Columbus Circle (2012)

the audience applauded

Boring

Beautiful, moving film.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

A intelligent and suspenseful script makes this outstanding film a real treat. Sharply directed and beautifully filmed, Columbus Circle is easily ranked in the top ten tension filled movies in the last decade. The cast is truly incredible and the performances are unforgettable. It is, however, Selma Blair's stunning work here that really sets the screen on fire. Her smoldering beauty is only exceeded by her gifts as an actor and as the protagonist in the film, she gives what is nothing less than the performance of her career. She carries the story with grace and gravitas and because of her the story never loses momentum up to its shattering climax. One shock is followed by another as each surprising layer of this onion-like plot is peeled back, revealing the almost overwhelming truth.

Before watching this movie I wanted to like it. Being a fan of many of the actors in this movie I thought it had the potential to be unknown yet good movie, unfortunately that is not the case. The premise was interesting a murder takes place in the room opposite from a woman with Agoraphobia and hasn't left her apartment in 11 years and from then on the direction of the film follows around this character. From then on the movie starts to fall apart, some of the acting verges on being poor,many of the films concepts become implausible and the films conclusion is just embarrassing. However, the film isn't a complete loss, the story is enough to keep the movie at least quite interesting and is filled with many twists some of which lead to the films finest moments. Also, Kevin Pollak and Giovanni Ribisi put in performances that are at least rather good which is a shame due to their limited screen time.In the end the film is so concerned in throwing as many twists as possible into it that it forgets in how to carry a story and in the end is left in a mess. In my opinion the movie is watchable yet but not good and I would be shocked if anybody were to find this movie anything higher than good. If presented with the opportunity of watching other movies viewers should look into taking a chance elsewhere.

I can't be so cruel as the reviewer who said the film should never have been made, but it certainly would not be a critical success for me. Aside from the gratuitous final line that is surely designed to inspire confusion, the film was so predictable that I was at least two steps ahead of the plot at every turn. But then solid understanding of the film noir tradition might have helped, as we see the twists and rapid resolution applied to so many other types of pictures these days. One sitting for this one is, however, more than enough.Oh, the visuals are good, lighting, etc, but the story simply doesn't approach engrossing

There is a general rule of thumb that the more characters have to explain story elements, the less good the movie is. And this one certainly is in that category. The story had no real "snap" to it, but the characters kept things interesting enough to keep watching. It is a movie where no one is what they seem to be when we are first introduced to them.Selma Blair is simply Abigail. She lives in an expensive apartment at Columbus Circle in New York but never leaves and the shades are usually drawn to keep it dark inside. The man at the desk has never seen her even though he has been there several years. He communicates with her via notes under the door.It turns out she is heiress to a very large fortune, and tries to buy the apartment across the hall when it becomes vacant after the death of its elderly owner. But before she has a chance to a couple move in, Amy Smart as Lillian Hart and her boyfriend Jason Lee as Charles Stratford. They are a discomfort to Abigail right away, with their loud arguments, and she witnesses, via the peephole, Charles beating Lillian. So she does the neighborly thing, drags her into her own to comfort her.Giovanni Ribisi is Detective Frank Giardello who shows up to investigate the death of the elderly woman, he thinks it may not have been an accident when she fell from her upper floor to her death. Kevin Pollak is Klandermann, the man at the front desk. Beau Bridges is Abigail's doctor and old family friend Dr. Raymond Fontaine .It turns out that Abigail was not really her name, and almost everyone else was after her fortune. Many of the cast members were producers and/or writers for this movie. There is some good and some bad in that.SPOILERS: The couple that moved in were responsible for the elderly lady's death, as part of their ruse to get close to Abigail. The couple's fights were fakes, to gain access to her apartment, so they could install a spy bot on her computer to steal her banking password. They even killed Dr. Fontaine to keep him quiet. They planned to steal her millions and skip the country. But in a fake argument where the man was shot with blanks, Abigail "defended" Lillian, stabbing Charles to death. Later when Abigail discovered she had been duped she managed to transfer funds out of her account right as Lillian was at the bank to withdraw them, all that was left was $7.52. Her plan was foiled, her boyfriend was dead.