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Today, I’m presenting another film in the Cinema Second Look Series. To recap, this is where I revisit films that are misunderstood, miscategorized, or got something wrong.

Today we’re going to look at is Law Abiding Citizen, starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler. This first caught my eye when it was featured on my local news due to production taking place in Philadelphia.

The premise of the film is Gerard Butler’s wife and daughter are killed in a home invasion as he is left for dead. The local prosecutor, played by Jamie Foxx, has a high conviction rate and wants to keep it that way. So he strikes a plea bargain with the “mastermind” of the invasion. He pleads to a lesser charge while testifying against the other man, who is sentenced to death. Gerard Butler feels betrayed by the system and takes matters into his own hands to punish the system, including perpetrating acts while still in a jail cell.

It did okay business and got mixed reviews. And to me, the reason is simple: They marketed it as a straight-up thriller, instead of a tragedy.

The first thing the movie shows is Gerard Butler’s family getting killed and after we learn about Jamie Foxx’s professional and family life (he is never home for his daughter’s events), we see how the system betrays Gerard Butler. I completely sympathize with Butler’s character and I feel for him. Maybe I am biased because I am a father myself. I relate 100% to his character. In no way, shape or form do I feel anything positive to Jamie Foxx’s character. He works all the time and is overly concerned with his conviction rate. No wonder his family life suffers! He has his priorities out of whack. And given how the system has treated millions in this country, this film does nothing to warrant me, or many others, to root for Jamie Foxx and the side of the law.

Now I don’t condone the actions Gerard Butler takes. They are heinous and one could argue are worse than what happens to him. To paraphrase Chris Rock, what he did was not right, but I understand.

And in the end ((SPOILERS)) , when Jamie Foxx places the bomb in Butler’s cell and leaves, I felt for Gerard Butler. I did. Again, like Chris Rock said, he was evil, but I understood what got him to that point. And I felt nothing when Jamie Foxx sat with his wife at his daughter’s recital.

This film had Greek Tragedy all over it. It was written and presented that way. If they had marketed it that way, would it have doubled its budget? Probably not. But it could’ve been better received. 

Have you seen the film? What did you think? And do you agree with my assessment? Let me know in the comments below!

NOTE: Below may contain spoilers for Chasing Betty. If you have not read the book, the continue with caution.

I originally set the story of Chasing Betty in New York, but so do a lot of stories, so I felt I needed to change the setting. Since my family is from Pittsburgh, and you don’t see it a lot in media, I wanted to highlight it, and made it Garrison Chase’s adopted home.

This change presented a unique problem: the first draft already had a subway, which the Steel City does not.

Enter Virginia Tech architectural student Samson Waac.

In 2013, Waac, a Pittsburgh native, created a subway system for Pittsburgh as his Master’s Thesis in Architecture. I found the map online and edited the novel to match up to his proposed route as Chase evades his former CO, Decker.

Here is a picture of Waac’s proposed Steel City Subway system:

For more information on the proposed subway, visit Samson Waac’s blog.

It’s been a crazy start to 2024. I’ve not kept up with the blog as real life has kicked in. I’m still getting in my words – a page a day – but not with this page here.

A lot of that has to do with my real job, but also because we have two new additions to the family!

Meet Boba and Magic!

This past December, we lost Cookie to cancer. It was very hard for us, not only because she was part of our family, but we didn’t even have her for a year, and it hurt.

After about a month, we started looking at rescues. We had two that we were interested in – both Labs – but the adoption fell through. One was particularly frustrating because we were ready to get her on a Saturday, but the vet she was at didn’t have staff. On Sunday, they sent her to a foster family three hours away.

Then we saw Boba. He was a Mountain Cur mix. In the pictures, he looked at big as Bear. When we saw him, though, he was half Bear’s size! The picture was taken at a weird angle.

Oh, his name was Bob, which is an awful name for a dog. Conscious of the name he had for eight years, I came up with a perfect new name: Boba, named, of course, for Boba Fett. I even got him a Boba Fett collar!

Not long before that, Michelle got notification of a Black Lab mix named Magic. She showed me a picture and had a face that looked like she was going to cry (she denies this). In her twenties, she had a Black Lab named Black Magic. Even though we had two dogs (having already agreed to adopt Boba), I knew there was no way that we weren’t going to adopt her. So two days after we got Boba, we added Magic to the family.

She is a bit high strung, as apparently she had the run of her late owner’s house, and got what she wanted. It’s taken a bit to settle her, and while she is a bit crazy still, she has settled in nicely.

Boba is a cuddler and likes to lie in bed and on the couch with us. For such a small dog, he’s hard to move and lies as close to us as possible. And they have been a lot of fun for Bear, who’s very active with them. Once in a while, his new siblings like to team up and take his legs out. They even got him on his back. Magic will headbutt his rear, while Boba pats his head. It’s fun to watch.

We feel blessed to have them and although we have a full house, it’s a home full of love.

I looked up today and saw that already, we’re nearing the end of January 2024. The end of 2023 came and went in a blink of an eye, and with a lot of things going on both personally and professionally, I haven’t had a chance to post this yet.

Every year I like to make a post about my goals and what I’d like to achieve in the year ahead. I don’t consider them resolutions. I’m not trying to form habits which, to me, resolutions are. I always aim to get healthy, workout, eat better, have better relationships. Things like that are permanent changes whereas goals are something you will accomplish and move on from.

 I’d like to share with you what I hope to achieve in 2024. This serves as an accountability thing for me, in which making my goals known make some tangible, but also gives you an idea of what you can expect from me this calendar year.

So without further ado, here’s what I’m looking to do in 2024:

1. Release two new books. One of them will be Garrison Chase’s third case, and one will be a completely new series. I’m very excited to share both of these with you, and more information will come shortly, because I plan to have one of them out in the spring.
2. Release two audiobooks. Thanks to my friend, Adam McCallister, who has one of the most distinctive voices I’ve ever come across, we both plan on having a dream come true and releasing an audiobook. These will be the first two Garrison Chase cases, and I plan to have them out in between my book releases. I’m not sure they will be available on audible, because there’s a lot of question about how they release audio books, as well as how they pay authors for them. As always, you will find out where you can get them on my website.
3. Write the first draft of two screenplays. People close to me know that my first love is cinema, and I started out in creative endeavors by making short films while in college. Due to the author explosion, as well as taking more responsibility on in my day job, that is taking it back burner. But, I’m itching to make films, and I really want to write two feature length screenplays. I have ideas in mind for them that will not leave my mind, so I feel that the time is now to write them.
4. Go into production on a short film. While I’ve had an idea and a plan to shoot a web series for last couple years, being that I have not made anything for a couple years, I feel that the undertaking of a web series is too much at this time. My goal is to get a short film through production, and get a core team that will help with the web series in the future. I don’t know if I release it this calendar year, but I hope to get it to the editing stage before the end of the year.

This is a lot even if I did not have a day job or a family, but to paraphrase Pitbull, reach for the stars because if you slip you land on top of the world.

I look forward to bringing these to fruition this year and I hope you enjoy the ride with me!

I would love to hear some of your goals for this year and things that you hope to accomplish. Please share in the comments below.

I celebrate my birthday today, but I want to give two lucky people a present!

I am giving away two of these wonderful wooden bookmarks:

My friend Amber DeLouis of The Wandering Woodcraft (https://www.hippiegirlcollection.com/) made them for me. They make great gifts and are awesome bookmarks for all types of books.

To be entered to win one, all you need to do is:

1) Post a review of Chasing Betty here: http://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B09MQ4RTR2 and Chasing Blue Blood here: http://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B0C76VFT8C.

2) Email me a copy of the review at jasonpwrites@gmail.com.

That’s it! I will randomly select two winners and notify them on December 20th!

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to eat some birthday cake.