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When structural engineer Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) learns his wife is cheating on him, he concocts the perfect murder to get revenge without being caught. Assigned to the case is hotshot attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) who is ready to leave the D.A's. office to join a big money legal firm, but when he's challenged by Crawford's case, he's willing to risk everything to prove the man is guilty.

Given the talented cast, Fracture should have been more than a by-the-numbers thriller but that's exactly what it was. It features a few good performances although they are working with some unremarkable material and can't quite lift the film above mediocrity. The uninspired direction was a bit surprising given the track record of director Gregory Hoblit. He managed to keep things safe and predictable without really adding anything special to the film. I guess he was relying on the strength of his cast which only worked to an extent. The scenes with Gosling and Hopkins were interesting to watch but whenever Hopkins was absent, the film seriously dragged and Gosling's character was really unlikable so it was hard to root for him.

The screenplay was only average with some decent dialog being the highlight of it. The way the screenwriter played out the crime was very formulaic and pretty predictable. The ending was fairly obvious from the beginning and it wasn't a big twist ending that makes the viewer feel smart for figuring it out but rather it was an ending that makes the viewer wonder how these supposedly smart characters weren't able to figure it out. So save for some scenes with Gosling and Hopkins, the audience gets to watch a bland story unfold without any real sense of interest.

Luckily, the casting director did a great job and the performances were able to save the film. Anthony Hopkins was playing a familiar character yet it was still great to watch him on screen and he was the best part about the movie. Ryan Gosling was also pretty good and he managed to keep up with Hopkins. Rosamund Pike was decent, a bit dry though. I really liked Embeth Davidtz and it's such a shame that she didn't get a lot of screen time although this was expected. David Strathairn was decent although a bit wasted with an undeveloped character. Overall, Fracture features a strong cast stuck in average material and it ends up being forgettable. Rating 6/10

While vacationing at their parent's beach house, young Noah and Emma Wilder find a strange box. When they open it, they discover several bizarre objects and a child's stuffed rabbit named Mimzy. As the kids play with the objects, they discover that they do seemingly miraculous things. Even more amazing, the children themselves start gaining remarkable new powers. But where did the object come from? And what will happen when their parents, or even the government, learn about their discovery?

The Last Mimzy is a perfectly harmless and bland film. It's mildly enjoyable for kids but it doesn't really offer much for people over the age of 14. I think the film's main problem was the sluggish pacing and dull direction. The film is a little over ninety minutes long but it felt so much longer because everything happened so slowly. Director Robert Shaye shot all of the scenes without really injecting any personality into the movie. Everything felt generic and nothing really stood out; not the acting, special effects or anything. The writing was better because it at least had some creativity to it. The basic premise was intriguing and the film presented some interesting ideas so I can't say that the whole movie was a bore.

The acting was on the forgettable side, much like the actual movie. Rhiannon Leigh Wryn was pretty good as Emma. She's not the best child actor out there but at least she wasn't annoying. She had a few decent scenes and it never sounded like she was just reciting her lines. Chris O'Neil was the exact opposite. He was dull, annoying and he sounded like he was reading his lines. It's kind of sad that he got out acted by a seven year old girl. Although, they did have a realistic brother and sister relationship so he did help to do something right. Timothy Hutton was shockingly invisible. His performance here was quite similar to his performance in "Last Holiday". He showed up, did his lines and left. He didn't seem to put in much effort but of course he's an excellent actor so a simplistic role like this probably wasn't much for him. Joely Richardson was the very definition of bland and was in the same boat as Hutton. Rainn Wilson and Kathryn Hahn were both alright as was Michael Clarke Duncan although he didn't get a lot of screen time. Overall, The Last Mimzy was so harmless that it was really hard to hate. At the same time, nothing about it really stood out and it ended up being forgettable. Rating 5/10