This is a superbly acted movie, very intuitive, sad, and definitely worth watching. Jennifer Connelly is outstanding, really all three leads are tremendous. A relatable very well done film. The miss of the police force when Ruffalo's character goes in hooks the viewer and creates believable tension. Ending is realistic and satisfying. Touches on multiple aspects of the situation and base for the story. The viewer is not left with holes to figure out on their own. The actors convey the intensity of the situation. Moody, intense without going overboard. A human story with tragedy that teaches multiple lessons. Get ready to be impressed!

It's one of those movies. The story is good and the actors are convincing and then it turns into all out pornography on the screen. I do not want to see other people having orgasms on screen. I am just not comfortable with that. Leave pornography in an industry of its own -- I am not for its abolition. When pornography seeps into everyday television movies then no wonder no one can get thrilled except by watching hard core stuff all the time. Hollywood and the pornography industry should be separated. Pornography should completely remove itself from Los Angeles and relocate to some place an hour from Las Vegas.

Directed by Terry George, "Reservation Road" is an intermittently interesting drama staring Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connelly as a husband and wife who lose their son during a hit-and-run accident. Mark Ruffalo plays the driver of the car responsible for the death.Though unbelievably heavy-handed in a number of sections, "Reservation Road" is lifted by another excellent, wounded-man performance by Mark Ruffalo. Elle Fanning and Joaquin Phoenix do memorable work as well, though Phoenox's character becomes incredulously written as the film progresses. Connelly is mostly terrible in another underwritten female role. The film, a sorrowful tragedy filmed in melancholic blacks and harsh, judgemental whites, plays well when its operating as a morality tale. Less successful are its thriller elements.7.9/10 – See "Exotica" and "The Yellow Handkerchief". Worth one viewing.

John Burnham Schwartz and director Terry George co-adapted Schwartz's novel about an upscale couple torn apart by grief when one of their two children is killed by a hit-and-run driver (to up the proverbial ante, the little boy is releasing fireflies into the trees when the accident occurs!). After the police find themselves stymied due to a lack of leads, the youngster's father embarks on his own investigation and private vendetta. Movies titled after street names are usually bad news, and this one is no different: the man searching for his son's killer is seen as obsessed and implacable, while his wife accuses him of abandoning her and their daughter (how far back does that old routine go?). Joaquin Phoenix manages to grip the audience with his tightly-wound portrayal of the devastated father, though there's no suspense in his search because the viewer is ten steps ahead of him. All we have left to wait for is the showdown, which is well-acted but not the emotional powerhouse Schwartz and George obviously meant it to be. Their picture seems structured to be another "Ordinary People", yet the supporting characters are not three-dimensional and the scenario is cluttered with overly-familiar minutiae. ** from ****