CAUGHT STEALING : Tuesday 2nd September 2025.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'CAUGHT STEALING' earlier this week, and this American action crime thriller film is Co-Produced and Directed by Darren Aronofsky who made his feature film Directorial debut with 1998's 'Pi', and which he would follow up in the ensuing years with 'Requiem for a Dream' in 2000, 'The Fountain' in 2006, 'The Wrestler' in 2008, 'Black Swan' in 2010, 'Noah' in 2014, 'Mother!' in 2017 and 'The Whale' in 2022. This film is based on Charlie Huston's book of the same name, cost US$40M to produce, has so far grossed US$17M since its US and Australian release last week and has generated largely positive critical reviews.

In 1998, Henry 'Hank' Thompson (Austin Butler) is an alcohol-fuelled bartender living in New York City's Lower East Side, where his girlfriend Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz) works as a paramedic. He calls his mother in Patterson, California every day, especially to discuss their shared love of the San Francisco Giants, always signing off with 'Go the Giants'. Hank we learn was a rising star baseball prospect in high school, but now he has recurring nightmares about a drunken car crash that killed his friend Dale (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) and left him with a career-ending knee injury, before his career had even taken off.

Hank's British punk rock neighbour Russ Binder (Matt Smith) tells him he needs to return home to London quickly to see his ailing father, leaving Hank to care for his cat, Bud. Knocking on Russ's apartment door, two Russian mobsters, Aleksei (Yuri Kolokolnikov) and Pavel (Nikita Kukushkin), viciously beat Hank when he claims not to know of Russ's whereabouts, resulting in Hank losing a kidney, as well as his ability to drink alcohol (as Yvonne tells him that the kidney's process toxins, and alcohol is a toxin, and without a kidney it could result in his death). After the Russians break into Russ's apartment, narcotics detective Elise Roman (Riegina King) questions Hank and reveals Russ is a drug dealer connected to notorious Hasidic brothers Lipa (Liev Schreiber) and Shmully (Vincent D'Onofrio) Drucker. 

Finding a key hidden in a fake cat turd in Bud's litter box, Hank notifies Roman when the Druckers search Russ's apartment. After spending a drunken night at Paul's Bar, Hank strips down to his jocks and leaves his clothes outside his building after he vomits over himself. The next morning he is interrogated by the Russians and their Puerto Rican associate Colorado (Benito Martinez Ocasio), Hank cannot remember what happened to the key, but the mobsters are interrupted by his neighbour Duane (George Abud) who threatens to call the Police. Hank leaves the injured Bud with Yvonne, and remembers taking the key to the bar and giving it to the bars owner Paul (Griffin Dunne), for safe keeping. Chased by the Druckers, he informs Colorado, who mentions Yvonne. Realising she is in danger, he races back to her apartment, only to find she has been killed, shot through the head at point blank range.

Hank is needless to say mortified by Yvonne's death and stricken with guilt confides in Roman who she tells him, has dreams of retiring to Tulum, Mexico. Colorado and the Russians arrive, in cahoots with the corrupt Roman, but claim they are not the group responsible for Yvonne's murder. Hank is taken to Paul's Bar, where Colorado kills regular Amtrak (Action Bronson), but Roman shoots him dead him before he can also murder Paul. Lying that the key is in the basement strongroom's safe, Roman tries to open the combination lock but fails, handing over to Paul to open it. In doing so, Paul emerges brandishing a shotgun but is shot dead in the ensuing chaos. Hank locks himself in the strongroom, forcing the others to leave empty-handed. 

Hank recovers the key from the homeless Jason (Will Brill), left in the trouser pocket he abandoned the night before. Russ returns home, but is hit in the head with a baseball bat when Hank mistakes him for an intruder. Russ explains that after selling drugs for the Druckers in Colorado's nightclubs, he was forced to involve Roman, who owes money to the Russians' boss. The key unlocks a storage unit with just over US$4M in cash that he was meant to split between the various parties on the day he left for London. Fearing for his life, Russ prepares to take the money and flee the country, leaving Hank as the fall guy, but Hank knocks him unconscious.

Hank and Russ drive in Russ' car to Flushing Meadows to meet with Roman and the Russians. Hank offers them Russ and the key in exchange for Bud. Russ in his concussed state panics, killing Aleksei with Pavel's gun before escaping with Hank and Bud, and suggests that Roman might have been the one who killed Yvonne. They escape through a crowd exiting a game at Shea Stadium onto the subway, where a severely concussed Russ succumbs to his injuries, and Hank jumps on a bus with Bud to Coney Island. 

Hank is woken early the next morning on the beach by a call from Roman, who has framed him for the various murders and threatens his mother by telling Hank her address, demanding he bring the key to the Russians' supper club. Calling to warn his mother, Hank surrenders himself to the Druckers. They agree to kill Roman in exchange for Hank leading them to the money, first bringing him to their mother's (Carol Kane) Shabbos (day of rest on the seventh day of the week) dinner. The Druckers then zip-tie Hanks hands to the car's steering wheel while the heavily-armed brothers storm the club, shooting and bombing the place up.

Seeing Roman fleeing from the unfolding scene at the club, Hank burns his restraints with the cars cigarette lighter and gives chase with a baseball bat that he purloined from a bunch of kids having a hit in the street. He subdues a vengeful Pavel with a swift one-two punch to the head and manages to injure Roman by impaling her foot with the broken baseball bat handle, at which point the Druckers arrive and shoot her dead. Hank reveals he hid the key in the bandage on Bud's leg, and the sympathetic brothers decide to let him live with a US$100K share of the money. 

They force him to drive for the first time since his fateful crash that cost Dale his life, when Hank notices that Lipa has Yvonne's unique pistol shaped cigarette lighter. Realising the implication, the brothers admit they killed Yvonne to send a message to Hank for evading them. Aware that he's the only one wearing a seat belt, Hank increases speed and purposefully crashes the car squarely into a steel pillar, mirroring the crash of his earlier life, this time killing the two brothers outright. 

Some time later, Hank poses as Russ, using his British passport to escape the country with Bud and half of the money. Calling his mother to let her know he is safe, Hank arrives in Tulum to begin a new life as he dreamed of doing, having mailed his mother (Laura Dern in an uncredited cameo) the other half of the money.

I really enjoyed 'Caught Stealing' and say what you will about Darren Aronofsky's back catalogue of movies, this film represents a marked departure from his previous works as he delivers us a grounded story set in late 1990's crime fuelled NYC, backed up by an ensemble eclectic cast led most notably by a stellar turn from Austin Butler, and a tightly wrought plot that is not short on attention grabbing violence and mayhem, but also delivers enough emotional heft and moments of humour to counter the numerous on-screen deaths and beatings. As far as crime thrillers go, you'ld be hard pressed to find a better film released so far this year.

'Caught Stealing' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE UNFORGIVABLE : Tuesday 30th November 2021.

'THE UNFORGIVABLE' which I saw at my local multiplex earlier this week is an M Rated American and German Co-Produced film Directed by Nora Fingscheidt following 2019's 'System Crasher' which picked up thirty-three wins and another twenty-five nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit. This film is based on the 2009 British three-part mini-series 'Unforgiven' by Sally Wainwright, and is Co-Produced by the films star Sandra Bullock and Veronica Ferres. The film went on a limited release from last week before streaming on Netflix from 10th December, and has generated mostly average Reviews.

The film opens up with Ruth Slater (Sandra Bullock) being given back her belongings and the sum of US$40 upon her release from prison after serving the bulk of her twenty year sentence for the shooting murder of Policeman Mac Whelan (W. Earl Brown) at her home on the outskirts of Seattle, when he arrived to enforce her eviction from her childhood home. She is collected from the prison gates by her parole officer Vincent Cross (Rob Morgan) and deposited at a hostel somewhere near Chinatown where she has to share a room with three other women. Whilst inside, she studied carpentry and has certificates to prove it, and has lined up work on a building site. Cross gives Slater a card from a fish processing plant and a guaranteed job there should things not work out. Needless to say, they don't work out, and so she ends up gutting, boning and prepping salmon to earn a crust and assimilate back into society. She has to report back to Cross every Tuesday at 11:00am, without fail. 

Slater, wants to connect with her much younger sister Katie (Aisling Franciosi) who was only five years of age when she was sent to prison, and has not heard from or seen in the past almost twenty years, despite writing hundreds of letters over the years. Katie seemingly has very little memory of her older sister other than sudden flashbacks of a woman cradling her in her arms. Katie now lives with her adoptive parents Michael and Rachel Malcolm (Richard Thomas and Linda Emond respectively) and their own daughter Emily (Emma Nelson), and has grown to be piano playing prodigy. 

Slater visits a library and goes on-line in an attempt to track down her sister. She decides to visit her old house and the scene of the crime to find that it has been recently purchased and upgraded by John and Liz Ingram (Vincent D'Onofrio and Viola Davis respectively) who now live there with their two teenage sons. Slater is seen standing in the grounds looking at the property by Liz who calls to John to go and investigate who the mystery woman is. Slater tells John that she once worked on the property, and John invites her in to have a look around. As she is about to leave, John offers her a lift to the bus station. In the car they talk and John believes that something is not quite right with Slater. She comes clean and tells him that she in fact lived in the property and has been in 'the system' for the last twenty years and is trying to track down her sister. It turns out that John is a corporate lawyer, and he gives her his business card with an offer to help.

While all this is going on, the two now adult sons of the murdered Policeman, Keith Whelan (Tom Guiry) and Steve Whelan (Will Pullen) are none too pleased that Slater is out and free. Keith wants to exact his revenge on Slater but Steve is dead set against the notion saying that he has a job, a life, a wife and a young child to consider. 

Slater contacts John Ingram and asks for his help in contacting Katie via her parents, and a meeting is set up between the four. Needless to say that meeting doesn't end well with the Malcolm's saying what good would it possibly serve Katie to be reunited with her sister, and Slater going off the rails at the prospect of them standing between Katie and her being reunited after all this time. 

In the meantime, Slater has got a carpenters job at a Chapel that is being converted by a NGO into a Community Hall for the homeless, as well as keeping down her job at the fish processing plant. At the plant she has developed a close relationship with fellow fish gutter Blake (Jon Bernthal), to whom she comes clean one day over a coffee and a plate of pancakes about her prison time and the fact that it was for murder. He is taken aback and distances himself from her, and later blabs about it to one of his fellow co-workers who then beats up Slater in the workplace for being a cop killer. Blake later comes clean telling her that he too is an ex-convict and was released eighteen months ago, and apologises. 

Meanwhile, Liz has learned of Slater's history and is furious at John for keeping this vital piece of news from her. Emily also overheard her parents talking about the pending meeting with Slater and John, and one day when the house is empty rummages through the basement looking for clues. She comes across boxes of the letters written by Slater to Katie which were never given to Katie. One such letter written most recently, contains Slater's mobile phone number. Emily calls Slater and arranges a meeting in a public place. Emily and Slater connect and after a brief chat, Emily tells her that she can see Katie at 4:00pm that afternoon at a piano recital. They part ways and little do the pair know that Steve Whelan is following Emily. Slater meanwhile tries to contact John Ingram to determine if she is legally allowed to visit the concert hall where Katie is playing later that afternoon, but she is told by his office that he is out traveling for the week on business. Slater visits their home again to try and track down John, and is met by Liz who promptly orders Slater off the property and reaffirms that John is away on business. The pair exchange words with Slater proclaiming that Katie was only five years old, and Liz having an 'oh shit' moment! 

Liz drives Slater to the concert hall in time for the 4:00pm recital, when Slater receives a call from Steve Whelan saying that he has Katie, with the sounds of muffled screams in the background. He orders Slater to come over immediately to his place of work. Liz drives Slater there and upon entering the designated building finds Emily tied and bound on the floor with Steve Whelan holding a gun to her head. Meanwhile, Katie has begun her piano recital with her parents looking on in the audience. 

Whelan orders Slater to lay down on the ground and then points the gun at her, saying that he is going to take her life away just as she took his fathers. However, in the final analysis, Whelan can't  go through with his revenge plan, and falls to the ground sobbing. Slater gets up, frees Emily and the pair leave just as the Police arrive, ordering Slater to get down on the ground. She is handcuffed, and Whelan is seen being walked out of the building by two Police Officers also handcuffed. A short time later Cross arrives and states his claim to his parolee and says that unless they intend to charge Slater then she is free to go, and she is. 

Walking back to his car, Michael, Rachel and Katie are by Emily's side as she is being tended to by an Ambulance crew. Slater observes this, Katie turns and the sisters make eye contact. Katie walks up to Slater, and the pair embrace. 

Throughout most of the almost two hour run time, Sandra Bullock's Ruth Slater parades around on screen with a solemn, sullen and scowl faced expression, only twice, from memory, barely breaking into what at best can be described as a smile. Here she is just about as far removed from her 'Miss Congeniality' character as you could imagine, and Viola Davis is completely wasted in the few meagre scenes she is afforded. The plot here clearly worked better as a three-part TV mini-series than it does in a feature length film with the series running for an extra twenty-five minutes in which to flesh out more character development, more of the back story and more of the several plot contrivances which in this film are hurried, all too fleeting, bordering on the nonsensical and with too many questions left unanswered by the time the end credits roll. On the plus side, Bullock, despite her dour expression throughout most of the film, here again proves her acting chops with more dramatic roles as she goes unkempt, sans make-up and portraying a truly broken character seeking redemption. 

'The Unforgivable' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.  

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN : Sunday 25th September 2016.

I caught an advance screening of Antione Fuqua's Directed 'THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN' at my local multiplex on Sunday evening four days before its official Australian release date. The inspiration for this film and its Old West predecessor from 1960 came from the 1954 Akira Kurosawa Directed, Co-Written and Edited Japanese historical drama adventure epic titled 'The Seven Samurai' set in 1586 during the Warring States Period of Japan. Telling the story of seven Ronin hired to defend a village of farmers from rogue bandits intent on stealing their valuable crops following harvest, the film went onto to be critically lauded and has appeared on numerous Greatest Films Lists ever since, and has been highly influential and often remade and reworked. In 1960 John Sturges Directed and Produced 'The Magnificent Seven' based on that Kurosawa story, but set his film in the Old West in Mexico where a band of seven gunslingers are hired to defend a village from a group of marauding bandits. Now fifty-six years later Fuqua has remade 'The Magnificent Seven' for a whole new audience likely to be unfamiliar with Kurosawa's inspirational film, or the Sturges Americanised version upon which this 2016 offering is based. Made for US$108M the film premiered at TIFF earlier this month, was the closing film at the Venice Film Festival and was released Stateside last week.

The story here has changed little in this Fuqua rendition. This time however, the action takes place not in Mexico but in some remote mining town three days ride from Sacramento, called Rose Creek. Here the simple townsfolk are besieged by a local heavy handed, ruthless and uncaring industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) intent on mining the area for gold and taking over the Rose Creek land by all and any force necessary. In an attack on the townsfolk by Bogue and his henchmen after breaking into a meeting held in the town church, the husband of Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) is killed together with various other innocent townsfolk just minding their own business and wanting a quiet life. Bogue very generously and graciously offer each family $20 for their house and land package, and if they refuse, he'll be back in two weeks to take it anyway!

Emma Cullen rides out with her good friend Teddy Q (Luke Grimes) to the nearest town to find some support to help defend Rose Creek from Bogue's pending return. There by chance they come across Sam Chisholm (Fuqua's go to man, Denzel Washington, dressed all in black just as Yul Bryner's character, Chris Adams, in the 1960 film version of the same film), a grizzled war weary bounty hunter who initially refuses Cullen's request, but relents when he learns that it is Bogue creating such a stink.

And so Chisholm, Cullen and Q head back for Rose Creek, and along the way recruit six other guns for hire, all with a shady past, but each in possession of a particular set of skills that might just serve them well for fighting a small army of Bogue's men. First to join the throng is poker gambling whiskey swilling cigar chewing gunslinger Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt). They in turn meet up with ex-Confederate sharpshooter soldier with 23 confirmed kills Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke) and his sidekick the Asian knife wielding assassin Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee). They happen across skilled trapper and a God-Fearing bear of a man Jack Horne (Vincent D'Onofrio) and then Mexican on-the-run outlaw with nothing to lose Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), before joining up with native American-Indian and ostracised Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier).

Later the seven ride into Rose Creek only to be greeted by a posse of Bogue's men headed up by his #1 standover enforcer guy McCann (Cam Cigandet). There's a standoff and some resultant gun play in which all of Bogue's men are killed, leaving McCann and the local Sheriff who is on the take from Bogue, still alive but ordered to ride out and tell Bogue to return in person to do his own dirty work. In the meantime, the seven conclude that they have about a week in which to ready the town, arm themselves, train the townsfolk how to shoot to kill, and prepare themselves before Bogue comes riding into town with his small army.

Over the course of the next week plans are hatched, preparations are made, and the good people of Rose Creek ready themselves for the imminent onslaught. Ditches are dug, explosives laid, traps set, and cover made all in an attempt to give them their best chance against Bogue. At this point Robicheaux gets cold feet as he is hiding some inner Demons about his days of killing on the battlefield, and bids Chisholm farewell under cover of night, saying that his fighting days are behind him. The seven are now down to six, but Cullen steps up to the cause.

The next morning at dawn, Bogue and his army of two hundred or so hired soldiers ride over the hill overlooking Rose Creek. Despite their laid traps, explosive charges, element of surprise and best efforts, there are severe casualties on all sides. When Bogue looks as though his army has been overcome, he rolls out a Gattling Gun and systematically tears the town to shreds with a full magazine of bullets and then another, killing more townsfolk and his own men in the process. Taking a last stand Faraday mounts his horse and rides out to where the Gattling Gun is positioned and with a stick of dynamite sacrifices himself to destroy the gun and the remainder of Bogue's men. In the meantime, Robicheaux who returned warning Chisholm about the Gattling Gun, Rocks and Horne have also been killed in the attack.

Bogue and his two remaining henchmen make for the town to finally mop up. Two are quickly dispensed by Chisholm, leaving Bogue to face off against Chisholm outside the burnt out remains of the towns Church. Chisholm shoots Bogue in the hand and then the leg, and limping into the Church seeking sanctuary and last minute forgiveness, Chisholm recounts to Bogue that he and his men raped and murdered his mother and sisters a few years back, and now it's pay back time. In the process Bogue reaches for a small pistol secreted away in his boot, but not before Cullen shoots Bogue dead from the door of the Church, saving Chisholm. In the closing scene Chisholm, Red Harvest and Vasquez ride out of town passing the four crosses marking the burial sites of their fallen colleagues, who have been hailed as legends by Cullen and the towns people.

In summary there is little new to see here. The plot is the same as for the films predecessors except that it has been updated for a new audience raised on stylised violence, big body counts, fast gun play and political correctness. The seven consist of a black dude, an Asian dude, a Mexican dude, a native American Indian dude, a God-Fearing bible bashing dude, a hard drinking and smoking gambling dude, and a dude fighting his inner Demons who all come to the rescue of a damsel in distress - all demographics are covered here. And all the Western cliches are there too - close ups of squinted eyes in the sun, cigar chewing bad guys, hands poised menacingly over holstered guns, the saloon scene where a tall dark stranger enters, bad guys getting shot off rooftops, the local undertaker doing great business with his pine boxes lined up outside his shop in readiness for the next stiff . . . it's all there, and then some! On the one hand it is good to see the Western genre getting some mileage but how about something fresh and original rather than simply dusting off a classic and rehashing it again for the sake of a new audience. The film has so far recouped US$42M and it is entertaining enough but predictable and we've seen it all before, and better!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

JURASSIC WORLD : Wednesday 17th June 2015.

'JURASSIC WORLD' - the fourth film in the popular 'Jurassic' franchise has arrived with a record breaking new story twenty-two years after Steven Spielberg first bought us 'Jurassic Park' in 1993 that in itself grossed in excess of US$1B after the release of the 2013 20th Anniversary 3D Edition. In 1997 'Jurassic Park : The Lost World' followed, again Directed by Spielberg and in 2001 'Jurassic Park III' came along this time with Joe Johnston on Director duty. Those first three films made US$2,02B from combined budgets of US$229M. For fourteen years the idea and various scripts came and went languishing in development hell, until Colin Trevorrow came on board in 2013 with the resulting fourth instalment which I saw earlier this week.

This film is set twenty-two years after the disastrous events of 'Jurassic Park' took place with a now fully functioning dino theme park 'Jurassic World' open for business on the island of Isla Nublar off the Central American coast - the location of the first film too. As the film opens brothers Zach & Gray Mitchell (Nick Robinson & Ty Simpkins respectively) are being packed off for a VIP trip to Jurassic World where Aunt Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) oversees the entire operation. Arriving via plane, ship & monorail on Isla Nublar the gates open on the new luxury theme park to hordes of eager tourists and sightseers keen to experience the biggest, scariest, baddest beasts of yesteryear roaming around wild and free (albeit captive on the island). When they arrive Claire is too busy to give them any attention and sends them off with VIP passes to go enjoy themselves. See ya later!

The park is operated by InGen and today the owner of said park, one of the world's richest men, Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) of the Masrani Corporation is visiting to check out his latest, and yet to be revealed, exhibit. Back in the lab Masrani converses with Chief Geneticist Dr. Henry Wu (B.D.Wong) returning from the series opening film but since promoted (big time). With the need to showcase new, big, exciting attractions to satisfy the tourists, secure additional sponsorship dollars and encourage more & more visitation Wu has engineered 'Indominus rex' from several predatory dinosaur genes as well as those from other modern animals (although Wu keeps the gene cocktail a closely guarded secret). Before Masrani shows off his latest greatest dinosaur creation he calls for Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) - the parks Velociraptor trainer, to check out Indominus and its purpose built enclosure for readiness, and presumably safety.

Meanwhile InGen's Head of Security Vic Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio) has a view that Grady's trained Velociraptor's could be trained for military purposes so creating an army of intelligent, agile, killing dinosaurs that could thwart any foe. After some Velociraptor shenanigans that show us what Grady has achieved with his four 'trained' reptiles, we move to the Indominus enclosure where Grady and Dearing are assessing its preparedness for opening. This is the first time that Grady sets eyes upon the engineered dinosaur, and quickly learns that this is one intelligent badass MoFo not to be toyed with. Needless to say that inspection doesn't go well and Indominus escapes leaving a trail of death and destruction quickly in its wake, and setting the scene for mayhem and misfortune aplenty.

Across the island 22,000 visitors on the day are enjoying interacting with dinosaurs large & small, friendly and vicious, carnivores and herbivores all. Oblivious about the fate that awaits, Dearing swings into action to close off the section of the island where Indominus is now roaming and doing its thang! We are talking about an intelligent agile animal here though with various abilities built into its engineered make-up, as well as its sheer scale, brute force and its basic need to eat. With various heavily armed security patrols sent out to capture and contain Indominus their fate too is not pretty and short-lived. The Mitchell brothers meanwhile check out the island in a gyrosphere sweeping across the grassland dodging non-dangerous dinosaurs and enjoying the spectacle. Until of course they venture across Indominus!

By now the island is in lock down and all tourists make there way back to the central hub to take shelter and prepare for evacuation . . . all 22,000 of them! As the dino-crap hits the fan Masrani (a chopper pilot in the making) takes off with two machine gun totting soldiers to track down Indominus from the air and end its trail of destruction. If only it were that simple! The rampaging animal smashes through into the pterosaur aviary unleashing a flock of vicious swooping winged killers, that as they escape take out Masrani's helicopter and head for the islands central hub and a tasty lunch . . . of the human kind.

With Masrani gone Hoskins assumes command of the island and the situation convincing Grady to use his four trained Velociraptors to hunt down and kill Indominus. Clearing out the lab of precious embryos Hoskins gets Wu off the island quickly with a bunch of safely secured samples (nicely setting up the sequel), and finishes off helping pack up more, when they are confronted by Grady, Dearing and the Mitchell brothers amidst all the carnage. Hoskins admits to them that Jurassic World is merely a vehicle with which to cultivate and engineer a super-army of genetically modified dinosaurs, at which point he is promptly munched upon by a Velociraptor.

This then sets the show down between Indominus, the Velociraptors and a T-Rex released deliberately to thwart the larger beast. More mayhem and destruction ensues across the central hub as night time descends on the park leaving Grady, Dearing and the Mitchells to dodge wrecked building debris and flying dinosaur bodies as the final fight to the death unfolds before us writ large, loud & proud on screen.

When the dust settles, the visiting public are evacuated back to Costa Rica and the island stands calm, peaceful and empty - except for the one victorious dinosaur and all those others that escaped and now roam free, and free of any human intervention.

This is a very respectable fourth film in the franchise and is well handled by Director Colin Trevorrow. The story is solid enough, it moves along at a good pace, the action set pieces are very well handled, the creature effects are first rate and the nods to the original film are a nostalgic touch. You should see this on the big screen, and given that this instalment has generated already US$760M as of 20th June and smashed a whole bunch of records, you can bet that another film will follow and that Chris Pratt will also star, having signed up for more Jurassic World outings.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE JUDGE - Tuesday 14th October 2014.

I saw 'THE JUDGE' earlier this week down at my local multiplex. It would be fair to say that this film has garnered mixed reviews from what I have seen and read so far! This Reviewer, however, thought that this disjointed family courtroom drama passes as acceptable and worth a look, but don't expect riveting courtroom drama the like of which you may have seen in the classics including 'A Few Good Men', 'Twelve Angry Men', 'To Kill a Mockingbird', 'The Verdict', 'JFK', 'Erin Brockovich'  and 'A Time to Kill' etc. to name but a few.


What you can expect from this David Dobkin Directed film is reasonably strong performances especially from Robert Duvall as 82 year old father (Judge Joseph 'Joe' Palmer) and two of his sons played by Vincent D'Onofrio (Glen Palmer) and Jeremy Strong (Dale Palmer). The third son is played by Robert Downey Jnr. (Henry 'Hank' Palmer) who has the lead role, and in taking on this role is clearly trying to shake off his Superhero mantle for which he is probably best known. But, that said, as Hank Palmer - hugely successful cock-sure fast-talking big city defence lawyer who has a track record in defending the rich and famous for their crimes and just about always winning, he has that smirk, that swagger and that stance that is . . . Tony Stark! I like Robert Downey Jnr. as an actor, but I couldn't help thinking of 'Iron Man' every time I saw that cheeky grin, that over confident expression, and that relaxed demeanour no matter what on screen as Hank Palmer!

All that said, to the story! The film opens in Chicago and Hank Palmer is defending a Client. In Court his mobile phone rings which he notices is his brother calling, but he allows it to divert to message bank, because his case is getting down to the wire. He retrieves the message, and asks the presiding Judge to approach the bench, asking for a continuance because he has just learned that his mother has died! And so Hank packs his bags, and on leaving the house in his vintage Ferrari kisses his young daughter farewell and argues with his beautiful wife with whom he is on the verge of a divorce.

His journey home to Carlinville, Indiana where he grew up with his two brothers, Mum and Dad is picture postcard stuff - by the river, wide streets, country-town feel, clean and well kempt, and fields of crops for as far as the eye can see surrounding the town. This is where father Joe Palmer has presided as 'The Judge' for 42 years, and where his wife of 50 years is about to be buried. Brothers Glen and Dale still live in Carlinville, but Hank got out a long time ago and has been largely estranged from his family for many years because as a teenager he was a rebel who got wasted one night on drugs and alcohol and drove home with Glen in the car, overturned it, hit a tree and brought a very swift end to Glen's very promising baseball aspirations. Joe has never forgiven Hank, and despite Hank carving out a very successful career as a lawyer in the big city there has been little love, respect or recognition between them since.

With the funeral over and the somewhat stilted family reunion done, Hank argues with his Dad, and leaves for the airport bound for home vowing never to return. On the plane just before take off the phone rings again, and again it is brother Glen with the announcement that Joe has been arrested for the murder of a local man in a suspected hit & run. Reluctantly Hank returns home to Carlinville, and what follows is a battle of wits between Hank and Joe over the details surrounding this 'accident', who should defend Joe and why, the gradual uncovering of what really happened as Police and Prosecution close in, and digging up the past so driving a further wedge that will eventually come full circle making each realise just how important these two legal eagles are to each other, despite everything! We learn that Joe's health is rapidly in decline, that Hank had a thing for College sweetheart Samantha Powell (Vera Farmiga) who still holds a candle despite the time and distance between them, that Joe and the man dead by his alleged hand had a connection that goes back over 20 years, and that Prosecution Lawyer Dwight Dickham (Billy Bob Thornton) has history with Hank as well going way back when, and is intent that justice will prevail, and that 'only the law makes men equal'!

By and large the performances are solid enough - the relationship between the three sons is fleshed out probably as much as it can be, the fractured relationship between father and son Hank is on again off again as they continue to frustrate, anger, confuse and rebel against each other in equal measure but of course come good in the end. Sometimes the melodramatics are overplayed, and with a running time of 142 minutes I thought this could have been cut by 20 at least to make the film more punchy, direct and compact.

I was most disappointed though by the lack of any real courtroom drama; jousting between Defence, Prosecutor and Witnesses; and tension as the case weaves back and forth. Billy Bob Thornton doesn't get enough meat in his sandwich to gnaw away at the case and hammer home his argument, and Robert Downey Jnr. looks too smug in his big city suit defending his ageing ailing Dad in a small town America courthouse! Given that the premise of this film is about a hot-shot lawyer son and his steady dependable pillar of the community accused Judge Dad and the murder trial that engulfs them, we should have expected more from inside the Courthouse and less of what goes on outside it!

In the final analysis this is an average offering that you don't need to see on the big screen. It is not an intense cut & thrust legal drama and it won't go down in the Hollywood History books as such, but it does have some redeeming features. The story is strong enough, but it could have been stronger; it is 20 minutes too long; it has an appealing cast of quality acting talent; and the story moves along at a reasonably good pace. It cost US$50M to make, and good on Downey Jnr. for giving us something different to look at than 'Iron Man 1, 2,3' and 'The Avengers' - more please, but shake off Tony Stark!

 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-