O Advogado dos 5 Crimes

Really like this film, it's criminally overlooked as far as I'm concerned. Cuba Gooding plays a lawyer who gets disbarred shortly after he lets his conscience get the better of him and he moves to Key West Florida, hoping to start a writing career. Once there, he meets and old man who happens to have written a damn fine novel. Ahhh, I don't want to reveal more, but from that point on things get very interesting.

This thriller has a genuinely original plot and is very well written. The plot twist isn't easily spotted and will definitely have viewers guessing for a long time. It's fast paced and well directed by Rowdy Herrington, who's really a director to look for (made another little known James Spader flick that's very good as well).

I've always like Cuba Gooding and he does a good job in the lead, proving he can well handle dramatic parts as well (if not better) than comedic ones. Tom Berenger does well, as always, in a relatively small part as a tough detective.

It's a rare thing these days that a film, particularly a thriller, comes up with a really fresh and original idea and executes it well. A Murder of Crows is a suspenseful and thoroughly entertaining thriller that deserves to be better known.

I rented this movie having never heard of it or Rowdy Herrington. I became an instant fan. The film is very good and so is the script. I admit to having figured it out but that was part of the fun. It's not a huge film starring Michael Douglas and budgeted by Warners but so often one rents a film that looks promising and it's simply awful. This was quite good and probably should have gotten more attention at the time it was released (if it indeed was released to theaters, which it should have been).

This film has a fabulous plot and great acting but it was filmed, scored, and cinemagraphed very poorly. Mr. Gooding is wonderful, as always and Mark Pellegrino is truly a great actor who has been greatly ignored and under-appreciated in the film industry, (though I am sure the stage adores him). This movie could have been so much more. It must not have had a large budget, because the scenes lacked the sense of suspense and drama that is achieved with good scoring and cinematography, but the acting was spectacular, especially the climatic scene with Mark near the end. Even a better musical score could have added a lot to the film. I also think the narration did little to support the plot, it took the drama and suspense from the film and made it seem a lot less serious. The plot is very dark but the film seemed to have lost that. I enjoyed this film nonetheless for its fine acting and marvelous screenplay.

The premise was really interesting, and overall I enjoyed it, with some major reservations. The good: Cuba Gooding, who's always good; the use of New Orleans, which was quite well done; and the art direction, which was terrific. I wanted almost every painting I saw on every wall. The bad: I had a hard time believing our hero didn't notice the AWFUL AND OBVIOUS stage makeup on his fishing customer and the keywest detective, who sported the fakest mustache ever put on film! I also couldn't believe that an escaped murder suspect--whose face would not only have been on the news every night, but also prominently displayed on the back cover of a book we are told is a runaway bestseller nationwide-- would just blithely roam the streets of the two places he's known to reside in without fear of recognition by anyone but the police. Please. Finally the HORRID southern drawls affected by Eric Stoltz and Mark Pelligrino were among the most egregious I've heard yet... and that's saying something.

But for all that, I liked it. Big 'ol plot holes and all. So if you're up to suspending a hell of a lot of disbelief, it's a fun movie. If you insist your movies make sense, don't bother.

There seems to be a lot of negativity in the comments for this film. I thought it was pretty decent. Yes, voice-over narration is often a crutch, but it did not annoy me here. Cuba Gooding played it well even though his character was a little bit too good at evading the police. Tom Berenger was also just fine as a New Orleans police detective. Marianne Jean-Baptiste played all of the right notes as well. I guess I don't spend much time while watching movies trying to guess what is coming, or foretelling the ending. It seems that many people do. To each his own, I suppose. Nice scenery in both New Orleans and Key West. This never seems to have made it into theaters, but it is a nice diversion.