My Review: Winter's Tale (4/10)

"Don't know who's more foolish; The horse who won't listen to his master or the master who listens to his horse."

I don't know what was more foolish; the fact that I watched this film knowing it was going to be terrible, or the fact that I'm actually spending time on reviewing it. Considering that the tagline of the film claims "This is not a true story. This is true love," one might expect at least for the romantic elements to be emotionally gripping, but the chemistry between the lead actors isn't even there. This is basically your average chick flick mixed with some classical fairytale elements, and unfortunately neither of them worked. Winter's Tale requires you to stretch your imagination way too far and it just didn't work for me. This is yet another example of a film based on a beloved novel that doesn't quite translate well on the big screen. Since I never had read the book I kind of felt lost trying to understand who the characters were; the story simply didn't translate well on film. This is Akiva Goldsman's first feature film as a director and he disappoints. I've enjoyed some of his screenplays in the past (I Am Legend, A Beautiful Mind, and Cinderella Man), but Winter's Tale is simply poorly directed. Fans of schmaltzy and romantic fairytales might enjoy this, but it definitely doesn't bring anything original or fresh to the genre. 

Adapted from Mark Helprin's novel of the same name, Akiva Goldsman's film takes place in freezing New York City during the early 1900's. The premise is very strange and they never take time to explain the sort of mystical world in which the film is set. We are first introduced to Peter Lake (Colin Farrell) as he is trying to escape from the evil Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe), who wants him dead. Apparently Pearly had raised Peter and taught him how to become a great thief, but now Peter wants out. He barely survives from Pearly and his men thanks to a mystical white horse that helps him escape by performing a miraculous jump. Before leaving the city, Peter decides to burglarize a couple homes and in one of those homes he is discovered by the oldest daughter, Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay from Downtown Abby). When he sees her, he instantly falls in love with her. She tells him she suffers from a severe illness and that she only has a few months left. Peter believes he is destined to use his one miracle to save her, but Pearly will do everything in his power to stop Peter from achieving his miracle and thus restoring hope in humanity. Beverly's father, Isaac (William Hurt), approves of his daughter's relationship, but time isn't on their side.

Winter's Tale also counts with the talented Jennifer Connelly and Will Smith, but there isn't much they can do with their characters. The chemistry between Farrell and Brown Findlay is practically nonexistent. Russell Crowe plays a decent villain, although it's hard to understand what he is saying. Well, actually it's hard to make sense of the actual story as well. The blending of the fantastic elements with the romance doesn't work at all and the film tries to be ambitious but it doesn't deliver anything unique. The score by Hans Zimmer is beautiful, but the way they use it in this film is way too manipulative. Since neither the characters nor the story manage to engage the audience, they try to do so by using the emotional score. It's a film you might enjoy more by simply closing your eyes and listening to the score rather than watching the action unfold. It's a shame because a talented ensemble cast is wasted once again for a film that has nothing to offer.

My Review: Noah (6/10)

"My father said that one day, if man continued in his ways, the Creator would annihilate this world."

The trailers and the first half of Noah made me believe this was going to be a very different Darren Aronofsky film. Mostly known for his independent work as an art house director he centers his films on characters with strong obsessions that tend to lead them towards some form of self destruction. The first half of this film however has an epic tone with fantastic visual effects and a big scale production unlike what we've seem in his past films. That firs half reminded me a lot of other epic fantasy films like The Lord of the Rings. However midway through the film Aronofsky switches gears on us and returns to the themes he is known for. He centers the story around the psychological struggles Noah is going through and how his obsessive behavior begins leading him to self destruction. Kind of like what he did with the main characters in Black Swan and The Wrestler, Aronofsky tries to delve deep into the psyches of Noah and the delusions he might have been tormented by for the task he was given. This is Aronofsky's film and it is very loosely based on the Bible (Noah's story only has four short chapters in Genesis). Christians will be disappointed if they go into this expecting a film based on a biblical perspective, because Aronofsky takes many artistic liberties and creates a tormented and flawed character similar to the ones he's made in his past films. What he does different with Noah is that he begins telling the film on an epic scale and then he reduces it to a personal story centering on Noah and the struggles he faces with his family. The visuals are great and the performances are strong, but the film feels too long and it oversimplifies environmentalism to make the story relatable to modern audiences. One could even argue that Aronfosky wasn't telling a story of the past, but presenting a futuristic apocalyptic tale. 

Having read the story of Noah in Genesis I must say that this film isn't really an adaptation but more of an original screenplay written by Aronofsky and Ari Handel (who also wrote The Fountain and has produced three other Aronofsky films). The story introduces us to Noah (Russell Crowe) and his wife Naameh (Jennifer Connelly) who live with their three sons: Shem (Douglas Booth), Ham (Logan Lerman), and Japheth (Leo McHugh Carroll). They are the only descendants of Seth that remain, the rest of the world has become wicked and disrespectful towards nature and the Creator. In a dream Noah sees water covering the Earth, and in order to understand this strange message from the Creator he visits his grandfather, Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins), who is still alive. Along the way he discovers several dead humans who have been attacked, but their is a young girl named Ila (Emma Watson) who has survived and he decides to help her and take her with him. After meeting with his grandfather, Noah understands his calling and begins building a giant ark to make space for his family and a pair of animals of every species in order to preserve creation. He encounters difficulties along the way as a group of men led by Tubal-Cain (Ray Winstone) defy him, but Noah has the protection of Watchers (fallen angels who've taken the form of giant stone-like creatures). The flood is coming and Noah will stop at nothing to execute the Creator's plan.

Noah has some breathtaking scenes that work really well for an epic film like this. My favorites were the montage where Noah explains how the world has been created and the scene where he plants a seed and a spring of water comes out from Earth extending into an entire forest in a matter of seconds. The scenes involving the flood were also pretty well made. The scenery and cinematography is captured gorgeously. I also enjoyed the performances from Crowe, Watson, and Winstone. However, Noah is the only character that has depth as the rest of the cast play stereotypical characters that don't offer much to the story. The film centers on Noah's inner struggle and how he deals with the task given to him as he becomes obsessed and self destructive after seeing the wickedness of mankind. The film does become a bit heavy handed with the ecological message although it certainly simplifies it at times because what Aronofsky is really interested in exploring is the character of Noah. This might be his most ambitious film to date, but I still prefer his smaller films. The Wrestler continues to be my favorite film of his, although I still haven't seen Pi or The Fountain.

My Review: Broken City (4/10)

"There are some wars you fight and some wars you walk away from. This isn't the fighting kind."

I guess Allen Hughes's brother, Albert (with whom he has always worked with in the past directing such films as The Book of Eli and From Hell), decided this was a movie he was going to walk away from. Albert was the smarter brother here because Broken City really missed the mark with a rather predictable plot involving corrupt government officials, silly twists, and irrelevant character motivations. I felt the story was rather ambiguous and some characters were presented only to introduce a certain plot element and then were completely forgotten (as with Natalie and Cathleen). In this day and age where you can find great TV series why would someone want to go see a political thriller so formulaic as this? Hughes has to offer something much more groundbreaking if he wants to attract audiences. It's not enough just to have big stars and a predictable script. It's a shame that the film is actually more broken than the city, and one of the main issues I had was with the weak script written by Brian Tucker which leaves way too many loose ends. Broken City isn't a terrible movie, but it isn't any good either. 

Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) is a New York detective on trial for having killed an alleged rapist and murderer. The court finds Billy innocent despite the fact that Police Commissioner Fairbanks (Jeffrey Wright) presented some evidence to the city's Mayor, Hostetler (Russell Crowe), which he decided to withhold. The Mayor congratulates Billy for doing the right thing but he is asked to resign. The film jumps seven years forward where we see Billy working as a private detective (mostly hired for adultery cases). He is married to Natalie (Natalie Martinez), an aspiring actress who happened to be the sister of the murderer's victim. Mayor Hostetler hires Billy to follow his wife, Cathleen (Catherine Zeta Jones), whom he suspects is cheating on him. He wants him to do it quietly because he's a few weeks away from reelection and the opposing candidate, Jack Valliant (Barry Pepper) is closing in on the race. Billy is surprised to discover that the person Cathleen has been meeting with is actually Paul Andrews (Kyle Chandler), Valliant's lead campaign coordinator. A few days after he makes this discovery, Paul is found murdered in the streets and Billy realizes that there is much more going on here than a simple adultery case. 

There is no doubt that the strongest thing about Broken City is its cast. Mark Wahlberg is comfortable here playing the tough guy and I thought he gave a strong performance. I did expect more from Russell Crowe who didn't really add much to the movie. The few scenes with Barry Pepper were probably the strongest ones. Catherine Zeta Jones was underused here and her character is simply in this film to move the plot along. The same can be said for Natalie Martinez. So many of these characters were simply part of this film to introduce certain plot elements but then were completely forgotten. There is no character development and pretty much everyone plays stereotypical roles here. If you've seen political thrillers in the past than you'd be very familiar with these one dimensional characters. Despite trying to pay close attention to the plot I still had a hard time understanding how certain elements were connected with one another. Everything felt contrived and the story was too ambitious. By the end I thought the story was just too unbelievable for a film that tried to appear real and authentic.

My Review: LA Confidential (9/10)

"Rollo Tamasi is the reason I became a cop. I wanted to catch the guys who thought they could get away with it. It's supposed to be about justice."

L.A. Confidential was a very pleasant surprise. I had been waiting a long time for a crime drama like this one and somehow I had never been able to see this classic film from 1997. They don't make crime dramas like they used to in the 90's anymore. L.A. Confidential belongs in the same rank as Se7en, The Usual Suspects, and Heat in my opinion. Unfortunately, in the last decade this genre has faded away. This is director Curtis Hanson's best film and despite directing many more movies in the last decade they have been decent or misses. None of his films compare to the set and mood he's established here with LA Confidential. The film is full of suspense, thrills, and has several twists along the way. This is just the kind of film I love to see. The performances were also all really strong thanks to a spectacular cast and a fabulous adapted screenplay written by Hanson and Brian Helgeland (42, Man on Fire, Mystic River). The script was adapted from James Ellroy's crime novel and it incorporates several true events from the 1950's crime world in L.A. Fans of film noir and crime thrillers will be in for a treat here because this is a really special movie and it deserves all the awards it has received because this is a very satisfying film. The last hour of this thriller is really intense and will leave you at the edge of your seat. The build up is also very satisfying because the characters and events are all well developed.

The film takes place in LA during the early 50's right after the arrest of the well known gangster, Mickey Cohen. The LA police department is as popular as ever thanks to this arrest and a TV drama glorifying them. They are prepared now to face the war over the control of the drug trade that Cohen's arrest has provoked. Among the best men in the department we have the hot headed cop, Bud White (Russell Crowe) who is willing to do what it takes as long as the guilty pay for their crimes. He`s extremely sensitive towards abused females and is ready to punish the criminals. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) on the other hand is always looking for fame considering he`s a consultant for the cop TV show. Jack has close ties with Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito) a magazine editor who makes deals with him to cover some high profile arrests after setting up their victims. Then there is the promising young officer Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce) who does things by the books and has impressed the DA and high officials for his smarts. Exley is ambitious and is looking for a big arrest in order to climb the ranks. These three men despite being very different from each other will have to join forces if they want to solve the brutal crime that has just taken place near a local cafe. Their main suspect is the millionaire, Pierce Patchett (David Strathairn), who runs a sort of high profile prostitution net involving Hollywood star look a like hookers. One of these hookers, Lynn Bracken, is played by Kim Bassinger and begins to be romantically involved with Bud. James Cromwell plays a supporting role as one of the Sergeant's in the police department.

This film received 9 Academy Award nominations including best picture and director, but only won two (Kim Bassinger for best supporting actress and Hanson for best adapted screenplay). There is something unique about this film despite the fact that the subject matter has been dealt with before a million times (corrupt cops and gangsters) and I think it has to do with the fact that there is no main character here. All three officers have the same amount of screen time and they all kind of play out like anti heroes. They are not your usual heroic cops, instead they are all flawed but easy for the viewer to identify with and root for. I was interested in what was going to happen to each one of the characters in this film. There are good enough twists for the audience to enjoy this film based on the action alone, but the performances from Spacey, Pierce, and Crowe are all so good that they just elevate this film and take it to an entire other level. Basinger is really good here as well, but I don't think she was better than the male actors in this film. L.A. Confidential is one of the best crime dramas I've seen thanks to a great script, some incredible performances, memorable characters, and a lot of thrills. This film is a must see.

Rating: 9.3/10

My Review: Man of Steel (7/10)

¨You just have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be, Clark. Whoever that man is, he´s going to change the world.¨

There is no doubt in my mind that Man of Steel is a far more superior movie than its predecessor: Superman Returns. The franchise has gotten a positive reboot with director Zack Snyder at the helm and Christopher Nolan as one of the producers. I know this isn’t a perfect film, I thought it had several flaws, but compared to Superman Returns this is a masterpiece. What surprises me is that even though most critics acknowledge the fact that this is a superior film, in Rotten Tomatoes this film was only recommended by 57% of critics, compared to the 75% that recommended Superman Returns. For those of us who have seen both movies we know that is a tremendous flaw and most critics would agree that they gave too much anticipated love to Superman Returns which was a really mediocre movie. I can understand why they disliked this film because I think the film suffers from an action overdose. There is just way too much action in this film and it grows repetitive and tiresome. Snyder goes overboard with the action sequences and there is just way too much destruction that goes unaccounted for. I mean the entire city of Metropolis gets completely destroyed in this film and there are far too many 9/11 references here. That is the major issue I had with this film. Other than that I thought the movie had a great cast. Henry Cavill made for an exciting and near perfect Superman, Amy Adams nailed her role as Lois Lane, and Michael Shannon was a convincing villain as General Zod. Besides the cast, I also thought the flashback scenes involving the young Clark Kent were the strongest moments of the film. It was those quiet moments that I enjoyed more than all the loud action scenes in which Clark Kent was struggling to find his new identity. Those scenes worked really well for me and I thought Kevin Costner and Diane Lane were wonderful playing his Earth parents. I wasn’t a big fan of the opening sequence in Krypton, but thought Russell Crowe also was convincing as Jor-El.

The film opens in Krypton where we see Jor-El (Russell Crowe) help his wife give birth to his son, Kal-El, the first natural birth in the planet in a long time. The planet is at the verge of being extinct and Jor-El finds hope in his son, although General Zod (Michael Shannon) has different plans for his people. Despite Zod´s efforts to stop Jor-El, he manages to send his son to Earth where he can survive. At Earth he is adopted by Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha (Diane Lane) who find him in their field in Kansas. The film centers on Clark (Henry Cavill) as he struggles to find meaning and purpose for his life. With the help of his parents he begins to deal with his powers, but is reminded that he should use these abilities as little as possible because the world isn’t prepared for someone like him. The scenes involving Clark´s childhood and his upbringing with his parents is told through a series of flashbacks as we see a much more mature Clark searching for the meaning of his existence in one place after another. He finally finds some answers when an ancient craft from Krypton is located on Earth and that is when he also runs into journalist, Louis Lane (Amy Adams) who discovers Clark isn’t a regular human being. His secret life is shattered when General Zod makes a theatrical entrance in his spaceship along with his crew and asks mankind to surrender the alien. Of course Zod has other intentions for the planet and doesn’t really settle for Kal-El. This is where the battle and destruction on Earth begins, and Clark Kent ironically remains the only hope for mankind.

Man of Steel delivers and fans of blockbuster action films will love this film. I thought the action sequences suffered from too much overload and repetitiveness. The scenes are extremely exaggerated and they grew tiresome after a while. I loved most of the film, but the last 45 minutes took a toll on me and made me enjoy this film less and less. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like this and of course I would rather sit through this than watch Superman Returns again (a film that critics seem to have enjoyed more). The problem is that after so many great superhero films, Man of Steel does fall short to other films like The Dark Knight or even Iron Man. It is probably at the same level as Thor, but I wouldn’t say this is a great superhero film because it is inferior to the bar that the Batman franchise set. I even think Iron Man 3 was a better movie than this, but Man of Steel did have its moments and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people really like this blockbuster film considering the excellent cast and the wonderful performance from Henry Cavill as the new Superman.

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My Review: The Man with the Iron Fists (2/10)

¨When it comes to money, things get funny¨

The Man with the Iron Fists is yet another early contender for worst film of the year. It seems like this year I have watched far too many terrible movies, and am in desperate need for the first breakout movie of the year. RZA directs this kung fu action/comedy film which fails at many levels. First of all it has too many characters crammed into one film. RZA intended this movie to be over four hours long and divide it into two parts, but instead of that they edited everything and made it into one 100 minute movie. That really hurt the pacing of the film which moves at a ridiculous pace and seems to hurry everything. The film doesn’t works as either an action film or a satire because in the first place the action scenes are quite terrible and in the second it is far from being funny. The script also lacks some clever lines and a better story, while the acting in this film is terrible. I know that in some way this film tries to pay homage to the 70´s Shaw Kung fu films, but it still was messy, and the spoofs really didn’t work. This is one of those movies I really don’t want to spend too much time talking about because I feel it was a complete waste of time. The film may be presented by Quentin Tarantino (because he is friends with RZA and has had his music on many of his own screenplays), but it is far from his work. RZA could have used some help from Tarantino because this is another proof that making violent films isn’t an easy thing.

The film begins by introducing several different characters which are all linked to Jungle Village. A blacksmith (RZA) narrates the action as he tells us what is going on. The leader of the Lion´s clan, Gold Lion (Kuan Tai Chen), has been brutally murdered by Silver Lion (Byron Mann) and Bronze Lion (Cung Le) after they hear that the Governor´s gold is going to pass through their village. Gold Lion was assigned the task of protecting the gold while it was being transported, and now that he has been betrayed, Silver and Bronze Lion prepare an army to steal the gold. In the meantime, Gold Lion´s son, Zen Yi (Rick Yune) decides to avenge his father´s death and attack those responsible. Zen Yi is defeated however by Brass Body (Dave Bautista), who works for the Lion´s clan, but before he´s killed, the blacksmith manages to save him and escape. Silver and Bronze Lion manage to steal the governor´s gold and hide it in Madam Blossom´s (Lucy Liu) brothel. Jack Knife (Russell Crowe), an emissary of the Emperor, happens to be staying at the brothel when all this occurs. While these events are taking place, the blacksmith is caught by Brass Body and has his arms severed. Jack Knife decides to help the blacksmith and makes iron arms for him. They join forces along with Zen Yi and together they face the Lion clan in a blood bath.

As you can tell there are a lot of different things going on at the same time and way too many characters for a short film like this. Everything just seemed so disconnected that it never even worked as a spoof. I really didn’t care much for any of the characters either, and to say that there is no character development whatsoever is an understatement. I also had a lot of issues with the editing of the film with so many chops here and there. The action scenes never felt believable, and everything felt like a complete waste of time. This film may have had some interesting actors working here, but it is just terrible. Please skip this film.

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My Review: Les Miserables (8/10)

¨But remember this, my brother, see in this some higher plan. You must use this precious silver to become an honest man. By the witness of the martyrs, by the Passion and the Blood, God has raised you out of darkness; I have bought your soul for God! ¨

Academy Award winning director, Tom Hooper (The King`s Speech), brings one of the most famous musicals based on Victor Hugo`s 1862 novel, Les Miserables, to the big screen with quite a remarkable screenplay adaptation, a beautiful production design, and some stunning performances from the cast. The film is directed in such a way that you feel like you are watching a conventional stage musical rather than a movie. For the viewers like myself that live far away from the big cities and have no option of watching a live musical this is as close as it gets for us. Hooper took a huge risk by letting his actors sing live on set while they were performing instead of simply having them doing playback like in most musical adaptations. This is in my opinion what gave the film such a livelier feel to it and made me feel like I was watching a play. The film is almost entirely sung as there is very little dialogue, so if you aren’t a big fan of musicals you will want to stay away from this one. My only complaint about Hooper`s style of direction is that he used extreme close ups on every character during most of the film, which didn’t allow us to enjoy the grandeur of the production design as much as I would have liked. These close ups were a bit too much for my taste. Most of the songs performed were done in long takes so I can imagine how hard and exhausting it must have been for the actors to get each take right. I enjoyed this film very much, but did have some issues with the length of the movie. Even so, this is a great film and Tom Hooper successfully manages to adapt this well known play. It deserves all the recognition it is getting.

For those of you familiar with the novel or the stage play you might want to skip this second paragraph focusing on the plot. The film takes place during the post-French revolution time period where we are introduced to prisoner 24601, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), who has spent the past 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread for his dying niece. He is finally being released, but Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe) warns him that he must not break parole. ¨Once a thief, always a thief¨ is his motto and he`s sure Valjean will end up behind bars again. Jean finds it extremely difficult to find a job after being marked as a criminal and is very bitter about life, but he finds redemption in a Bishop who saves him from returning to prison and makes him turn his life around. Jean breaks parole and begins a new life as a successful businessman who becomes mayor. He is a kind person, but his past continues to haunt him as Javert appears several years later and recognizes him. Jean has to go on the run again, but not before he makes a promise to a former employee of his, Fantine (Anne Hathaway), to care for her child. Jean wasn’t aware that she was fired from his business after the employees discovered she had a child and was single. Fantine was forced to turn into a prostitute in order to maintain her child, Cosette, who is being cared for by the Thenardiers (Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter) who take advantage of her. Feeling guilty for what has happened to Fantine, Jean pledges to care for Cosette and buys her from the Thenardiers. Several years later we see Jean and Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) enjoying life together as father and daughter, but once again Jean`s past catches up to him as he runs into Javert during the student revolution led by Marius (Eddie Redmayne). When Cosette and Marius fall in love with each other, Jean realizes he won`t be able to run all his life.

We are all familiar with the story and the universal themes that this classic novel touches such as love, redemption, mercy, poverty, and the revolutionary spirit. The film captures all these themes perfectly thanks to some wonderful performances from Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway who both received Oscar nominations. My favorite character however was the young Gavroche who was played brilliantly by Daniel Huttlestone. Samantha Barks as the broken hearted Eponine also gave a strong performance. Much of the success of the film is owed to these great and inspiring performances. The songs were also beautifully delivered and I enjoyed most of them. I think my favorite one came from the student revolutionaries, ¨Do You Hear the People Sing? ¨ Les Miserables will please fans, but those who have no taste for musicals or haven’t enjoyed the stage productions will hate this film because it is manipulative and over the top. Having that said, I still think Hooper`s effort pays off and he`s made a great musical, although his best film was the much smaller and far less ambitious in scale, The Damned United, which catapulted him to fame. I did not feel as emotional as other people did about this film, and wasn’t moved. In all honesty I was a bit exhausted by the time the credits began rolling, but it still was an entertaining film worth checking out for the performances alone.

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My Review: The Next Three Days (9/10)

¨We spend a lot of time trying to organize the world. We build clocks and try to predict the weather. But what part of our life is truly under our control? ¨

Let me start out by saying that I absolutely loved this movie. It was one of the best films I`ve seen this year. This thriller had me at the edge of my seat for the entire second half of the movie. It was really intense and it had everything I look for in a thriller: it was suspenseful; it had good performances, interesting characters, and a smart script. Some critics argued that the length and pace of the film was to slow, but I thought The Next Three Days had a perfect pacing, steadily building the tension from the beginning to the highly climatic ending. Paul Haggis won two Oscars for his screenplays in Crash and Million Dollar Baby. He also adapted the screenplay for this film and directed it as well. He has written several other memorable screenplays like Casino Royale and In the Valley of Elah. I really enjoy his films and thought he should have received a lot more credit for this suspenseful thriller. He has proven to be a brilliant director and screenwriter. This film is actually a remake of a 2008 French film: Pour Elle (Anything for Her) which was directed by Fred Cavayé and stared Diane Kruger (Inglorious Basterds). I haven’t seen that movie so I don`t know how faithful this adaptation was, but I can say that this American version is really satisfying. I was a big fan of the TV series Prisonbreak (mainly the first season), and this movie reminded me a lot of that series.

John (Russell Crowe) and Lara Brennan (Elizabeth Banks) live an apparently happy married life along with their three year old son Luke in Pittsburgh. One morning the police storm in their house accusing Lara of murder. She had had a heavy argument with her boss the previous night and her body was found lifeless in the parking lot. Lara was seen leaving the scene of the crime by another co-worker and her fingerprints were all over the fire extinguisher, the murder weapon. They also found the victim`s blood on her coat so all the evidence was against Lara. The movie jumps three years forward as John is working really hard with his lawyer to file for an appeal. John is convinced that her wife is innocent and is willing to fight for her freedom. He visits Lara at the Allegheny County jail regularly along with Luke (now played by Ty Simpkins) who doesn`t speak to his mom. John keeps his wife updated with the case and she tells him that someone else was at the crime scene that night. She bumped into her in the garage and heard a button pop, but the police never found any evidence of it. All hope seemed to be lost, the appeal was rejected and Lara would have to spend 20 more years in prison. Lara doesn`t want to spend the rest of her life in prison without being able to speak to her son so she tries to kill herself. John is not willing to leave her wife in prison for a crime he is convinced she didn`t commit so he tries to figure out a plan to help her escape and so the action begins.

Liam Neeson has a small role in this film as Damon Pennington, an ex-con who wrote a book on how to escape from jail. John meets with him and asks for advice on how he can free his wife. It`s a small role but it is key because it sets the mood and suspense for the next hour. The beautiful Olivia Wilde also has a small role as the single mother of Nicole, one of Luke`s playground friends. It`s not a really important role, but it helps establish John`s character in the film as a loving father and caring husband. He will do whatever it takes to free her wife and he doesn`t even doubt her one bit. Russell Crowe is a great actor and he is brilliant in this film. He expresses so much without having to speak. The scene where he has to tell his wife that the appeal was rejected is heartbreaking. He doesn`t have to say anything to her, she already see`s it in his eyes. So does the rest of the family. As the movie carries on, the suspense begins to build more and more up to a very satisfying finale. The Next Three Days is one of the best thrillers I have seen in a while and the length of the film didn`t bother me one bit because the movie was really intense. Paul Haggis should get more recognition for this movie than he has received because it was truly satisfying.

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My Review: Robin Hood (7/10)

¨Rise, and rise again. Until lambs become lions.¨

Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe became a franchise name with The Gladiator and now they team up once again for the legendary Robin Hood.  The expectations were high after their Oscar winning film, but many people were disappointed with this version of Robin Hood which was written by Brian Helgeland (The Green Zone, Mystic River, and Man on Fire). This movie is by no means close to being Gladiator, but it is a good movie nonetheless. The chemistry between Robin and Marion is not very strong, and the action scenes are not as good as The Gladiator, but the movie is still entertaining and has a decent plot. Robin Hood is such a rich character and I thought this movie does a good job at introducing that character and kind of setting up everything we know about him. The movie serves as sort of a prequel because we are introduced to a Robin Hood who is serving the King at war and later we discover how he ends up living in Nottingham. This is Robin before becoming Robin Hood and that is perhaps why so many people were disappointed because they wanted to see the actual Robin Hood living in the woods and stealing from the rich. I was prepared for the movie and already heard it was a prequel so I actually went with lower expectations, but ended up enjoying this epic movie and thought that it was written nicely and had some good performances as well.

It is the beginning of the XII century and Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) is fighting alongside the English in a Crusade held by King Richard The Lionheart (Danny Huston). In one of their battles King Richard is killed and Robin decides it is time to escape and return home along with a few of his partners: Little John (Kevin Durand), Will (Scott Grimes), and Allan A Dayle (Alan Doyle).  They encounter some luck on their way home when a few of the knights that have been assigned to return the King´s crown to England have been ambushed by a man named Godfrey (Mark Strong) working secretly alongside the French who want to invade England. Robin and his men kill the French and Godfrey escapes along with a few others, but they are able to save the crown and gather all the belongings left behind by the dead knights. One of the dying knights is Sir Robert Loxley (Douglas Hodge) who begs Robin to return his sword to his father in Nottingham. Robin promises to do so and along with his men they take the place of the knights and decide to return home in the boat that was waiting for them. Once in London Robin takes Robert`s place and returns the crown to the King´s brother, Prince John who is now proclaimed King of England. Robin returns the sword to Nottingham where he meets Marion (Kate Blanchett), Robert´s widow, and returns the sword to his father Walter Loxley (Max von Sydow). Walter asks Robin to stay with him and take Robert´s place for some time and Robin agrees. During this time King John decides to raise taxes and doesn´t know that his newly assigned counselor, Godfrey is actually planning to begin a Civil War so the French can invade.

Before going to see this epic film remember that this is how the legend of the Robin Hood we all have heard about begins. This is not a film about him in the wilderness stealing from the rich; it is sort of a prequel to let us know how he became an enemy of the King. Gladiator was a great epic film, but we cannot go into this movie expecting it to be just as good. Just because Robin Hood is no Gladiator doesn`t mean that the movie is bad, and I think that it is much better than most movies we´ve seen this year. I thought the performance from the cast was good and the plot was also interesting. Many people may find this movie kind of slow, but I actually was interested in seeing how all these different characters we have all heard about meet each other. I really wish William Hurt had more screen time as I enjoyed his performance as William Marshal. In this film we are also introduced to Friar Tuck, who is perhaps one of the funniest characters, and the Sheriff of Nottingham. I really enjoyed this epic movie and was entertained throughout the two hours. It was an original take of the Robin Hood legend and different from the other Robin Hood movies. Not a great film, but good nonetheless. The problem is that we have come to expect great things from Ridley Scott.

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