Columbus Circle (2012)

I watched this film without having read any reviews or heard anything about it. The fact that it contained Selma Blair, Amy Smart and Kevin Pollack was enough of a recommendation for me. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I was not disappointed. In fact, I was somewhat startled by the number of negative reactions. I guess they are fans of shoot em ups while I like a more atmospheric, intellectual movie. This is not a great movie but it is a good movie. I thought of it as a homage to the psychological thrillers of the forties and fifties. Pollak, as always, is superb and both Blair and Smart do credible turns. The twist at the end is fairly predictable but at the same time satisfying. Well worth watching, at home, on a chilly evening.

A murder of an elderly lady resident in the high rise apartments of Columbus Circle initiates the story. However the death is made to seem to be an unfortunate accident with her falling down a flight of stairs. Despite reservations by detective Frank Giardello (Giovanni Ribisi) the crime is noted as accidental. Opposite the apartment lives reclusive and agoraphobic Abigail (Selma Blair), a sole heir to an immense fortune, but haunted by memories of fatherly abuse. Soon after the death a new couple move opposite Abigail: the beautiful Lilian Hart (Amy Smart) and her abusive partner Charles Stratford (Jason Lee).Intent on igniting claustrophobic tension camera angles sweep and swerve, music circles and entraps, but overall atmosphere appears in short fits to dissipate thanks to an overall terrible performing cast, visibly unconvinced by the story being portrayed. Especially Blari and Smart fail to induce a sense of feasibility, not helped by the wandering script lightening up plot-hole receptors and creating a sense of ever-growing implausibility. The whole story is also overly predictable with clichéd scenes fronted by film school trademark shots completing this unimaginative and borderline repetitive movie. Despite the best Hitchcock inspired intentions "Columbus Circle" requires a high level of gullibility with its occasionally farcical acting.

I am one of those people who will buy a DVD if Selma Blair is in it, because she intrigues me. Even though she really comes from Michigan and is not from the East Coast at all, she nevertheless manages convincingly to come across as an East Coast preppie. I am not sure how she does that, especially as she did not attend university where she could have honed her skills at preppie-ness. A film preppie of an earlier generation is Stockard Channing, and in her case she was from the East Coast and attended Radcliffe, where she even achieved summa cum laude. So she is a real 'natural'. Perhaps the most famous preppie-on-film was the character Annie Hall, played by Diane Keaton in Woody Allen's ANNIE HALL (1977), but Keaton is a California gal, which is ever further west than Michigan, or so they say (is it all in the mind?). Yet another convincing film preppie when she wants to be is Michael Michele, at least as she appeared in the excellent TV series CENTRAL PARK WEST (1995), and she comes from Evansville, Indiana. So how do they do it, these hicks from the sticks (by which I mean girls who come from faraway and obscure places like California, Michigan, and Indiana)? How do they 'prep'? In fact, what is a preppie anyway? I used to wonder that very thing when I knew a lot of them long ago, in the days when they all wore identical tartan wraparound skirts held with gigantic safety pins and white socks, and earnestly pressed their clipboards to their breasts as they walked between classes at university. Preppies are above all a tribe, and to defy the tribal dress code is to invite ostracism. But never mind, let's get back to the film. (Or did we never even start on the film?) So there we were, Selma Blair is being a preppie again. This time she is a neurotic rich-girl recluse who is hiding out in style in a luxurious penthouse apartment overlooking Columbus Circle in New York City. She has agoraphobia and cannot go out. Then she becomes targeted by unscrupulous folk who, surprise surprise, do not love her for herself alone but who want her money. Who ever heard of such a thing in NYC? They work on her vulnerabilities and are incredibly clever and devious in their plan to steal all her money. It is hair-raising stuff. Written and directed by George Gallo, this film could really have clicked, but it falls short of being a convincingly tense mystery thriller in the latter part of the film. Selma Blair is entirely convincing as the girl, and was the perfect choice for the part. But the script really needed more work and thought. A miss, not a hit, but still worth seeing.

This interesting suspense movie deals with a young woman named Abigail Clayton (Selma Blair) who lives deeply alone . She is a heiress who's been shut inside her apartment building for nearly two decades is forced to confront her fears after one of her neighbors is killed . The famous daughter of a wealthy industrialist, Abigail disappeared from the prying eyes of the press and the intrusiveness of her family on her 18th birthday, the day she received her massive inheritance. During years of self-imposed isolation, Abigail has had contact with only two people-her building's Concierge, Klandermann, with whom she communicates via notes-and Dr. Raymond Fontaine (Beau Bridges) , a longtime family friend . When there happens the death of her elderly neighbor , Police arrives to begin the investigation and prompts NYPD Homicide Detective Frank Giardello (also producer Giovanni Ribisi was previously in George Gallo's earlier movie Middle Men) and Detective Jerry Eaans (Jason Antoon) to launch an investigation, the Abigail is distressed to find him outside her door, asking to question her. Having tried to acquire the dead woman's now vacant apartment to ensure her privacy, Abigail is further upset when her requests go unanswered, and new tenants Lillian and Charlie move in. Abigail anxiously monitors her new neighbors from the safety of her front door's peephole, but her well-ordered world begins to unravel when she finally encounters Lillian (Amy Smart) and Charlie (First non-comedic film for Jason Lee since The Ballad of Jack and Rose) face-to-face-and her sheltered existence becomes threatened in unexpected and terrifying ways.This is a nail-biting and exciting thriller well directed by George Gallo . The film contains suspense , thrills , twits and turns . From start to final the intrigue and thrilling scenes are continuous . This is a picture made among friends , as most of them either play , write or produce such as Giovanni Ribisi , Jason Lee and Kevin Polack . Good performance from Selma Blair as the attractive agoraphobic heiress who has not left her Manhattan loft apartment for almost two decades. All-star-support-cast formed by known actors as Jason Lee , Kevin Pollack , Robert Guillaume and the veteran Beau Bridges as a Doctor and her sole confidant for most of her life . Suspenseful and moving musical score by Brian Tyler . Colorful though sometimes dark cinematography by Anastas Michos . The flick was compellingly written and realized by George Gallo . He is a prestigious writer such as ¨Bad boys I and II ¨ and ¨Midnight run¨ ; being an expert filmmaker on comedy genre as proved in ¨My mom's new boyfriend¨ , Double take¨ , and ¨Trapped in Paradise¨ . His greatest success is ¨The middle man¨ and ¨Colombus Circle¨ results to be his only thriller .