The Lincoln Lawyer

The Lincoln Lawyer" was directed by Brad Furman.  It stars Matthew McConaughey, Ryan Phillippe, and Marisa Tomei.

Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) is a lawyer who works out of his Lincoln car...Yeah you probably got that from the title and poster.  Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe) plays a realtor who is accused of raping a prostitute...I won't even comment on that aspect of the plot any further.  Naturally, Louis says that he is innocent and enlists the help of Mick.  Also naturally people are falsely accused, people lie, get shot, and appear in court.  Marisa Tomei plays Mick's ex-wife, Margaret McPherson a prosecuting attorney.

I had never seen Matthew McConaughey in a movie before, but I thoroughly enjoyed him in this film.  I have avoided him up until this point because I do not support his movies with Kate Hudson and find his face slightly annoying.  Anyway he had good chemistry with the rest of the cast.  Although Marisa Tomei and others did not have much screen time, so they did not have much to do.  After all it was Mr. McConaughey's show.  Although, I am not quite sure what he and Margaret got a divorce.  They seem to get along quite well.

The visuals in this film were great.  When Louis is telling his story about what really happened with the prostitute, the film has a grainy look to it and included different coloring, to set the flashbacks apart from the the rest of the film.  Also, there were some nice shots from the front of the car, giving an interesting perspective, showing the hood of the car, and the road in front of it.  Aerial shots and some quick panning in the courtroom added to the visual appeal of "The Lincoln Lawyer."  However, I did not appreciate the camera spinning around Matthew McConaughey in some courtroom seems.  That type of camera work is best saved for Julie Andrews on the hills of Austria.

This movie was highly entertaining.  I love courtroom films anyways and I was interested in seeing it.  The cast was great and the pacing was as well.  I highly recommend this movie, especially if you enjoy the genre or any of the actors.  3 out of 4 stars.

-Joseph Sbrilli

Source Code

"Source Code" was directed by Duncan Jones.  It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, and Vera Farmiga.

Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) is an army helicopter pilot in Afghanistan.  Somehow he ends up being in someone else's body.  He is on a train with Christina Warren (Monaghan) and it explodes after a bomb goes off, killing everyone on the train.  Stevens then has to relive the final 8 minutes before the bomb went off in hopes of trying to find out who did it, thus thwarting future terrorist attempts of this nature.  Colleen Goodwin (Farmiga) explains this all to him multiple times.

The cast was good.  I had not seem them in much at all, but the three leads gave good performances.  Jake Gyllenhaal is capable of being the lead in a movie, although naturally not as capable as the likes of Matt Damon or Leonardo DiCaprio.  Michelle Monaghan wasn't annoying in it, so that was exciting.  Finally, I enjoyed Vera Farmiga in "The Departed" and "Up in the Air," but here she just doesn't have very much to do, as most of her scenes are her in a chair talking to Mr. Gyllenhaal on a television screen.

The music and cinematography made the movie for me.  The musical score consisting of a lot of string instruments and reminded me of some scores to classic Alfred Hitchcock movies.  Throughout "Source Code" the score added to the action, thrills, and other fun things.  The movie would have suffered without it and there would not have been much action or thrills.  Also, the cinematography was beautiful.  There are great shots of Chicago.  This includes aerial shots looking directly down at buildings and other generally attractive shots.  Also, the camera moved quickly throughout the movie, like with a quick zoom across the water to the train, at the start of each of the recreations of the train explosion.

Given the story line of "Source Code," the plot got a little confusing as it progressed.  I guess this is just the nature of the movie since things don't really happen logically.

This wasn't a great movie, but I have seen far worse.  The cast is likable and overall the film was pretty entertaining.  2 out of 4 stars.

-Joseph Sbrilli

Paul

There seems to be a trend in the movies I see lately. The ones I think are going to be total crap turn out to be pretty enjoyable. The ones I am super excited about turn out to be steaming, tightly coiled pieces of disappointment. Paul is a part of this latter category.

Graeme Willy (Simon Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Nick Frost) are best friends. They are also extreme nerds. And they are British, but they spend the entire time in America (A tried and true comedy technique, take the subject out of their familiar environment). Clive is an aspiring science fiction writer and Graeme (pronounced Graham for everyone who studied actual English) is his artist. They decide to live their dream of attending a UFO/comic-con convention and then renting an R/V together and seeing America's greatest alien spots. After being repeatedly mistaken for a gay couple (hilarious) and on their way to Area 51, a black sedan crashes off the road in front of their R/V. When investigating the craft they find Paul (Seth Rogen) a little green foul-mouthed alien who needs their help in getting back home. Clive and Graeme decide to help him out but are pursued by Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman) and The Big Guy (Sigourney Weaver) who are shooting to kill. Wacky hijinks ensue.

Let's start this off by saying that this is a brilliant concept. I fell in love with it. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost work so well together, and they are the best parts of the film. Consistently funny (Pegg's character mostly, Frost isn't given much of a vehicle) and play well with an imaginary alien. Now we get to the rest of the cast. Jason Bateman is fine, as he always is, but there isn't much depth to his character and he isn't much of a tough guy. Seth Rogen lends all of his charm and wit to the character of Paul (HINT: this isn't a compliment). I am tired of the stereotype that Seth Rogen is funny when he swears. Or that he is funny at all. It's not true. All Paul does is swear and smoke and drink and make rude comments. At least Step Brothers was quotable, Paul tries to make as many rude comments that he can but none of them land or get remembered. They could have found someone better to be Paul. And this brings us to Kristin Wiig's character. Oh god was she awful. There was no need for her character to be in the story. They just wanted a love interest. And as soon as she got in a fight with Paul over god (she was a creationist and Paul touches her brain and she sees evolution) and then from then on she bashed religion almost immediately. It got annoying in about 5 seconds. And it wasn't funny, all they did was get angry at each other. It was like watching a married couple fight, it was just awkward.

There isn't much else to say about the film. For the nerds, there are a lot of sci-fi references. I caught a few but I am sure that I missed many more. There was even a blues brothers reference which I found delightfully silly. But I am sure the hardcore geek would laugh more because they understood what people were saying.

So Simon Pegg is wonderful as usual. I bet this film would have lived up to my expectations if Edgar Wright directed, but I guess this is what I get for overhyping a movie I want to see.

1 and a half out of 4 stars

-Christopher O'Connell

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work: A Quick Review

"Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work"is a documentary that was released last year.  Filming took place all through 2008, celebrating the 75th birthday of Joan Rivers, one of the most iconic stand-up comedienne's in the history of America.  The documentary was extraordinarily well made and just a lot of fun to watch.  The film was edited well, featuring footage of Rivers' daily life trying to plan appearances in order to still make money despite her age and this youth obsessed culture we all have the pleasure of being a part of.  This is mixed with interviews from people from her life such as her daughter, Melissa, Kathy Griffin, Don Rickles, and some of Rivers' personal assistants and such.  There are also several classic clips featuring a much younger Joan Rivers on such shows as "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," which was just the beginning of her lengthy career.  The documentary gives viewers a rare, intimate look at one of the most recognizable people in the entertainment industry.  Rivers comes off as much more vulnerable and insecure than most people would think she is.  One of the ways this was done was with an emotional section of the film discussing her late husband, Edgar Rosenberg, who committed suicide in 1987.  Also, her constant fear of people not wanting her anymore is the source of some more emotional layers to this women.  This led to a section dealing with her many plastic surgery procedures as a way of trying to stay current, since this is, for good reason one of her claims to fame over the years.  However, that doesn't stop her from not believing in censorship and being just as profane, offensive, and hilarious as she always has been.  Finally, parts of the film was devoted to her appearance on "Celebrity Apprentice," where she dominated a professional poker player and her being asked to be on a Comedy Central Roast, which she did purely for the money because those things are absolutely horrible and 99% of the so called comedians have absolutely no talent and don't deserve to be in the same room as Joan Rivers.  Yeah, that covers the movie pretty well.  I loved it.  I find her to be hilarious, although often times she goes too far.  This was a great way to see more of the women herself, beyond what people know her for.  The only thing is that I wish this had been longer.  A year of filming condensed into 84 minutes just isn't enough.  Luckily, it was a wonderfully put together, funny, and a little revealing 84 minutes...she really is a piece of work.

-Joseph Sbrilli

Double Indemnity: A Quick Review

Double Indemnity was co-written and directed by the extremely talented filmmaker, Billy Wilder.  It starred  Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.  MacMurray plays an insurance agent, Walter Neff.  Stanwyck is Phyllis Dietrichson.  These two characters get involved in murdering her husband and making it look like an accidental death so she can get twice as much money off of the insurance policy.  This film is again told in flashbacks, as it starts with Neff recording his confession for his co-worker Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson).  Neff then becomes the narrator for the rest of the film through extended flashbacks.  Keyes thinks something is strange and that the death, might not have been accidental.  At this point there are plot twists galore.  Double Indemnity was incredibly well made.  The two leads had great chemistry with one other, and MacMurray was great as an accomplice to murder, a type of role he was certainly not known for.  The black and white cinematography was beautiful, with dim lighting and lots of shadows, just to make the genre a little bit more obvious to everyone who watched.  I loved this film and was thoroughly entertained the entire time.  I would recommend this one as well for those interested in seeing one of the best American films of all time.  I've only seen it once, but I assume it will only get better.  4 out of 4 stars

-Joseph Sbrilli  

Citizen Kane: A Quick Review

Citizen Kane, released in 1941 and directed, co-written, and starring the legendary cinematic genius Orson Welles is considered to be the greatest American film of all time.  The American Film Institute named it the greatest film on two separate occasions and for very good reason.  This film was way ahead of it's time and Orson Welles would never make another film quite like this one.  Welles leads the talented cast as the larger than life, Charles Foster Kane, who is born poor, but eventually runs a popular newspaper and becomes extraordinarily wealthy.  His life gradually begins to crumble and he becomes more involved with his work and less involved in more important things in life, like relationships with people.  The film starts with Kane's death and then through a newsreel, flashbacks, and flash-forwards, the viewers gradually get an idea of who this character was exactly.  This kind of narrative formed worked extremely well, starting at the end and gradually making its way to the beginning of the story, something that would become extremely popular over the years.  The cinematography is incredibly beautiful, with low angle shots on occasion to give Welles a dominant presence on the screen and several great uses of special effects, camera tricks, and editing.  This film is wonderful and I highly recommend it to everyone.  Of course if for some ridiculous reason you don't like old movies or black and white films, than that really is your loss.  Citizen Kane has aged extraordinarily well and can still enjoyed regardless of the decade that it is watched it.  This masterpiece just gets better with repeated viewings.  4 out of 4 stars

-Joseph Sbrilli