Lincoln Lawyer
This is an addendum to my movie suggestions from last night. I checked out this recent Matthew McConaughey vehicle after making my recommendations. McConaughey plays Mick Haller, the kind of amoral lawyer he would have likely become had his movie career not taken off, taking him away from his pre-law studies (For more McConaughey playing a laywer see this and this). The movie feels like it was made ten or even twenty years ago. Video cassettes and home answering machines play pivotal roles in the plot and the movie has a breezy, uncomplicated approach to crime and courtroom drama that I only see now on incredibly gory t.v. shows (Perhaps there are other lawyer movies coming out these days. I feel like it's been a while since we had movies like A Few Good Men or My Cousin Vinny coming out regularly). Regardless of when it's set, I thoroughly enjoyed the courtroom rhetoric in this one, with Mathew McConaughey playing his scenes as a defense attorney simply and with great skill. He fairs worse when the drama spills out of the courtroom and into his personal life, substituting his clear, direct presence in the courtroom with a lot of huffing, puffing, and letting his jaw hang open for extended periods of time. That's unfortunately something he seems to do in almost every movie I've seen him in when his character's dealing with confrontation. I assume it's just because, in real life, he really is a mellow guy and getting up in people's faces is out of his comfort zone. He'd rather be smoking a joint and playing his bongos in his birthday suit. What he can do, though, is carry a movie like this with his energy, like a Southern, handsome Nicholas Cage, always driving the action, even if we don't always believe his emotional state. The plot never slackens and despite its frequent implausibility, most people will be anxious to see if and how McConaughey seals the deal in the last 20 minutes.
This is an addendum to my movie suggestions from last night. I checked out this recent Matthew McConaughey vehicle after making my recommendations. McConaughey plays Mick Haller, the kind of amoral lawyer he would have likely become had his movie career not taken off, taking him away from his pre-law studies (For more McConaughey playing a laywer see this and this). The movie feels like it was made ten or even twenty years ago. Video cassettes and home answering machines play pivotal roles in the plot and the movie has a breezy, uncomplicated approach to crime and courtroom drama that I only see now on incredibly gory t.v. shows (Perhaps there are other lawyer movies coming out these days. I feel like it's been a while since we had movies like A Few Good Men or My Cousin Vinny coming out regularly). Regardless of when it's set, I thoroughly enjoyed the courtroom rhetoric in this one, with Mathew McConaughey playing his scenes as a defense attorney simply and with great skill. He fairs worse when the drama spills out of the courtroom and into his personal life, substituting his clear, direct presence in the courtroom with a lot of huffing, puffing, and letting his jaw hang open for extended periods of time. That's unfortunately something he seems to do in almost every movie I've seen him in when his character's dealing with confrontation. I assume it's just because, in real life, he really is a mellow guy and getting up in people's faces is out of his comfort zone. He'd rather be smoking a joint and playing his bongos in his birthday suit. What he can do, though, is carry a movie like this with his energy, like a Southern, handsome Nicholas Cage, always driving the action, even if we don't always believe his emotional state. The plot never slackens and despite its frequent implausibility, most people will be anxious to see if and how McConaughey seals the deal in the last 20 minutes.
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