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Nicalicious

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Date: 8:30 PM, 11/15/11
Interesting Justice Reviews
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http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/11/15/justice-review/

Here is a review of Justice that links from Voodoo Child's post about the new clip. This is a good review of Nic's performance, it makes me look forward to the movie even more, especially after reading that it is quite a physical role for Nic, anticipation builds! Don't read it if too much info will spoil it for you.

Justice Review

No stranger to staging well-paced crime thrillers, like The Bank Job, The Recruit and No Way Out, director Roger Donaldson is about as qualified as any to bring this gritty story of crime and revenge to the screen – all set in one of the most exciting cities in the US, New Orleans. But although most films cannot resist the seedy allure of the French Quarter – and this film is no exception in parts, Justice does try to delve into a more realistically captured but darker depiction.

Nic Cage stars as Will Gerard, a husband who enlists the services of a vigilante group, headed by its curious leader Simon (Guy Pearce), to help him settle the score after his wife, Laura (January Jones), is brutalised. However, Will gets involved way over his head and tries to get out of the deadly pact he has made. The trouble is whom can you trust?

While the film is a half-decent enough thriller with so many twists and turns it trips itself up at times, the basic thriller ingredients have been tried and tested a lot better before, so a good proportion of the film feels like a carbon-copy of others we’ve seen. Granted, the thrill for Cage fans is seeing their hero in a rather physical role, dodging traffic and hanging from underpasses that even leaves him rubbing his head (more than once, and usually in the car) in exasperation.

What is most intriguing is the film’s main idea of disenchantment in a wounded city still hurting from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, leading to self-served justice, and this gives the whole affair an empathetic but equally menacing edge. Cage is the ideal star to tap into this darker aspect.

Like Will, Cage has a crazed, risk-taking side that the New Orleans setting flatters and seems to nurture, and an increasingly erratic Cage is more than capable and watchable in this type of action role as he makes it his eccentric own. The issues come not from his portrayal, but from the complex – and sometimes irrelevant – labyrinth of subplots that Donaldson and writers feel are necessary to throw at him. With too much at play, other things naturally go unexplained.

Sadly, we only get to see a one-dimensional and frustratingly under-developed performance from Pearce, for example, with no explanation as to where his loyalties stem from – even though we understand that his character and others are designed to be as enigmatic as possible throughout to add to the intrigue. On the plus side, Jones, who normally adds the cutesy glamour to any scene, does some of her best work yet as the victim in the first half of the film, only to be sidelined in the rest as a pawn in the increasingly paranoid Cage dance with death. Still, it’s a vast improvement on her usual film roles, and one we’d quite like seeing her tackle again.

Justice is well staged at the start and has the presence to go far. It’s just the sum of its parts – like the random journalist murder subplot – don’t add up at times and make it feel somewhat disjointed. Cage fans are guaranteed a thrill at seeing him in action, with Ghost Rider elements of a mortal Blaze out to serve and protect the ‘ordinary man’ – and Cage is always satisfying in this type of ‘moral crusader’ role. It’s just a shame Donaldson’s film doesn’t fully realise that immense talent, having him running from pillar to post throughout – and making us rub our heads in anguish at times, too.



-- Edited by Lady Trueheart on Tuesday 15th of November 2011 08:31:14 PM



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Special Agent Cagealot

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Date: 10:42 PM, 11/15/11
RE: An Interesting Justice Review
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Thanks lady t, that is a special review. found one myself yesterday here: http://mayzeyez.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/seeking-justice-nicolas-cage/

if you´re going to read it BE WARNED EXTREMELY SPOILER!!!

Wow, I’ve been neglecting this blog for almost two months now! Thank God I finally have the mood to write something here. It’s time for movie review. And now, let the spotlight goes to Seeking Justice, a movie starred by Nicolas Cage. Yup, the Mr Cage, my personal vitamin N *giggles*

Casts: Nicolas Cage (Will Gerard), January Jones (Laura Gerard), Guy Pearce (Simon). Director: Roger Donaldson. Producer: Tobey Maguire and Ram Bergman.
Synopsis

Will Gerard is an ordinary english teacher in a local highschool while his wife, Laura, is a cellist in a local orchestra. They’re just celebrating their anniversay in a festival in a hotel. They are a happy couple who love and cherish one another. Everything is just like an ordinary day until one day, Laura is raped on her way back home from orchestra practice. Will rushes to the hospital upon hearing the news. Seeing the beaten and battered form of his beloved wife, he is in a despair.

While Will is sitting in the hospital waiting room, a man comes to him and introduced himself as Simon. Simon claims that he once was in the similar situation as Will and he offers Will a hand to take care the rapist through a group in which he is one of the member. Simon said that Will wouldn’t pay a cent for it but he had to help one day when his help was needed. Hesitated yet in a turmoil mental condition, Will accepts the offer. Soon, an envelope containing photo of the rapist corpse and Laura’s stolen necklace, which was an anniversary gift from Will, is given to Will as proof that the justice has been given.

Six months have passed and Laura is trying to get back on her old ordinary life. Everything is almost return to normal when suddenly Will is contacted by Simon. First, Simon orders Will to stalk a woman with two little girls in the zoo. But then the order escalates that it requires Will to kill someone presumably a pedophile. After being threatened that Laura’s life is in exchange to the killing, Will tries to warn the target. Unexpectedly, the target assaults Will and ends up falling from a walk path into the busy traffic and killed. Will is charged as the murderer and he has to escape police chase to clean his name.

Review

I admit that I watch this movie without reading the synopsis first solely because I’m a loyal fan of Mr Cage. And after watching his last movie, Drive Angry, I was prepared to watch some boring second rate movie. Well, I’m so proud to say that Seeking Justice is not a boring and second rate movie! The plot is interesting and the flow is just right on time ^_^d The opening scene successfully shows the normal happy life of a couple when suddenly their ordinary peaceful life was crumbled and falling into peaces when they have to face the harsh reality.

Mr Cage plays his role befittingly as an ordinary english teacher who loves his wife so much that he is willing to give anything to ensure her happiness. Without any experience, he awkwardly tries to fulfill Simon’s orders and when he was asked of comitting a murder, he backed off like a normal person does.

Well, the ending is kind of cliche though with how Simon is killed by Laura who’s been practicing shooting and carrying gun. Also the idea of vigilante group is nothing new. But all in all, I really enjoyed watching the movie. It is interesting and the plot flows naturally. Good job, Mr Cage, I’ll be waiting for your next movies and hope they all as good as, if not better than, this one ^_^

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Team Cage

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Date: 10:09 AM, 11/16/11
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I'm really glad to be reading positive reviews for this movie. I, like the reviewer in Flo's post, am a loyal Cage fan and will see the movie, no matter the reviews. TEAM CAGE FOREVER!!!!

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Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 7:29 PM, 11/18/11
RE: An Interesting Justice Review
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Thanks for posting these reviews Lady Trueheart and flo!

I just came across this one from a uk tabloid, the Daily Mail is not my fave tabloid (not fond of any of them truth be told) but this review headline caught my eye :

"Well-crafted Justice is a slick and competent thriller"

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2062939/Justice-film-review-A-slick-competent-thriller.html#ixzz1e5RlNeKY



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NIColicious Enchantress

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Date: 7:37 PM, 11/18/11
RE: An Interesting Justice Review
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WOW! This are really two awesome and positiv reviews! Thanks for posting them Lady T. and Flo. yellowflowergrin



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Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 12:35 PM, 11/21/11
RE: An Interesting Justice Review
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Another excellent and positive UK review on JUSTICE!

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/film-cinema/cage-does-justice-to-vigilantegang-thriller-2940123.html

 

Cage does justice to vigilante-gang thriller

FILM REVIEW

 

So much for the wheels of justice grinding slowly. It's certainly not the case in Nicolas Cage's pulsating new vigilante thriller, Justice. Directed by Roger Donaldson and set in New Orleans, the story arc of this gripping piece considers the moral hazards met when those aforementioned wheels are turbo-charged.

Cage plays high-school teacher Wil Gerard, an ordinary man catapulted into extraordinary circumstances when his wife Laura (January Jones) is the victim of an assault and rape. Traumatised by what he has witnessed at his wife's hospital bedside, Wil is subsequently approached in the waiting area by a mysterious stranger, Simon (Guy Pearce).

Claiming to be part of a secret society that values safe streets over safe verdicts, Simon promises to have his wife's attacker bagged and tagged by sunrise if Wil agrees to return a favour in the future. Against his instincts, Wil accepts the offer without inquiring as to what that payback might be. Big mistake.

Six months later, just as he and his wife are showing signs of rebuilding their lives, Simon and his gang of vigilante goons are back on the scene. For his debt to be redeemed, Wil is required to liquidate an "alleged" paedophile. It's easier said than done when you have a conscience and Wil's moral scruples lead to a botched hit.

Cue man-in-over-his-head scenario as Wil is forced to fight a ruthless enemy that doesn't do due process.

Though initially a tad formulaic, Justice gradually gains momentum and develops into a nuanced piece that has much to recommend it.

A profusion of eye-popping car chases and stunts will keep action adventure aficionados on board, while the narrative has interesting things to say about the vigilante impulse and its pitfalls. Keeping his well-catalogued scenery- chewing instincts in check, Cage delivers a reassuring reminder that his capacity for quality performances remains intact.

Now showing

- Padraic McKiernan



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Nicalicious

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Date: 11:43 PM, 11/21/11
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It is great to see the positive reviews for this movie, I hope it pushes things forward to get a North American market.



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Team Cage

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Date: 3:19 AM, 11/22/11
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Lady Trueheart wrote:

It is great to see the positive reviews for this movie, I hope it pushes things forward to get a North American market.


 What's interesting is, I don't believe there is an American release date?  Most of the reviews are european which is where the movie is being released first.  Lucky you Lula!!



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Nicalicious

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Date: 1:42 AM, 03/14/12
Interesting Justice Reviews
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http://www.observer.com/2012/03/seeking-justice-rex-reed-nicolas-cage-january-jones-guy-pearce/

Pretty good review here.

Oft-Knocked Coppola Bad Boy Seeking Justice in Cajun Country

Cage takes on vigilante justice and snags a criminally good thriller

Jones and Cage.

Nicolas Cage might sleepwalk through much of his career, but if you think he can’t act, take another look at his staggering work in Leaving Las Vegas, or catch up with his cathartic, above-average performance in the new urban crime thriller Seeking Justice. It’s a welcome surprise.

Directed by New Zealand’s king of pain Roger Donaldson, it begins with an SUV pushed off the roof of a New Orleans parking garage in the middle of Mardi Gras. Nobody gets hurt except the driver, thus setting the scene for a formulaic explosion of mayhem and silliness. But brace yourself. What follows is a roller coaster ride, off the beaten track and dashed with detours, and unexpectedly plausible. Mr. Cage is Will Gerard, a hard-working, law-abiding English teacher in a ghetto high school on Rampart Street, whose wife, Laura, is a beautiful cellist in a classical orchestra, played by January Jones on a semester break from Mad Men. One night, leaving rehearsal on the way to her car, Laura is mugged, raped, brutally beaten and left for dead. At the hospital, while waiting for news of her critical condition, the distraught, shell-shocked Will is approached by a dapper but unctuously suspicious mystery man who introduces himself as simply “Simon” (Guy Pearce) and not only claims to know the assailant’s identity, but offers to kill him as a public service, reminding Will that if he pursues justice through normal channels it will take years and even if the rapist is convicted, his sentence will amount to “half the time you get for tax evasion.” The only catch is that Will might be called on at some future date for a “favor.” Despite obvious moral reservations and his resistance to breaking the law himself, Will gives in to his grief and rage, knowing the chances of ever catching his wife’s attacker and bringing him to justice in the nebulous and overburdened court system are next to impossible.

The deed is done. The culprit is eliminated in a gang-style execution and Will thinks the case is closed. Fat chance. His problems are just beginning, and six months later, when the paybacks begin, Will and Laura find themselves sinking deeper into a trap of criminal involvement that reaches nightmare proportions. The action leapfrogs across the city, propelled by secret handshakes, clandestine meetings in raunchy saloons, clues in a certain brand of chocolate bar from a candy dispenser, and cryptic spy-movie passwords like “the hungry rabbit jumps,” and culminates in a gun battle staged in the deserted section of the New Orleans Superdome that has never been restored since Hurricane Katrina. They can’t go to the cops because they’re members of the vigilante group too. The movie relies heavily on the mass panic of Americans whose civil liberties are slowly being diminished by such invasive forces as Homeland Security and the growing impotence of the criminal court system. Strangely, it only occasionally challenges credulity, and the script by Robert Tannen is so rooted in convincing realism that it really keeps you going. The film is aided immeasurably the total realism of the three central performances. Mr. Cage is an average Joe who could be your accountant or your friendly teller at Citibank. Ms. Jones still has the most beautiful hair in show business, and in her portrayal of an innocent wife plunged into a vortex of trauma, there’s not a strand out of place. Bald for no reason but affectation, the versatile and always reliable Guy Pearce is creepy and riveting as an independent hit man who circumvents the time-wasting hours of legal red tape that renders impotent the victims of hoodlums and thugs by taking the errant law into his own hands. Behind the mask of a soft-spoken solid citizen’s concern for fairness and justice, he hides a lethal promise of inescapable evil. The secret organization that recruits ordinary citizens to dispose of the scumbags responsible for the Crescent City going to hell is supported by even the most powerful city fathers until “Simon,” the leader of the gang, spirals out of control and goes viral, disposing of investigative journalists and anyone else who attempts to expose him. Hard to reconcile, I grant you, but I bought it. The acting, writing and production values are coherent and naturalistic enough to make even the most challenging plot twists seem logical.

My one caveat: Mr. Donaldson, a foreign director shooting on location in a New Orleans with which he is clearly unfamiliar, fails to take advantage of the exotic ambience of the most photogenic city in America. You get car chases on generic overpasses and homicides in seedy hotel rooms, and there is one scene in which Mr. Cage mails a letter at the Audubon Park Zoo, but for all you see of the defining atmosphere of a lush and beautiful city that can never be duplicated on a Hollywood sound stage, Seeking Justice could just as easily take place in Bakersfield, Brooklyn, or Altoona, Pa. Still, the movie satisfies, standing stand on its own even without the visual garnish. I’m usually pretty good at figuring these things out, but I didn’t have a clue what was coming next. Seeking Justice is an intense thriller so full of shocks it keeps you wired from start to finish.

rreed@observer.com

 



-- Edited by Lady Trueheart on Wednesday 14th of March 2012 01:43:32 AM

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Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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great review overall! thanks for posting Lady Trueheart!

I like the sub heading: "Cage takes on vigilante justice and snags a criminally good thriller"




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Team Cage

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Date: 4:18 AM, 03/15/12
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I certainly agree Lula - great review overall.  Nice find Lady T.  I really do like the look and feel of this movie.  I'm looking forward to seeing it.



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NIColicious Enchantress

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Date: 4:39 AM, 03/15/12
Nicolas Cage goes out in search of Justice
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This might be a good review from the L-Magazine! Check it out:

http://www.thelmagazine.com/newyork/nicolas-cage-goes-out-in-search-of-justice-in-a-little-film-called-seeking-justice/Content?oid=2219066



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Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 5:45 PM, 03/15/12
Interesting Justice Reviews
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Not really sure what to make of Roger Ebert's review of Seeking Justice, but he introduced it on twitter thusly:

Roger Ebert ‏ @ebertchicago:

"Seeking Justice." Nic Cage, back in New Orleans again, going batsh*t again. I love him like that.

 I do like this: He may be the only actor in the world who could rise to this occasion, and then keep right on rising even beyond it. I'd say he's earned the candy bars.

 

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120314/REVIEWS/120319993



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Nicalicious

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Date: 5:11 AM, 03/16/12
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A lot of the reviews seem to be taking issue with the plot, and then a few seem quite positive about the message the story conveys. Nic's performance seems to be generally praised, although there are the usual who wanted him to scream and 'thrash' around the whole time.

I have read a few recent ones of Ebert's where he seems to have basically given up on a movie, critiques it to death, then gives it 3-4 stars! Go figure.

I am just going to see for myself when the time comes. I generally find mainstream movies to have plots that are pretty typical and run of the mill, but it is the performances that I get impressed by in movies usually, so I am not feeling  as if I will be disappointed by this one.



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Nicalicious

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Date: 9:15 AM, 03/16/12
RE: Interesting Justice Reviews
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Vigilantes' high price puts Cage in a bind

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/sc-mov-0313-seeking-justice-20120315,0,143640.column

Nicolas Cage doesn't convey an Everyman quality. It's more of a NoManI'veEverKnown vibe, and when he plays an ordinary solid citizen, even one in distress, he's more liquid than solid.

In director Roger Donaldson's routine conspiracy thriller "Seeking Justice," set in an unruly post-Katrina New Orleans just begging for a paramilitary police state, Cage plays a high school English teacher who exhorts his kids to listen to the violence in the words of Shakespeare. He urges them to solve their problems with a notebook and pen.

Fine theory. Then the teacher's cellist wife, played by January Jones, is raped and beaten and her attacker remains at large. Cage's character receives a hospital waiting-room visit from the shady point man (Guy Pearce) for a shadowy organization eager to rid the Big Easy of its most venal criminals. Why don't we locate and eliminate your wife's attacker for you? Cage is asked. He agrees. But he's on the hook for a favor or two, which become a series of unfortunate events.

As it dramatizes the far-reaching influence of the organization and contrives reasons to send the English teacher running across busy freeways, "Seeking Justice" (snoozer of a title) nudges questions of vigilante justice and how much is too much. For most movies, indeed plenty of Nicolas Cage movies, there's no such thing as too much. The script by Robert Tannen suffers occasional pangs of conscience as it makes life more and more difficult for its protagonist. The tale grows marginally more involving once the story becomes preoccupied with the teacher — framed for the slaying of an investigative reporter — and his efforts to un-frame himself.

The super-secret code phrase among the organization's many members is: "The hungry rabbit jumps." The not-so-secret secret weapon in Cage's arsenal is the glint of crazy in the actor's eyes, which enlivens Donaldson's workmanlike, '70s-style conspiracy thriller. Shot on video by David Tattersall, the movie looks crisp enough, though it comes with the ruddy-brownish tint of so many digital features. All in all I prefer Cage's little-seen "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call: New Orleans," in which director Werner Herzog imagined a hurricane-ravaged locale as naturally bughouse as the actor above the title.



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Team Cage

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Date: 11:15 AM, 03/18/12
RE: Interesting Justice Reviews
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Lady Trueheart wrote:

A lot of the reviews seem to be taking issue with the plot, and then a few seem quite positive about the message the story conveys. Nic's performance seems to be generally praised, although there are the usual who wanted him to scream and 'thrash' around the whole time.

I have read a few recent ones of Ebert's where he seems to have basically given up on a movie, critiques it to death, then gives it 3-4 stars! Go figure.

I am just going to see for myself when the time comes. I generally find mainstream movies to have plots that are pretty typical and run of the mill, but it is the performances that I get impressed by in movies usually, so I am not feeling  as if I will be disappointed by this one.


I was going to comment that generally, Ebert tends to praise Nic's performances, until I read the article where he is acknowledging this. 

I will agree with you Lady T.  Although what I've read is that critics seem to either think Nic is phoning it in or, as you've stated, not happy with Nic's role as a "normal" person.  The thing is, this role calls for a 'normal person' if that makes any sense.  He's playing a SCHOOL TEACHER!!

Unfortunately, Seeking Justice is not playing in my city, nor is it playing in San Francisco, the nearest largest city that I could find.  Oh well.



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NIColicious Enchantress

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Date: 6:29 PM, 03/18/12
Interesting Justice Reviews
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I think, that is one of the better "justice"-reviews, although, I hardly couldn`t find a good one! (Unfortunatly, the most reviews, I read about "seeking justice" are really bad! I hope, someone will make a good review  about it one day!)

http://www.miami.com/039seeking-justice039-r-article



-- Edited by Lady Roxanne on Sunday 18th of March 2012 06:30:12 PM

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Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 12:45 AM, 03/19/12
RE: Interesting Justice Reviews
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I am still scratching my head over Ebert's review, but moreso on his twitter comment : ' "Seeking Justice." Nic Cage, back in New Orleans again, going batsh*t again. I love him like that.'

Has he seen the film?confuse Nic gives an emotionally powerful nuanced performance in Justice..no bats*** or crazy going on here!



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Nicalicious

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Date: 7:16 AM, 03/19/12
RE: Interesting Justice Reviews
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I saw that Ebert comment too, Lula, could not figure it out in relation to his review either. 

A review is just someone's opinion, anyway. I don't post negative ones on principle, why would I want to as a fan, I am not here to draw attention to other's negativity.



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Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 8:51 PM, 03/19/12
RE: Interesting Justice Reviews
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I whole heartedly agree, Lady T!

Here is an interesting Seeking Justice Review!

http://www.assignmentx.com/2012/movie-review-seeking-justice/

Cage is pretty much always worth watching, and here he is energetically tormented, righteous, loving, baffled and livid by turns. Pearce is suitably low-key and soothing as the vigilante par excellence. Harold Perrineau as Will’s best friend, Jennifer Carpenter as Laura’s pal and Xander Berkeley as a police detective all add rich support.



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