Conference bookie::movies

    Why do you want to see it in a sneak as opposed to the regular theatre?
    
    Just curious.
    
    MJ

    I saw an ad for this last night  -- it's playing in some theaters in
    the Boston area, 2nd movie is Disclosure.
    

    And I believe tonight's the night.
    
    Leslie

    An excellent film. Thought provoking with kudos all around for the
    acting!

	the first ten minutes of "murder in the first" serve as a wake-
	up call to the audience that the film is not going to be your
	average prison drama.  the gut-wrenching scenes of a prisoner's
	(kevin bacon) horrible treatment at the hands of an alcatraz
	assistant warden (gary oldman) are hard to watch at times, and
	it wouldn't be surprising to see a few people walk out before
	the opening credits have finished.  (my wife and i sat on about
	the fifth row from the screen, with the entire audience behind us,
	so i don't know if anyone left the performance we attended.)

	in any case, stick it out, because this is one heck of a good 
	flick, imo.  its based on the true story of a young man who
	steals five dollars and ends up in solitary confinement for three
	years after attempting to escape.  kevin bacon plays this role to
	the hilt and it is probably his best work to date.  christian
	slater plays the lawyer assigned to defend him, and shows he can
	play a straight role.

	strongly recommend, and, for some reason, not as downbeat overall
	as it sounds.  three and a half stars out of four.

	bill

    
    RE: a few back
    
    THere are just certain movies that I like to see at Sneak Previews. 
    Very dramatic films are good at Sneak Previews.  I can't explain
    exactly why, but there just seems to be a different aire about the
    audience at Sneak Peaks.
    
    I, however did not catch this at a Sneak Peak, but did catch it none
    the less.  I enjoyed it.  Like the previous reply, I agree that the
    opening scenes were a little tough to watch without doing so through
    fingers over your eyes.  The acting was superb and Kevin Bacon was
    really good in his role.
    
    

    I saw this one over the weekend and I was pretty bored.  Christian
    Slater is completley one level through the entire film.  He just
    doesn't do anything for me.  I loved him in Heathers so it's not that I
    don't like him, I just think he was handed a really juicy role and
    wasn't up to the job.  
    
    I really like Kevin Bacon and thought he was brilliant in JFK.  He did
    a great job with this too but I wasn't overly impressed by him.
    
    This movie was weird.  The story was good but it wasn't big enough to
    warrant the technical detail that was given to this picture.  The score
    was HUGE and distracting, especially the Andrews Sisters...what's that
    about?  There were a lot of very intense shots, but for what?  How many
    different angles do we need to see of Bacon crouched in a corner or
    slumped in a chair?  The judge in the courtroom (I don't know the
    actor) gave a cartoon character performance...predictable and
    mechanical all the way.  Could be the fault of the director...I don't
    know.  Gary Oldman's talent was wasted, IMO.  All in all I was 
    disappointed.  I had been looking forward to seeing this movie, too.
    
    Ah well...
    
    MJ

    Rented this last night and I agree with .8, boring! Perhaps the most
    exciting/frustrating part of the movie was the first ten, fifteen,
    twenty minutes of Kevin Bacon, obviously completely nude, but never
    exposing his private parts. I found myself wondering, rather
    distractedly, how do they do that? Do they film in a way that hides
    them or do they edit afterwards? That's how boring this film was. The
    filming technigue intrigued me, briefly, more than the rest of the plot
    or the characters.
    
    John

    
    
    I saw this movie a year ago in Canada and I loved it! Just a really
    sad story!!
    
    Chris
    :)