2010 Reviews #94-#96: "Megamind" has a "Due Date" for a "Conviction"!

Conviction

Rated R
1 hour 47 minutes

With Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell

I was really looking forward to seeing this film, and I waited a few weeks while it bounced around in limited theaters to finally see it released nation wide. I love a good true story that focuses around courtroom jargon and wrongful imprisonments. I don't know if this story was very popular in the news nationwide as it was going on, I never heard of it until now. It's about a man who is allegedly wrongfully convicted of murder and his younger sister goes through years of law school and years of fighting the judicial system to free her brother. That's family right there. This actually happened ladies and gentleman. It was a story that took place over the course of roughly 18-20 years. I thought the movie was pretty good. Mainly it had two very strong performances at it's core and they were surrounded by a fairly well made flick. The problem I had was I didn't really feel totally connected to the struggle. There were times where I just didn't care what happened (even though I already knew). I kind of wanted more back story to really dive into these peoples lives to make us feel some genuine pain for them. Also I would have liked to see more investigative type stuff going on. More interviewing, more crime scene analysis. More digging into the truth. I don't know if that actually occurred in real life or not, but all we get in the movie is mainly this woman's life and her going through law school and balancing her home life. Don't get me wrong, it's an incredible story. We didn't really see any actual "murder case" stuff going on until maybe the last act or so. I feel like there was a lot of great pieces going on but some parts of the puzzle were missing for me. I also like to note that Juliette Lewis gives a freaking stellar, and very short lived performance in this film. She's mainly in one major scene and she acts her ass off and totally goes into that character and is almost unrecognizable. Hilary Swank shows great passion and delivers a solid performance. Sam Rockwell is one of the most under appreciated actors of our time. He was brilliant here once again and will also once again go completely unnoticed by the Academy. Conviction is a wonderful film about a woman's passion to save her brother, I liked the movie. I just didn't get all I wanted from it. Can't win them all...but still a good movie nonetheless. Critics Grade: 66%. My Grade: B-.

Due Date
Rated R
1 hour 40 minutes

With Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis

Well Due Date is a film that suffers from what a lot of big comedies suffer from. Way to much pre exposure. If you have seen at least 4 or 5 movies in the past few months, you have likely seen the trailer for this film before at least 4 of those 5 films. It was funny the first time, still kind of funny the 2nd, then it stopped being funny after that. Sure, you still really want to see it because of the stars and the trailer was funny so it must have more funny stuff. There is also the obvious connection between this film and the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles. People keep being snide by saying we shouldn't compare them...but it's almost impossible as they are practically the SAME film, this one is just more updated. But that's not the problem, we see like films all the freaking time. I watched this movie and halfway through realized...holy crap...I haven't laughed yet. Holy crap...pretty much no one in the audience has really laughed yet. Sure we all chuckled lightly a few times, but no hearty laughter bellowed out from the audience. Because almost ALL of the main jokes were featured prominently in the trailer. The movie itself had almost nothing fresh in terms of the humor. It was a total disappointment, I was bummed! The positive thing about the film is that Downey Jr. and Galifianakis were brilliant together! Such complete opposites and worked so amazingly on screen. Both give fine performances and both had some funny moments. It's just sad that the material wasn't that funny and that the film just had way to much revealed to us before it even came out. Grrr! Critics Grade: 38%. My Grade: C.

Megamind
Rated PG
1 hour 36 minutes

With Voices of Will Ferrell and Tina Fey

I was overall quite happy with how Megamind turned out! I mean it won't win my personal favorite for best animated film of the year, but it did it's job and it did it well. I loved the concept of the super villain who has a really soft side and may or may not have to end up saving the day. You know it's kind of a good message for kids. Some people who appear to be bad (such as kids at school) may actually be quite nice but no one gives them a chance or much hope. Anyway, Megamind is a funny movie for the whole family. Kids will love it and adults will find some nice grown up humor thrown in to please them. Will Ferrell is a PERFECT voice over actor and he was great as Megamind!! He was funny and you just rooted for the guy. It has a simple story to follow for kids and it ultimately delivers a solid message that kids and most adults can learn from. For me, I just don't think it was totally memorable. It's an animated film I may kind of forget about in a few weeks or so. But first time viewing...pretty solid movie. Take the kids! Or just go see it for yourself...no one will judge you. Critics Grade: 67%. My Grade: B+.