trial is expected to last two weeks, and opening statements are set for Oct. trial, and said she would hold off on ruling about whether to exclude that information. Lench advised the prosecution to consider whether it wants to include Haley in the L.A. Werksman warned if that conviction is overturned, that could become an appellate issue in Los Angeles. will be informed of one of the guilty verdicts, pertaining to Miriam Haley. If Weinstein’s conviction is overturned, that could impact the Los Angeles trial.
Werksman argued that the Los Angeles trial should be delayed until the Court of Appeals has decided the New York case. Weinstein is serving a 23-year sentence after being found guilty in February 2020 of rape and sexual assault. Werksman also noted that the New York Court of Appeals - the highest court in that state - agreed last week to hear Weinstein’s appeal of his New York conviction. “I’m not continuing the trial,” said Judge Lisa B. And at that point, jurors might have already seen the film. He noted that the film is likely to be in the conversation during awards season next February and March - which would mean a fresh round of publicity. From time to time, there'll be a closeup of Aaron Eckhart screaming something, for example, and on either side of that shot, there will be unrelated shots of incomprehensible action.“This is guaranteed to be a big deal in the public consciousness,” Werksman said.īut Paul Thompson, the lead prosecutor, argued that delaying the trial might carry its own risks. In a mess like this, the frame is filled with flashes and explosions and shots so brief that nothing makes sense. In a good movie, we understand where the heroes are, and where their opponents are, and why, and when they fire on each other, we understand the geometry. There is a lazy editing style in action movies these days that assumes nothing need make any sense visually. How, you may ask, did it tunnel for 10 or 12 blocks under Santa Monica to the battle lines at Lincoln Boulevard? Although these ships presumably arrived inside the meteors, one in particular exhibits uncanny versatility, by rising up from the Earth before the very eyes of the startled Marines. They're aggressively ugly and cluttered, the product of a planet where design has not been discovered and even the Coke bottles must look like pincushions. They seem to have been assembled by the proverbial tornado blowing through a junkyard. You gotta see the alien battleships in this movie. Although the platoon includes the usual buffet of ethnicities, including Latinos, Asians and a Nigerian surgeon, none of them get much more than a word or two in a row, so as characters, they're all placeholders. The dialogue consists almost entirely of terse screams: Watch it! Incoming! Move! Look out! Fire! Move! The only characters I remember having four sentences in a row are the anchors on cable news. He is also a fine actor, but acting skills are not required from anyone in this movie. Eckhart is perfectly cast, and let the word go forth that he makes one hell of a great-looking action hero. Nantz, a 20-year veteran who has something shady in his record, which people keep referring to, although screenwriter Christopher Bertolini is too cagey to come right out and describe it. Luckily, the other aliens are mostly seen in long shot, where they look like stick figures whipped up by apprentice animators.Īaron Eckhart stars as Staff Sgt. As the Marines use their combat knives to carve into the aliens, they find one layer after another of icky gelatinous pus-filled goo. Do they give Razzies for special effects? They seem to be animal/machine hybrids with automatic weapons growing from their arms, which must make it hard to change the baby. Since all of Los Angeles is frequently seen in flames, it's not entirely clear how the Santa Monica action is crucial, but apparently it is. They're helicoptered into Santa Monica and apparently defeat the aliens. We meet the members of a Marine platoon, and its battle-scarred Staff Sgt. No reason is given for this, although it's mentioned they may want our water. They contain alien troops, which march up from the beach with their weapons of war and attack mankind. Meteors fall to Earth near the coasts of the world's major cities (and in Ireland's Dingle Bay - that meteor must have strayed off course). You want to cut it up to clean under your fingernails. Here's a science-fiction film that's an insult to the words "science" and "fiction," and the hyphen in between them. Its manufacture is a reflection of appalling cynicism on the part of its makers, who don't even try to make it more than senseless chaos. "Battle: Los Angeles" is noisy, violent, ugly and stupid.