{"id":3936,"date":"2012-02-28T08:26:24","date_gmt":"2012-02-28T16:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=3936"},"modified":"2021-05-28T16:37:49","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T23:37:49","slug":"review-columbuscircle-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2012\/02\/review-columbuscircle-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Columbus Circle Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s a shame Columbus Circle<\/em><\/strong> wasn\u2019t better as it has a good cast and, at its core, at least an interesting premise. Although the script does them no favors, I give a pass to the cast as they seem to struggle through stilted dialogue and contrived situations, especially a finale that flies in the face of what we watched before.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>
\nColumbus Circle (2012)<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nREVIEW NAVIGATION<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Movie<\/a> | Special Features<\/a> | Video Quality<\/a> | Audio Quality<\/a> | Overall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Genre(s): <\/strong>Suspense, Thriller
\nUniversal | PG13 \u2013 86 min. \u2013 $26.98 | March 6, 2012<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:<\/span>
\nDirected by: <\/strong>George Gallo
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>George Gallo and Kevin Pollak
\nCast: <\/strong>Selma Blair, Amy Smart, Kevin Pollak, Giovanni Ribisi, Beau Bridges, Jason Lee<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:<\/span>
\nFeatures: <\/strong>None
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>1<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 2.40
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, French, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>NA
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C (unconfirmed)<\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 2.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Note: <\/strong>This review does contain spoilers, although a good number of them are revealed half way through so there\u2019s nothing major except for one which I will give an extra warning for…<\/p>\n

Columbus Circle<\/em><\/strong> is the latest in the line of Hitchock-lite suspense-thrillers that have been released over the years and save for a few plot holes or, at the very least, leaps in logic; it\u2019s not a bad little film. There were a couple things I learned from the movie: 1. upscale apartments have some of the weirdest tenants and 2. Selma Blair is still gorgeous and needs to do more films.<\/p>\n

The movie centers on a young woman named Abigail Clayton (SELMA BLAIR), an agoraphobic who has not been outside of her apartment in over a decade. Her childhood was hell with an alcoholic and abusive, but rich, father (he had passed away a few years back). After her parents die, she inherits hundreds of millions of dollars and decides to disappear from society completely, changing her name with the tabloid media still speculating on her whereabouts today. There\u2019s only one person who she trusts (danger Will Robinson, danger!), Ray Fontaine (BEAU BRIDGES), a former partner of her father\u2019s and somebody she counts on for support.<\/p>\n

Abigail\u2019s safe little world begins to crumble when her elderly neighbor across the street is murdered and although it\u2019s made to look like an accidental fall down the stairs, Detective Frank Giardello (GIOVANNI RIBISI) believes otherwise. Per standard protocol, he interviews Abigail to find out if she saw or heard anything but the conversation is, at best, one sided as she\u2019s quite uncomfortable with him being in her home.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, even before her neighbor\u2019s body is cold, she inquires about possibly renting that apartment as well so she can have even more comfort without having to deal with new neighbors (note: marrying a sheik, she\u2019s worth into the hundreds of millions). Her letter apparently does nothing to persuade whoever was in charge because two weeks after the incident, a real estate agent is showing young couple Charles Stanford (JASON LEE) and Lillian Hart (AMY SMART) the apartment.<\/p>\n

The couple seems nice enough but one night Charles is drunk and starts beating on Lillian. This triggers painful memories for Abigail as she too was abused as a child and finds a connection with Lillian. So, she gets out of her comfort zone and as Lillian is battered and bruised in the hallway, Abigail brings Lillian into her apartment before Charlie can come back to do more abuse.<\/p>\n

Not everything is at it seems and about half-way through, the first twist is revealed: the whole abuse situation was just a ruse to get Lillian to befriend Abby. See, they know who she is and are after her vast fortune knowing they can get away with it since Abby doesn\u2019t even really exist and nobody really knows who she is. Their first task is, while Lillian tries to get Abby to overcome her Agoraphobia by taking her into the hallway, Charlie, acting drunk, gets into Abby\u2019s apartment and installs a virus onto her computer that will grab any passwords she enters which would allow them access into her bank account.<\/p>\n

Charlie succeeds and Abby is none the wiser, though the incident pushes her back into her emotional turmoil and she kicks Lillian out of her life completely. Now all the couple has to do is be patient and Abby\u2019s fortunes will be theirs. Unfortunately, the building manager named Joseph Klandermann (KEVIN POLLAK) who takes care of any of the tenants needs including getting any supplies for Abby she requests via notes slid under the door. Well, old Klandermann just so happens to know Charlie… from jail and know something\u2019s up. Chaos ensues but will Charlie and Lillian get the money or will Abigail find out just in the nick of time?<\/p>\n

Major Spoiler Territory!
\n[bg_collapse view=”button-blue” color=”#4a4949″ expand_text=”Show More” collapse_text=”Show Less” ]<\/strong>
\nAlright, enough with the plot, it\u2019s actually even more simple than I outlined, though there is one more obvious twist not too long after the first twist is revealed. First, the bad for Columbus Circle<\/em><\/strong>: there are not so much plot holes bogging down the script but leaps in logic and coincidence. For one, you have the happenstance meeting of Klandermann and Charlie; you have character outright pissing off somebody they know has committed murder by either shutting down the scam or blackmailing them for a piece of the pie never believing he (or she) would kill them; and last, and the most egregious, despite her extreme agoraphobia, within an hour or so, Abigail seems cured enough to not only leave her apartment \u2014 remember, she could barely even stand up to get halfway down a hallway \u2014 she manages to go on the streets of NYC with no problems whatsoever. What happened? Did she take some strong medication or something? This made no sense and really took an otherwise decent movie down a large notch.
\n[\/bg_collapse]<\/strong>
\nEnd Spoilers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Plot\/character inconsistencies aside, I actually quite enjoyed Columbus Circle<\/em><\/strong>, albeit with an 80-minute running time (without credits), it does come across as an episode of \u201cCSI: NY\u201d, just with more perspective on the victim\/suspect than the detective work. In any case, it\u2019s a brisk thriller to get through and on that front, I found it at the very least watchable if not in the end a tad forgettable.<\/p>\n

With regards to the cast, I\u2019ll give some kudos to Selma Blair who has been mostly MIA tackling smaller projects (like this) and while I can\u2019t say her performance here is anything exceptional it\u2019s hard for me to see her do any better with an overwrought script that I can\u2019t imagine an Oscar-winning actress being able to pull off.<\/p>\n

The supporting cast also does well enough (all things considered). Jason Lee and Giovanni Ribisi are sadly underused but I would assume they did this for scale (the pair also served as executive producers) so for their limited parts, Ribisi especially, they were at least effective. Similarly, Kevin Pollak, who co-wrote the screenplay and was a co-producer, gives a good enough performance. For her part, Amy Smart shows off a bit more darker side and I guess well enough for what she was given. She\u2019s set up as a good adversary to Blair and although this is hardly her best performance, she provides the right amount of presence to pull off the limited role.<\/p>\n

Co-written and directed by George Gallo (Middle Men<\/em>), Columbus Circle<\/em><\/strong> should\u2019ve and could\u2019ve been so much better and while the screenplay does fail big time in terms of logic and wasting the talents of an otherwise talented cast, I have to admit that it\u2019s at least an enjoyable film to watch on a slow Saturday afternoon. Despite its flaws, I\u2019d give this a soft rental recommendation, but even then keep your expectations in check).<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Unfortunately, other than some previews<\/strong> (Rosewood Lane<\/em>, Cat Run<\/em>, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy<\/em>, Killer Elite<\/em>), no features were included…<\/p>\n

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VIDEO \u2013 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Universal Studios Home Entertainment releases Columbus Circle<\/em><\/strong> on Blu-ray with a good looking 1080p high-def transfer. The movie is presented with a 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and although I\u2019d hardly call it eye-popping brilliant, it\u2019s still well detailed with good black levels throughout. The color array is also well balanced without looking oversaturated.
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AUDIO \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is OK with some heavy bass through the generic thriller opening credits otherwise the rest of the movie is mainly dialogue driven which makes more use of the center channel than any of the others. There is some ambient noise, including yelling and screaming, that occurs off-screen that comes through the front and rear speakers, however.<\/p>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 2.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, it\u2019s a shame Columbus Circle<\/em><\/strong> wasn\u2019t better as it has a good cast and, at its core, at least an interesting premise. Although the script does them no favors, I give a pass to the cast as they seem to struggle through stilted dialogue and contrived situations, especially a finale that flies in the face of what we watched before. Even so, I found this to be passable entertainment and enough for a quick watch on a weekend where there\u2019s nothing else on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Movieman<\/em>
\nPublished: <\/strong>02\/28\/2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a shame Columbus Circle wasn\u2019t better as it has a good cast and, at its core, at least an interesting premise. Although the script does them no favors, I give a pass to the cast as they seem to struggle through stilted dialogue and contrived situations, especially a finale that flies in the face … Continue reading “Columbus Circle Blu-ray Review”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1126,242,1286,1287,243,356,953],"class_list":["post-3936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-amy-smart","tag-beau-bridges","tag-columbus-circle","tag-giovanni-ribisi","tag-jason-lee","tag-kevin-pollak","tag-selma-blair"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3936"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26126,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3936\/revisions\/26126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}