I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

You get the feeling that there's a good film in In The Electric Mist struggling to get out. But it never quite makes it. It isn't easy to pinpoint just what went wrong, and I understand the producers or the studio or whoever decided not to give the film a general release but sent it straight to DVD.They no doubt suspected word would get around it wasn't too bright, audiences would not turn up and it was best to cut their losses while they could and make bucks on the backs of their big name stars, Tommy Lee Jones, John Goodman and Ned Beatty.I suspect the problem started with the screenplay and continued with the choice of director, Bertand Tarvenier. Did the producers assume that choosing a respected French director would bring to the film a touch of Gallic, Continental class? Well, if they did, they will have seen that they were mistaken: nothing about the direction stands out. Where to start?Well, the ponderous voice-over by Tommy Lee Jones mouthing portentous truths strikes me as another stab at respectability. The trouble is that the supposed insights they pretend to bring are trite and out of keeping with pretty much everything else in the film. Did the producers expect a bit of Southern Gothic simply because it all takes place in the backwaters of the Louisiana swamps? I do believe they do, but there is nothing Gothic or exotic about this film.Characters are underwritten and - were scenes cut which shouldn't have been cut? - overall nothing really gells. What were the crimes exactly? Yes, young women were murdered but the hints of something darker are so vague as to be superfluous. Then there's the murder 40 years earlier of a black man: it is presented as significant, but is nothing of the kind.Straight to DVD really did make more sense than risk critical failure.

Based on a bestselling novel by James Lee Burk, this psychological thriller features secrets to tell and crimes to unravel. Veteran detective Dave Robicheaux(Tommy Lee Jones)is investigating a series of brutal murders, mostly prostitutes. The New Iberia native winds through the Louisiana bayou and uncovers almost forgotten secrets and stirs up old grudges as he navigates a dark and sultry world of New Orleans mobster Baby Feet Balboni(John Goodman). This investigation gets complicated and ruthless as it becomes personal to the detective's family. You just never know what the world really means until you get down to New Orleans.A very versatile all-star cast featuring: Peter Sarsgaard, Ned Beatty, Mary Steenburgen, Mary Macdonald, James Gammonn Levon Helm and Justina Machado.

Yeah, OK, I get the lowish rating.Like they used to say in the 1920s, everyone's a critic.Truer than ever I suppose, with the IMDb.But the strange thing is that I have now seen this movie beginning to end about a half-dozen times and I don't tire of it.That's unusual.Especially with some 600 IMDb reviews under my belt, even I get curious when it is so easy to get lost, to lose time, in what seems at first glance to be just another police procedural with multiple instances of the word "chere" in the script...? Then I look closer and go aha! Jones and Goodman. Jones and Goodman. Jones and Goodman.Two of the best that Hollywood ever produced, each an extraordinarily well-rounded actor, yet each with a special gift at portraying one specific type of character.Jones portraying a cop with no off button, who only knows that every crime must be solved.And Goodman playing a larger than life character who only knows that every event in his life must end with him on top, no matter who has to die in the process. Literally.They take a mundane procedural to the level of art.Mary Steenburgen helps. The whole supporting cast is fine.But Jones and Goodman are doing their best work here, leaving a legacy for actors of the future to study.And no one noticed.Until just now.

The major problem was the script, which was all over the place. Maybe editing would have helped, but I don't think that skillful editing would fix a fundamental script problem. What was the point? Which plot was the main plot? There were so many things going on: a 1965 racial murder, a current murder of a prostitute, alcoholics, and a film being made about the Civil War. I think that there was one character who was involved in both murders, and I finally realized that Peter Sarsgaard was playing Gen. Hood in the film being made.If this was supposed to be a mystery, there were too many distractions along the way as clues were being dispensed.The character of "the real" Gen. Hood and his interaction with Dave was awkward and sometimes confusing (i.e., the church scene).I think all of the "major" cast members did a fine job, though most were underutilized. Mary Steenburgen was way too good for the very little she was given to do. Ditto Ned Beatty. John Goodman was great at slimy menace, but his involvement in the plot was almost unnecessary.I believe that many of the local cast members could have been much, much better had they been told exactly what information they were supposed to be saying, and then be allowed to improvise. Perhaps this is a failure of direction rather than writing. In the film, too many characters sounded like they were reciting. It's true that they were not skilled actors, but local amateurs don't need to sound artificial, c.f., Beasts of the Southern Wild.Here are a few personal notes. The film was released in 2009, and I was not aware of it until today. I was born and raised in New Iberia, where the film is set (and where it was filmed), and the rest of my life has been spent in New Orleans. This film is probably the most extensive and best cinematic use of locations in Cajun Country. I could not pick out any scene which appeared to have been filmed on a sound stage. The film seems like a missed opportunity. I don't think the film had any significant pre-video release in the United States, and unfortunately, I can see why.