Friday, November 19, 2010

‘The Next Three Days’: Review Revue

By WSJ Staff What would you do if your wife was charged with murder and sentenced to a lengthy prison term? If you’re Russell Crow in the new film, “The Next Three Days,” you’d make a lot of dramatic speeches that you’re going to save your spouse (played by Elizabeth Banks), enlist the help of ex-con Liam Neeson and hatch a plan to break into jail and then break her out. If you’re a critic reviewing such a movie, you might find it a so-so waste of the top talent involved. Read the reviews. “If you want a solid, no-frills example of A-list talents stooping to B-movie pleasures, I hereby direct you to “Unstoppable,’’ the runaway train movie currently in theaters. “The Next Three Days’’ represents the opposite approach: a name filmmaker and star trying with all their might to pump a slender genre flick into an Oscar-caliber action-drama — and failing.” [Ty Burr, Boston Globe ] “”The Next Three Days” is not a bad movie. It’s sort of slow, because it spells out a lot of details, but it kept me involved. It’s just that, after it was over, I felt it was a waste of the talent involved. I’d like to see Crowe and Banks in a smart Haggis original that wasn’t about a jailbreak. I’m not sure, unfortunately, that the people financing the film would agree with me.” [Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times ] “ Days delivers in spurts. Crowe regains some of his mischievous charm, at least early in the film. He’s a playful dad and a doting husband, a departure from his sullen anti-heroes of late. And while she’s not an obvious choice for this material, the typically bubbly Banks ( The 40-Year-Old Virgin , 30 Rock ) does a solid job as a newbie inmate, particularly in a wordless scene where Banks learns she’s lost an appeal.” [Scott Bowles, USA Today ] “The releases of Conviction and The Next Three Days within a month of each other may suggest that America’s criminal justice system is in need of serious repair (and perhaps it is). But apart from a core similarity - a dedicated protagonist setting out to free an incarcerated loved one - really, these are different animals. Conviction , for one, is based on a true story, and it has Oscar lust written all over it. The Next Three Days is genre fare - no pretensions, no nonsense. And if the criminal justice system is broke, heck, what’s wrong with breaking some locks, and breaking the law?” [Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer ] This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe .




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‘The Next Three Days’: Review Revue

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