Movie Reviews

The Judge
Warner Bros.
Director: David Dobkin
In Theaters: 10.10
Hotshot Chicago defense attorney Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) must return home to his small-town Indiana home to bury his mother. During his visit, his estranged and disappointed father, Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall), gets into an automobile accident, killing another man. What the judge claims is an unfortunate event, the presiding prosecutor (Billy Bob Thornton) calls first-degree murder, and Hank must rekindle his broken relationship with his father to salvage his legacy and life. The highlight of this film is the acting. Watching Downey Jr. take the Tony Stark character into the courtroom is a thing of snarky beauty, but it’s Duvall who puts himself out there, disregarding his age and delivering every trick in his portfolio. While the film does have a strong ensemble cast that includes Thornton, Vera Farmiga and Vincent D’Onofrio, this is where the unpleasantness of the film lies. With a running time of 141 minutes, the side stories, while cast wonderfully and performed exquisitely, are essentially unnecessary and drag the primary tale off the beaten path. With that said, the performers and their performances are what make this project work. It may only be the beginning of November, but unless there are five superior performances within the next two months, a nomination or two may be on the horizon for Duvall. –Jimmy Martin

The Overnighters
Drafthouse Films
Director: Jesse Moss
In Theaters: 10.10
Due to the process of fracking in the Bakken formation of Western North Dakota, oil drilling has exploded and garnered the attention of desperate men across the country who are seeking work in an economy that is not offering much. In the small town of Williston, N.D., Pastor Jay Reinke of the Concordia Lutheran Church has opened the doors of his facility to new arrivals who have nowhere to sleep—with the “Overnighters” program. While this act of kindness appears to be the product of his religion, he did so without the approval of his congregation or community, and not everyone is pleased with the results. Director Jesse Moss focuses his lens on a humble act of kindness that sparks hatred and debate within the city limits. Men who have left their loved ones and live thousands of miles away spill their hearts out to Pastor Reinke and the audience, claiming to have nothing. While oil tycoons fly into town in their private jets and stay in cobblestoned mansions, thousands sleep on cots or in cars on the church’s property. There is a balance of charity and greed that Moss examines as men look for work and the community seeks to pass laws to deem it illegal to live in an RV for a certain period of time. The tension escalates when a reporter discovers that the pastor has had multiple sex offenders live in his house with his wife and children. It’s astonishing how quickly the tides can turn when speculations and allegations run amok in a tiny population, especially without all the facts. Moss shows us the core of human beings, both positive and negative. Sure, there can be a limit to one’s generosity, but where is the line drawn and for what reason? –Jimmy Martin