Posts tagged Robert Duvall
The Judge “Family Courtroom Drama”
Oct 22nd
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE JUDGE is a terrific film about a family and what happens to them in a courtroom during a murder trial.
Robert Downey, Jr., stars as Hank Palmer, a successful attorney in Chicago, and Robert Duvall stars as Joe Palmer, Hank’s father, who has been a judge in a small town in Indiana for 42 years.
Hank has a reputation that is not entirely favorable, and when asked why many of his clients seem to be guilty, he says, “Innocent people can’t afford me.”
Hank and Joe are estranged and barely talk to one another, and the movie begins when Hank returns to his hometown in Indiana to attend his mother’s funeral.
However, while Hank is there, Joe is involved in an automobile accident late at night with a man on a bicycle who is killed.
The evidence seems to indicate that the accident was intentional, and because Joe and the man on the bicycle had a history from a previous trial, the judge is charged with murder.
Joe hires a local attorney to defend him, who is played by Dax Shepard, but because he turns out to be both out of his league and in over his head, Hank reluctantly agrees to help out over the objections of Joe.
However, the story is not all courtroom drama; Vera Farmiga plays Hank’s high-school sweetheart, a single mom with a daughter that Hank might have had something to do with before he left town, and Vincent D’Onofrio and Jeremy Strong play Hank’s brothers, and there is something in their past, too, that enters into the story.
In addition, Hank has a wife and daughter back in Chicago who require some attention during the trial, and Joe has a secret that he is not telling anybody. Hank’s reputation isn’t helping his cause, either, especially when he is known as a bully with a big bag of tricks, and he says that his father is the most brutally difficult client he has ever had.
Now, you might believe from the publicity that the movie consists only of Hank and Joe being at each other’s throats and arguing with each other, but there are also some tender and touching scenes in the movie, as well.
THE JUDGE is a tremendous family courtroom drama that is sure to receive some Academy Award nominations.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
The Judge – Movie Trailer
Oct 20th
In “The Judge,” Robert Downey Jr. stars as big city lawyer Hank Palmer, who returns to his childhood home where his estranged father, the town’s judge (Robert Duvall), is suspected of murder. He sets out to discover the truth and along the way reconnects with the family he walked away from years before.
“Get Low” Get Down to Business
Aug 24th
“Get Down to Business”
GET LOW is a wonderful little film starring Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Bill Murray that will have you chuckling throughout and wiping away a tear at the end.
It takes place in the 1930s and is based on a true event in which a local recluse wanted to throw a funeral party for himself while he was still alive so he could hear what people had to say about him.
Duvall plays Felix Bush in an outstanding performance that could easily win him an Academy Award nomination in 2011 for Best Actor.
Bush is a local legend who has lived alone in his house out in the woods for 40 years, which causes the kids in town to gather up their courage and go out to throw rocks through a window.
Whenever Bush harnesses his mule to his wagon and goes into town, it causes a sensation, one that doesn’t always end well.
One day Bush goes into town to see the local preacher in his church; he pulls out a wad of money and says to the preacher, “About time for me to get low.”
When the preacher asks what he means by “get low,” Bush explains, “Down to business.”
However, when Bush tells the preacher what he wants, the preacher turns him down.
On the other hand, business has been bad at the funeral home, and when the funeral director, Frank Quinn, played by Murray, hears about Bush’s desire and especially about his wad of money, Quinn is eager to do business with the recluse.
However, Bush has more in mind than just a funeral party and hearing what everyone has to say about him. Bush has a secret that he wants to reveal, and he also wants to sell $5 tickets for a raffle, the winner to get Bush’s house on 300 acres of uncut timber when he does die.
Well, money makes people do funny things, and everything doesn’t go as planned, to say the least.
Spacek plays Mattie, a widow, and as Bush puts it, he once “had a go” with Mattie, but she also figures prominently in Bush’s secret and why he has been a recluse for 40 years.
GET LOW gets down to business as an excellent film that I admired for its story, the acting, and its rewarding conclusion.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
