Sunday nights always leave me a bit restless. It's that weird spot in between saying good bye to the weekend and getting ready for a new work week. Tonight finds me sitting in the dark sipping a whiskey and watching To Kill a King. Set in the 1600's To Kill a King is the story of Generals Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Fairfax and their quest to rid England of the corrupt monarchy of King Charles, and exploring the notion that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The Story picks up right after Cromwell and Fairfax have effectively won the battle that effectively left King Charles hostage in his London estate. The hopes of the Nation and the new government is to force the King to make reforms that will grant the people of England more freedoms in commerce and religion. While he may be a captive the wily old King isn't to be out done by this group of rebels and begins striking bargains with people of Parliament, bribing them with palace treasure in order to win votes in his favor.As Cromwell fights for reform he begins to fall into power fueled madness, becoming an even greater tyrant than the king he was supposed to be fighting against. Leaving Fairfax to chose between following his ideals and killing his best friend.

Now you would think that being set in one of the more fascinating times in history and with a cast that includes Tim Roth and Rupert Everett that To Kill a King would be absolutely riveting, but despite having such brilliant actors in place this movie is flat and boarders on dull. You almost expect that an actor as brilliant, nimble and amazing as Roth would be able to take a person as driven, mad and fascinating as Cromwell and deliver a stunning performance. Instead what you end up with something that feels more like Roth has been taken over by robots his performance is so stiff. Its as if Roth takes Cromwell's Puritan beliefs and all of its repressions and pours them into his portrayal. Giving no thought to the emotion and fire that brand of fanaticism often conjures up. Dougray Scott portrays Thomas Fairfax as a weak willed henpecked husband, not a man who fought for Revelation only to have to plot against his best friend when he goes mad. The one trait that Scott does manage to bring to the forefront of his portrayal of Fairfax is conflict. You can feel that Fairfax is a man torn between his convictions and concerns for his station in life. However his performance falls flat against the weak and lack luster performance of Olivia Williams as his wife Anne. She just isn't believable as the kind of woman who could inspire doubt in such a determined figure let alone conspire against them. Really leaving the relationship between them less interesting than what it could have been. While Rupert Everett is great as the sniveling, conniving King Charles, it just isn't enough to make this film. Which is really disappointing because To Kill a King has been a cast that should have made this filmfanfuckingtastic.

Tonight I think I've realized that I may have a sick sense of humor. Now this isn't the first time this little quark has been brought to the fore front of my mind, but as I sit in the dark at the screening of Stuck tears are running down my face as I howl with laughter watching Stephan Rea and Mena Suvari weave their way through blood, guts and traffic accidents.

Brandi's life is going pretty good these days. Things are great with her boyfriend, shes up for a promotion at work and really things couldn't be much better for her these days. Things are so good that even though she has to work the next day she decides to join her pals for a night on the town. Tom's life on the other hand isn't going so great. He's just been evicted from his flea bag apartment and was turned away by the unemployment department. As day fades into night he finds himself facing homelessness and a night on a park bench. The lives of Brandi and Tom intersect when Brandi is on her way home from the club and Tom is trying to make his way to a shelter to sleep for the night. While trying to make a call on her cell Brandi doesn't see Tom crossing the street and slams into him. Tom flies through the windshield headfirst. Amazingly Tom survives the hit but he finds himself stuck inside of Brandi's windshield and badly injured. Completely freaked out by whats just happened, Brandi drives home with Tom hanging out of her car. For the next few days Brandi tries to figure out what to do with the man dying in her garage, Tom tries for figure out how to live and get past the mad woman who is now holding him hostage.

When I first read what this film was about I was expecting some sort of over acted single scene melodrama. You know a crazed woman driving around with a dead guy in her car for hours on in and lots of self introspection shit while she tries to sort out what shes done and what to do about it. Instead what you get is a story that brilliantly shows how easy it is for decent people to do truly evil things when they feel their backs are against the wall. Stephan Rea is amazing as Tom and Mena Suvari is one of the most convincing sympathetic villains to ever grace the screen. Stuart Gordon does a fabulous directing job and really drives home the feeling that the situation that Brandi and Tom is an accident in the purest sense of the word, and how it isn't the situations that we're thrown that show our truest colors, but how we deal with them.