CONVICTION

CAROLINE: Conviction is a new movie from actor/director Tony Goldwyn, who we recently saw on Broadway in Promises, Promises.RYAN: I love him!CAROLINE: This movie is based on an amazing true story. Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell play brother and sister, and they both give great performances.RYAN: I was really looking forward to this movie because of the cast and the fact that it's based on real life, plus all the legal stuff. It almost seemed Erin Brockovich-ish in a way. I wasn't terribly disappointed by it, but it does have much more of an indie feel.CAROLINE: I loved this movie. It's definitely not as glossy as Erin Brockovich, but I liked that about it. I was completely taken with the performances and I totally wept. Hilary Swank, as we know, makes a good movie every five years, and this is her offering for 2010. I was expecting her to be great, and she is; but Sam Rockwell truly blew me away.RYAN: I think he's on the level of Edward Norton in this movie. He's so committed to the character, which isn't all that different from Edward Norton's in Stone, actually. But I thought Hilary was equally fabulous. I like her in everything she does, even the movies where she's miscast.CAROLINE: She and Sam both do great Boston accents. It was not at all painful to listen to as it sometimes can be when an actor does a new accent. There's also a trio of Oscar nominees in supporting roles - Juliette Lewis, Melissa Leo and Minnie Driver.RYAN: We need to break them down individually. I feel like Melissa Leo is so underrated.CAROLINE: I loved Juliette Lewis. She's been popping up in a lot of movies lately in smaller roles, and I love seeing her every time. She kind of deserves more, but maybe she's found her niche as a character actress.RYAN: She is amazing in this movie. She went so above and beyond to create a character for what really isn't that large a role.CAROLINE: And Minnie Driver was great too. I don't know why she got the shaft after Good Will Hunting, because she totally holds her own.RYAN: I've always liked her too and have never understood why she's so underrated. The only thing she's done that threw me was playing Carlotta in the movie version of Phantom of the Opera where someone had to dub in her singing voice. That made no sense.CAROLINE: By now, we've all seen a lot about the story behind Conviction - it's been on the Today Show and all over the news and the internet. Basically the brother is sent to jail on a murder charge, and his sister spends 18 years getting a G.E.D., a B.A. and then a law degree just to act as his lawyer and get him out of jail since she believes he was wrongly convicted. She sacrifices her whole life for him, and it's an incredible story. It will totally move you, even if you know how it turns out in the end. I was riveted from start to finish.RYAN: You totally feel every emotion that Hilary Swank's character goes through. I love it when a movie transports me like that. And I loved her makeover moment when Minnie Driver gets her to look like a real lawyer.CAROLINE: It's such a great story, and knowing that it all really happened just makes it that much more fun to watch. Even though we've all seen lots of "based on a true story" movies before and you might think it's cheesy, I'd encourage one and all to see this movie. It's not at all preachy or treacly.-- BOTTOM LINE --RYAN: It's a well made movie coming out at the right time of year. I can definitely see Oscar nominations happening in the acting categories.CAROLINE: I'd love to see Sam Rockwell get nominated for this. I think he's proven himself by this point. I really loved this movie; it moved me and I'm happy that this story is being given the big screen treatment. It's so worthy.-- RATING --Cheeky & Fresh Movie Reviews

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Leonardo DiCaprio Will Murder as 'The Devil in the White City'

We've already reported that Clint Eastwood's forthcoming biopic Hoover will see Leonardo DiCaprio as the titular FBI director of the same name, but following that project, the actor has lined up quite a role like nothing he's ever done before. Deadline reports DiCaprio's Appian Way production banner has teamed with Double Features to snag the rights to The Devil in the White City, a non-fiction book by Erik Larson that tells the story of H.H. Holmes, one of the first documented American serial killers who is believed to have murdered anywhere from 27 to 200 people when the city of Chicago was enthralled with hosting the World's Fair of 1893.

In a scheme that would make Jigsaw blush, Holmes manipulated an old woman into selling her cancer-stricken husband's drug store only to "move to California" shortly thereafter. Then he purchased a lot across from the drugstore where he built ...

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Box Office Results

1. The Social Network, $23 million2. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, $10.9 million3. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, $10.1 million4. The Town, $10 million5. Easy A, $7 million6. You Again, $5.6 million7. Case 39, $5.4 million8. Let Me In, $5.3 million9. Devil, $3.7 million10. Alpha and Omega, $3 millionRYAN: The Facebook movie won out this weekend as we had predicted. I thought it would clock in at about $25 mill so this was pretty close.CAROLINE: The buzz surrounding this movie has been fantastic and I'm sure it will continue to do well over the next few weeks.RYAN: It's interesting since it's a movie about nerdy guys and new media but Facebook is such a phenomenon... and the casting worked well too. If it wins best picture, what does it mean for JT's career?CAROLINE: He has said he's not working on music at this time so he might actually have his sight set on movie stardom.RYAN: We do enjoy him comically on SNL and such and now he's proving himself dramatically as well.CAROLINE: The two other new movies this week both pretty much flopped: the thrillers Let Me In and Renee Zellweger's Case 39.RYAN: Renee's movie infamously sat on the shelf for years and was sort of just tucked away this weekend.CAROLINE: But you'd still think they would have done some press since she costars with Bradly Cooper and they're rumored to date but it must just be a travesty of a film.RYAN: And although slipping to #3, Wall Street 2 held its own again this weekend.CAROLINE: So did those random 3D owls.RYAN: That's a hoot!CAROLINE: Oh no you di'int!Cheeky & Fresh Movie Reviews

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Get Your First Look at the Teaser Poster for Kevin Smith's Red State!

Cop Out director Kevin Smith recently wrapped up production on his forthcoming horror flick Red State, which the director hopes will find distribution for release in 2011. At the wrap party, Smith had already edited a rough cut of the film together, and as a treat for fans this Halloween, revealed the film's teaser poster on his blog! Check out the poster below, and keep an eye out for more Red State news as it becomes available! Click the thumbnail to view larger:  

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Britt Reid and Kato Zoom into Action on the New Green Hornet Poster!

Columbia Pictures has released another cool poster for Michel Gondry's The Green Hornet, starring Seth Rogen and Jay Chou. The previous poster featured a very cool hornet logo being made by the lights of the Black Beauty, but this time, we get to see some machine gun action. Check out the poster below, and see all of our Green Hornet pictures in the gallery! The Green Hornet blasts into theaters January 14th, 2011. Click the thumbnail to view larger:

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LET ME IN

RYAN: Let Me In is the remake of a Swedish vampire movie from two years ago, Let The Right One In, which I saw and you did not.CAROLINE: As you know, I'm not a big fan of horror movies and definitely not of scary vampire movies. This is not Twilight, people. But I was curious to see this movie since I'd such great things about the original. And then I had to suffer through this movie alone, since you'd seen it ahead of me. Not that I hated it; but ugh, it's disgusting in parts.RYAN: I wonder if you would have reacted differently if we'd seen the movie together. It's hard to see scary movies alone. And though it doesn't have the romantic angle of Twilight, it does have the lil' actress we love from Kick-Ass, Chloe Moretz.CAROLINE: She definitely contributed to my enjoyment of the movie, as did Richard Jenkins in the "father" role. You'll have to see the movie to know why I put "father" in quotes.RYAN: This is one of the darkest, creepiest, most stylized vampire movies in a while, and I found it richer and deeper than even Interview with a Vampire, which you know I love.CAROLINE: It's an interesting movie, but I got really bogged down in the vampire stuff. I was like, "Another vampire movie? Really?" There has been such a glut of this genre in books, TV and film over the last few years. I get it, already - she never gets cold, she sleeps during the day and plays at night, she needs blood to survive. It's getting tired. I didn't feel like this movie showed me anything new other than that the main characters are two kids.RYAN: Well, vampire lore is ever present in movies of this genre, and this movie wasn't going to change any of that. But what it does do is tell the story of a vampire in a way that makes it seem like vampires really could live among us.CAROLINE: Maybe in your fantasy world, honey. I'm over it. I didn't need to see another movie about vampires, even if it's pretty well made. It's by the same director as Cloverfield, incidentally.RYAN: Well, I'm a fan of this genre, and I really liked this movie. There are a couple of moments that stood out to me as so visually frightening that I had trouble sleeping that night.CAROLINE: It's absolutely gruesome. I actually had to look away a couple times. In that sense, this is basically a horror movie. It's bloody, gory, disturbing and hard to watch at times.RYAN: Yes, it is, but it's not like a slasher film. The gore, albeit grisly, is appropriate for the movie. Little Chloe Moretz's face when she becomes a vampire is so scary.CAROLINE: They did a good makeup job on her for those scenes, but the CGI of her attacking people or climbing trees is pretty awful. Worse than Twilight even, which was laughable.RYAN: I can't disagree with you there. I think the Quidditch CGI in the first Harry Potter movie nine years ago was better. But I loved Chloe Moretz. It's tough to do a role like this at her age, like Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire. But I think Chloe's even better.CAROLINE: I like her too, and I can't wait to see what happens with her career, but aside from looking sullen, disturbed and bloodthirsty, what else did she have to do in this movie?RYAN: Act. And I thought her performance was great.CAROLINE: Fair enough. How did this movie compare to the original for you?RYAN: Honestly, I didn't remember a lot of this first movie, so this one seemed fresh to me. But it's pretty identical to the original, which is good for fans of the first ones. They didn't take too many liberties.CAROLINE: My problem with the movie, other than the whole vampire thing being played out, is that it felt too long. It's almost two hours, and I kept thinking it was ending and then there would be more. One part felt like a definitive ending, but then there were 10 more minutes, and I really just wanted to go home. Having said that, the final scene on the train is pretty cool.-- BOTTOM LINE --RYAN: I'm glad they remade this movie for American audiences because I think it's a good story; but it is a little bit slow. It's a step above other vampire movies in terms of quality and originality and the way the story unfolds. I'd recommend seeing it on the big screen for horror fans.CAROLINE: To me, this is movie only for true vampire fans. It's pretty well done and I liked the actors - other than the main kid whose haircut drove me crazy. It's dark and moody but not a must see unless you love the genre.-- RATING --Cheeky & Fresh Movie Reviews

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Director Brian Taylor Talks Better Special FX for 'Ghost Rider 2'

I'm amazed to see that Crank directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are actually still directing Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance for Sony, but apparently they have been given the greenlight and shooting is underway in Eastern Europe. If you've been following Neveldine/Taylor on Twitter, you may have noticed a tweet they wrote recently saying that "the dual role of blaze/zarathos will be a nic cage [sic] classic." That tweet caused a bit of confusion amongst fans, so Collider got in touch with Brian Taylor and got clarification by way of an answer that actually explains how they're using even better special effects than the first movie.

Taylor explained that "Zarathos is the Spirit of Vengeance that inhabits John[ny] Blaze when he becomes Ghost Rider. Unlike the 1st movie, where the rider was stiffly acted out by a various stunt guys, Nic will be playing all the Ghost Rider stuff himself ...

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