Conviction (2010)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Phil Burbank	Hilary Swank	½
Kenny Waters	Sam Rockwell
Abra Rice	Minnie Driver	½
Nancy Taylor	Melissa Leo
Mandy Marsh	Ari Graynor	-
Rick Miller	Loren Dean	-
Elizabeth Waters	Karen Young	-
Brenda Marsh	Clea DuVall	-
Roseanna Perry	Juliette Lewis
Barry Scheck	Peter Gallagher	-

Review

This story about a man who was wrongfully accused and convicted of murder in the early 1980s and his sister's battle to put herself through law school in order to exonerate him is heartrending and has all the right ingredients, but the pacing and storytelling reveal a somewhat sloppy craftsmanship. Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell are perfectly cast as the siblings, and director Tony Goldwyn's jumping between timelines is refreshing and engaging at first – until we're swamped in a dour procedural legal system and constant family conflicts with Swank. Goldwyn's manipulative trick is arguably that the more he exhausts his viewers, the bigger the pay-off will eventually become. And that may have had some veracity had we not been too aware of the manipulation. There are fine (if somewhat underdeveloped) supporting performances by Minnie Driver, Melissa Leo, Juliette Lewis and Peter Gallagher, plus an unconvincing score by Paul Cantelton.