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Phil Spector

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Phil Spector (2013)

March. 24,2013
|
6.2
|
NR
| Drama TV Movie
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A drama centered on the relationship between Phil Spector and defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden while the music business legend was on trial for the murder of Lana Clarkson.

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Reviews

Lovesusti
2013/03/24

The Worst Film Ever

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VividSimon
2013/03/25

Simply Perfect

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Brendon Jones
2013/03/26

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

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Zlatica
2013/03/27

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

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rbrb
2013/03/28

I have deducted 2 marks due to the ludicrous disclaimer by the film makers at the beginning of the movie. The lead actor in this "fiction" portrays someone who is a loathsome, unpleasant person, totally self centered, greedy and obsessed.In brief: a famous ex music producer is accused of picking up a woman, bringing her to his home and then when he did not get his way he put a gun in her mouth and shot her to death. After the killing he admitted to his chauffeur he had killed her. There was evidence at trial that on other occasions he had brought women home and threatened them in different ways with a gun.The defense argued the lack of blood splatter on his clothes shows the accused was not guilty and that the death was either an accident or suicide.As to the lack of blood splatter the defense lawyers could and should have found a way to show convincingly to the jury that that issue caused reasonable doubt.But obviously the defense failed to do that, and have to wonder if it was really an issue at all.The movie tries to persuade the viewer that however lacking in human kindness the accused is some how innocent. Well the jury thought otherwise; the appeal courts the same.....and me too!Decent performances in the picture, but sometimes the victims of such atrocities need a voice too and that is sadly lacking in this film:5/10.

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Girish Gowda
2013/03/29

Record producer Phil Spector (Al Pacino) hires Bruce Cutler (Jeffrey Tambor) to defend him when he's accused of murder. Cutler persuades Linda Kenney Baden (Helen Mirren) to advise him. While the prosecution's story is contradicted by facts in the case, there is convincing circumstantial evidence against Spector, not the least of which is his appearance. As Baden gradually takes over the defense, even as she is ill with pneumonia, she must find a way to introduce ballistic evidence in a dramatic enough fashion to plant doubt in the jury's mind. Calling Specter to testify may be the only way to stage the evidence. She coaches him and rehearses him: can he (and she) pull it off? Directed by David Mamet, this work is based on a real-life incident, but it comes with a disclaimer that its just a fictional tale. If anybody doesn't know about these people beforehand, then don't expect the movie to provide much more than surface level, superficial insight into the lives of these characters. Al Pacino, Helen Mirren and the rest of the highly qualified cast do a wonderful job in their mediocre roles. The movie doesn't have an electric tension as needed by such works and is slow and one can't help feeling that Phil Spector hid the whole truth from everyone right till the end. The one area where it excels is by not portraying the lead character, Linda as some sort of a hero or a villain, but as an efficient person who just does her job. Not terrible, but it lacks a point. Most of the titular character's monologues are... well, purely boring. I know that they didn't want to make a documentary, but the audience needs something to understand the main character, real or not. The whole movie builds up to the trial and it ends right before it. It was done on purpose, but the whole charade was dreadful, along with the wigs, which might actually have been the only things that imbibed characterization into Spector.5/10

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leplatypus
2013/03/30

This is at last an American movie who tells the truth: First, unlike many biopics today that hide the changes operated about the real facts, this one opens saying this is a work of fiction!Next, a bit like the writer Jackie Collins, this is one a few movie that depicts the hidden (real) face of celebrities, far away from shining stars and close to dark neurotics. This Phil Spector is a bit like a white King of Pop as he lives like a recluse in an outstanding mansion and if poised with musical talent, he is however totally unable to behave in the real life.It's also a kind of old school law movie as the criminal investigation is more about finding motives, witness, training the defendant and designing the murder instead of the boring analysis of the chemical elements of the evidence that we see today.So, it's really well written (in particular for an analysis of stardom) and as well directed: the opening of the mansion is really great and the huge office that the lawyers build for the case is also intriguing. Now, Al is really good here: as it's about an eccentric achiever, i found that he has the same energy and shouting power than he had in "Scarface". It's funny to see that Al and Phil really looks alike getting old. At 74, Al shows that he is really among the best actor ever but his career is to atypical to get the impact it should have. Doing TV movies to find attractive characters isn't paying for audience but it says also that screen movies, as Spielberg and Lynch warned, have turned into stinkers. Unfortunately, for those who wanted a repeat from his brilliant previous "Dr. Death", it doesn't happen: his co-star here Mirren really lacks of presence. Worst, the movie is ultra quick and ends abruptly.

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donaldgilbert
2013/03/31

I just read through the reviews (9 as of this writing) and I find reactions interesting yet predictable. Yes, we can talk about performances- Pacino is "masterful"! Mirren is "pure class"! Yes, we can talk about Mamet's writing style. I guess that, for me, these are reviews seemingly by film students and not people who paid attention to not the technical details but what the movie is about.It is, in my mind, less about Phil Spector, and more about the legal system, about understanding society's inclination toward prejudging, presuming guilt, casting the first stone, and it's inability to distinguish between an eccentric and a psychotic. As for the performances, did we suddenly expect poor acting from the talent of this cast? They're good actors and they delivered as expected. I don't think the reviews are helpful when they focus on such trivialities.Anyway, I thought it was interesting, reflective... but not a "masterpiece". Absolutely recommended- I'd say 7 stars.

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