Cole Smithey

24 May 2012

Social-activist-filmmaking goes astray at the hands of dueling sibling directors Mark and Adam Kassen.

Tony Heck

24 May 2012

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

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

24 May 2012

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

David Noh

23 May 2012

Well-done, briskly paced and compelling drama with a vital message.

Brian Tallerico

23 May 2012

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

Edward Douglas

22 May 2012

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.

Ronnie Scheib

22 May 2012

Working from a fact-based script, tyro helmers Adam and Mark Kassen fashion an impassioned expose on the health-care industry full of strange-but-true incongruities in Puncture.

Blake French

21 May 2012

a quality film worth seeing

Jeannette Catsoulis

21 May 2012

[It] possesses all the right ingredients: an idealistic young lawyer, a corrupt corporate villain and a sympathetic victim. It just fails to assemble them into a compelling whole.

Rex Reed

20 May 2012

Like any good cautionary tale, Puncture tells a suspenseful story responsibly, creating food for thought and leaving the audience both enlightened and entertained.

Roger Ebert

19 May 2012

Electrifying in the role, Evans reminds me of other great out-of-control druggies played by Al Pacino and Nicolas Cage.

AudioFileZ

19 May 2012

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.

Matt Pais

18 May 2012

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

valleyjohn

18 May 2012

A courtroom drama with no courtroom and no drama.

Described by Sky Movies as a thrilling courtroom drama , all i canthink is that person who does the film descriptions for Sky ,can't havewatched this film. Puncture has everything going for it. It has a Goodcast and potentially a good story but directors Adam and Mark Kassenhave made a real pigs ear of this one.This is the story of Mike Weiss , a talented lawyer , who with hispartner , chose to take on the might of the drug companies and hospitaladministrators to get them to use a syringe that will save thousands oflives. The trouble is , Mike Weiss is partial to using needles himselfas he has a bad drug habit.The Mistake they made with this film is they concentrated too much onWeiss and not enough on the battle with pharmaceutical companies. Thefilm builds up the story to the point of an exciting court case then Itjust ends Finish,. No court case .Just a lazy bit of on screeninformation at the end describing what happened. It's as if the moneyran out and the directors and cast just walked away.Puncture is a big disappointment and it's no surprise this was tuckedaway on a movie channel and not on the cinema.

Lou Lumenick

17 May 2012

"Puncture" presents a compelling story, but it's also difficult to sympathize with Evans' doomed main character, no matter how vividly he's acted.

Tony Medley

17 May 2012

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.

David Fear

16 May 2012

It's Weiss's sheer gonzo energy and his determination to keep it together (barely) in the name of justice that initially fuel this underdog tale...

oldhamwho11

16 May 2012

Puncture

Puncture is a drama about friends, inner demons, corrupt corporations,and fighting for what is right. Everything a good film needs. ChrisEvans plays a junkie lawyer who has an obsession with his job. He andhis partner take on a huge job by facing a healthcare corporation,because they are not switching to a non-reusable safe needle. Thecinematography is really nice, and the drug scenes are veryinteresting, reminded me of Requiem of a Dream; the camera puts you inthe drug experience. Also the acting is great, Mark Kassen who playsChris Evans' best friend and partner in the law firm does an excellentjob of being a supporting friend, sort of an opposite to Evanscharacter, which brings a balance to the film. Also Jesse L. Martinmakes an appearance and does a great job as usual. So if you do notlike corrupt corporations and think Chris Evans rocks, then see thisfilm it is wroth the watch.

Moira MacDonald

15 May 2012

"Puncture" has the unusual problem of being almost too intriguing; its based-on-true-events story seems to cry out for documentary treatment.

reini-urban

14 May 2012

Great, if. Concentrate on the substance not on the side story please.

Obviously a big story, a real life story, which started in Houston andaffected the whole world. Synopsis: "Mike Weiss (Chris Evans) is a talented young Houston lawyerand a functioning drug addict. Paul Danziger (Mark Kassen, one part ofthe director brothers), his longtime friend and partner, is thestraightlaced and responsible yin to Mike's yang. Their mom-and- poppersonal-injury law firm is getting by, but things really getinteresting when they decide to take on a case involving Vicky, a localER nurse, who is pricked by a contaminated needle on the job. As Weissand Danziger dig deeper into the case, a health care and pharmaceuticalconspiracy teeters on exposure and heavyweight attorneys move in on thedefense. Out of their league but invested in their own principles, themounting pressure of the case pushes the two underdog lawyers and theirbusiness to the breaking point."To follow the morals or your instinct? The story does not take the easyway out. Will in the end the new revolutionary one-way Safety Needlewin?Obviously a great lead actor which I loved in one of my best rememberedUS films of the last decade, Chris Evans in "London" with his real-lifelong-time girlfriend Jessica Biel.But the screen story obviously overdid it with thegoodness-in-all-the-bad-mess "Half Nelson" bad guy hero stereotype. Helooks like him, acts like him, and the whole counter- story is a half"Half Nelson" "I am a druggie but adorable mess". Ryan Gosling isgreat, Chris Evans looks better but should better not compete with himwithout a top script. Concentrate on the substance not on the sidestory please. If the production values where not that great, the actorsand the story not that convincing I would have walked out, because youcould easily predict every next step, and everything just smelledoverscripted. Which is especially bad for a convincing real-life story.