...........................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, COLOMBIA...and ORLANDO, FL "I could have easily vanished into the gravitational pull of that South Philly Black Hole…But by consistent hard work…and the grace of God, I broke free!" That's how Carl Upchurch (Omar Epps) sums up his life. I promised a NETFLIX friend I would watch this film and review, giving my very best, 100 % effort…Here it is: Couldn't help notice one reviewer's comments about how CONVICTION seemed to focus too much on Upchurch's underprivileged upbringing and violently criminal youth and not enough on his accomplishments later in life. Sadly, I feel these reviewers missed the whole point of CONVICTION! To the contrary…I think its greatest strength is how painstakingly the story takes us through Upchurch's step by step, stage by stage metamorphosis from murderous sociopath small-time hood to national community organizer/leader, who has exerted a positive influence on our entire culture and country! KUDOS to Epps! What a superb on-screen, slow-burn transformation!Remember the scene in Clockwork Orange where Malcolm MacDowell's character is strapped to a chair with his eyes held open by force to make him see images geared to recondition him? Well, if I were dictator, all those who wouldn't watch CONVICTION voluntarily would get that last option! (Remember NOT to vote for ME if I run for office!)Sadly, Wikipedia's information on Upchurch is a scant 20 words and has been poorly entered and linked. (Check it out for yourself) If you GOOGLE his name, you'll find much better source material elsewhere. Does CONVICTION have faults? OK, this is a Showtime production, so you know the drill, right? Even though it does suffer from several Made-For-TV shortcomings, that are par for the course, the true story is profoundly inspirational and merits 10*, but...my overall rating is 8*.....ENJOY/DISFRUTELA!

It's the true story of how a man, John Upchurch, dragged himself away from the negativity of his upbringing, and used the experience to help others.The movie shows his violent past, and how he saw the futility of his way of life as time past. One quote which was along the lines of, "Just because I have a lot of miles on the clock doesn't mean I'm going soft, I'm getting wise" sums it up to a certain extent.On the whole it was better at the beginning than the end, where it got a bit slow, but on the whole it was very watchable, with a good display by the lead actor.

The movie has solid acting all the way around. It is the true story of Carl Upchurch. Quite a remarkable story actually. In and out of prison, teaches himself how to read and tries to make a difference in the world instead of using his circumstances as an excuse to remain ignorant. Omar Epps is great as Upchurch, Dana Delany is great as his mentor and Bentley Mitchum as Ledford does an exceptional job of wrapping up all the different personalities of inmates - Ledford is the nemesis inmate of Carl who has his own awakening. Excellent work also by Sullivan, the director who gave us "how stella got her groove back". If you are interested in a good story, good acting, good directing and a true story... This is a movie for you.

I like Omar Epps, but he isn't that interesting in this movie. This movie is just too slow and the plot is just not entertaining. He gets out of jail, goes back, gets out again. Changes his life and tries to stop gang violence. That's a steep goal for an ex-con. FINAL VERDICT: Rather boring. Nothing exciting even happens in prison.