Tony Medley

(2012-04-23 07:16:55)

This muckracking film akin to Ida Tarbell and Lincoln Steffens exposes the multi-billion dollar purchasing scandal in the healthcare industry in the guise of an entertaining thriller.

ripe_51

(2012-04-22 21:07:35)

A great movie

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie but the reviews seem to go from oneextreme to the other, i belong the ones that really liked the movie.It's a great story (based on a true one) and the acting is top notchand seriously it is well worth watching, despite the bone crushingjudgement of some reviewers' (i bet some of them work for the "evil"greedy companies that this story is about :P jokes aside, i'm shockedhow appalling the movie's success is compared to how interesting thefilm is. Just see it for yourself, don't expect too much, then decide.If you're not a cynical a-hole, I reckon you'll enjoy the movie like idid.

Tony Heck

(2012-04-19 15:44:48)

A different take on the lawyer movie. Starts slow, by the end you are rooting for a drug addict. Not a usual thing. I say B+

"Sometimes the brightest light comes from the darkest places" This isthe true story about Mike Weiss (Evans) a personal injury lawyer whotakes on a huge health supply company after one of his clients isinfected with a dirty needle. The client is a nurse in a hospital thatuses plastic needles that are re-used over and over. Mike wants to makeit so every hospital only uses the one time use only needles that hisother client manufactures. The only problem is that Mike is a drugaddicted mess. This movie is deceiving. The first half hour to me was alittle slow and wasn't sure if I could make it through. When it pickedup, it really picked up and sucked me in. By the end of the movie youare very engrossed and are pulling for someone you normally wouldn't. Amovie much like "Runaway Jury" mixed with "The Lincoln Lawyer", notquite as good as "Lincoln Lawyer" though. Overall, a very good lawmovie that will make you think. I give it a B+.*Also try - Lincoln Lawyer & Runaway Jury

AudioFileZ

(2012-04-19 04:36:24)

Chris Evans Shines: Sometimes From The Darkest Place Comes A Bright Light.

Ever since the massive industrialization of Europe and America in thelate 1800's corruption has been a close bedfellow. It stands to followthat the bigger the industry the more unsavory, and in the dark, theshady manipulation of how that industry flourishes is apt to be.Healthcare, and related businesses, contributes a usually large shareof the GNP (~20%) in the US. It has been speculated to likely top 3-trillion dollars by 2011 (based on figures from the previous years).With so many wheels being greased by so much money it would seem hardto control unless there exists a banding together of the giants withinthe industry. That is what the movie "Puncture" explores: How thelargest health-care related purchasing organization has created analmost miraculous manipulation of the entire industry. It continues toaffect not only paying patients, but the frontline care providers suchas nurses, and to a larger extent the poorest countries whoseassociated outcomes circle back to spread disease (think AIDS) whichcircle the globe. More specifically, Puncture tells the story of how alone inventor created a needle that could prevent cross-contaminationby accidental pricks and re-use (the needle could only be used once).The retractable syringe remains, basically, blackballed by the largesthealth-care buying group monopoly. The only reason for this is purelygreed as the needle would be more expensive to produce (profit marginswould necessarily less). In other words, untold numbers of health-careproviders are at dramatically higher risk for contamination by life-threatening contagions. In a larger world view, lethal diseases arespreading with such efficiency due to the standard plastic syringe'sreuse that millions die annually, needlessly, because the retractablesyringe is not universally adopted. Think of it this way: untold miseryin our world could be dramatically reduced if the greedy bastards whocontrol the health-care business would just allow fair competition.Enter the lawyers, specifically one lawyer as no one, initially, wantedto take on this battle. Well, that was a lengthy setup, but it is thewhole reason this movie came to be. Still as of 2012 dangerous plasticsyringes that can, and are, being reused are still the US, as well asworld standard. Change is slow, even with incalculable needless deathshanging in the balance. So, this movie has something important to saybesides the story itself. Perhaps, out of this most dark place thebrightest light may shine to illuminate the tremendous human sufferingthis is causing and will thus affect change. Puncture is a movie somewhere between indie rawness and made for TVproduction values. That is to say it is humble, yet it doesn't shootitself in the foot as it begins with a single nurse's AIDS infectionand her desire to champion a family friend's invention that would haveprevented it. She sees a television ad for personal injury attorneysand, surprisingly to them, wants their services more so her friend'sinvention can be implemented than for personal gain. The two attorneysin the shoe-string operation of Weiss and Danziger couldn't be moreunsuited for taking on the wealthy and powerful health-careestablishment, yet due to Weiss's obsessive interest in winning theunwinnable they do. Chris Evan's portrayal of the drug-addicted Weissdrives this movie. Yes the story is solid, but the human frailty ofMike Weiss as brought to life by Evans is commendable. Weiss is atrain-wreck of a person, however he is an unstoppable force who becomesa big thorn in the side of the health-care industries largest buyinggroup. In spite of his drug use, he makes a case that scares the hellout of big pharma. Besides this being a compelling story, Chris Evansis the reason the viewer will want to watch this film. I was neverbored even in slow spots due to the constant tension Chris Evan'scharacter brought. Recommended.

Kirk Honeycutt

(2012-04-14 08:30:14)

The film is chock-a-block with extraordinary performances and no one will fault the filmmaking either. This is a well-made movie, make no mistake. It just suffers from a dysfunctional hero.

jgw321

(2012-04-14 07:31:14)

A film that does tell an important story.

When you start to watch this film you could easily think, "Oh no! Notanother sordid drug film" and give up; but persevere, the film is worthit. The drugs continue, they are not just a side issue and play centrestage. The film has to be like this though as it is a real story whichis being portrayed as it was, warts and all. The hero, lawyer MikeWeiss, is hard to empathise with; there is a brief period where hetries to give up drug taking and we see further pain as he goes through"cold turkey", but generally we have little patience for his selfinflicted pain. Finally, after a plot point that would be a spoiler soI omit, his partner takes it on. He has been reluctant all the waythrough to take on this expensive case that is unlikely to succeed, andthat they just can't afford. This is where the honesty of the screenplay pays off, you end up respecting the hero even if you still can'tlike him.The actual winning of the case, the courtroom drama itself, happenswith screen titles at the end. Some seem to think this is a cop out,but they have missed the point that the story is about the fourparticipants; Mike Weiss, Paul Danziger, Jeffrey Dancourt and Vicky thenurse and how they got to where they were, and not about the winning ofthe case, that is just the reason why the story was worth telling.If you are not moved by this film then you are lacking in perceptionand should maybe stick to cartoons and soaps.

saulcook

(2012-04-05 23:11:03)

This is why I love going to the theater!

I didn't know what to expect going into "Puncture," but what I found,surpassed even my most hopeful wishes for an evening at the movies."Puncture" is a perfectly acted true-life story that still has methinking about its message 3 days later. It was gripping from theopening credits and I was emotionally pulled in a number of directions.Chris Evans proved he can really act, not just dress up as a superheroand run around a big budgeted set. Mark Kassen was marvelous alongsidehim as his legal partner and the Houston backdrop made for an unlikelyprotagonist in and of itself. A story that needed to be shared and withtremendous talent. I only wish there were more films like "Puncture." Iencourage people to go see the film.

Michael O'Sullivan

(2012-04-05 14:45:51)

Evans works so hard to look like a drug addict that it undermines the character's effort not to look like one.

Gaston Bacquet

(2012-03-28 04:12:30)

See for yourself

By the time you read this review, you already know what the movie isabout so there's no point going over that again. You know it's supposedto be a courtroom drama and a personal one as well as we take a lookinto Mike Weiss' demons and struggle with his drug addiction. ChrisEvans' performance alone is worth the price of admission, but the movieitself, although well-intentioned, fails to deliver. It seemed asthough the filmmakers didn't know how to make the two story linesconverge coherently and thus gave us a shallow passage through bothwith an ending that.... Well, I leave it up to you to comment on itafter you've seen it. Make no mistake, the movie is worth your time.But don't expect to be shaken or astounded by it; just go and enjoy agood piece of cinema that had great potential but didn't fully live upto it.

Mark Dujsik

(2012-03-27 11:41:23)

Perhaps, one day, someone else will pick up [the movie's] effort and do the story justice.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

(2012-03-19 20:50:07)

An ethically-charged courtroom drama about a David vs. Goliath battle.

Matt Pais

(2012-03-19 06:28:33)

A riveting legal drama that easily represents Evans' best work.

Marshall Fine

(2012-03-10 14:14:06)

The issue at hand is not particularly cinematic...And the personal story is handled in a way that seems surprisingly impersonal, even superficial.

Tim Grierson

(2012-03-10 04:52:03)

You can't escape the impression that the actual events the movie dramatises are far more compelling than what's on the screen.

Brian Tallerico

(2012-03-06 03:13:35)

Even with a very-good lead performance, isn't memorable enough to recommend.

Peter Keough

(2012-03-05 17:06:08)

The film veers off into an addiction/redemption story awkwardly punctuated by political correctness.

Edward Douglas

(2012-03-04 08:54:53)

The topic of safety needles is certainly an important one but not one that makes for very interesting drama; the Kassens would have been better off making a doc and having Evans narrate it.

Michael Phillips

(2012-03-03 18:10:20)

Does a commendable job of merging its David vs. Goliath elements with Weiss' personal problems, doing justice to the fact that "Puncture" is based on true people and an actual case.

Ethan Alter

(2012-02-24 00:33:55)

The filmmakers want to honor this man's achievements, but viewers will likely leave the theater uncertain as to what exactly it was that he accomplished.

Richard Knight

(2012-02-23 11:47:36)

Although Evans is spectacular, the elements of this lopsided conspiracy thriller never quite jell.