Tag: Conviction

Blu Monday: February 1, 2011

Your Weekly Source for the Newest Releases to Blu-Ray

The late, great Blake Edwards’ 10 — starring Dudley Moore and Bo Derek — gets immortalized on Blu-Ray. Two films go from silver screen to Blu-Ray… Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr star in AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER; and Bette Davis stars in ALL ABOUT EVE, just in time for it’s 60th anniversary. Disney’s animated classic ALICE IN WONDERLAND comes out of the vault for a special 60th anniversary treatment. Sticking with the anniversary trend, HIGHLANDER reaches it’s 25th (tentatively) with a special gift set, boxed with HIGHLANDER 2. LET ME IN fills the role as this week’s primary horror release, with HATCHET 2 showing up to the party a day late. My indie Blu-Ray pick of the week goes to the indie sci-fi/drama MONSTERS, a low-budget film which made huge waves on the festival circuit, is being released as a special edition.

Blu-Ray for Tuesday, Feb. 1st, 2011

  1. Blake Edwards’ 10 (1979)
  2. AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957)
  3. Walt Disney’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND: 60th Anniversary Edition
  4. ALL ABOUT EVE: 60th Anniversary Edition (1950)
  5. BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA 2 (2010)
  6. BIG MAMA’S HOUSE 1 & 2
  7. BOYS DON’T CRY (1999)
  8. CHAIN LETTER (2010)
  9. CONVICTION (2010)
  10. HIGHLANDER: 25th Anniversary Gift Set
  11. LET ME IN (2010)
  12. MONSTERS: Special Edition (2010)
  13. NEVER LET ME GO (2010)
  14. NIGHT CATCHES US (2010)
  15. PLEASANTVILLE (1998)
  16. THE TILLMAN STORY (2010)
  17. WELCOME TO THE RILEYS (2010)
  18. A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP (2010)
  19. YOU’VE GOT MAIL (1998)

Blu-Ray for Wednesday, Feb. 2nd, 2011:

  1. HATCHET 2 (2010)

On the DVD platter this week is an eclectic mix spanning genres and eras. 11 HARROWHOUSE is a crime-comedy starring Charles Grodin, Candice Bergan and James Mason; BULLSHOT is a comedy set during WWI starring Alan Shearman and Billy Connolly; being re-released in the British gangster film THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY, starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren; and Stanley Donen’s LUCKY LADY is a comedy about rum-running in the 1930’s, starring Gene Hackman, Liza Minnelli and Burt Reynolds. Going further back is a film noir called THE PROWLER and a pair of pre-code 30’s-era films. (For ya young’uns, that’s before men and women were required to sleep in separate beds on the big screen.) Three smaller films to consider are NEVER LET ME GO, a sci-fi/drama starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley; NIGHT CATCHES US, a drama set during the Black Panther movement of the 70’s starring Kerry Washington and Anthony Mackie; and WELCOME TO THE RILEYS, a drama about an older man who befriends a younger woman, starring James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart and Melissa Leo. Finally, my indie DVD pick of the week is RHINELAND, a WWII drama by Chris Grega shot in the Saint Louis area.

DVD for Tuesday, Feb. 1st, 2011

  1. 11 HARROWHOUSE (1974)
  2. BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA 2 (2010)
  3. BONDED BY BLOOD (2010)
  4. BULLSHOT (1983)
  5. CHAIN LETTER (2010)
  6. THE CLIENT LIST (2010)
  7. CONVICTION (2010)
  8. GIULIA DOESN’T DATE AT NIGHT (2009)
  9. LET ME IN (2010)
  10. THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY (1980)
  11. LUCKY LADY (1975)
  12. MEAN GIRLS 2 (2011)
  13. MONA LISA (1986)
  14. MONSTERS (2010)
  15. NEVER LET ME GO (2010)
  16. NIGHT CATCHES US (2010)
  17. Pre-Code Hollywood Double Feature: HELL HARBOR and JUNGLE BRIDE (1930/1933)
  18. THE PROWLER (1951)
  19. RHINELAND (2007)
  20. SHOPPING (1994)
  21. SKIN (2008)
  22. WELCOME TO THE RILEYS (2010)
  23. A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP (2010)

DVD for Wednesday, Feb. 2nd, 2011:

  1. HATCHET 2 (2010)

Review: CONVICTION

The new drama CONVICTION is based on a true story and aspires to be an inspirational tale of a scrappy underdog fighting the system similar to RUDY and ERIN BROKOVICH. And like those films, CONVICTION benefits from some great actors helping to tell this true tale.

The movie begins in 1980 at a horrific crime scene . A woman in Ayer, MA has been brutally murdered in her tiny, trailer park home. Officer Nancy Taylor (FROZEN RIVER’s Melissa Leo) picks up Kenny Waters (MOON’s Sam Rockwell) for questioning(this after a heated verbal altercation). Kenny’s sister Betty Ann (AMELIA’s Hilary Swank) and her hubby Rick (MUMFORD’s Loren Dean) pick him up from the police station after his release. A couple years pass and Kenny is picked up again and charged with the murder. After hearing damning testimonies from his former girlfriends (ZODIAK’s Clea DuVall and OLD SCHOOL’s Juliette Lewis) a jury finds Kenny guilty of the crime. Betty Ann is determined to get him freed and embarks on a 12 year journey through the legal system. Although she was raising two boys and holding down a full time bar job she enrolled in law school and never gave up on her brother.

Tony Goldwin (THE LAST KISS) directs with great style from a script by Pamela Gray (MUSIC OF THE HEART), but it’s the actors that elevated CONVICTION from Lifetime TV movieland. Took me a bit to get used to her “Baaasten” accent , but Swank really makes you cheer on this working class mother. The always interesting Rockwell makes Kenny a very compelling if not always likable character. Sure you feel for the guy, but he’s got a real anger management problem. I was surprised and delighted to see Minnie Driver in the film as Betty Ann’s law school classmate and pal. Seems like it’s been a while since we’ve seen her.Late in the film Peter Gallagher turns in an energetic performance as Barry Scheck (I hope Scheck sent a nice thank-you note to the producers). Duvall and Lewis do fine supporting work as Kenny’s exes (kudos to the make-up team for Lewis’s nasty choppers). Near the film’s end Ari Graynor (NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST) shows off her dramatic skills as Kenny’s estranged daughter, Mandy. My only problems are with the manipulative flashback scenes of Kenny and Betty Ann as youngsters who are inseparable until the authorities pull them apart. I’d like to have seen how Betty Ann stayed on the straight and narrow while Kenny became a magnet for trouble. I’m also curious as to whether the authorities were so heartless as to arrest Kenny DURING his grandfather’s funeral services. The dissolution of Betty Ann and Rick’s marriage is quickly glossed over. He forbids her from going to law school and shortly we see Betty Ann picking up her two boys from his nice, new, suburban home. But I may be nitpicking too much. All in all CONVICTION is a well dune entry in the inspirational non-fiction film genre with some top-notch acting.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars