Film Review: A TIME TO KILL (1996)

Director: Joel Schumacher
Writers: John Grisham (novel), Akiva Goldsman (screenplay)
Running time: 149 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
UK Release date: 13^th September 1996

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 20^th May 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I must admit to being partial to a decent courtroom drama and, having spotted this one in the listings, decided to give it a look. It looked a decent cast and with it being based on a John Grisham novel, I thought it couldn’t be all that bad. You’ll be pleased to know I wasn’t far off the mark; it is pretty good, without being great. I will explain more after this very brief summary.

When Carl Lee Hailey is convicted of the murder of two white men who were on trial for the rape and attempted murder of his ten year old daughter, it falls upon young attorney, Jake Tyler Brigance to defend him. His opponent will be the more experienced and very confident D.A. Rufus Buckley. The events take place in a small town in Mississippi and, of course, with it being a race crime, there is a lot of opposition to the defence. Some of which comes in the form of one of the murdered men’s brother, Freddie Lee Cobb, who contacts the KKK for support. Brigance is aided by his friend, and fellow lawyer, Harry Rex Vonner, and law student, Ellen Roark. He also has the support of his disgraced mentor, Lucien Wilbanks. The defence enters a plea of temporary insanity, but can they make it stick? Well, you guessed it, I’m not going to tell you here or the Spoiler Police (Mississippi Division) will be making me eat grits (whatever that is)… (again).

Although well made I did find this film suffered from getting a little too involved in the things surrounding the trial. For a courtroom drama, it seemed to take an awfully long time to get to the courtroom. The performances were all pretty good; Matthew McConaughey is getting pretty good at playing the Grisham lawyer and this is no exception, he plays Jake Tyler Brigance with great panache. Sandra Bullock reminded us again of what a good actress she can be as Ellen Roark and Samuel L. Jackson played Carl Lee Hailey with all the skill and passion you’d expect. Kevin Spacey did a decent job as D.A. Rufus Buckley, as did Oliver Platt as Harry Rex Vonner. Also worthy of note were; Charles S. Dutton as Sheriff Ozzie Walls, Brenda Fricker as Ethel Twitty, Donald Sutherland as Lucien Wilbanks, Kiefer Sutherland as Freddie Lee Cobb (nice to see him playing a bad guy for a change), Patrick McGoohan as Judge Omar Noose and Ashley Judd as Carla Brigance.

Although I enjoyed it, I did find this film way too long. It gets lost in too much detail part way through and there is an awful lot of stuff in there that has very little baring on the case in hand. I did also find it a little predictable in places, but then I have seen a few Grisham adaptations and they do tend to follow a similar pattern. As a revenge thriller, it’s not all that good, but as a courtroom drama, I found it quite riveting. It’s still quite an enjoyable watch, films about justice generally are (I find) and so I can just about deem it RECOMMENDED (even if it’s a tad long).

My score: 6.5/10

IMDb Score: 7.1/10 (based on 51,195 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0117913/

MetaScore: 54/100: (Based on 21 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 67/100 (based on 51 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 59/100 ‘Want to See’ (based on 88,981 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1072381-time_to_kill/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Sheriff: [to rapists] If I get any trouble outta you guys, I'm gonna integrate this jail.

Judge Omar Noose: Good afternoon, citizens. Be seated. Counsel. And you, sir, are you Carl Lee Hailey?
Carl Lee Hailey: Yes sir.
Judge Omar Noose: Mr. Hailey, I am holding a copy of an indictment returned by the grand jury of Mississippi presenting that "Carl Lee Hailey did murder Billy Ray Cobb, a human being, and James Willis Willard, a human being, and did attempt to kill Dwayne Looney, a peace officer, against the peace and dignity of the State of Mississippi. Do you understand the charges against you?
Carl Lee Hailey: Yes sir.
Judge Omar Noose: How do you wish to plead?
Carl Lee Hailey: [pause] Not guilty, Your Honor.
Jake Tyler Brigance: The defence enters a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, Your Honor.
Judge Omar Noose: Your trial is set for July 22. All pre-trial motions and matters are to be filed no later than July 8. Is there anything further?
D.A. Rufus Buckley: Yes, Your Honor. In the response to the insanity plea, the state requests the defendant be examined by its own doctors.
Judge Omar Noose: Granted
D.A. Rufus Buckley: Additionally, the state opposes any request for bail.
Jake Tyler Brigance: But Your Honor, we have not yet asked for bail. Now Governor Buckley cannot oppose a request until one is made. He should have learned that in law school.
D.A. Rufus Buckley: Your Honor, even Mr. Brigance's meagre legal experience should have taught him two things; number one, I have not been elected governor... yet. And number two, he is required to request bail; the state opposes any such request.
Judge Omar Noose: Well in the future why don't we just wait until he makes the request?
[DA Rufus Buckley nods lightly with a slight smile]
Jake Tyler Brigance: Thank you Your Honor. Your Honor we would like to request bail.
Judge Omar Noose: [Quickly] Denied. I have never allowed bail in a capital murder case and I don't feel that an exception is called for today.

Harry Rex Vonner: Lucien, I thought you were dead.
Lucien Wilbanks: I'm trying.

Ellen Roark: I keep thinking, what would Jake do? What would my father do? What would Lucien do?
Harry Rex Vonner: Well see, there's your problem. What you should be thinking is, what would Harry Rex do?
Ellen Roark: What would Harry Rex do?
Harry Rex Vonner: Cheat. Cheat like crazy.

D.A. Rufus Buckley: Do you think men who kidnap a child should be free in 10 years?
Carl Lee Hailey: No sir.
D.A. Rufus Buckley: Do you think two men who rape a child should be free in 10 years?
Carl Lee Hailey: No, sir.
D.A. Rufus Buckley: Do you think two men who hang a child should be free in 10 years?
Carl Lee Hailey: No.
D.A. Rufus Buckley: Well what do you think should happen? What would be a fair sentence?
Jake Tyler Brigance: Objection!
D.A. Rufus Buckley: Do you think they should deserve to die?
Jake Tyler Brigance: Don't answer that Carl Lee!
D.A. Rufus Buckley: Do you think they should deserve to die?
Carl Lee Hailey: Yes, they deserved to die and I hope they burn in hell!

Carl Lee Hailey: You're white, and I'm black. See Jake, you think just like them. That's why I picked you. You're one of them, don't you see? Oh, you think you ain't 'cause you eat in Claude's and you out there trying to get me off on TV talking about black and white. But the fact is you're just like all the rest of them. When you look at me, you don't see a man, you see a black man.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: THE BLIND SIDE (2009)

Co-Writer/Director: John Lee Hancock
Running Time: 129 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12

Genre: Drama/Biography/Sport
UK Release Date: 26th March 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 9th April 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This film was nominated for the best picture Oscar in 2010, it didn’t win, but Sandra Bullock did pick up the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. Given all this recognition I decided I’d better see what all the fuss was about. I have to say that, as a  Brit, I and don’t really follow any American sports which it made it a little hard to follow in places, but I expected that. I’ve seen the Super Bowl on TV and have seen films such as ‘Any Given Sunday’ which have given me a bit of an insight into the game and the attention it gets over there. Having said that, the film isn’t all about American Football, it’s more about relationships and how helping out a fellow human being can bring something good. Oh, and it’s based on a true story. Here’s a brief summary before I give you my thoughts (summary haters, and those that don’t wish to know about the plot, please block that guy trying to sneak around the sideline while I write the next paragraph).

Michael ‘Big Mike’ Oher has had it rough all his life, his mother is a crack addict, his father has disappeared, but he has one thing in his favour, he’s big… really big. More by luck than design, he gets enrolled into a predominantly white Christian school. His teachers don’t really hold out much hope for him since he seems disinterested in classes, but one teacher, Mrs. Boswell, discovers he is maybe not as dumb as they first thought. He is befriended by young S.J. Tuohy, the son of Leigh Ann and Sean Tuohy. Recognising that Michael has nobody to look after him, the very driven Leigh Ann decides to take him in. Eventually his grades improve and he is allowed to play sports. He is, not surprisingly chosen for the Football team. After a stuttering start, and a bit of coaching from Leigh Ann and S.J., he finally gets the hang of the game and from here, as they say, the rest is history. I’ll leave my summary here so as not to infringe those NFL Spoiler Police.

This is a very heart-warming film that will appeal to the North American audience more than most of the rest of the world. I found it to be very well made with a few good performances. As far as that goes, I thought Sandra Bullock was good as Leigh Ann Tuohy, but Oscar worthy? I’ll let you decide. Tim McGraw did a fair job as Sean Tuohy and I thought Quinton Aaron played the understated Michael Oher very well. Jae Head reminded me a little of a young Macaulay Culkin as S.J. Tuohy and Lily Collins was ok as Collins Tuohy (the daughter). Honourable mentions go to Ray McKinnon as Coach Burt Cotton, Kim Dickens as Mrs. Boswell and there was a nice cameo from Kathy Bates as Miss Sue.

So we have a very rich family taking in a young black boy who happens to be an athlete. The cynical among us would instantly put this back on the shelf and leave it there, but I found it surprisingly better than I first thought it would be. Mainly due to the understated performance of Quinton Aaron, his performance really made the story work (for me). Contrast that with the outgoing and boisterous S.J. and it’s a combination that really works. The scenes where this pair is on screen really stand out. Over all, I found it a little too long and a little too schmaltzy for my taste, but worth one viewing… Recommended, for the one viewing only… then you can move on.

My Score: 6.4/10

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0878804/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1212694-blind_side/
Official Site: http://www.theblindsidemovie.com/dvd/index.html
Trailer:

Film Review: DEMOLITION MAN (1993)

Director: Marco Brambilla
Running time: 110 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

UK release date: 12th November 1993

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 13th November 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This has always been one of my favourite guilty pleasures, a sci-fi action thriller from the nineties featuring Stallone and Snipes. Lots of violence tempered with, it has to be said, a great deal of humour. Yes, I love the scene with the three sea shells… who wouldn’t? Anyhow, I digress… Here’s a short summary before I let you know what I really think (summary haters, the next paragraph really isn’t for you… trust me, you won’t like it).

The year is 1996 and after cop, John Spartan, destroys yet another building while pursuing psychopath Simon Phoenix, he is sent to be cryogenically frozen along with his prisoner. We then skip to 2032 where a utopian society has grown up along the West coast of America after an enormous earthquake destroyed much of it in 2010 (mmm soon then…). This society is lead by Dr. Raymond Cocteau who has created his own vision of what society should be like, and it’s pretty lame! An underground group lead by one Edgar Friendly survives outside this society in the sewers under the city. Into this world the psychopath Simon Phoenix escapes cryo-prison with all the skills he needs to survive in this future world already downloaded into his brain while he was frozen. He immediately goes on a killing spree which leaves the Police, lead by Chief George Earle, unable to cope. The last murder was decades ago! At the suggestion of 20th Century fanatic, and cop, Lenina Huxley, they release John Spartan to track Phoenix down. Unfortunately, the Demolition Man lives up to his reputation and there is much more mayhem in the offing for the seemingly hapless police force.

I really love the humour in this film, Wesley Snipes over-the-top performance and Stallone’s stone-faced delivery are really enjoyable to watch. In fact, really good performances all round, particularly from; Sylvester Stallone as John Spartan, Wesley Snipes as Simon Phoenix and Sandra Bullock as Lenina Huxley. Honourable mentions must also go to; Nigel Hawthorne as Dr. Raymond Cocteau, Benjamin Bratt as Alfredo Garcia, Bob Gunton as Chief George Earle, Glenn Shadix as Associate Bob and Denis Leary as Edgar Friendly.

This film is never going to tax the old grey matter too much, but I always find its good fun to watch. There is some good stunt work and some reasonable special effects, but I think it’s the vision of the possible future I find most intriguing. As I may have already mentioned, I like the humour, but don’t be fooled, there is plenty of violence to be had as well (definitely not a chick-flick). Recommended… But I still have one question… How the hell do you use the three sea shells?


My score: 7.2/10

LINKS:
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0106697/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/screenplay/vi3047227673/