Reviews by Lexi

''You're gonna die.''

A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.

Liv Tyler: Kristen McKay

Scott Speedman: James Hoyt

Firstly the film The Strangers shouldn't be watched by certain people thinking about moving to the US. Seriously it puts you off. Moonlighting as a Texas Chainsaw Massacre or a Jeepers Creepers flick, it's obvious with any horror film there is not going to be any degree of originality. This applies to The Strangers.

Having said that who blooming well cares? Horror movie. Scares and jumps, that's what you want right? You don't want depth and a complex plot, we the audience want it simplified.
Although The Strangers begins suddenly with it's Resident Evil like narration, then deteriorates into slightly boring proportions, involving the two main stars, Kristen and James. Despite the relatively boring details about them Strangers throws at us once the film begins to get going with the scares and the suspense, it soars.

Liv Tyler gives us a very different role to her iconic Arwen in LOTR, as Kristen McKay she tries her hand at the horror scene. She can't really do any wrong with the material provided, and she genuinely appears scared at the proceedings.
Scott Speedman of Underworld, gives us James Hoyt, the other side to the troubled relationship. He can do action, he's proved that. He again proves it with Strangers, same again for the acting here. Standard stuff.

Bemusedly enough, Strangers did succeed in making me jump on various occasions and my girlfriend, who ended up scaring me more than the film did.
Weirdly I did also find it funny in places, Three masked individuals and a penchant for violence and mystery. Funnily enough, this film gives amazing tips for Halloween as well as being somewhat serious. The freedom in America means we get some twisted, sick individuals out there who don't care about money, wealth, emotions or possessions. They just want blood and in their minds, it's Fun...

I mean who can honestly say that they don't have some kind of weird secret obsession or strange hobby, it's just this specific one is a tad extreme I admit.
Strangers trio cleverly are never unveiled and personally I'm pleased it's kept like this. Relatively realistic in not showing them even when they remove their masks to show that this is random, this could be anybody...

Annoyingly enough in the cinema when the film finishes people murmur about Strangers having some kind of point. Ok, firstly this annoys me, does no-one have an imagination, secondly we aren't all scientists, not everything has to have a point.

In essence, Strangers isn't lying to us in any way. It's real, don't expect no happy ending because truth be told, your not going to get it. But then ask yourself, were you expecting there to be one?

''That's his favourite painting, his...his lucky painting...''

In London, a real-estate scam puts millions of pounds up for grabs, naturally attraction the attention of some of the city's scrappiest tough guys (Butler, Elba) its more established underworld players (Wilkinson), and others -- all of whom are looking to get rich quick.

Gerard Butler: One Two

RocknRolla is pretty much Guy Ritchie showing us all that he hasn't lost it. Let's face it, with Revolver he was trying to be clever but it went abit wrong. Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels & Snatch are at the level of top form, what we, the audiences want from Director Guy Ritchie.
At the start of his career Guy Ritchie was compared to legend Tarantino. This isn't necessarily a good person for him to be compared to.



Whereas Tarantino can write great plots and fantastic arrays and splashings of dialogue. Ritchie is usually quite poor at plots, but good at putting witty gritty words into people's speech. Here there are too many double crosses and back handed deals, the plot sometimes lingers. When Ritchie learns that this doesn't always work and simplifies the equation, he really will be a great writer & director. At least though it isn't as bad as Revolver was when it came out.
Thankfully RocknRolla is him back in control and back into the swing of what Guy does best.

One thing that's instantly improved to his Revolver piece is the fact that he's got a flawless casting this time, a plot that is untouchable as is the script and a killer Soundtrack that had me bobbing my head in rhythm to it, yes it was that bloody amazing!

May I say Mark Strong as Archie, had to be one of my favourite characters besides Gerard Butler in RocknRolla. I mean this Actor seems to have something cheeky about him that always produces a wry smile with me. Whether it be Stardust or even him in Revolver, he was the best thing in that film, Mark Strong makes Archie a hard guy yet one with a certain dark humour.
Gerard Butler as One Two is such a fun character who has his fair share of experiences in the movie.
Thandie Newton is sexy as hell, never stops smoking and never stops looking beautiful, seductive and icily intelligent.
There's a dance scene between Thandie & Gerard that's one of the coolest segments within the film, using Graphic Novel-esque subtitles as they talk and dance, pure genius.

Tom Wilkinson plays Lenny Cole, the bad ass boss, who really can play a Mob Boss well, whereas Batman Begins he's an American one, RocknRolla shows a pure grime London man who's a bad man.

If your sense of humour is warped and dark like mine, you will love what's on offer in RocknRolla. Homosexuality, the Rock industry, Russian dealings, and crafty back stabbing between deals gone sour are all explored. A certain scene in which Archie finds two Russians, doing some very strange things to Gerard is so funny as are a number of other surprisingly effective scenes.

Look out for Sweeney Todd's Jamie Campbell Bower popping up in the middle as a Rocker. As well as Ludacris, Jeremy Piven and Idris Elba.

Overall RocknRolla has rekindled my faith in Guy Ritchie and even Madonna must be breathing a sigh of relief. It's class, it's violent, it's funny and more importantly it's dark, rich and satisfying.
Roll on The Real RocknRolla!

[he examines the joint]

''It's almost a shame to smoke it. It's like killing a unicorn...with, like, a bomb.''

A stoner and his dealer are forced to go on the run from the police after the pothead witnesses a cop commit a murder.

Seth Rogen: Dale Denton

James Franco: Saul Silver

Pineapple Express is one of the best Comedies I've seen in ages. I don't usually like American humour, due to it's nonsensical crass fashion but this surprised me in lots of ways.



Happily Director David Gordon Green's Pineapple Express starts with an old fashioned flashback that sets the ball rolling. Pot being made illegal by the military. Then we see present day, Seth Rogen's Dale in his car smoking Weed savouring it's mindful influence, while doing a US job that everyone ends up hating you. Yes you have guessed it, ''You've been served'', THAT job.

We also discover Dales High-School Girlfriend which adds another mark against Dale, in the sense of being in-politically correct. It gets better still, in the charismatic charged James Franco playing Saul, Dale's weed Dealer and seemingly a friendship is there although Dale likes to just think of him as merely a dealer.
What Pineapple Express gives us throughout are non stop laughs, action and gore befitting of more black comedic belly roars. The plot is so daft it defies belief, as does the fight scenes that are so unrealistic you sometimes fail to notice due to the momentum of the film.

What begins as a drug related film progresses into an action, chase laden, non-serious thriller infused with slapstick comedy. Pineapple Express blasts joke after joke on screen, a funny run about in a dark forest between the pair, a Police Car chase where Franco kicks his foot out a slush puppy drenched windscreen, and the young Girlfriends parents giving Dale a hard time.
What's interesting about Pineapple Express is that it's story is predictable. You see scripts like this all the time but you get to a point where if you are having so much fun in the process you fail to care. Pineapple Express like it's weed inspired title is like a roller-coaster of unfortunate accidents in a drug induced state of madness.

I mean characters can fight and fight, get shot repeatedly,then miraculously begin running about frantically like nothing is wrong. The third character Danny R. McBride as Red shows the nature of the film. That character's can sustain superhuman damage and not die yet the film is adult and action packed. Is it serious? Is it comedy? Or is it sometimes switching backwards and forwards between the two perhaps.

The villains who commit the murder of an Asian Drug Rival, a certain Gary Cole as Ted Jones, the gangster boss guy and
Rosie Perez as Carol, the crooked Cop. They to me were 2 dimensional characters who weren't really fleshed out due to the involvement round the main two, Franco & Rogen. Things do kick off in the final segment and we get some cracking unbelievable fight scenes.

Pineapple Express is another film with Seth Rogen, whom I usually despise, but in this comical piece, I can say it's his best film I've seen yet, where he actually is funny with his hoarsely stupid voice and his mumbling accent.
James Franco remains a talent that keeps getting better and better every role I see him do, Pineapple Express allows him to do some different material and show versatile he can be, in this case a funny, drugged up dealer, with a bit of a vacant dreamy disposition.
So Pineapple Express to conclude has renewed my faith in the American comedy genre.
A very good effort, now I've just got to catch Tropic Thunder which looks fairly certain to be having more desirable effects on the genre for me.

''I was weak. That's why I needed you... needed someone to punish me for my sins... but that's all over now... I know the truth. Now it's time to end this.''

Players find themselves placed in the role of one James Sunderland, a lonely, depressed man who was once happily married. His former wife, Mary, died three years ago to a terrible disease, and ever since, James hasn't been able to pull it together.
Then one day, James receives a letter, signed by his "dead" wife Mary, pleading for him to meet with him in the town of Silent Hill. It reads, "Silent Hill, our sanctuary of memories...I will be waiting for you there." Disturbed, perplexed, and intrigued, James lets his emotions decide against logic, and drives to their former place of memories, Silent Hill.
Players find themselves placed in the role of James Sunderland, a lonely, depressed man who was once happily married. His former wife, Mary, died three years ago to a terrible disease, and ever since, James hasn't been able to pull it together.
Naturally, a letter from the dead can only mean one thing, trouble. And James is headed straight for it. It's kind of subtle when you pass through the first major area, a cemetery and the fog is so thick, you can barely see which way you're going. But the point slowly seeps in, you're on a long, wild goose chase and the few people who are around can barely help you, let alone help themselves...

Guy Cihi: James Sunderland (voice)

Just like Konami did in its first original Silent Hill on PlayStation, Silent Hill 2 is a study in surrealism and eerie, psychological terror. The game is perfectly set up from the start, slowly drawing players in with loads of atmosphere, unsettling environments, and unstable characters. As James learns about the town and what he is up against; A sense of creepiness doesn't subside a bit. Strangely, every little thing in the game works to create a chilly feeling. Footsteps on grass, cement, broken glass or water, all sound differently. The clanging metallic music and sound effects are more than effective. The radio even works to scare us. Just like in the first installment, the radio volume grows louder with static as nearby monsters approach, signaling what's coming up next. But instead of lessening my fright, it did just the opposite. Whenever that radio static grows, so does the closeness of a ghoulish enemy.



The sheets and sheets of enigmatic fog create a claustrophobic feeling that somehow shrouds the user with a personal significant vibe.
Inside buildings, players have different visuals to deal with. Once inside any building, players usually are placed in dark hallways and the chest-high flashlight helps to create an additional effect, much like that in Alone in the Dark: A New Nightmare. Only in this case, the flashlight is attached to the character's chest. Players can only see as far as the cone of light protrudes. James also recognizes objects, turning his head when an enemy or object comes into sight, making locating objects less cumbersome.
As for the gameplay formula seemingly inherent in the survival-horror genre, Silent Hill 2 certainly doesn't disturb the "action-puzzle-exploration" balance from the norm. It blends a healthy amount of exploration with key-based fetch-quests, and delivers some intriguing puzzles. There are standard style puzzles, such as disseminating scratches on a wall to unlock a clock puzzle, and collection puzzles involving riddles (Three Coins in Five Slots), and even an interesting radio quiz show. And there's even a simple Rubic's Cube style puzzles later in the game. For those who had a hard time with the puzzles in Silent Hill 1, the puzzles here can be adjusted independently of the game difficulty in the options menu. Playing on the medium difficulty, most puzzles are do-able, neither too easy nor too hard.
Playing the game on hard is the best experience ever, not just the puzzles, but when you get to the final level in the Hotel. Where you have to turn off your light and your radio, otherwise it results in death due to such sensitive evil creatures that roam the corridors. This is thrilling, intense, orgasmic and certainly rewarding.

As for the exploration aspect of the game, it is a triumph. What is especially nice about it would be that one would never feel horribly, redundantly backtracked. In other words, the key quests seemed natural. for example: "Go get the key to my apartment, I left it in this room." Or "find the wrench to unscrew the hidden box behind the statue." Part of the reason these little searches work is because Silent Hill 2 takes place in an ordinary town, and James is an ordinary guy, so the puzzles and quests can't be too far out, or they wouldn't work at all. The whole game feels like a terribly bad nightmare that just gets deeper, more elaborate each and every progression you make resembles a drill being executed into your own skull. Jump in a hole, put your hand in a toilet or hole, explore a dark hospital or hotel... Do whatever it takes, without any fear for searching for truth through the electric storytelling.

One of the best aspects of the exploration works in juxtaposition with the map. Silent Hill is a huge town, and it's natural to get lost. Quick cut-scenes and markers on the map identify where you should go. Not only that, the markers indicate where you have been and which doors, taverns, parks, and boundaries you have visited with distinct marks, so unnecessary backtracking can be avoided. The quick-map button, used by hitting triangle, is a big help, too.

Players also see a good bit of action. Players who enjoyed Silent Hill 1 or any other survival-horror game should feel comfortable playing Silent Hill 2. X is action, Triangle summons the map, R2 plus X enables players to attack or shoot, depressing Square is run, Circle turns on/off the flashlight, and L1 and R1 independently are strafe, while depressed together, they automate a 180-degree turn. The strafe function is a nice addition, because it adds more control, and the 180-degree quick-turn is a natural for this kind of title. James can walk and hold any weapon, and he can reload without dipping into the menu system. Weapons include a handgun, plank, long, steel rod, shotgun, and a rifle (yes, there are others, but they're spoilers). Numerous gadgets and accessories, such as knives, wrenches, rings, keys, faceplates, and other items assist on your quest.

Despite the inherent dilemmas in the control system, what makes Silent Hill 2 so enjoyable is that it frightened me in so many ways, and it also compelled me to know the full story. Not once in Resident Evil Code: Veronica X was I scared, and the brother and sister bad guys were mere caricatures. In SH2, gamers are constantly being thrown off balance with such a huge array of variables, causing nervousness, anxiousness and pure fear, but it's the characters that remain strangely, uncomfortably real. Each time Maria speaks she becomes creepier and creepier. Creepy, eerie, creating lingering doubts in your mind about your character, and what you believe has happened to you. It creates internal, psychological fear. Not the fear caused by shocks or jolts, like from dogs crashing through a window. The diseased fear created in Silent Hill 2 is a steady, unsettling one, induced by claustrophobia, unnerving silences occasionally pierced by metallic, harsh sound effects. And finally, no matter how settled you might feel, you still feel so incredibly lost and rudderless, that it is almost uncanny that you're merely playing a game. This is real and yet surreal. You have control over proceedings, unlike a film or book, while restricted to the programming and code, which you manipulate to decide the conclusion/ending (Four endings including a secret Dog ending). Silent Hill is a nightmarish struggle of our reality blurring with the subconscious, which sometimes needs to burst through; An explosive release and then, peace...

''Does it hurt to be dead?''

After being hypnotized by his sister in law, a man begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around her.

Kevin Bacon: Tom Witzky

Stir of Echoes unfairly is compared with one of a similar natured theme, The Sixth Sense. But no one can say this is a basic copy, just because Echoes was released only one month prior to Sixth Sense. Maybe for that reason, the latter superbly achieved success. Who knows what might have happened had Stir Of Echoes been released first.

Stir Of Echoes really begins to gain momentum when Jake, who's having conversations with a dead girl spirit, suggests a female babysitter to look after him while his parents are attending a football game.
Through a uncanny turn of events, it becomes obvious to Tom that the dead girl in the house is the sister of the babysitter. Of course raising lots of unanswered questions and a frightening secret involving the neighbourhood and it's inhabitants.

Tom interestingly enough, begins to lose focus with reality, by getting bizarre instructions, for example at one point, to dig. So he obviously, makes a massive mess of his yard, then his house, then his basement in that order.

Tom will get the answers he wants to gain, and he'll learn the truth about a terrifying secret.
Stir Of Echoes is not perfect but it doesn't have to be. There's an fascinating sub-plot about a police officer with the vision that could of been elaborated on. The Lisa character also shows little remorse for the post-hypnotic suggestion she left upon poor Tom, she's more interested in getting high with friends or ridiculing him.

But that's no where negative enough to ruin anything about Stir Of Echoes.
The movie is highly enjoyable, especially for those of you who enjoy a good, tense supernatural thriller. Kevin Bacon does a commendable job of portraying a man driven by forces he cannot at first fathom.
I love the part where Tom is floating on a chair in a cinema, in a dream. Or even when he has a dream which is so real that he is unable to tell it is. Very clever indeed.

So in conclusion Stir Of Echoes results in a stylish psychological, supernatural thriller with awesome performances and a surreal plot.

''You can't ask me to battle nature in my own heart.''

A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life.

Keira Knightley: Georgiana, The Duchess of Devonshire

Ralph Fiennes: Duke of Devonshire

The Duchess(2008) is based on Amanda Foreman's biographic book and is brought to life on screen by Director Saul Dibb.
The story revolves around Georgina, who becomes the Duchess of Devonshire, married into a marriage of convenience and stature, laboured with the task of giving her husband the Duke a male heir.



Keira Knightley is in her element as Georgiana and you can see she revels in it. Keira is at home in her depiction of the intelligent, beautiful Georgiana. Every scene she is in has life, depth and prosperity. Emotion and struggle effortlessly conveyed in her eyes alone at times.
What struck me were her loveless marriage to Ralph Fiennes Duke and the many problems she faces.
Ralph Fiennes plays a villain character very well in films in the past but in The Duchess I wouldn't class him as good or bad in conclusion. His Duke character in here simply has problem expressing his emotions and at times he beautifully acts out how insensitive he can be to Georgiana. His many faults and later affair with Bess, a friend of Georgiana, causes problems and even shows us of the mistreatment of women in this period. To me it's a fascination in a few hundred years; females have been given the freedom and right to do the same as men, and rightly so.

Georgiana is a woman ahead of her time, comparable to great ladies like Elizabeth or Catherine The great in the form and way of strength, resolve and striking intelligence; showing she's not just a beautiful lady of Aristocracy but one who is mentally and physically perfect.
I must admit her romance and deep love for Dominic Cooper's Charles Grey struck me to how tragic and moving the whole story is. The boundaries of protocol and what society expects of you is amazingly captured, showing real life to be a hugely fascinating and inspiration, as well as rival to anything fictional or fantasy based can offer us.

Charles Grey and Georgiana by the River sharing a moment of intimacy struck volumes with me. A long lost feeling of a love not yet felt with her emotionless seeming husband. as Charles and Georgiana look into each others eyes you can see the love there.
As they kiss and give into loves embrace, it's mind-blowing and even my eyes were unable to control the prospect of crying slightly.
The love scenes were surprisingly really well executed in amazing subtle yet effective ways. Some scenes with Keira and Ralph were obviously awkward but they were intended to be. Keira's love scenes with Cooper are an effective contrast to the ones with Ralph, which are void of love, this importantly helps us to notice the huge difference there.

The Duchess is simply a period masterpiece that may be predicted as being sad but it's not. It's positively radiant in all aspects. Costumes, locations, acting and the music and Score is in a class of its own. The Duchess is beautiful storytelling and a period film dream to put it effectively, a vision of a woman's life miraculously portrayed on the dazzling big screen.

Ralph Fiennes provides a character who you love to hate, but redeems himself somewhat, Keira Knightley is the shining Goddess we all thought she would be.
Dominic Cooper gets another amazing film besides History Boys and Mamma Mia under his belt and has convinced me he's a rising star.
Ralph Fiennes making everyone laugh on various parts from the way he says things so unemotionally is perfect. I've never seen a Lady with her head on fire before in a Period film, but what made it even more memorable was the fact Ralph has to say ''Put out The Duchess's hair please!'', or something to that effect.
My favourite part near the end; where we actually see a glimpse of Ralph's Duke's emotion was so moving for me. Where he looks out the window and says something like, ''How wonderful to be that free.'' For the first time he actually connects to Keira, and we see he is as mush a prisoner as she is in this world of Aristocracy.

In conclusion The Duchess has humour, struggle, a moving score, beautiful cinematography, and an ending that concludes things in such a way; you will be moved, you will be happy and most importantly you will be satisfied and be left glowing from the experience.

''The equation. Sometimes it's... just chaos. That's all there is.''

Nick Hume is a mild-mannered executive with a perfect life, until one gruesome night he witnesses something that changes him forever. Transformed by grief, Hume eventually comes to the disturbing conclusion that no length is too great when protecting his family.

Kevin Bacon: Nick Hume

SAW Director James Wan has yet again made another successful film, only this time he focus's on an action perspective rather than a horror selection.
The story revolves around the life of Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon), a respectable father and husband whose life gets turned around when a vicious gang brutally murders his son at a gas station. Now Nick decides to take justice into his own hands, no matter what the consequences.

I really enjoyed the first SAW very much so, and thought it was incredibly well-made with it's complex twist and build up. However I thought the idea of James Wan making an action thriller was bizarre. I was proved wrong after I saw Death Sentence.
Kevin Bacon gives another gritty performance with this raw material under his hat. The action in this film was very laugh out loud crazy and extremely entertaining to watch, reminded me of the Max Payne game series.

Subsequently Death Sentence is a horrific cat-and-mouse battle between him and the gang, which only result in spawning more acts of retaliation, bloodshed and death. The subject matter obviously isn't too mentally challenging, but who cares? It's a hugely disturbing and devastating movie man. Kevin Bacon's transformation from family guy into sardonic vigilante skinhead is awesome, showing he's becoming more like the people he's taking revenge upon, and the actual acts of retribution are evil, twisted and relentless.
Bacon receives excellent support from the almost naturally menacing looking gang members, including Garrett Hedlund, Edi Gathegi and Hector Ruiz. There's also a delicious supportive role for John Goodman as a filthy and despicable weapon dealer. James Wan's direction is practically executed well, proving all the more his talents aren't restricted to horror and twists exclusively.

The grisly soundtrack, bleak and monotonous photography and abrupt ending also all contribute in making Death Sentence one of the most confronting, daring, underrated sleeper hits of 2007-08.

''It would have been different if she had been white though...''

Stewart Kane, an Irishman living in the Australian town of Jindabyne, is on a fishing trip in isolated hill country with three other men when they discover the body of a murdered girl in the river. Rather than return to the town immediately, they continue fishing and report their gruesome find days later.

Gabriel Byrne: Stewart Kane

Jindabyne revolves around four men who embark on a weekend fishing-trip, more of an annual ritual where they separate themselves from their wives and lives, hiking deep into the mountains. Shortly after arriving Stewart (Byrne) finds the body of an Aboriginal girl, stripped naked and floating in the river. The four make a telling decision: rather than hike back to report their find they keep fishing; the girl's body is left in the river where the cold water will slow decomposition; they tether it to a tree to prevent it floating downstream and into rapids. That the four think little about the moral implications of their conscious choice is reflected in subsequent scenes where they fish happily, not discussing their find or speculating about what happened to the girl. On returning, the callousness of their delay in reporting their find divides their families and their communities. Most of the focus is on Stewart's relationship with his wife Claire as the incident opens up existing fractures in their relationship. In fact the whole affair makes you wonder if any of the characters involved was ever truly happy; they certainly wonder it themselves.

The nature of the story is intensely psychological, which necessitates both good writing and acting to carry off the whole affair. Pleasingly, Jindabyne has plenty of both.

Beatrix Christian had Carver's story to draw upon but it would have been incredibly difficult to give this an Australian context, with all its understatement and scorn for overt displays of emotion (perhaps why they imported Linney in to the mix). The addition of her and Byrne, two skilled international character actors, certainly added quality and a depth of sorts, they were supported by an ensemble cast that mixed Australian veterans (John Howard, 'Bud' Tingwell, Chris Haywood) with lesser-known yet talented actors with an appreciation of the material they had been gifted.

Ray Lawrence, the director, clearly did not set out to create a crime story but he certainly shows that crime can have some unexpected collateral damage. He also has contributed to the "Cinema of Unease", a phrase Sam Neill once used to describe New Zealand cinema, by setting a story or tale about personal and public guilt in such a glorious visual setting or breath taking landscape.

''One day, not today, not tomorrow, not this season, probably not next season either but one day, you and I are gonna wake up and suddenly we're gonna be like every other team in every other sport where winning is everything and nothing else matters. And when that day comes, well thats, thats when we'll honor them.''

When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach (McConaughey) and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.

Matthew McConaughey: Jack Lengyel

We Are Marshall is about inspiration. It starts with a tragedy, in a true story the plane crash which killed nearly the entire Marshall University football team. Then, it deals with the reactions of everybody the tragedy touched.

Director McG amusingly enough, made Charlie's Angels 1 and 2 which,without being very good at all, resulted in a fun comedy satire and good parodies of action.
I appreciate that McG made something different though with We Are Marshall, proving that he can do something else besides frantic action laced with comedy.
But overall, honestly,We Are Marshall did not convince me of much in the way of change or improvement.
The development is very predictable and the story is told by the most obvious ways.The ending pretends to be emotive but it really does not surprise.

It's obviously a very captivating story. So why does the movie not quite hit the heights you sense it should? The biggest problem is the movie's pace. Fifteen to twenty minutes easily could have been cut here to help the movie move along. As it is the movie struggles to build the momentum so important in leading to that big payoff at the end. Some characters seem superfluous, most notably that of the girlfriend of one of the dead players, as portrayed by Kate Mara. There's nothing wrong with Mara's performance, it's just that her character seems totally unnecessary and really adds nothing to the film. Any time spent with her character is time which could have been better spent elsewhere or better yet cut out of the film altogether. In the central role of the new coach Matthew McConaughey gives what is at times a frustrating performance. All the offbeat quirks and mannerisms wear thin after a while. Perhaps he was trying too hard to imitate the real Coach Lengyel, but whatever McConaughey was trying to do he never quite manages to convince. And since his character is at the very heart of the story that is a rather glaring problem with the movie. But despite the problems the movie may have it's still well worth seeing. You'll be both inspired and entertained. You just may get the sense you should have been a little bit more inspired and entertained than you actually were.

If you stick around through the closing moments, though, you will be treated to a truly inspiring epilogue. By keeping the football team going, Lengyel paved the way for a program that would have great success in the future. Kate Mara, recounts this success in a voice over and it's the most inspiring moment of the film. You want to admire Marshall because it's ultimately about the importance of perseverance, but the film is too bathetic to win the hearts of us, hard to please, viewers.

''Knowledge is pain.''

An attorney intent on climbing the career ladder toward success, finds an unlikely opponent in a manipulative criminal he's trying to prosecute.

Anthony Hopkins: Ted Crawford

Ryan Gosling: Willy Beachum

Given the talented cast, Fracture should have been more than a paint-by-numbers thriller but that's exactly what it results in. It features a few solid 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 sleepy eyed Gosling, whos character was really unlikable or relatively weak in some scenes, which made it hard to cheer for him at points.

The screenplay was only average with some decent dialogue being the highlight. The way the screenwriter played out the crime was very formulaic and pretty damn 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.

The film's colours and cinematography is to a degree quite good, and includes some unusual angles. Also was impressed by the use of a wide-angle lens use in the courtroom parts. Sound effects, so often ignored, further add to the realism of the proceedings.

Dialogue is generally effective, and includes some witty lines. When Willy's boss talks with him about being taken off the case, Willy responds: "Even if I find new evidence?" To which his boss retorts: "From where, the evidence store?". So yes Fracture has humour as well as tension here and there.

Despite a seriously flawed script, Fracture is highly absorbing in places, thanks largely to a strong cast and sense of professionalism in the way it's styled. Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling obviously are the bait for any fans of either.
Gosling has gotten to do something a bit different (for his usual weird roles) and Hopkins has managed to do something similar (he does anything and everything nowadays) without ever boring us, one negative was his accent which sounded Irish or something, felt abit odd.

Final word is that Fracture is exciting enough while it's speeding along, though as soon as it slows down it loses it's power. Fracture achieves some positives by giving us a few surprises and making it a game of cat and mouse that ultimately becomes twisted round.
The bravura performances are fun as is the chemistry overall. But Fracture feels like its been done before and more importantly it's been achieved and executed alot better in previous films of the same nature.