The star chamber
Michael Douglas stars as a judge who is getting steadily depressed at letting off rapists and killers due to technicalities, eventually his friend (Hal Holbrook) informs him of a group that holds secret trials on guilty crooks and dispensing death penalties on those found guilty. Douglas relishes his membership of the group but begins to have doubts when he discovers two guilty men might actually be innocent.
Mostly The star chamberis an enjoyable piece of tabloid fluff that aspires to more than it reaches. Its premise is basically a straw man set up that shows the worst kinds of crimes getting away thanks to skilful public defenders and legal arguments that would not pass in a real court. The sort of logic that informs the comments pages of most online newspapers. However it attempts to suggests that this might not work as well as people would hope and the end is open to the interpretations of the audience. The blu-ray is locked region A but looks great.
Coma
A rare for the time female led thriller with Genevieve Bujold discovering a conspiracy after patients at a hospital begin falling into unexplained coma's. Its gripping stuff and Bujold manages to hold it together with Michael douglas providing a great supporting role.
Grimsby
Sascha Baron-coens comedy works best imo when he's confronting people who are not in on the joke, as he moves away from that format the comedy suffers and this one is very hit and miss. I must confess I chuckled at the scene where the film stops everything to show Daniel Radcliffe contracting AIDS (i'm going to hell, I know but its funny) for no real reason at all. Beyond that there are a lot of gags that feel forced, jokes plundered from saturday night live sketches (most notably the jepordy sketches) and a central plot that pilfers a lot from kingsman. Its one probably best left for netflix.
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