90s Movie Review - A Time to Kill

Director: Joel Schumacher
Genre: Thriller/ Drama/ Crime
Runtime: 129 minutes
Year: 1996
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bulloc, Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland, Oliver Platt, Ashley Judd, Kevin Spacey, Charles S. Dutton, Chris Cooper, Beth Grant

Description: In Clanton, Mississippi, a fearless young lawyer (Matthew McConaughey) defends a black man (Samuel L. Jackson) accused of murdering two white men who raped his ten-year-old daughter, inciting violent retribution and revenge from the Lu Klux Klan.

Review: When Carl Lee hailey’s 10-year-old daughter is brutally abused by two racist white men, something snaps inside him. The men will be tried in the usual way, but Carl Lee fears they will be released very soon. According to him, there is only one thing to do: take the law into his won hands. So he kills the two men and is arrested by the police. A trial will have to decide whether and how Carl Lee should be punished. As a lawyer, Carl Lee hires the inexperienced Jake Brigance. He must go up against top lawyer Rufus Buckley. Fortunately, Jake gets help from ambitious Ellen Roark. The trial is the subject of many demonstrations: the Ku Klux Klan calls for prosecution, while the black community pleads for release.

When it comes to courtroom thrillers, author John Grisham is one of the best-known writers. Over the years, numerous of Grisham’s books have been adapted for film.

The story is very clear in who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. The charismatic underdog against the cynical veteran: anyone who has every read anything by Grisham has a clue as to who will win. On thing is certain: because of the complicated issue is portrayed as black and white, it does make it all nice and easy to get along with. And it’s very easy to sympathize with the main character.

A good script is essential here, but a good cast is just as important to deliver it with credibility. Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey are all fantastic in their respective roles, as are Sandra Bullock, Kiefer Sutherland and Donald Sutherland in smaller roles. I believe that the final plead and that ending are a bit too dramatic for my taste, but work well as tear-jerking moments.

A film that doesn’t have a dull moment in it.

Rating: 4/ 5 

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 39: The Artist

Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Genre: Comedy/ Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2011
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, Missi Pyle, John Goodmna, Malcolm McDowell, Penelope Ann Miller, Beth Grant, James Cromwell, Joel Murray

Description: A silent movie star meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions.

Review: In 1899 the first experiments to combine sound and film took place, but it was three decades later when the eventually executed this plan. In 1927 America was ready for it, with “The Jazz Singer”. The transition from silent film to a film with sound, forms the base of “The Artist”. It’s a modern day silent film, in black and white, about fictional movie star George Valentin. He can’t adapt to this transition and gets into trouble, but also eventually finds love.
Many Hollywood stars from the silent movie era, saw their careers end, because they seemed old fashioned or their voice didn’t match their image. In “The Artist” George Valentin is such a star. He is successful as an actor and makes equally successful movies.
His influence is that big, that the young, unknown Peppy Miller gets a role in his movie and eventually becomes a big star herself. George doesn’t believe in movies with sound and quits the studio to makes his own films. His first film is a huge flop, his wife leaves him and he goes bankrupt.
“The Artist” does a masterful job in mimicking the atmosphere of a silent movie from the twenties, without imitating other films. It manages to also feel modern and fresh, when you have the feeling you’re watching a classic film.
Silent movies always proof how essential music is for a movie. And facial expressions and body language. Because there is no spoken dialogue, the viewer has to depend on all this to follow the story. some dialogue is shown in written words, but it’s very minimal.
I’m so glad movie like this get a green light, Hollywood needs this. What “La La Land” did for musical in 2016, “The Artist” did for the silent film.

Rating: 5/ 5