the runaway jury. the forgotten

why bother to make a movie out of a john grisham novel (or is it screenplay)? watching 'the runaway jury’ is like watching text act itself out on screen- there is nothing 'cinematic' about his charcters, the storyline or even the landscape he is working with. instead we have a parade of hollywood heavweights sleepwalking through the least challenging roles ever imagined. a storyline that follows the usual young smart upstart taking on big business (this time the gun goons of the us of a) by infiltrating and pretending to be able to effect a change in the verdict. it all turns out to be a brilliant set-up (surprize!). watchable enough for the small screen- but never give it more than 17 inches.

in ‘the forgotten’ julianne moore mourns her son so strongly that she is able to resist the brain erasing powers of the aliens who have abducted him for strange experimental reasons. if that sounds ridiculous you should try and watch her wispy american housewife with mournful eyes have those golden tinted flashbacks of the last moments she had with her beautiful blonde boy. she gains her amazing brain cleansing resistant strength from them- like the heartbeat of her boy when he is resting in her womb which makes her remember him even after the expressionless indestructable alien man has twisted the very last memory of "sam" away. the evil alien man is then whisked away by unseen forces into the sky leading to a happy ending with swings and the laughter of children and more golden sunlight.