David E. Kelley returns to television with yet another show about crazy lawyers. The brain behind Boston Legal, The Practice, and Ally McBeal gives us a talented but disgruntled patent lawyer who finds new life by starting a criminal practice run out of a shoe store in the worst part of town.
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Odds are you missed Stone in theaters. And, sadly, odds are you’re going to want to pass it up on DVD and Blu-ray as well.
The film focuses on retiring parole officer Jack Mabry (Robert De Niro) and one of his last assignments – an incarcerated arsonist named Stone (Edward Norton). What follows is a twisted tale of Jack being seduced by Stone’s wife (Milla Jovovich) in order to help facilitate his release.
Stone is a bit of a mess. It has its moments, including a strong opening which sets up the personality of De Niro’s character, and several interesting pieces, but the script by Angus MacLachlan never puts the whole story together in an engaging or believable way.
The most troubling aspect is that the movie can never quite decide how smart the title character is supposed to be. At times (even in scenes alone with his wife) he seems just dimwitted and desperate enough to offer up his wife to Mabry in this last ditch effort at early release.
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Jack Abramoff was a greedy prick. That’s really the only message Casino Jack has. If you were expecting anything more from this political biopic by director George Hickenlooper and screenwriter Norman Snider you’re bound to leave disappointed.
Kevin Spacey stars as the Washington D.C. super-lobbyist who became a household name working for Preston Gates & Ellis and Greenberg Traurig and a director of the National Center for Public Policy Research. The film gives us a look into Abramoff’s rise to prominence and the personal flaws and series of events which led to his conviction on charges of embezzlement, fraud, and corruption.
The script is never quite sure what to do with this charismatic character who has dreams of helping the world while robbing his defrauding of Native American tribes and lining his own pockets with gold. It’s certainly a meaty role for Spacey, but the film gives us no reason to root either for or against this deeply flawed individual addicted to both money and power.
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The “Pilot” for The Cape, NBC’s new super-hero drama, is a mess. First, the basic set-up: A cop (David Lyons) is framed by a super-villain entrepreneur (James Frain) losing his job, life, and family (Jennifer Ferrin, Ryan Wynott). Disgraced, and believed dead, our hero takes up with the “Circus of Crime” (led by Keith David) who help him hone his skills to become a super-hero. With their help, and that of the mysterious Oracle Orwell (Summer Glau), he plans to prove that one man can make a difference and save the city.
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Although the film is based on the real events surrounding the life of Robert Durst, the main problem with the screenplay by Marcus Hinchey and Marc Smerling is how ridiculous the events appear when recreated on film.
What starts as a love story and tense drama about a troubled son of a real estate broker devolves into a thriller. Then the thriller turns into the kind of cinematic disaster nobody wants on their resume. All Good Things may be based on a real story but it plays like bad fiction.
There’s something off about David Marks (Ryan Gosling) the first time we meet him, but that’s not enough to stop the charming Katie (Kirsten Dunst) from falling for him. Needled by his father’s (Frank Langella) disapproval David and Katie leave the tranquil health food store in Vermont so David can act as the bagman for the family business collecting cash from various seedy Times Square enterprises which the Marks famly owns.
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