Last Castle

Pros: Bits of some performances. The plan is somewhat interesting.
Cons: Aspires to averageness. That's a serious con.

There’s a lot you can say about ‘The Last Castle’, but the end result will be that it’s average. It’s actually just about the perfect example of average. Terminally average, you might say. It is, as the old quote...

Pros: A different angle on a prison flick, Redford, and the musical score
Cons: Was released at a very bad time...light moments are rare indeed.

This has got to be a record for one of the best, yet most underrated movies released in the past few years. I can see I will have to defend my evaluation, since more sophisticated critics who reviewed this movie have dealt it a death blow by their...

Pros: Robert Redford's Chin, Junkyard Wars, the hand job line
Cons: CHEESY, unlikelyness, hollywoodism...did i mention the CHEESE?

A Feel Good Friday Night

And so the Friday night comes around again, and a couple of interesting movies were opening. The ubiquitous Joydrop and myself decided to visit our favorite Lebanese steak house here in Tulsa town (The Silver...

Pros: Redford
Cons: Story, Gandolfini, Supporting Cast

The Last Castle (2001) "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Samuel Johnson Robert Redford returned to films to add another credit to his sporadic list of movies. The Last Castle is a good looking production with a ...

Pros: James Gandolfino, Robert Redford, Steve Burton, Mark Ruffalo.
Cons: Tyro Writer David Scarpa and Critic-turned-Director Rod Lurie -- and their "subtlety."

Right after seeing THE LAST CASTLE a week ago, I was off to Oregon for a welcome vacation with my old friends, the Davies. My hostess warmly allowed me to use her computer during my stay, but I was uncertain of the process by which to save a review on...

Pros: The acting is great, nice direction.
Cons: Less than stellar action scenes, TERRIBLE ending.

Few movies have left me as angry as The Last Castle did. I felt cheated and robbed walking out of the theater. It's not that Castle is horrifically bad, although it is below average, it's that this film was on the right track to...

Pros: A strong story and compelling characters = crowd-pleasing escapist entertainment.
Cons: Cynics won't like the predictable, patriotic, flag-waving finale and the lack of subtlety.

Oscar alert! This high-tension military prison drama is the first real contender of the Fall season.

The story begins as idolized but court-martialed three-star Army General Irwin (Robert Redford) is delivered in handcuffs to a...

Pros: There will not be a sequel.
Cons: The story. Gandolfini's "accent". The story. Gratuitous saluting. The story.

I admit: I've made mistakes in my thirty-one-plus years. I've had one too many a few too many times; I've gambled too much, driven too fast and worn ill-fitting clothes. I wonder, has Robert Redford made mistakes too?

I think The Last...

Pros: Redford's calm leadership, the cat & mouse game
Cons: pace, seemingly implausible events, bean bag rounds lethal at great distances?

Is this film more cat & mouse or a simple chess match of the mind? I would tend to believe a little of both. Certainly, positioning is key to owning all the power. What starts off as another dreary prison film evolves into a film about respect and ...

Pros: Some good "warm/fuzzy" feelings.
Cons: Rehashed predictable prison stuff.

Maybe The Last Castle could have been a really good movie… Maybe… It’s a prison movie, so it wouldn’t have been easy to do. …Still, it is possible. The Shawshank Redemption showed that it’s still feasible to ...

Pros: The cast (well, the three leads anyway).
Cons: The script, the direction, etc. The tone is melodramatic overkill.

Paul Newman and Robert Redford are best friends. I have a sneaking suspicion, though, that Newman has been lording something over poor Bob for nearly forty years now. Something The Natural has never been able to live down. It’s called Cool Hand...

Pros: Gandofini and Redford add some enjoyment to an otherwise listless movie
Cons: Weak underlying premise of an assault on a military prison isn't believable

The Last Castle is a disappointing film given the quality of the stars that appear in it. Robert Redford stars as General Eugene Irwin, a legendary leader of combat troops now serving a ten-year sentence in The Castle, a military prison, for...

Pros: The climax has some cool explosions and weaponry
Cons: It takes 105 minutes of poorly written one-note cliches to get to it.

As little boys we all love to play war. We take our phaser guns and cap pistols playing Bang Bang and arguing over who got shot first. Eventually times change. Games become known as Cowboys and Native-Americans and us boys grow up and take our warrior...

Pros: Some decent acting...
Cons: ...in a very ridiculous context.

All outward appearances indicate class: a cast toplined by Robert Redford and James Gandolfini; a director who coaxed two Oscar-nominated performances in his last film; a release slot in the vicinity of those of previous--and successful--DreamWorks Oscar...

Pros: The Flag, the wall, the discipline that never goes away.
Cons: Incomprehensible to most civilians.

This film is proof that something as abruptly violent as a slap in the face can also be as subtle as the sound of a butterfly's flight. You need only to scan the teasers for most of the other Epinions reviews to realize that very few of the reviewers...