslie Bibb, Bruce Mcgill, Colm Meaney, Viola Davis, Michael Irby, Gregory Itzin and Regina Hall.

“Law Abiding Citizen” hits cinema on October 16.

Leslie Bibb

Amazon Specials!

by The Great White Gypsy

A Serious Man – Written and Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Set in 1967, this black comedy follows a Jewish professor as he attempts to stop his life from unraveling after his wife announces she wants a divorce. It would appear that the Coen dynasty is back in full swing after their three year hiatus between The Ladykillers (2004) and No Country for Old Men (2007). Though longtime Coen teammates Carter Burwell (composer) and Roger Deakins (cinematographer) are back again, the cast for this one is largely unknown. I can’t wait.
Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed
October 2

Whip It – Directed by Drew Barrymore, Written by Shauna Cross
Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut about a punk rock outcast (Ellen Page) living in small town Texas who rebels by joining an all girl roller derby league. I’m a fan of Page and Barrymore, and though it was filmed almost entirely in Michigan and features an esoteric chick-indie-punk soundtrack, Barrymore managed to get some good names on the roster. Not cast-wise, as Page and Marcia Gay Harden are the only recognizable ones, but she borrowed longtime Wes Anderson cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman, as well as editor Dylan Tichenor (Doubt, There Will Be Blood), and Art Director Kevin Kavanaugh (The Dark Knight, The Prestige). Call me impressed.
Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden
October 2

Zombieland – Directed by Ruben Fleischer, Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick
Sure, the writers and director of this Americanized Shaun of the Dead are newbies. And yes, British humor often times prevails when put toe to toe (except the Office, Steve Carrell is a silly bitch). But after watching the previews, how can you not smile and say, “Yeah, I’ll see that eventually.”? If for no other reason that watching little miss sunshine kick some zombie ass would be sweet.
Woody Harrelson, Jessie Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone, Amber Heard, Bill Murray
October 2

An Education – Directed by Lone Scherfig,Written by Nick Hornby
Wait…Peter Sarsgaard? In a low profile dramatic role you’ve never heard of until now? Yeah, that sounds about right. About a 17-year-old girl in 1960’s London who abandons her college plans for a wealthy socialite twice her age. You may not recognize any of the names behind the scenes, but Nick Hornby (author, High Fidelity) is enough for me.
Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina, Emma Thompson, Rosamund Pike
October 9

Couples Retreat – Directed by Peter Billingsley, Written by Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn
Apparently, Ralphie from A Christmas Story is all grown up and wants to be a director. Starting with a screenplay by Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn will either be his ticket to greatness, or a nail in his mediocre comedy coffin. Still, Swingers and Made were great, and the cast in this one has me more than confident. If the plot isn’t obvious by the title, you should not see this movie, you might shoot your eye out (fuck you, you knew it was coming).
Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, Ken Jeong, Jean Reno, Faizon Love, Tasha Smith, John Michael Higgins
October 9

Peter and Vandy – Written and Directed by Jay DiPietro
In the style of (500) Days of Summer, this relationship film set in New York City jumps back and forth through time telling the story of how Peter and Vandy went from friends to lovers, and how they ended up as a comfortable, yet manipulative couple. The chemistry between Ritter and Weixler looks good, and Sundance apparently loved it. My only worry is, in a non-linear feature film, editor Geoffrey Richman has been limited to documentaries. Ok, he did Murderball and God Grew Tired of Us, but still, a lot’s riding on this guy’s shoulders. DePietro’s first.
Jason Ritter, Jess Weixler
October 9

Trucker – Written and Directed by James Mottern
James Mottern’s first endeavor gives Monaghan an amazing role as a long distance truck driver who must care for the son she abandoned while his father is in the hospital. Interesting cast (I like Adams and Fillion), and behind the scenes, names like Mychael Danna (composer: (500) Days of Summer, Girl Interrupted) and Lawrence Sher (cinematographer: Garden State, The Chumscrubber) intrigue me. Assuming Monaghan’s role is as great as it appears in the preview, I will make a bold statement: If Melissa Leo can be nominated for Frozen Rivers, this might be Monaghan’s year.
Michelle Monaghan, Benjamin Bratt, Joey Lauren Adams, Nathan Fillion, Jimmy Bennett
October 9

Law Abiding Citizen – Directed by F. Gary Gray, Written by Kurt Wimmer
Gerard Butler’s wife and daughter are killed. The D.A. (Jamie Foxx) gives the murderers a plea bargain. Years later, Butler starts exacting his revenge on everyone involved…from the comfort of his jail cell. Wimmer wrote and directed Equilibrium (freaking awesome), but he also wrote and directed Ultraviolet (freaking garbage). Aside from editor Tariq Anwar (Revolutionary Road, American Beauty), everyone involved is a so-so list of random action film participants. So why would you see this one? Cause it’s Friday…you ain’t got no job…and you ain’t got shit to do.
Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb, Colm Meaney, Bruce McGill, Viola Davis, Regina Hall
October 16

New York, I Love You – Directed by Faith Akin and Yvan Attal, Written by Emmanual Benbihy and Tristan Carne
I’m sure even the most skeptical among you can’t say you didn’t enjoy Paris, Je T’aime. It was a great cross-sectioning of different views and stories around the city, told by some great directors (The Coen Brothers and Gus van Sant among them). I gotta say, I’m a little disappointed about the young cast and director lineup (where the F are DeNiro and Scorcese?) But as an overall project, I’m really looking forward to this film. With segments directed by Allan Hughes, Shunji Iwai, Wen Jiang, Shekhar Kapur, Joshua Marston, Mira Nair, Natalie Portman, and Brett Ratner.
Bradley Cooper, Natalie Portman, Shia LaBeouf, Blake Lively, Robin Wright Penn, Orlando Bloom, Hayden Christensen, Christina Ricci, Rachel Bilson, Ethan Hawke, John Hurt, Justin Bartha, James Caan, Maggie Q, Anton Yelchin, Andy Garcia, Chris Cooper, Olivia Thirlby, Drea De Matteo, Julie Christie, Cloris Leachman, Eli Wallach
October 16

Where the Wild Things Are – Directed by Spike Jonze, Written by Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers
Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story about a boy who invents an imaginary world populated with large creatures who name him King. Jonze hasn’t really done many films (Being John Malkovich and Adaptation), but he’s an accomplished music video director, and with an adaptation by Dave Eggers, he can’t really go wrong. Effects look good, voice casting is solid.
Max Records, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, James Gandolfini, Chris Cooper, Forest Whitaker, Catherine O’Hara, Paul Dano, Lauren Ambrose
October 16

Amelia – Directed by Mira Nair, Written by Ronald Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan
From the director of The Namesake, this biopic of Amelia Earhart covers her romance with flight, and her rise to the level of cultural icon. Can’t say it looks like anything really spectacular, but Swank has won multiple Oscars, Phelan wrote Girl Interrupted, and The Aviator was warmly received. Look for this to show up on some Academy Award lists regardless.
Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccelston
October 23

Antichrist – Written and Directed by Lars von Trier
Danish director Lars von Trier has won numerous awards for his films. He has also shocked a lot of people not only by his style, but by his tendency to add super realism to his films by actually having the actors doing whatever the characters are supposed to (meaning if there’s a group sex scene, chances are those people are actually having sex on camera). Antichrist is the story of a couple trying to reconnect in a cabin after the death of their son. What happens next is ridiculously graphic, violent, and spiritually disturbing. While the wide theatrical release will no doubt be heavily edited, the uncut version is something you have to see to fully understand.
Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg
October 23

Saw VI – Directed by Kevin Greutert, Written by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton
Don’t think I really need to explain this one. Jigsaw’s dead, but we’re gonna try to fit at least four more storylines into the original script. Director is new, writers have worked on the last three Saw films. I’ll see it, but when an original horror franchise with an awesome theme song allows a Texas Chainsaw Massacre motif into their preview, it worries me.
Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Shawnee Smith, Betsy Russell
October 23

(Untitled) – Directed by Jonathan Parker, Written by Jonathan Parker and Catherine DiNapoli
Shelton plays an art gallery director who falls in love with a struggling artist/musician in New York. Should be good for a few laughs if you can’t stand newagepostmodernretroindieavantgardeabstracthipsterbullshit. Also, Vinnie Jones as an artist, and Adam Goldberg kicking a bucket on stage should be hilarious. Rookie writer/director.
Adam Goldberg, Marley Shelton, Vinnie Jones
October 23

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day – Directed by Troy Duffy, Written by Troy and Taylor Duffy
We’ve had to wait ten bloody years for this film to actually see the light of day. Now it’s here. If you didn’t see the first one (what the hell is wrong with you??) it’s about two Irish brothers who are “called” by God to administer justice and vengeance to society’s scum. I’m actually impressed that after so long on the shelf, the writer/director of the first film is still on board. Can’t freaking wait.
Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Clifton Collins Jr., Julie Benz, Judd Nelson, Billy Connolly, Peter Fonda
October 30

How to Seduce Difficult Women – Written and Directed by Richard Temtchine
Although there are no recognizable names or faces attached to this one, imagine if someone combined Hitch and School for Scoundrels, and then made a GOOD film. The main character, Pierre, decides to teach the ways of French seduction to the floundering American men who have lost the art (stupid French guys with their…sexy accents…). Interspersed with NY street interviews about sex and seduction. Could be interesting.
Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Stephanie Szostak, Jackie Hoffman, Rachel Roberts
October 30

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN

The Ministers – Written and Directed by Franc. Reyes
Kinda like Boondock Saints…except Latin. And they’re serial killers. And Leguizamo plays twins. And I’d bet money Keitel gets naked for no reason. Reyes is a weird cat, but he directed Empire and Illegal Tender, which weren’t bad. Leguizamo’s always good, so we’ll see. Rumored limited release date, nothing solid yet.
John Leguizamo, Harvey Keitel, Wanda De Jesus, Florencia Lozano
October 1 (Limited)

Aladin – Written and Directed by Sujoy Ghosh
Shut up and let me talk. Yes, it’s an Indian film. Yes, it appears there is a bit of singing involved. However, the story of Aladin is one of the most widely known and adaptable myths to come out of the area. And the preview actually gives me a Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer) kind of feel. Excuse the hell out of me for trying to broaden your minds. Only release date in India so far. Check it out.
Ritesh Deshmukh, Jaqueline Fernandes, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt
October 23 (India)

Pope Joan – Directed by Sonke Wortmann, Written by Heinrich Hadding
Based on the German novel, this is the story of an English woman born in Germany, who disguises herself as a man and ascends to a seat of power in 9th century Vatican. A German film about gender disguise, and John Goodman’s in it, but Hilary Swank isn’t? That’s so confusing it has to be fattening. Limited release in Germany so far.
David Wenham, John Goodman, Ian Glen
October 22 (Germany)

Everyone’s inner man is loving this. (Yes, even women have inner men, hence the word women)

Today, I would like to talk about ‘Law Abiding Citizen,’ which is set to be released October 16th 2009. Why? Because it looks like Die Hard 4.0, Phone Booth, Miami Vice and Shoot ‘Em Up all rolled into one, that’s why.  Frankly, it’s going to be the most actiony (I just invented a word!) action film in quite a long time. The best thing about its release is that… Everyone loves a good action film and everyone else loves a good action film with Gerald Butler in it (I know you’re nodding).

But don’t just think it’s all guns and explosions and corrupted legal systems, because whilst it is all of that, there’s more. Butler (who ultimately gained my respect after his performances in Phantom Of The Opera and 300) displays what can only be described as award-worthy acting as an emotionally destroyed husband, father and all around family man. An emotionally demanding part, right? Emotion which I believe he incorporated from earlier movies of his such as P.S I love you, more recently The Ugly Truth and even more recently,Gamer (all very good films may I add)

Now unless you are incapable of reader the poster to the left, you would have also noticed Jamie Foxx (Collateral, Ray, The Kingdom) is also one of the films main protagonists, who plays ‘a heroic yet corrupt D.A.‘ Other noticable appearances include; Sir Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, Layer Cake, The Omen), Viola Davis (Solaris, Disturbia, State Of Play), Bruce McGill (Ali, Matchstick Men, Collateral) and Leslie Bibb (Iron Man, the upcoming Trick’R'treat (Which I will be doing an article on), and Iron man 2). So I think I’ve yapped on enough, now I leave you with the impressive trailer . Enjoy.

Law Abiding Citizen is a thriller about a brilliant sociopath who orchestrates a series of high-profile murders that grip the city of Philadelphia - all from inside his jail cell – and the prosecutor assigned to his case who realizes he is the only one who can end the reign of terror.

DADOS DO ARQUIVO
Formato: RMVB
Qualidade: DVDRip
Áudio: Inglês
Legenda: Português
Tamanho: 338 MB
Divididos em: 6 partes / 2CDs
Servidor: Rapidshare

Sinopse: No filme, um bem-sucedido operador de mercado financeiro, casado com uma mulher estonteante (Beyoncé), tem toda a sua vida pela frente e uma carreira em ascenção. Tudo desmorona quando ele começa a ser perseguido por uma estagiária do seu escritório (Larter).

DOWNLOAD:
CD1
Parte 1
Parte 2
Parte 3

CD2
Parte 1
Parte 2
Parte 3