codefool

In perhaps his most intense movie, Clint Eastwood gives us a story of torn conscience and the very real costs of doing the right thing. It doesn't go well. It is - imho - his most dramatic effort of his directing career.

Interesting casting choice is that most of the actors are virtually unknown, with only Toni Collette, J. K. Simmons, and Kiefer Sutherland the only real recognizable faces (with slight exception of Leslie Bibb of "Law Abiding Citizen.") So the jury has an "everyman" feel which you can't really assume what they will do based on past character "types."

But the major conflict concerns Justin Kemp (Hoult) who gets placed on a jury for an event to which he was an actual witness if not a participant. He is told that he must judge the case based solely on the evidence presented, but he knows things that no one else does, so what to do? He eventually seeks advice from a lawyer (Sutherland) who is also his AA sponsor, who gives him very bad advice to keep quiet or he will go to jail for life. He has a baby on the way after losing twins and feels he needs to be there for his family. But is even that worth living with the idea that an innocent man goes to jail?

Now, this is very bad advice. A jury is to be impartial, and (in real life) Kemp, having heard the opening statements, should have raised his hand and informed the court of his involvement.

As it is, Kemp tries to get the jury to acquit, and we pass through familiar moments of 12 Angry Men while they deliberations drag on. Eventually, the prosecutor (Collette) decides to do some investigation (which should have been done at the start) and we get shadows of My Cousin Vinny.

Unfortunately, in the end, Eastwood leaves us with nothing. I won't give it away, but we don't know what happens. We can guess, and I guess that's the point, but it's not satisfying.

Worth a watch.

Conclave follows the exploits of the Dean of the College of Cardinals (Fiennes) as he facilitates the election of the next Pope of the Catholic Church. What ensues is a large nothing burger of Cardinals arguing about traditional vs. Progressive policies in the Church, which completely ignore the mission and purpose of the Church - to spread the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Except in prayers, Jesus is never mentioned.

There is some minor mystery involved, as the skeletons of the various "favorite" candidates come to light and ultimately an external event occurs that brings the least likely candidate into the lime light. Which seems to have been orchestrated by the late Holy Father himself.

The newly elected Pope, for some reason, is revealed to have a condition that the Church - again, for some reason - has some problem with, which should disqualify him from consideration.

This is not true. For people who stay to the end, the condition for which the elect suffers from does not disqualify him from serving in Holy Orders. But I think what the writers were attempting here was to put some gender politics into a precarious light so say "so, are you *still* against it?"

Four stars because otherwise this is a finely crafted film, well cast, with more than a few Kubrick influences. The soundtrack of scratching violins adds to the uneasiness of the proceedings.

Red One is a good action flick based not only on Santa Clause, but combined with other Yuletide myths from other cultures, and weaves a descent story of good-vs-not-so-good (not exactly evil,) family, and redemption.

For the first time in a very long time, we have a movie that is light hearted and emphasizes the importance of making good choices, supporting family, and doing what is right.

The parallel here is that Santa is treated in the same framework as POTUS with a secret service protection detail - called ELF - directed by Johnson. Johnson basically plays his one character of The Rock but has some magical technology that allows him to do additional stuff he would have welcomed in the WWE ring. Evans is a lovable con-man who literally strolls through his capers, but is instrumental in the inciting incident of Santa being kidnapped from the North Pole.

What follows is a healthy mix of futuristic tech-driven action combined with old-world mythological creatures which are nothing short of delightful.

The ONE complaint I have with this film is the crass language - freely flung curse words under the line of the f-bomb (which was attempted, but abruptly cut off) which are unnecessary. Certainly they could have come up with dialog or used alternate terms other than b***h, a*****e, etc, which will have some parents making explanations. Another smaller complaint is the ample cleavage and scantly clad ladies in a beach scene, which could have been avoided. I understand about appealing to older audiences, but like old Disney adults don't need curse words or sex to enjoy a movie.

Very well done. Highly recommended.