So, basically if I ever end up with a serious illness then I should take it up with DuPont? Sounds good.
SYNOPSIS: This is the story based on a real person named "Robert Bilott" and inspired by an article titled "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare." Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo) is a lawyer who primarily defends chemical corporations until a farmer from his old town of West Virginia asks for help to prove that there are chemicals being dumped in the water that is the cause of large amount of cow deaths. Although unconvinced at first, through excessive research and digging, Robert begins to find horrifying evidence of something much worse than just a deadly chemical to cows, but humans and all creatures alike.
DIRECTION: If I'm being honest, I don't have much to say in this realm. The direction by Todd Haynes was as technically solid as any other good film. Yes, just "good." The color palette was probably a little too dull even for the subject matter and really the film's strong points really lye in the writing and some strong performances. I feel almost any other director could've done the same job, if not better.
WRITING: The writing is definitely a step up from the directing. The writing isn't perfect as there are some scenes that almost seemed unnecessary and just had me thinking "get to the story!" Now, there is much to be said about how much time and effort it must've been to retrieve all of this information and translate it to script. Yes, it's been done before, ie: Spotlight, Zodiac, etc., but this is quite possibly one of the most important stories to be told today as this is something that is still affecting everyone... TODAY. It is based on the NYTIMES article "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare" by Nathanial Rich, but obviously there was far more research than a 10ish page article.
ACTING: The acting is definitely where the juice is at. This is where you take your regular beef sandwich and baptize it (In case you're not american enough to know what this means, it means you dump in in the beef juice). Mark Ruffalo gives a similarly excellent performance as he did in Spotlight. WOAH WOAH, I didn't say it was AS good, I said it was SIMILAR. Cool it, Mary. It's expected, but he really makes the film what it is. Anne Hathaway is great, as usual, but her role as the wife wasn't integral to the story. I understand showing he has a life outside of work with kids and a wife and showing the kid's grow older and older gives substance to the prolonged journey Robert is taking, but these were the scenes I felt could've been cut or replaced. Tim Robbins is in this and some other people and some other people. All did well, just kind've interchangeable.
CONCLUSION: Mr. John "The Sexy and Over-qualified or something Critic Guy" Yanulis, you rated this film a 3.5/5, yet after reading your overly long review it seems like a high rating. What can I say? I like it Ruff and I'm a sucker for investigative films on important and interesting topics. Also, I prefer rating my films on a 1-10 bases, but I'm limited. So really for me this film is like a 6.6/10.
SYNOPSIS: This is the story based on a real person named "Robert Bilott" and inspired by an article titled "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare." Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo) is a lawyer who primarily defends chemical corporations until a farmer from his old town of West Virginia asks for help to prove that there are chemicals being dumped in the water that is the cause of large amount of cow deaths. Although unconvinced at first, through excessive research and digging, Robert begins to find horrifying evidence of something much worse than just a deadly chemical to cows, but humans and all creatures alike.
DIRECTION: If I'm being honest, I don't have much to say in this realm. The direction by Todd Haynes was as technically solid as any other good film. Yes, just "good." The color palette was probably a little too dull even for the subject matter and really the film's strong points really lye in the writing and some strong performances. I feel almost any other director could've done the same job, if not better.
WRITING: The writing is definitely a step up from the directing. The writing isn't perfect as there are some scenes that almost seemed unnecessary and just had me thinking "get to the story!" Now, there is much to be said about how much time and effort it must've been to retrieve all of this information and translate it to script. Yes, it's been done before, ie: Spotlight, Zodiac, etc., but this is quite possibly one of the most important stories to be told today as this is something that is still affecting everyone... TODAY. It is based on the NYTIMES article "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare" by Nathanial Rich, but obviously there was far more research than a 10ish page article.
ACTING: The acting is definitely where the juice is at. This is where you take your regular beef sandwich and baptize it (In case you're not american enough to know what this means, it means you dump in in the beef juice). Mark Ruffalo gives a similarly excellent performance as he did in Spotlight. WOAH WOAH, I didn't say it was AS good, I said it was SIMILAR. Cool it, Mary. It's expected, but he really makes the film what it is. Anne Hathaway is great, as usual, but her role as the wife wasn't integral to the story. I understand showing he has a life outside of work with kids and a wife and showing the kid's grow older and older gives substance to the prolonged journey Robert is taking, but these were the scenes I felt could've been cut or replaced. Tim Robbins is in this and some other people and some other people. All did well, just kind've interchangeable.
CONCLUSION: Mr. John "The Sexy and Over-qualified or something Critic Guy" Yanulis, you rated this film a 3.5/5, yet after reading your overly long review it seems like a high rating. What can I say? I like it Ruff and I'm a sucker for investigative films on important and interesting topics. Also, I prefer rating my films on a 1-10 bases, but I'm limited. So really for me this film is like a 6.6/10.