Law Abiding Citizen

Written by: Kurt Summer

Directed by: F. Gary Gray

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler, Leslie Bibb, Colm Meaney

Clyde Shelton ( Butler) loves his wife. He loves his daughter. They have a wonderful life. But everything is brought to a halt when the Shelton's are the victims of a home invasion and Clyde wakes up to find that his wife and daughter have been murdered.

Nick Rice (Foxx) is an up and coming prosecutor who has an astounding conviction rate and is gunning to be the top dog. He takes on Shelton's case but goes against Clyde's wishes and takes a plea bargain to put one criminal on death row, and let the other (who actually did the killing) go with murder in the 3rd.

Fast forward ten years. Rice is doing it big, as assistant DA. He's groomed Sarah (Bibb) into a great right-hand man. They are still marveling at a high prosecution rate. Life is good. Nick and Sarah go to the execution of Ames (Josh Stewart), the one pinned with the murder of Clyde's family. Everything appears to be going as scheduled until Ames yells out in pain and thrashes around on the table before the heart monitor stops.

Immediately an investigation is launched and is lead by Nick's buddy on the force Det. Dunnigan (Meaney). They find that the machine has been tampered with and have to reopen the case to try and find out clues as to who would have done such a thing. Maybe Ames' partner in crime Darby (Christian Stolte). Darby has been living a life of crime since his release. He gets a ring from an anonymous caller telling him that the cops are on the way. No sooner than he can question who is on the phone, Darby hears the silence in the distance. He follows the instructions giving to him on the phone and narrowly escapes capture. Until he finds out that the person giving him a way out, is Clyde.

Clyde then takes pleasure in kidnapping Darby and doing things to him reminicscent of the Saw movies. And then the shit gets gangsta!

Nick, Dunnigan, Sarah, and a host of lawyers try and get to Clyde, get him to confess, and eventually lock him in jail. Until they learn that people are still being murdered while Clyde is behind bars. Nick Rice must find who is helping Clyde on the outside before his own life is put into danger.

Jamie Foxx does a pretty decent job. Really headstrong into advancing in his career. Starts off as a loving husband whos eager to be a dad, but ends up as being the guy who is too busy at work to go to his kids recital. He's kind of a dick, but he isn't so far gone that he can't make a turn around. I still can't stand Gerard Butler playing an American, but his accent doesn't slip too much in this movie. As far as his performance though, anyone really could have played the role. You don't get too much background info on the rest of the characters to even care about what they do outside the office. Like they try and develop a relationship (plutonic) between Foxx and Bibb but I just wasn't buying it. And Clyde constantly pushes the theme of justice being served, but it's not strong enough to be constant throughout the movie. Nobody did a horrible job, but aint no Oscar contenders in the bunch.

The movie is incredibly fun though. Not exactly suspensful but it does leave you wondering how the hell things are going on. I'm so glad the studio didn't try and get this dumbed down to a PG-13 flick. Some parts are pretty gruesome, but I'm thankful they didn't cut away.

We sat in the movie totally confused as to how Clyde gets the entire city of Philadelphia to pee it's pants fearing that anyone who may have done some wrong to him in the past would be hurt, and the movie does a good job of keeping you interested for the run time.

Initially I walked out of the theaters with a solid B for the movie, but the more I thought about it, the more I doubted I could ever really just sit and watch the movie again. You know how when you found out that Bruce was a ghost, and then you go back and watch him and little Hailey Joel and you're like "oh he did get shot in that suit" "oh yeah his wife doesn't talk to him ever" well you can't do that with this movie. It's not like the ending is totally implausible (ok maybe it is a little far-fetched) but without a crucial speech in the middle of the movie from some random, you really wouldn't be able to guess this one on your own. Even if I gave you the spoiler right here, right now, you'd be like "well how could you know that?". You couldn't. But that still doesn't make it a bad movie. Very entertaining. Very popcorn (I ate a bag of JellyBellys with my eyes wide open). I'll give it a C+.

Where The Wild Things Are

Written by: Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers (book by: Maurice Sendak)

Directed by: Spike Jonze

Starring: Max Records, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Lauren Ambrose, Forest Whittaker, Paul Dano, Chris Cooper

Yes I've read the book 700 million times as a kid. No, I have no recollection of the exact story but that Max was a bad kid who was sent to bed without dinner and escaped to an island of Wild Things. So I went into this movie with no storyline expectations, but just wanted to see another something for my childhood finally brought to life. Especially by one Mr. Spike Jonze.

Our first glimpse of Max (Records, and yes it is awesome the kids name is actually Max) is actually on screen before we see his little face. A few nice little drawings on the production company cards. But when he hits the screen, its at a startling pace.

After roughhousing with the dog, he makes his way outside to build and man a fort by himself. He begs for his sisters attention, and it's granted briefly by way of her and her friends engaging in a snow fight with Max and eventually crushing his ice fort, and consequently his spirit. To get revenge he makes an utter mess of his sisters room.

When Mom (Catherine Keener) comes home, she doesn't scold Max, but instead helps him clean up and feel just a little better about himself. It's short lived though, because soon Mom's boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo) comes over and takes the attention away from Max. Max causes a scene, mostly against the audacity of frozen corn for dinner, and runs off into the night. He finds a boat and sets sail until he gets to an island...inhabited by Wild Things.

When he docks he comes across Carol (Gandolfini) smashing the bejeezus out of huts. Judith (O'Hara), Ira (Whittaker), Alexander (Dano), and Douglas (Cooper) are trying to stop him because these are the huts they live in. Clearly enraged and grieving over KW (Ambrose) leaving the bunch, Carol decides to destory everything. Sympathizing with being the outcast of the bunch, Max races in and helps Carol in his efforts. He then tells the Wild Things tales of the time he overtook some Vikings and they made him their king. They collectively decide that Max will be their new king and make everything right again.

Like most politicians and royalty, Max comes up with all sorts of promises that the group wholeheartedly believes. They have a romp. They sleep in a giant pile. They get to work on a gigantic fort, using everyone's best talents and really creating a group effort. He even gets KW back in on the fun and everyone feels like a literal great big family. Until Judith notices Max spending more time with Carol. And some of them feel slighted when Max divides the group into "good" and "bad" for a dirt fight. Some of them even begin to question his resume.

Max spends the rest of his time on the island trying to find out what is best for everyone, including himself.

Firstly, let me say, that although this movie is about a rambunctious 8-10 year old, this is not a movie for kids. The monsters are a little creepy. Ok well a lot creepy. They make promise to basically eat Max if he screws up. Literally eat him. He sees the bones of the previous king. It is not lighthearted or even that colorful. It's sad and a little lonely, but if you were ever 8-10 years old, you will understand a little about where Max is coming from. (ok well maybe not when he yells and bites his mom, you'd be like "my mama would whoop his ass"). Maybe you learned something in school that made you fear for your life. Maybe your mom didn't give you every minute of attention you felt you needed. Maybe you wanted to run off from home in the middle of the night to a land where only things you wanted to happen would happen.

Secondly, if you know anything about Spike Jonze and what he is capable of behind the camera, that might help you be prepared for the tone of the movie. If you know anything about the Jim Henson Company, you can be prepared for the life-like qualities that the monsters have. I've read enough articles on the making of the movie to tell you about the CGI that went to it but I'll spare you. It is totally visually stunning.

I've been debating most of the weekend on what grade to give this movie. A-. Could I be biased? Maybe. Am I being sentimental and nostalgic? Yes. Do I want to see this over and over? Indeed (on BluRay). Could it have been better? Couldn't everything?

Definetly see this.