Alright Wrights and Spoons and any blog stalkers that want to participate (yeah, I’m talking to you Emily and Ami) it is time to start the first Movie Marathon featuring courtroom drama/court cases! Thank you to everyone who sent Emily and me movie suggestions and suggestions on what to call this new feature. We will be putting a poll up on the blog for everyone to vote on a name. As I said earlier, if none of your suggestions got picked, it could be that we think one of your movies fit into another category just as well, so it left room for a movie that might not fit into another category. For example, we got lots of suggestions for 12 Angry Men, one of my personal favorite courtroom drama movies. Em and I decided that movie fits well into another category we have in mind, so we are moving that to another category to make room for a movie on the list that doesn’t really fit well into another category.
Emily and I decided that we each got to pick one movie for the list and then the other three we decide between what you guys suggest and other movies Em and I come up with.
Okay, so are you ready to see what 5 movies we are going to watch?
Drum roll please…………
The Verdict
From the Hip
Philadelphia
Defending your Life
Breaker Morant
Here is a bit of a break down of each:
The Verdict-(1982 rated R)- Stars Paul Newman as an alcoholic ambulance chasing lawyer who is about to settle a malpractice suit, when he realizes the case should go to court. Paul Newman is at his best, and the screen play was written by David Mamet, who wrote other greats like Glengarry Glen Ross and The Untouchables. This is a movie both Emily and I had in mind and was suggested by Dad, of course.
From the Hip-(1987 rated PG)- Starring Judd Nelson and Elizabeth Perkins. The IMDB synopsis says “Apprentice lawyer Robin Weathers turns a civil suit into a headline grabbing charade.” This was the movie Em chose as her pick, but Amy also suggested it. Not sure if Em had this in mind before or after Amy’s suggestion.
Philadelphia (1993 rated PG-13)- Tom Hanks plays a lawyer who contracts AIDS and gets fired from the conservative law firm he works for. He hires Denzel Washington to represent him in a wrongful dismissal suit. The acting in this movie is brilliant. Hanks won Best Actor for this one. The story is intriguing and heart breaking. It is directed by Jonthan Demme who directed mine and Cam’s beloved Stop Making Sense as well as Silence of the Lambs and Neil Young: Heart of Gold (that’s for you Cat).
Defending Your Life (1991 rated PG)- Starring Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep. The movie takes place in the afterlife “waiting room” where you spend your days in a court room defending your actions in life and proving you are worthy to go to heaven. This was my pick. I thought this would be a fun take on court room movies and it has Albert Brooks, whom I will try and fit movies he is in whenever I can. I love him, even more than his dad, Mel. Dan also suggested this movie.
Breaker Morant (1980 PG)- An Australian film about three Army officers on trial for killing a prisoner. I have not seen this movie. I have heard good things about it. I’m not sure if any of us have seen it. It won a lot of film festival awards when it came out including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay. It was also nominated for an academy award for Best Adapted Screenplay. One of the things I want to accomplish in this movie marathon is to watch movies we normally wouldn’t see, and I think this is a good one for that purpose. Could turn out to be a Wright Classic!
Well, that’s the list. I hope everyone is okay with it. You have no idea how hard it was to find court movies that are not rated R! You should be proud of us that there is only 1 on the list. And I really think that if The Verdict were made today, exactly the way it is, the MPAA would give it a PG-13 rating. I think it’s really funny that the most recent movie we are watching was released in 1993!
We also got a lot of suggestions for My Cousin Vinny and Liar Liar, seems everyone was hoping for a little comic relief in a pretty serious movie theme. We thought everyone has probably seen both movies a million times, so they don't need to be on the list. Besides, I cannot stand watching the kid in Liar Liar try to act, so I just couldn't make myself purposely watch that movie again. Sorry kid that is in that movie, I hope you've honed your acting skills. And Defending your Life and From The Hip should provide that relief for you.
I think we should start with The Verdict. I say we give everyone 2 weeks to see the movie, so that would be until October 27. If you guys want a different amount of time we can discuss that.
Happy Watching!
Here is the trailer for The Verdict
30 comments:
From the Hip was on my original list I made and was happy to see Amy validate it. I don't actually remember it being a real comedy. There may be a bit of comic relief, but that is not what stands out in my mind when I think of this film. A GREAT courtroom scene does however.
I am happy to start this! Woot woot.
Yay! I'm looking forward to seeing this movie again. I'm glad you picked it too, Em, cause it's been so long since I'd seen it.
Oops Em, you're right. From the Hip was on your original list of court movies. Sorry, should have checked that. I added that this may provide some comic relief because IMDB used the words "charade" and "shenanigans" to describe the movie. Those two words kind of mean light hearted or comedy to me. Plus, in the movie poster Judd Nelson has a big Flinstone's type bone in his mouth.
I am sure I must have seen this movie, but I just don't remember! It came out in 1987, two years after The Breakfast Club! John Bender is one of my favorite movie characters of all time, so I am sure I saw Judd in anything soon after that! I just don't remember. I will have to see if any memories are sparked.
I forgot to mention that From The Hip was co-written by David E Kelley, so there is sure to be some pithy dialogue and odd comedic moments in this movie. I'm totally looking forward to watching it. Especially since I'm such a huge fan of Elizabeth Perkins in "Weeds", it will be fun to see her in an earlier role other than "Big".
The Breakfast Club is available on demand right now and I spent an afternoon watching it not long ago for the first time in a while. I like that movie.
Perhaps From the Hip is a comedy, I haven't seen it in a very long time. I remember the general premise, but not so much the details I guess.
This is going to be so fun! What a great idea. I'm way excited. Primal Fear is one of the best courtroom movies I've ever seen. But, maybe we could have an Edward Norton month! oh wait. Are ANY of his movies PG13?
COOL!!
I really wanted Primal Fear on the list too. I have an idea for a theme that it will fit in.
Ok, I got the poll up. I gave everyone until I think midnight on the 19th, and I allowed multiple answers for now. I saw how many we had and decided we could see what are the most popular and then have a final poll on the 20th of the most popular. Unless one is far above the rest and is the obvious favorite.
Get voting peeps!
Oh and yes Sue I have seen Philadelphia but not since it came out and it is excellent, I'm glad you thought of it. Also, to add to your Neil Young/Philadelphia comments, he also wrote a song for the movie called "Philadelphia" and it's awesome.
Hey, Ems: Explain again what the Poll is and what we are voteing for? My mush mind is out of order. Is it a vote on the 5 courtroom movies we are gonna watch? How well we liked them in some order or what. Thanking you in advance for some clairifacation.
It's for the name of the movie marathon game!
yeah pops, it's on the side of the blog and it is names for our movie marathon since we think we can come up with a better name. The court movies we are watching for this marathon are decided and set.
Oh and I can't change it now, but if I could and if it wins, I would change one of the ones I made up from "Inglourious Pictures" to "Inglourious Picktures". So keep that in mind.
Oooooohhh!
I thought Bruce Springsteen did the song for Philadelphia. I thought he got an oscar for it. Maybe I'm thinking of something else. Or maybe they BOTH did songs.
There are too many good movie marathon names!
Just for the record, I don't think Movie Marathon is that bad. I like it better than most of the choices.
How about WTF!? It matches with our other game, plus it's funny because people would think it means what WTF normally means... but it doesn't... it actually means: "What's The Flick?"
WTF! Love it, Matt!
Just thought of another possible one:
"All the Wright Movies" (playing on the Tom Cruise movie title)...
I like All the Wright Movies, but not WTF
Same here.
That gave me a great laugh Matt, but I can see that it perhaps isn't quite appropriate.
I have no idea what "All the Wright Movies" is from.... But it does sound clever.
One of Tom Cruise early movies. All the Right Moves. I think it was about high school football.
WTF is pretty funny, but I don't like it for our marathon. I get reminded enough of the F word and don't need another.
Wow. At least Em got the joke...
;D
I though it was funny too Matt.
"Pretty Amazing" song list Aims. I dig.
I like "All The Wright Movies" quite a bit. Pulp Features makes me laugh. Amy is right though, Movie Marathon doesn't bother me. But I think we could do some more brain storming.
Inglorious Pick-tures!! haha
The Sound Of Movies!! Did you come up with these Em?
They are great! I don't know if they should be the name of the game, but nevertheless awesome. ;D haha. lol.
Yeah, the play on movie ones are mine. Got a little nuts one morning--. I'm sure I could have come up with a load more, but had to stop myself at some point.
I just made a new poll that consists of all the choices that got more then one vote. You only get one choice this time- make it count.
"make it work!" (Tim, Project Runway)
By the way, I just got The Verdict yesterday and Rob and I will be watching it soon.
it's time to discuss!
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