Little Accidents (5/10): Strong performances but an unsatisfactory ending brings the film down.

“Your testimony as you can imagine is of the upmost importance to us.”

Little Accidents is Sara Colangelo’s debut feature film and despite some of the issues I had with the pacing and some unexpected turns the story takes it still had some solid performances that kept me engaged with the movie. With a little more polishing Colangelo may become an important filmmaker because she does manage to deliver some well crafted scenes and interesting characters. It is a character study of a small American coal mining town that has recently experienced a fatal accident that claimed the lives of several miners. Amos Jenkins (Boyd Holbrook) is the only survivor and on the one hand he is feeling forced to testify against the executives by the families’ who have lost their loved ones, and on the other, miners from the same company want him to keep quiet so they can continue to work without experiencing any setbacks. He would rather stay quiet than say anything. The blame is mostly geared towards Bill Doyle (Josh Lucas) who is an executive of the mining company. Meanwhile he and his wife, Diane (Elizabeth Banks), are dealing with the disappearance of their son JT (Travis Tope). The only person who knows what happened to JT is a young boy named Owen (Jacob Lofland) who would rather keep the secret to himself than confess what actually happened. Owen’s father was also a victim of a coal mining accident and we see the contrast between his family and the Doyle’s. Once we are introduced to all these characters we begin to see how some of them overlap with each other in a small town where secrets are hard to be kept. Colangelo sets up the story pretty convincingly but once the characters begin to interact with each other there are moments that feel forced and melodramatic. There is just too much going on in the town for a film like this.

What I enjoyed the most about Little Accidents despite all the melodrama and forced interactions it introduces were the performances from the cast. Elizabeth Banks has a much more subtle performance than what we are used to seeing her in and Josh Lucas is also believable as the mining executive who is trying to keep busy at work to keep his mind off of the loss of his son. However the two stand outs in this film are Boyd Holbrook and Jacob Lofland who are internally wrestling with secrets of their own. Lofland was outstanding in MUD although most of the attention was geared towards Tye Sheridan’s performance. He is the one who has gotten much better roles, but that doesn’t mean Lofland should be ignored and in this film he proves he has the acting chops to carry a film. 

The greatest failure of Little Accidents is that it tries to cover too much melodrama in a short period of time. Instead of focusing on one of the accidents, it introduces us to another one and shows how some of the characters overlap with each other. I didn’t find the relationship between Banks and Holbrook believable and it all felt rushed. The underlying message of the film seems to be that “truth will set you free,” but in the end it was all too obvious and the audience is left unrewarded for the time they had invested in the film. I found some of the camera movement a bit distracting at times, but that is my only complaint in the technical department. In the end, Little Accidents simply doesn’t deliver despite an interesting premise. 

My Review: The Lincoln Lawyer (8/10)

¨I checked the list of people I trust and your name ain`t on it.¨

The Lincoln Lawyer reminded me of one of those Grisham novels, but this thrilling drama was actually based on a Michael Connelly novel (as was Clint Eastwood`s Blood Work). The film has a lot of twists and surprises, but the true success of the movie relies on Matthew McConaughey`s performance. His charisma and spark are what make this film work, and he didn’t even have to take his t-shirt off this time. Relatively unknown director, Brad Furman, has made one of the best thrillers of the year. The script was adapted really well by John Romano as he handles all the twists really well. The court room scenes were actually intense and reminded me of other great lawyer films as Primal Fear. The movie begins pretty slow, it takes a while before it picks up. I had no idea where the film was going to go after it presented one twist and turn after another. I actually appreciated that the most from this movie because I couldn’t predict what was going to happen next. The plot seemed so simple at first, but once we get to the halfway point it’s hard to know what direction the story is going to take. Even at the end so many things came together so every piece of the puzzle fit in nicely. I really enjoyed this film; it`s a smart, intelligent thriller with a strong and reliable performance from Matthew McConaughey.

The title gets its name from the Lincoln Town car that defense lawyer, Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey), operates from. He spends most of his time in the vehicle with his chauffer Earl (Laurence Mason) so he uses it as his personal office. Mick is a smart lawyer who actually learned all the shortcuts in his profession. He is street smart and doesn’t mind if his clients are actually innocent or not. He gets a huge break when a young realtor named Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe) asks him to defend his case after being charged for raping and beating a prostitute. Louis claims to be innocent and says the whole thing was a setup since his family is very wealthy. Mick doesn’t care if he`s innocent or not, what he wants are all the facts so that he can defend the case against prosecutor Ted Minton (Josh Lucas). Along with his private investigator, Frank Levin (William H. Macy), Mick discovers that there is more to this case than what Louis is telling them. He links this case to a previous one he had years ago where he just now realizes has sent an innocent man to jail. His name was Jesus Martinez (Michael Peña) and Mick was his defense attorney who made him plead guilty so he would get a reduced sentence instead. The film begins to take several twists and turns from this point on and it picks up in intensity. There is another subplot to this story involving Mick`s relationship with his ex wife, Maggie (Marisa Tomei), a prosecutor, but the story isn’t developed really well as it focuses more on Haller and the case.

I guess the subplot was introduced because you can`t waist the talents of such a great actress as Marisa Tomei. She`s great in the few scenes she has in this film, but her story and relationship with Mick isn’t developed very well. John Leguizamo and Bryan Cranston also have secondary roles, but we`ve seen them do better work in the past. The true star of the film is Matthew McConaughey and he carries the movie with the help of some good performances from Ryan Phillippe and William H. Macy. So yes, there is an interesting cast in The Lincoln Lawyer, but the success is mostly thanks to a great outstanding performance from McConaughey. The movie is intense, has interesting twists, and the court room scenes felt authentic. We can see these characters as real lawyers and the situations are very plausible. That is why I was reminded so much of a Grisham novel because the situations felt real. It`s hard to find interesting and smart films, so I was pleased with this movie because it isn’t only intelligent, it`s also entertaining and has some decent thrills; it`s complete.

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My Review: Life As We Know It (4/10)

¨They love Sophie more than anything in the entire world, and out of everyone, Messer, they picked us.¨

Life As We Know It is a very predictable romantic comedy, with uninteresting characters, and a script I felt a 15 year old could have written. There still are however some funny and heartfelt moments that will make this movie enjoyable for its target audience. If you like romantic comedies in general then there is no reason why you won`t like this movie. I am not a big fan of rom coms, since they seem to follow the same logic and clichés most films in this genre do, although there have been some pleasant surprises for me (500 Days of Summer, My Best Friend`s Wedding, Love Actually, Notting Hill, and Definitely, Maybe are movies which other rom coms should try to measure up to). Katherine Heigl has to try to make a different movie very soon because she seems to be playing the same role over and over again. Her previous movie, Killers, was even worse than this one and in my opinion it’s been awhile since she has made a good film.  I used to like her, but now she just seems to be getting on my nerves and will think twice before going to see another one of her films. Josh Duhamel was ok in this movie and had several funny scenes, but I wasn`t too excited about the chemistry between him and Heigl. Greg Berlanti (who is known for producing mostly TV series) directed this film and the screenplay was adapted from hundreds of other rom coms  by Ian Deitchman and Kristis Rusk Robinson.

The story takes place in Atlanta where a married couple is trying to hook up two of their best friends together on a blind date. Holly (Heigl) and Messer (Duhamel) don`t get along from the get go and never even end up going out on their date. They continue on with their own lives as usual although they always run into each other due to their friendship with Peter and Alison. Messer is a ladies’ man who doesn`t believe in long relationships and thinks his life is great because he works as an assistant camera director for the Atlanta Hawks so he gets paid for watching games. On the other hand, Holly owns a bakery and is very happy with her life which seems to revolve around waiting for one of her clients to show up on which she has a crush although she doesn`t even know his name. Finally after his 35<sup>th</sup> visit to the bakery (yes she`s been counting) she finally learns his name: Sam (Josh Lucas from Home Sweet Alabama and Poseidon). He invites her out for dinner, but before they can ever go out, Holly receives a phone call that will change her life forever. Peter and Alison lost their lives on a car accident and they had left on their will that Holly and Messer should become guardians of their one year old daughter: Sophie. A huge responsibility for Messer and Holly who have been accustomed to their easy lives and don`t even get along very well, but they reluctantly accept the task. If you have seen any romantic comedy from Hollywood then you can probably guess what will happen in the next 90 minutes of the film.

The movie is predictable, the secondary characters are one dimensional and you don`t even care for any of them, and Heigl is once again playing the same role she plays over and over again. So no, I didn`t really enjoy this movie all that much, but I can`t deny I did laugh at a few jokes here and there. Life As We Know It is just another one of those movies that will get lost in time and nobody will ever remember, although fans of the genre will probably have a decent time with the movie. The film relies heavily on the same jokes you have when a baby is on film: poop, vomiting, and so on. Still the most likeable character in the film is the baby, Sophie, and that isn`t a very good sign in a movie like this. The secondary characters in this film are almost nonexistent, and the film focuses entirely on Heigl and Duhamel`s love-hate relationship. There really was no need to make this movie, we`ve seen it before in hundreds of other rom coms (this one even has the classic run to the airport scene). Don`t watch this film unless you are really a fan of the genre.

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