Tag Archives: billy bob thornton

The Judge (2014)

My Ratings: 3.3/5

The genre loosely termed as Family Drama has always patronized this particular theme where the prodigal son, the black sheep of the family returns to his hometown after ages to attend a funeral or wedding and somehow gets entangled to his roots.

The Judge is the latest addition to this theme but may be not the best one.

I guess the trailer pretty much gives you the story line.

Hank Palmer, the hotshot city lawyer comes back to his hometown to attend his mother’s funeral but has to extend his stay when he learns that his father, Joseph Palmer, the Judge of the town is suspected of homicide!

Did The Judge really kill somebody? Will his son be able to defend him?

Yes, the film eventually answers these questions but not before Hank Palmer resolves all his past issues – his messy relationships with his father, his two brothers, his girlfriend and so on.

And believe me Hank takes his time – the film is 2hrs 22mins and could have been a much better experience if it was at least 15 to 20 mins shorter.

Most of the times actors feel lucky to have been casted in a particular film that eventually make their career but in films like The Judge, the film itself should feel lucky that actors like Robert Downey Jr and Robert Duvall are part of it.

Robert Duvall perfectly fits the aged, stubborn and respected Judge who hates to love his middle son Robert Downey Jr, still blames him for his accidental childhood mistakes and more importantly for leaving him and his hometown.

On the other hand Robert Downey Jr flawlessly plays the confident, arrogant city lawyer who wants to help his family especially his father as much as he wants to go back to his city life and forget his past.

The tussle, the conflict, the brilliant father-son chemistry between two such distinguished actors is the only reason to watch The Judge.

Vera Farmiga and Billy Bob Thornton also made their presence felt in the film.

The dialogues in the film are often a bit too loud and straight forward, i felt a few more subtle emotional sequences could have challenged the actors in a better way.

Especially the court room scenes – too dramatic almost in the verge of losing reality.

But despite of not having a perfect script or exquisite camera angles or crisp editing, the director David Dobkin still goes lucky with his casting.

The Judge is a slow emotional film; before you buy the tickets do make sure you have the time and the mood for it.

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List of Legendary Actors who also directed films

Did you know that so many of our favorite actors are directors as well? May be all are not as glorious and successful as Charlie Chaplin or Clint Eastwood but some of these Hollywood actors who also directed films deserves a pat on their shoulders.

Let’s see how many of these movies have you seen which are directed by these legendary actors.

Actor turned Director                Popular films directed

(Note: many of the actors have directed more films than mentioned here but i have listed only the popular ones)

Kirk Douglas                                  Scalawag (1973), Posse (1975)

Richard Burton                            Doctor Faustus (1967)

Diane Keaton                                Unstrung heroes (1995)

Billy Bob Thornton                    Sling Blade (1996)

Danny DeVito                              Throw Momma from the train (1987)

John Wayne                         The Alamo (1960), The Green Berets (1968)

Liv Ullmann                                     Sofie (1992), Faithless (2000)

Barbra Streisand                         Yentl (1983), The prince of tides (1991) 

Paul Newman                                 The glass Menagerie (1987)

Bill Murray                                       Quick Change (1990)

Alec Baldwin                                      Shortcut to Happiness (2003)

Ed Harris                         Pollock (2000), Appaloosa (2008)

Denzel Washington                      The great Debaters (2007)

Ethan Hawke               Chelsea Walls (2001), The Hottest state (2006)

Forest Whitaker         Waiting to Exhale (1995), Hope Floats (1998)

Sylvester Stallone                     Rambo (2008),The expendables (2010)

Jodie Foster                              Little man Tate (1991),The beaver (2011)

Ben Stiller                                   The Cable guy (1996), Zoolander (2001)

Ralph Fiennes               Coriolanus (2011), The invisible woman (2013)

Jack Nicholson                        Goin’ South (1978), The Two Jakes (1990)

Morgan Freeman                       Bopha! (1993)

Drew Barrymore                       Whip It (2009)

Antonio Banderas        Crazy in Alabama (1999), Summer Rain (2006)

Nicolas Cage                                  Sonny (2002)

Angelina Jolie                               In the land of blood and honey (2011)

Anthony Hopkins                      Dylan Thomas: Return Journey (1990)

Dustin Hoffman                          Quartet (2012)

Keanu Reeves                              Man of tai Chi (2013)

Tom Hanks                                     That thing you do! (1996)

Johnny Depp                                 The Brave (1997)

Robert De Nero      A Bronx Tale (1993), The Good Shepherd (2006)

Al Pacino                                             Chinese coffee (2000), Salomé (2013)

Kevin Costner          Dances with wolves (1990), The postman (1997)

Mel Gibson                                        Braveheart (1995), Apocalypto (2006)

Sean Penn                                          The pledge (2001), Into the wild (2007)

George Clooney                            The ides of March (2011) 

Ben Affleck                                        Argo (2012), Gone baby gone (2007)

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