It’s hard to make a film where the female lead may or may not be a participant in one of the most heinous crimes in American history. Robert Redford’s film attempts just that. What level of guilt she does have is not the point. This is a film about ideals and defending them in the most trying times. The story might be almost 150 years old, but it still resonates today.

Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS) fought in the Civil War for the Union where he was wounded in battle. After the war, he returned to law. He like so many Americans was shook to his core when President Abraham Lincoln was murdered. Senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson, MICHAEL CLAYTON), who was key in keeping Maryland from seceding, took accused conspirator Mary Surratt (Robin Wright, THE PRINCESS BRIDE) on as a client out of principle. But he felt as a Southerner, he only hurt the woman’s case, so he enlists the reluctant Aiken to take his place.

The accused plotters were not given civilian trials. A military jury made up of generals hand selected by War Secretary Edwin Stanton (Kevin Kline, A FISH CALLED WANDA) was set up. The accused were not allowed to see any of the evidence against them ahead of time and were not permitted to testify in their defense. Stanton, who was the de facto leader in Washington, was going to swiftly try these killers and let the country heal.

At first Aiken believes all the terrible things that have been printed in the newspapers about his client. Did you know she wears a necklace made of the bones of a Union soldier around her neck? Aiken’s fiancee Sarah Weston (Alexis Bledel, SIN CITY) comes to the trial to try to figure out why he would defend such an evil person. But the more Aiken knows about Mary and the worse her treatment under a kangaroo court gets, the more determined he becomes in giving her the best defense he can give. There is a chance that Mary’s worst crime is defending her son John (Johnny Simmons, JENNIFER’S BODY), who fell in with the wrong crowd.

McAvoy and Wright bring heart to their characters even though they are opposite in many ways. McCoy’s Aiken is passionate and determined. He is a man of principle who will even go against his client’s own wishes in order to try and save her life. Wright makes Mary introverted. She rarely shows any emotion, which makes it even harder to believe that she is innocent. But over time we do see where her passions lie. She asks Aiken if he has ever fought for something greater than himself and the lawyer says that is what he did in the war. She replies that is what she is doing now for her son.

Those attune to current politics will quickly draw connects to the stories of Jose Padilla, the American terrorist who was bounced around the court system until the government could find something to charge him with that would stick, and Troy Davis, a man executed whose guilt came into great question. While the film never overtly refers to these incidents, it shows us that in difficult times over the course of American history we have struggled with the same issues regarding the principles of justice.

The questions it brings up are numerous. If we bend the rules in trying times, how far will we bend? If the worst of the worst make us change our ideals, have they won? If we claim that the bending of the rules is only for the worst of the worst, who determines who is the worst of the worst? If the American judicial system is a beacon for the rest of the world, shouldn’t it shine brightest in these cases? Where is the line between justice and revenge?

Redford made this film with The American Film Company, a new production house created to make historically accurate productions about important but little known historical events. James D. Solomon painstakingly researched the true events for the screenplay. Authenticity shines through in every aspect of the production. The dust and smoke from the gas lamps in the courtroom is a distinct touch, while adding a mysterious element to the proceedings as well. And some nice visual effects show off how wide open Washington D.C. was in those days.

In many ways, Aiken risks more in defending Surratt than he did in the war. In both fights, he risked his life, but the war made him an honorable hero, while fighting for the same rights in the court made him an outcast. Mary Surratt holds the distinction of being the first woman executed in American history. The fact that she was railroaded through a sham trial and denied so many of the basic rights all Americans should be afforded under law puts a greater pall over that distinction. Swift justice is no justice at all if it is wrong.

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Brad Furman’s crime thriller can comfortably be described as a yarn. While this is at feature length, this is the kind of detective story that fans of LAW & ORDER will like. What makes this a bit more theatrical and less procedural is the central character, played smarmy and charmingly in equal doses by Matthew McConaughey.

When he’s not a soon to be tamed womanizing romantic lead, McConaughey is in a suit playing a lawyer. Here he is Mick Haller, a defender of all sorts of lowlifes. The counselor works out of his classic Lincoln and since getting a DUI has Earl (Laurence Mason, THE CROW) chauffeuring him around. Bondsman Val Valenzuela (John Leguizamo, MOULIN ROUGE!) usually forwards him the scum he represents, but he has a choice client for him this time. Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe, CRASH) comes from money and they have a family lawyer. So why would he want Haller to get him out of a battery charge for which he insistently claims he is innocent of?

Haller is street smart and knows he’s being played somehow, but as they say — don’t try to hustle a hustler. Helping him out with the case is his private eye Frank Levin (William H. Macy, FARGO), who has been drinking buddies with Haller for a long time. One of the reasons Haller is so successful is because he has friends everywhere. Like his ex-wife Maggie (Marisa Tomei, THE WRESTLER), who is a DA that can’t understand how Haller can represent people he knows are guilty. Eddie Vogel (Trace Adkins, AN AMERICAN CAROL) is the lead of a biker gang that Haller seems to have on loan anytime he needs.

But not everyone is a fan of Haller. Detective Lankford (Bryan Cranston, TV’s BREAKING BAD) thinks he’s more of a sleaze than his clients. Ted Minton (Josh Lucas, THE HULK) is the DA inching to take both the scuzball lawyer and his rich pampered client down. Jesus Martinez (Michael Pena, CRASH) was one of Haller’s clients who got sentenced to life for murder. The problem is he might be one of the only innocent clients. Haller says that the worst burden on a defense lawyer is an innocent client because there is only one outcome that is satisfying.

I liked this film because McConaughey’s Haller fits into a long history of smartass detectives. He might be a lawyer, but he would be able to share war stories with the likes of Philip Marlowe any day. He might be dealing with conscience-lacking people for a living, but he is not one of them. And sometimes it really helps to have conscience-lacking people as your friends. McConaughey has a nice cast supporting him. Macy subtly sells their longtime friendship and Tomei gives the relationship between Mick and Maggie a lived-in complexity.

Some of the plot twists don’t hold up under tough scrutiny, but nothing breaks credibility. Like I said at the start, this is a yarn. We have a smart, savvy, slightly shady hero who uses his wisdom to fight those against him. It’s always fun to watch someone outwit people who are looking down on him or her. Most people look at Haller like he’s the crap on the bottom of their new shoe, but when Haller is done it’s those people that stink and he drives away in the shiny Lincoln.

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In this animated world, villainy is a corporate venture. Master criminals live among the average citizens, clearly out in the open. The gothic mansion of baddie Gru sticks out in the same row of suburban family homes. To fund criminal ventures, the villains apply for loans from the Bank of Evil (formerly known as Lehman Brothers).

Gru (Steve Carell, GET SMART) wants to be the top criminal mastermind, but he has competition in the newcomer Vector (Jason Segal, I LOVE YOU, MAN), who just stole the Great Pyramid, which he has stowed in his backyard, painting it blue so that it blends in with the skyline. Gru; along with his mad scientist cohort Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand, GET HIM TO THE GREEK) and hundreds of his minions, yellow pill-shaped sidekicks who get giddy over troublemaking; go to the Bank of Evil to get the funding for his biggest caper yet — steal the Moon. But before he can get to the Moon, he has to build a rocketship and steal a newly created Chinese shrink ray. The key to getting the ray — three orphans named Margo (Miranda Cosgrove, TV’s ICARLY), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher).

Gru adopts the girls as part of his plan. Margo is the oldest and the defacto parent of the trio. Edith is the tough one. Agnes is the youngest and a ball of cuteness. At the orphanage, the girls were forced to sell a quota of cookies or face time in the box of shame. With Gru’s pointy nose, penchant for bad disguises and exploitation of orphans, one might think of LEMONY SNICKET’S Count Olaf. But unlike Olaf and his more morose trio of orphans, do you think Gru can resist the softening affects of the adorable munchkins? The other difference between these orphans and the Baudelaire siblings is that they’re less individuals and more a collection of traits. Why have three when one would have served the same purpose?

The story is at its best when it’s playing with its villain world premise. In addition to some of gags I mentioned earlier, another one of my favorites was the ridiculously elaborate mechanism Gru employs to get into his secret lair. And why even have a secret lair when your house screams criminal mastermind? The minions are also a comic goldmine. They have the mischievousness of Beavis and Butt-head mixed with the energy of a Mexican jumping bean.

While the plot rides along parenting cliches such as making the big recital on time, the film earns its sentiment. One of the funniest and most touching moments comes when a young Gru tells his mom about his desire to go to the Moon. By setting up the emotional side of Gru’s plans early on, the story makes for an easy transition to the emotional resolution with the kids.

With the minions providing some great chaotic humor and Gru and orphan’s tale the heart, the film has an engaging story to tell. Carell is a star who actually provides a “voice” that matches his animated character. He’s a criminal with a soft spot for cute precocious children — why else would he fill his lab with hundreds of rambunctious minions who in addition to evil doing like to photocopy their butts.

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At one point in Stephen Daldry’s THE READER, a teacher tells his class that the key element of Western literature is secrets. People keep secrets for noble reasons or selfish reasons or to conceal shame. Sometimes the reasons aren’t that clear. Michael Berg has secrets and so does his lover Hanna Schmitz. When they’re revealed how does that change the way they look at each other and themselves?

Michael Berg, played as a young man by David Kross and as a grown man by Ralph Fiennes (THE ENGLISH PATIENT), was fifteen when he came down with scarlet fever. A kind trolley toll taker named Hanna (Kate Winslet, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD) helped the young man home. When he is well, he takes her flowers to thank her for her kindness, which begins his obsession with the thirtysomething woman, who loves to be read to. Their affair consumes Michael, but he can’t reconcile his strong emotions with Hanna’s casual feelings toward him. As these kinds of affairs often do, it lasted a mere summer, but had a profound effect on Michael throughout his life. During law school, he sees Hanna again, as an accused Nazi guard. This revealed secret shakes his worldview, and his view of himself.

Shame is the number one reason people lie. From the littlest lies to the biggest, we will do even worse things in an effort to conceal those shames. Many Germans did just this when they looked the other way during the Holocaust. This covering up of guilt trickles down from masking great crimes to masking petty embarrassments. Hanna has another secret that most likely lead her to take the job at the concentration camp. It is a secret she will do anything to conceal. Michael discovers the truth, which could help Hanna in her time of need. But to help her he would have to reveal his relationship with her. Would you defend an infamous murderer if you had information that would help their case? Your defense wouldn’t justify what they had done; only fulfill correct justice under the law. But would anyone else see it that way? You can see how easy it is to do the wrong thing because you’re afraid of what others will think of you.

In her Golden Globe-winning performance, Winslet shines as a fiercely proud woman, who is cold and frank. Hanna made moral bargains with herself to lessen her guilt, but it was only a temporary fix. In the end she relies on the same old justification — I was just doing my job. As a teen, Michael is an impressionable young man, who is emboldened with confidence by this first sexual experience. THE HOURS director Daldry uses a great deal of nudity, which underlines the soul opening experience the relationship is for Michael. It’s something far less innocent for Hanna, even more so than a woman seducing a boy. Kross brings the right naivety to the character at first. His growing confidence is rocked at the trial, drawing him inward with shame. As an adult, he tries to make up for the wrong he committed because of that shame. So does Hanna. But no matter how evil or small our transgressions are, no matter how grand our gesture of penitence is, it never seems, or is, enough.

In the end, Michael goes to see a Holocaust survivor (Lena Olin, FANNY AND ALEXANDER) and she wonders why he is there. She cannot forgive Hanna, but that’s not why Michael is there either. Fiennes’ conflicted performance tells us about his character’s feelings without dialogue. The real reason he’s there is probably still a secret to him as well.

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Brett Morgen’s follow-up to his captivating doc THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE, which chronicled the life of infamous Hollywood producer Robert Evans, takes an unconventional approach to the story of the trial of the Chicago 8, a group of the leading anti-war demonstrators following the riots that occurred at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Mixing contemporary protest music with motion-capture animated court re-enactments and archival film footage, the story of the demonstrations and the following trial are intercut creating drama, humor and poignancy. Including defense attorneys William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass into the group, the Chicago 10 were railroaded by a system that seems to be putting the 1960s youth culture on trial not just eight individuals.

In re-enactments of the trial, an all-star cast voices the key characters. Hank Azaria (TV’s MAD ABOUT YOU) voices Abbie Hoffman, who eagerly steps into the spotlight as the key character. The curly longhaired iconoclast was as much a showman as he was an activist. He viewed the entire political system as a carnival fueled by mass media’s desire for big ratings. He never lets an opportunity slip by to provoke the aged conservative judge Julius Hoffman (Roy Scheider, JAWS). At one point in the trial when Bobby Seale (Jeffrey Wright, CASINO ROYALE) demands that his rights be recognized, the judge has him gagged and strapped to his chair. Despite only being at the Convention for one day, the Black Panther founder was charged with the rest as a conspirator to riot. Highlighting even more what was really on trial, prosecutor Thomas Foran (Nick Nolte, 48 HRS.) calls poet Allen Ginsberg (Azaria) to the stand and asks him to recite his poem about wet dreams. What did that have to do with the riots?

While the harder modern music feels out of place at first, the tone fits the anger the film portrays at the miscarriage of justice and the abuse of the Chicago police under the leadership of Mayor Richard Daley. When activist leaders planned to hold anti-war demonstrations during the Convention, Daley tried to make it as difficult as possible, calling on the cops to shoot any looters. The actions of the city seemed to push what could have been just a gathering in Lincoln Park into a greater struggle against the establishment. While Morgen firmly falls on the side of the accused, he doesn’t shy away from showing how tit for tat moves on both sides led to the violent outcomes. But this film clearly argues that the police’s use of force was massively disproportionate to the actions of the protestors.

The motion-capture animation, along with a few scenes of limited Flash animation, isn’t great, but it works for the film’s purpose. The animated re-enactments paint the trial as a cartoon where Abbie was Bugs Bunny and the judge was Elmer Fudd. Morgen blends the re-enactments with actual footage seamlessly. Never once was I distracted with the actors voicing the Chicago 10, while hearing them for real in the next scene. Especially driven by its contemporary soundtrack, the film doesn’t hide parallels to current U.S. politics. Fused with clear passion, CHICAGO 10 captures the sentiment of the era it portrays, while making the film feel completely contemporary at the same time. With its experimental approaches, the film becomes captivating in surprising ways, because the style only enhances the comedy of the trial and underlines the drama of the riots.

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After debuting at this year’s Sundance Film Festival followed by a TV premiere on Showtime, this true-life crime tale comes to DVD. Based on court transcripts, this story of child abuse looks at the conditions that lead to an adult babysitter torturing the teenage girl under her care, while allowing her own children, along with neighborhood kids, to continue a serious of sadistic attacks.

Sylvia Likens (Ellen Page, JUNO) had parents who were members of the carnival circuit. Upon moving to a new town, her parents don’t want to take her and her younger sister Jennie (Hayley McFarland) on the road again, so they leave her in the care of single mother Gertrude Baniszewski (Catherine Keener, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH), who they only recently met. With seven children of her own and the promise of $20 every week from the Likens, Gertrude doesn’t think twice about adding two more kids to her care. But when her eldest Paula (Ari Graynor, MYSTIC RIVER) gets pregnant and has a misunderstanding with Sylvia, Gertrude’s harsh punishment tactics come out.

Gertrude is a depressed woman who is often hopped up on medicine for her persistent cough. She sleeps with from time to time with the father of her youngest children, a charming mechanic named Andy (James Franco, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS), who usually only comes around when he needs money. Paula is sleeping with a married man, and Gertrude sees herself in her daughter. So when she comes under the impression that Sylvia is spreading rumors about Paula, she takes out all the frustrations she has toward life as punishment on the defenseless teenager. Her cruelty washes over her children who see nothing wrong with tying up Sylvia in the basement and inviting the neighborhood children over to torture her.

Keener’s performance is the highlight. She makes the viewer understand Gertrude’s senseless actions. She plays the character with a cruel detachment that underlines the numbness of her emotions and feelings toward what is happening around her. Page’s character is nothing like her work in JUNO. She’s a quiet, kind girl who silently takes the abuse as a way to deflect any cruelty from her sister.

Director Tommy O’Haver (ELLA ENCHANTED) crafts a character study that watches a twisted soul, but also honors the memory of the ones that suffered under her. A manipulative turn toward the end is maddening, but doesn’t torpedo the entire ship. O’Haver and co-writer Irene Turner try to make us sympathize with two of the young abusers, but it’s done in a way that toys with the viewers’ emotions, while whitewashing over the true facts of their actions. That being said the film ends with a poignant last line that really brings home the full senselessness of the tragedy. Sylvia’s parents were no gems, leaving their children for months with strangers, but this is the kind of frightening tale that will make any parent think twice about anyone they allow care for their children. AN AMERICAN CRIME is a sobering tale about the unthinkable horrors that humans can inflict on each other.

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Fred Schepisi’s A CRY IN THE DARK was an unexpected entry on AFI’s recent top-10 courtroom dramas list. Based on a true story, the drama deals with the price a couple pays when they are convicted in the court of public opinion following the death of their daughter. Driven by a powerful Oscar-nominated performance from Meryl Streep, the film watches as religious prejudice and a media hungry for sensation lead to the conviction of an innocent woman.

Lindy (Streep) and Michael Chamberlain (Sam Neill, JURASSIC PARK) took their three children on a camping trip in the Australian outback. One night cooking dinner, Lindy noticed that a dingo had wandered into their tent and took off with their baby. After an extensive search, the baby was never found. Due to their Seventh-day Adventist beliefs, they quickly found peace with what happened as God’s will. Their lack of the “proper” reaction in the public eye made many doubt their story. After they are not charged during an first inquest hearing, the case was reopened after new forensic evidence was found. As the public opinion turned against them shaky forensic evidence and biased experts lead to their conviction.

Lindy came off in the public as cold and uncaring. The movie argues that she was a person not fond of public displays of emotion who became bitter after being accused of a heinous crime she did not commit. Streep gives a brave performance, never forcing us to like Lindy only sympathize with her plight. Michael becomes neurotic over the trial, breaking down on the stand, hurting their case. As the situation gets worse, the minister’s faith is even shaken.

Because Lindy is so guarded it’s hard to get into her mind, which hurts the emotional impact of the story. While still engaging, the material never rises above the quality of a good made-for-TV movie about the atrocity of the week. Streep’s performance stands on its own. It brings nuance to a script that never goes past the surface details. That said this miscarriage of justice tale is nonetheless compelling. Schepisi leaves no doubt that the Chamberlains are innocent, so we inherently want to see them vindicated. Schepisi captures the court of pubic opinion by peaking into the workplaces and homes of average Australians discussing the case and forming their own convictions based on half truths and wrong assumptions. But the real reason to see this film is because, as usual, Streep commands the screen.

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With its big name stars and big star moments, this slick courtroom drama was good Oscar bait material for director Rob Reiner in 1992. There was no way of knowing at the time that the film would only gain weight in the future for events that couldn’t even be thought of in the early ’90s. Set at Guantanamo Bay, the crime story revolves around the death of a marine private and the possible orders that were given that might have lead to his death by the abuse of other soldiers. Aaron Sorkin’s script deals with the following of orders that are not just and a military code of conduct that has become warped. Looking back now, the film almost seems hauntingly prophetic.

Lance Cpl. Harold Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison, LITTLE BIG LEAGUE) and Private Louden Downey (James Marshall, TV’s TWIN PEAKS) have been charged with murder for the death of William Santiago (Michael DeLorenzo, ALIVE), the weakest soldier in their unit. Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore, ST. ELMO’S FIRE) believes the deaths were the result of a hazy ritual called Code Red, which went awry, and wants the case as a way to expose the practice. Her superiors are playing politics and decide to go with Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise, RISKY BUSINESS), a skilled lawyer who has never seen the inside of a courtroom because he is the master of the plea bargain. Along with researcher Lt. Sam Weinberg (Kevin Pollak, THE USUAL SUSPECTS), Kaffee and Galloway dig deeper into the case and hit nothing but stonewalls from those involved.

Dawson’s direct superior Lt. Jonathan Kendrick (Kiefer Sutherland, LOST BOYS) specifically told his men not to touch Santiago, but Dawson claims that Kendrick came to him and ordered him to give Santiago a Code Red. Kendrick is a by-the-book butt-kisser who truly believes in “unit then corps then God then country.” Col. Nathan Jessep (Jack Nicholson, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST) is the tough-as-nails leader of the base who believes that it is his duty to train Santiago and doesn’t like any one telling him what to do. Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson (J.T. Walsh, PLEASANTVILLE) is the second-in-command and seems conflicted about what should be done, but then he disappears. Kaffee wants to find the easiest way out of the case and is surprised at how easy he gets what he wants from prosecutor Capt. Jack Ross (Kevin Bacon, FOOTLOOSE). Kaffee becomes intrigued at what is being covered up and eventually decides to try and blow the lid off the cover-up.

Quotable lines abound in this film — most notably, “You can’t handle the truth” and “I eat breakfast 300 yards from 4,000 Cubans who are trained to kill me, so don’t think for one second that you can come down here, flash a badge, and make me nervous.” Both lines are delivered in a fiery performance from Nicholson, who received one of the film’s four Oscar nominations. Just as solid and fiery is Cruise as a brilliant, commanding lawyer who knows the way things work and knows how to play the system. Moore, in one of her better performances, plays Kaffee’s opposite, an idealist who will take cases to court and draw them out on principle. The opposites pairing works and Sorkin and Reiner make the right decision to not force in a full-fledged romance between them. Along with the good work from all the previously mentioned actors there are smaller roles for: Christopher Guest (BEST IN SHOW), in a rare dramatic turn, as base doctor Stone; and Noah Wyle (TV’s E.R.) and Cuba Gooding Jr. (JERRY MCGUIRE) as corporals called to the stand.

The tight screenplay presents well-defined characters and gives them snappy, fun dialogue. There are a few padded scenes that seem they’re only present to provide “big moments” for key stars, which undercut some of the uncertainty about who is right and who is wrong. Therefore, the battle of the wills between Kaffee and Jessup bubbles to the top as the key dramatic pull, supported by the inherent suspense of whether the good guys can pull off the difficult case. It’s good to note how well Sorkin and the actors sell the final confrontation between the chief adversaries. Watch how Kaffee plays Jessup perfectly. It’s hard to believe that a lawyer needs to rely on a courtroom to win, but here it works.

As for the newfound weight the film has gained, it seems Gitmo was the perfect place to set a tale about abuse that leads to death. The military culture depicted in the film feels like a place where it wouldn’t be unusual to hear reports coming from about rampant prisoner abuse and the suspension of rights. Jessup is exactly the person who wouldn’t think twice about beating a terror suspect to a pulp if he thought for a second it might save one American life. In 1992, A FEW GOOD MEN just seemed like a good drama critiquing the alpha male attitude of the military, but now it seems to be critiquing something more insidious and disturbing.

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Jerry Seinfeld’s big return is a B- at best. It’s like honey sweet, satisfying, but it’s not something that goes to your head. Even more so than Pixar’s RATATOUILLE, this is an animated film for adults, which is not a negative comment in the least. Visually the little ones might find some of the sillier or more brightly colored moments entertaining, but most of it will buzz right over their heads. Where the film really succeeds is in creating its world. The parallels between the bee world and the human world are at times ingenious.

Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld) has just graduated from college. Because of their short life span, bees only have to go for three days. Barry and his best friend Adam Flayman (Matthew Broderick, ELECTION) go off to their first day at the hive, where they have to choose one job to do for the rest of their lives. This idea scares Barry, who decides to head out into the outside world to see what is out there. Along his journey, he ends up almost swatted by the brutish Ken (Patrick Warburton, TV’s THE TICK) if it were not for the pretty florist Vanessa (Renee Zellweger, BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY). Barry breaks bee law and talks to Vanessa to thank her for saving his life. Quickly, Barry is smitten by Vanessa, and on a trip to the grocery store, he discovers the truth about human’s theft of honey. So with the help of Vanessa, Barry decides to sue the human race.

Despite having different types of jokes ranging from puns to slapstick to pop culture references to adult situational comedy, the film has a Seinfeld stamp over all of it. The vibe somehow makes the different pieces gel. Only one moment where Barry and Adam’s car drive to work is like an amusement park ride felt from out in left field where the pandering to the little ones takes place. Like most of DreamWorks’ animated flicks, many of the cultural references will be lost on the youngsters. Will kids be befuddled during the Larry King parody? However, the Ray Liotta cameo is just funny whether you know him or not. Though the film is crammed with big actors in the voice cast, most of the voices nicely fit the characters. Kathy Bates and director Barry Levinson play Barry’s parents Janet and Martin. Chris Rock, who has the best line in the film toward the end, has a very small role as the mosquito Mooseblood. John Goodman inherits the role of windbag lawyer Layton T. Montgomery. Rip Torn plays a sergeant bee Lou Lo Duca. And Oprah Winfrey is a perfect choice for the judge.

I enjoyed the movie. But with Seinfeld involved, I guess I expected something wittier or even funnier. How the film weaves in real facts about bee society are the best moments. I wish the story had been more like ANTZ and less like SHARK TALE though. The plot is very much like a sitcom mixed with courtroom and romantic comedy conventions. None of the characters’ personalities stick out; they’re just colorful. My level of disappointment is mainly due to my expectations going in. If you’re looking for a fun entertainment then BEE MOVIE will satisfy your palate. There are a host of bad live-action films out there that don’t have even an ounce of wit or intelligence, so this animated convection smokes them all.

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Tony Gilroy moves from the writer of the BOURNE series to his first directing gig with this solid corporate thriller. With a fairly straight-forward visual style leaving the flare to the script structure, Gilroy is blessed with a cast filled with the likes of George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack. Each actor gives first-rate performances, driving this very believable tale of corporate greed and deception.

Clooney plays the title character, a fixer for a major law firm. He refers to himself as a janitor; the man who cleans up the dirty laundry of the firm’s high paying clients. He is called in when, during a deposition in a billion dollar lawsuit, the firm’s chief litigator Arthur Edens (Wilkinson, IN THE BEDROOM) strips down naked and professes his love for the young woman testifying in the 15-year-old contamination case. Chief legal advisor for uNorth, the company being sued in the class action suit, Karen Crowder (Swinton, DEEP END) is appalled when she sees the tape of Edens. When Clayton comes to her, he doesn’t make her feel confident that the problem will be adequately taken care of, spurring her to take matters into her own hands.

Clayton is disgruntled with his job. His life is in shambles after a restaurant venture went belly up. Additionally, Edens is his friend and when the older man rambles about wasting his life defending a weed killer that killed more than 400 people, he sees his own face in the mirror of truth. Soon, the head of the firm Marty Bach (Pollack, EYE WIDE SHUT) discovers that Edens has been secretly building a case against uNorth on his own.

The story starts close to the end then after a startling event jumps back four weeks in time. We watch as Clayton dispassionately goes about doing his job. He wants to fix things quick and move on to the other pressing issues on his mind like paying back the shady people he owes money to. He has torn loyalties to his friend, who is off his meds yet morally right; his job; and his conscience. Once the film catches up with where it started, we’re on a rollercoaster ride of corporate intrigue.

Clooney is good at playing world-weary characters. His Oscar winning turn in SYRIANA is just a grungier version of this slick high-stakes lawyer. Wilkinson is the fire of the film. He’s losing it, but isn’t wrong. It’s a very interesting role, because it’s smart about the character, what he does for a living and how a mental crisis is more honest than just a moral one. Pollack has made a career out of playing smart, powerful corporate leaders. He’s played this same kind of role before, but he hasn’t been better. He makes it look effortless. Swinton, with her pale skin and intense acting style, fits perfectly into her power suit adorned, conniving character. She is ruthless and meticulous in everything she does. She is the exact opposite of Wilkinson’s character. Both her and Wilkinson deserve Oscar consideration for their work.

Outside of some pacing issues close to the end, the film works as a smart, intricately written thriller. The story plays out naturally without theatrics like other films in the genre such as THE FIRM. Gilroy has faith that his audience is intelligent and adult, never needing to spell everything out or pump up the action. As his work in the BOURNE series shows, he has a great knack at bringing realism to genre productions, which makes this film better than most.

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