The Jinx

The Jinx is in many ways a rather weird result of the rather underwhelming fictionalized depiction of the story of Robert Durst All Good Things. A film that found no real insight into the story, and offered a seemingly pointless summation of essentially his Wikipedia page. That film though, which Durst himself apparently enjoyed which says a whole lot, prompted Durst to contact that film's director Andrew Jarecki to offer himself up for the very rare interview. This in turn created a documentary and essentially the second chance for the same director to tell the same story, but now with the words of the subject himself at the forefront. Well what's the difference? Everything. Where the fictional film seemingly had nothing to say The Jinx is an endlessly fascinating examination of a man, and deconstruction of the crimes scenes that followed wherever he went. The series has become known for its unbelievable capture of seeming accidental confession, which is undoubtedly an unforgettable conclusion, however the entire series is the compelling and chilling exploration of it central figure. The idea though is less to show the man's guilt as a possibility, but rather explore that he clearly is guilty, since he clearly is guilty. It never explicitly states this, except the man himself stating the fact, and examines the torrid web of insanity the man's life touches. That includes the missing women, the bizarre and painful childhood of the man, his detachment yet connect to the affluent society of New York, the trial where jurors can accept him as someone who dismembers but somehow is not a murderer, the strange clue of a miss spelling, every facet is indeed worthy of the old stranger than fiction description. What is so remarkable of it all is the detail found through each episode as it unravels this mystery that only becomes all the more of oddity the more you learn from it, with the greatest oddity being at the center as essentially this serial killer who regales you his story in such affable yet unnerving way.
5/5

Judge Dredd

Judge Dredd is a most peculiar failure of the 90's, the same when almost every comic book adaptation failed miserably. Judge Dredd took the odd approach of taking a character, who never removes his helmet, and having him be played by movie star Sylvester Stallone who reveals his face rather quickly. The film is a rather strange combination as it does attempt to establish a world more than you'd expect given some of the other elements. The film though seemingly spent the majority of their budget in the opening scene where we get rather Blade Runneresque cityscape, which was a common occurrence in the 90's, one I can suppose commend for effort, but not inspiration. The film after this point gets into its two halves neither which work. One half you have Sylvester Stallone's scenes which are one action cliche after another, but unfortunately not all that entertaining. It also does not help that he is paired with the obligatory comedic sidekick, played to imperfection by Rob Schneider. The other half focuses on the villain, played by an extremely hammy Armand Assante, and not really in a good way. That half though creates far too convoluted of a plot with consistent, incredibly boring exposition to set up clones which add very little when the two paths meet, given that they meet in a standard 90's action conclusion. I don't think it is as terrible, as many make it out to be, but it's not good either. Also extra credit to Max von Sydow, who apparently never phones it in.
1.5/5

John Adams

John Adams takes upon the life the second president of the United States of America, and he is certainly a most interesting figure to examine to start with. He's the man among greatness yet never seems to be the one considered great from being instrumental in the creation of the Declaration of Independence, yet did not write it himself, being the president yet being the first one term president. It's an excellent series as it examines the man in detail from his political and personal successes and failures throughout his life. It does a terrific job at keeping it at a rather intimate level yet still making the grander achievements of the story still readily apparent. It's notable as it keeps the historical inaccuracies to the minimum, and captures both what made John Adams a great but still flawed individual. Each episode deserves special mention since each one is paced in a way to be really film of that given segment of Adams's life. The performances are uniformly strong, and unlike Tom Hopper's later cinematic work it actually is visually compelling.
5/5

Judgment at Nuremberg

Judgment at Nuremberg is a film with many excellent qualities. The courtroom sequences are stage brilliantly and Stanley Kramer knows how to get the most out of pretty much every angle in that crowded room. There are such great individual moments within there through the testimonies from the particularly strong performances of Maximilian Schell, Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland and especially Montgomery Clift. The writing, the directing, and the acting all come together in these scenes. Outside of the courtroom the film is decidedly less interesting, and the end result of these scenes seems oddly simplistic. The film much of the time allows one to decide based on the arguments so to speak, that is until the ending which makes its position clear. Now most would have reached this position to begin with I would imagine, so its grand statement at the end seem unneeded, although it could have worked quite well but Kramer once again has to spell the message out in Neon letters.
4/5 

Johnny Tremain

I have to admit I'm a big sucker for any film about the American Revolution possibly because there are so few of them. This one is pretty corny for the most, particularly the Sons of Liberty breaking out into song after the Boston tea party. Nevertheless I'll admit I get caught up into the story with Johnny running into various pivotal moments in the beginnings of the war. None of the performances are particularly good, its very standard Disney Live Action in every way imaginable, but I have to admit I like it.
3/5