Greenberg (2010)

Ebert liked it (This is an intriguing film, shifting directions, considering Greenberg's impossibility in one light and then another. If he's stuck like this at 40, is he stuck for good? What Ben Stiller does with the role is fascinating. We can't stand Greenberg. But we begin to care about him. Without ever overtly evoking sympathy, Stiller inspires identification. You don't have to like the hero of a movie. But you have to understand him — better than he does himself, in some cases). I'm not so sure.

A. O. Scott liked it, too. I am not so sure.

Lincoln Lawyer

Brisk and good legal thriller. Lincoln refers to the car that is his office, this lawyer looking for a big payday, willing to defend anyone who has the cash. Some cops think he's too slick, unprincipled, and dislike him, intensely in cases. His ex-wife (Marisa Tomei, one of the few higher-profile American actresses in her age group (she was born in 1964, five years before Mr. McConaughey) who’s actually allowed to act her age, who conveys intelligence and sexiness, and suggests a life that’s been lived and without a face frozen by filler and fear. She plays a character and not just the love interest. She isn’t the star, of course, but without her and the other exceptionally well-cast supporting players, Mr. McConaughey would have a tougher time making you believe that he was to the sleaze born) is a prosecutor.

The story, and there’s a lot of it, nicely condensed from Mr. Connelly’s page-turner best seller, largely turns on a case that looks like a slam dunk or, as one of Mick’s bail bondsmen, Val (John Leguizamo), insists, a jackpot.


That NY Times review, one of many, sums it up well. A good movie.

Goal! : the dream begins