A Night In Old Mexico (Now on home video and streaming)

Review by Wayne Richards

It’s a question that has been asked in countless films and a premise that has been dealt with many times with varying degrees of success:  What happens when the bad guys’ money gets ripped off and ends up in the hands of the good guys?  Generally the bad guys come looking for it and will do bad things to good people in order to get back what is rightfully theirs.  A NIGHT IN OLD MEXICO handles this scenario in a very commonplace manner.

The Judge

Review by Joseph Anthony

Imagine the guy who directed FRED CLAUSE, SHANGHAI KNIGHTS, WEDDING CRASHERS and helped write R.I.P.D., David Dobkin, made a courtroom drama. Okay, imagine no longer. It’s happened and it’s called THE JUDGE.

To call THE JUDGE a courtroom drama isn’t totally fair though. Most of the drama revolves around a broken family, the Palmers. Son, Hank Palmer, played by Robert Downey Jr., is a big-city lawyer who thrives on defending society's most corrupt. His father, Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall) has presided over a small town in Indiana for over four decades. Unlike his son, Judge Palmer is guided by principle. While both father and son have turned to the law in their professional lives, the bonds that tie them together as family had been severed for years. Hank calls his father “Judge” as lovingly as a military recruit calls his superiors “sir.”

Jayne Mansfield's Car (now on video)

[JAYNE MANSFIELD'S CAR is now available on home video.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.
 

Wow, am I reading a strange book right now. The author, a West Coast freelance writer-author-insider in the "debauched and depraved" LA entertainment realm, claimed to have gone through toxic girlfriends, anger-management issues and a sojourn in Japan, whilst still covering local musicians for assorted journals. And, as a sideline, he took up lucid dreaming, setting down in longhand detail as many of his dreams and nightmares as he could. Many of them are of bizarre and violent aspect, often involving his own death or the murder of others at his bloodstained stands.

[Interesting to note that when Cleveland's eminent SCENE weekly downsized and let go of the movie-reviewing freelancers - myself included - they still determined to retain their music stringers. You really think that was a good idea, keeping the freelancers who dream of homicide all the time? Just saying...]

Secondhand Lions (February 10th at the CWRU Film Society, Strosacker Auditorium)

[SECONDHAND LIONS screens Friday February 10th at 7 pm, 9:30 pm and Midnight at the CWRU Film Society, Strosacker Auditorium.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

AND NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE THE CLEVELAND MOVIE BLOG PRESENTS THE FIRST MOVIE REVIEW IN THE NEW SCHIZOPHRENOSCOPE! Read the first review if you are of a pessimistic and cynical disposition. Read the second review if you are a sunny optimist. Two reviews for one! CAN YOU BEAT A DEAL LIKE THAT?!