rbrb I have deducted 2 marks due to the ludicrous disclaimer by the film makers at the beginning of the movie. The lead actor in this "fiction" portrays someone who is a loathsome, unpleasant person, totally self centered, greedy and obsessed.In brief: a famous ex music producer is accused of picking up a woman, bringing her to his home and then when he did not get his way he put a gun in her mouth and shot her to death. After the killing he admitted to his chauffeur he had killed her. There was evidence at trial that on other occasions he had brought women home and threatened them in different ways with a gun.The defense argued the lack of blood splatter on his clothes shows the accused was not guilty and that the death was either an accident or suicide.As to the lack of blood splatter the defense lawyers could and should have found a way to show convincingly to the jury that that issue caused reasonable doubt.But obviously the defense failed to do that, and have to wonder if it was really an issue at all.The movie tries to persuade the viewer that however lacking in human kindness the accused is some how innocent. Well the jury thought otherwise; the appeal courts the same.....and me too!Decent performances in the picture, but sometimes the victims of such atrocities need a voice too and that is sadly lacking in this film:5/10.

SnoopyStyle Legendary record producer Phil Spector (Al Pacino) is accused of murdering Lana Clarkson. He insists that she killed herself. His defense attorney Bruce Cutler (Jeffrey Tambor) hires consultant Linda Kenney Baden (Helen Mirren) to help. The evidence is circumstantial but the most damning is probably Spector himself.With David Mamet, Al Pacino, and Helen Mirren, I had greater hopes. Sure it's just a TV movie but HBO likes to think of themselves as more than TV. It's mostly about the behind the scenes of the defense during the trial as they cobble the evidence together. Without both sides, the movie feels like it's missing something. Pacino is throwing a lot into his performance. Mirren is solid. The most interesting part for me is the opening text of NOT based on a true story. After that, some of the inside baseball looked interesting. The case isn't that complicated. I come away with the feeling that this is only the most superficial of a look inside of Spector's mind.

lance-758-562232 Pacino delivers another epic performance absolutely nailing Phil Spector. Helen Mirren was great. David Mamet's writing and dialog are absolutely brilliant. Now, I don't know about the accuracy of the piece, but it is so powerfully convincing, I could believe it to be the truth. Whether or not was irrelevant to me as the film states upfront that it is not intended to be interpreted as an absolute representation of fact. I mean, the media is more propaganda than anything else, why would one 'expect' gospel truth from a movie?With the predominance of Shlock in today's film world, I found this to be highly entertaining, I was completely absorbed and thoroughly enjoyed the ride it took me on.

Girish Gowda Record producer Phil Spector (Al Pacino) hires Bruce Cutler (Jeffrey Tambor) to defend him when he's accused of murder. Cutler persuades Linda Kenney Baden (Helen Mirren) to advise him. While the prosecution's story is contradicted by facts in the case, there is convincing circumstantial evidence against Spector, not the least of which is his appearance. As Baden gradually takes over the defense, even as she is ill with pneumonia, she must find a way to introduce ballistic evidence in a dramatic enough fashion to plant doubt in the jury's mind. Calling Specter to testify may be the only way to stage the evidence. She coaches him and rehearses him: can he (and she) pull it off? Directed by David Mamet, this work is based on a real-life incident, but it comes with a disclaimer that its just a fictional tale. If anybody doesn't know about these people beforehand, then don't expect the movie to provide much more than surface level, superficial insight into the lives of these characters. Al Pacino, Helen Mirren and the rest of the highly qualified cast do a wonderful job in their mediocre roles. The movie doesn't have an electric tension as needed by such works and is slow and one can't help feeling that Phil Spector hid the whole truth from everyone right till the end. The one area where it excels is by not portraying the lead character, Linda as some sort of a hero or a villain, but as an efficient person who just does her job. Not terrible, but it lacks a point. Most of the titular character's monologues are... well, purely boring. I know that they didn't want to make a documentary, but the audience needs something to understand the main character, real or not. The whole movie builds up to the trial and it ends right before it. It was done on purpose, but the whole charade was dreadful, along with the wigs, which might actually have been the only things that imbibed characterization into Spector.5/10