When people think of Robert Downey Jr. their minds go to Sherlock Holmes or Iron Man. And granted he excels in those roles effortlessly, yet his skill as an actor really shines through in his fantastic performance in The Judge with Robert Duvall. Mr. Downey plays a Chiacago lawyer that oozes charm, skill, wit, immeasurable talent, and brims with assured confidence. He returns home to Indiana when his mother dies, to his splintered family and his father the Judge played by Mr. Duvall who is tough and estranged to his son. Both men are the center of the film and really make the entire story compelling and work so well. I was never bored as both the main characters made the film continuously compelling, and the supporting characters assisted in that regard as well. Vincent D'Onofrio played one of Mr. Downey's brothers and played someone who was vulnerable and soft, which I thought was a good departure of his usual roles. Jeremy Strong played the youngest brother, and I thought he was amazing as his character had a form of autism (I believe, although it was never stated) and how that behavior came in and weaved throughout his character and the film I was quite lovely. Vera Farmiga played Mr. Downey's former high school sweetheart, and she was both a breath of fresh air, yet a strong willful foil to his character. Billy Bob Thorton played a skillful and confident assistant district attorney, and was yet another good foil to Mr. Downey's character. Some good cameos included Dax Shephard, Ken Howard, Balthazar Getty, and David Krumholtz. I have to say that the film was directed and shot beautifully and so tastefully; at one point in the film as Mr. Downey's character is riding a bike down an Indiana highway in the country it reminded me of my own home and growing up in rural Wisconsin and the kind of things that I used to do with my sisters when we were younger. The screenplay was very well written, and provided that excellent material for the cast to shine so powerfully. I highly recommend this film, and if you like good character films, excellent acting, and a powerful story that is compelling than I suggest that you watch this film. In other news, I have progressed quite far on my musical and am working away on the songs, just started Act II and then once I have the songs finished I'm going to begin work on "The Book" itself and get some staging and all of the dialog written down. Work on Book 3 has been.......extraordinarily slow, but it is coming along. There isn't much positive news in the world either domestically or internationally; somehow (not to sound apocalyptic) powerfully evil men and women seem to be becoming ever more popular and powerful with each passing day throughout the globe. Aside from violent deterrents, the best form of opposition and containment of that is knowledge and discernment; the more people know, the harder it is to overcome them.The Judge trailer
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children trailer (looks so good!)
Game of Thrones Season 6 trailer (should be interesting)
