The Judge

The Judge - 141min - R

The best part of this film is the spectacular cast. Working with excellent material, director David Dobkin, whose films have been hit or miss, has created a wonderful story that plays well and gives the setting an honest feeling. The characters all play well off one another without overdoing it. The story could easily fall into a bog of sentimentality but it provides enough to give the film flavor without overdoing it. I sentence this film to be a green light.

Hank (Robert Downy Jr.) is a high priced defense attorney. His client list consists of the worst of humanity but the best paid. When he gets a call from his brother to say his mother has passed away, he is faced with going back to his home town and dealing with the family issues he has separated himself from. His father (Robert Duvall) is a judge of the local area and is a hard man. Hank reconnects with his family and his old life. His interactions are those of an outsider only there to bury his mother.

As he about to leave, his father gets accused of killing a man he had problems with in the past. Now, Hank has to stay and defend his father. Through the trial, he starts to learn about his past and why his relationship with his father has been so hard. This journey is peppered with self-realization and a new understanding, and Robert Downy Jr. does an excellent job of showing us that journey. His performance is spot-on.

This film's trailer is misleading. It really focuses on the trial but the story has way more depth than expressed. The movies that show growth of a character are more appealing to me than anything else. They give us hope that we can change as well. Hank is going to be Hank but the story shows us his change in direction as a person without losing the edge of flare of who that character is. His journey back home brings to light a lot of feelings and emotions that he has buried but not forgotten.

Robert Duvall's portrayal of Judge Palmer is excellent. He really does an outstanding job of expressing the proud professional that sacrifices his relationship with his son to maintain the image of propriety in the community. He would rather be found guilty than have his judgments called into question because of possible evidence that could save him in the trial.

Some outstanding performances that need recognition are Vincent D'Onofrio and Vera Farmiga. D'Onfrio completely nailed the emotional struggle of the older brother who has moved past the loss of his shot at baseball and the frustrations of the possibility of having to be the cartaker of his youngest brother. Farmiga is a great strong independent woman. Her character's strength is in knowing her feelings for Hank but also knowing who he is and she doesn't let that change or color her world.

I enjoy the realism of the story. Its strength is the honesty of the characters and their realness. Other films of this nature give in to sentimentality but this one keeps it feet on the ground and provides a good story that makes the viewer enjoy the ride. We also see the change in character in the opening scene Hank urinates on the prosecuting attorney after his journey we see him in the same setting offering the character a bit of advice. The second interaction is completely civil and a perfect touch.

Source Code

Source Code – 93 Min – PG-13

This movie is a modern thriller with the feel and tempo of a Hitchcock film. From the opening credits the sound track had a North by Northwest rhythm that had me excited to see this film. It starts off at a great pace and does not slow down until the end. It blended the tension with plenty of humors relief points and mixed in quiet a few emotional moments to give the viewer a full emotional journey in 93 minutes. Seeing this movie makes me believe in the magic of movies again. I get worn down with the canned and formulaic rehash of movies that a wonderful film like this is just want I need to build up my faith in the industry. Definitely take some time and see this movie.

The movie takes place on an eight minute loop right before an explosion on a train. Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is sent back to eight minutes before the bomb goes off to see if he can find who set it. Stevens is a military pilot in a new program that lets him go back in time to live the life of someone else, he takes over Sean Fentress’s body as he was on the train when it blew up. In these short jumps back he has to find out who set the bomb and take this information to the future to prevent another explosion. There are hundreds of people on the train and he only has a small window to find who did it. With the help of Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) as his contact on the outside of his pod, he works to find a solution fighting two deadlines, the eight minutes he has in each jump and the ever passing of time outside the pod before the second explosion goes off.

The cast and crew did a stupendous job of building the right amount of tension and fun in this film. Some of the other members of the crew did a marvelous job of bringing this story to life. Michelle Monaghan and Jeffry Wright performed well and I appreciate the nod to the Quantum Leap-esque story line by having Scott Bakula play Colter’s father. Well done. The crew was led by Duncan Jones and as his third directorial project he shows great potential. I look forward to seeing more films from him. The story is from Ben Ripley another relatively new comer with only four projects under his belt. I really liked how Ripley did not cop out to stereotypes or pander to the fear mongers. It’s a fresh and exciting story. Jones and Ripley need to work together again they make beautiful movies together. Don Burgess was the Cinematographer and he has a great eye for setting the viewer right in the middle of the action. It’s sometimes hard to shoot a film on one set and make it as visually dynamic as he did. I think this crew and cast worked so well together they need to make another film.

One hallmark of a good movie is how much discussion it generates. There was a lot of rich conversation about this movie and the ramifications of what this technology would mean and how it fits into real quantum theory. We talked about what we thought the science probabilities were and the ethics of them. I recommend a good talk over pie at the end of a good movie, it makes the experience that much better.

Man! I truly enjoyed this movie. It was a beautiful gem that was a complete story and was well told. As much as I liked it I really hope they end this with just one perfect story. It’s fine as a one move event that needs not be explored or exploited with sequel after sequel.

This review’s question is going to have you watch the movie to answer this one. Please let me know what you truly think? What do you think happened to Sean Fentress? Please be as detailed in your response as you can. That was one question we could not answer after the movie, what do you think?