The Bling Ring

First Hit:  Walks a very fine line between aggrandizing these thieves, seeing them as kids trying to fit in, celebrity worship, and viewing how out of touch these affected kids were.

The moment I began to lose interest in a section of the film, Director Sofia Coppola switched gears to show the repercussions of their actions – this is the only thing that made it work for me.

It was clear that Coppola was artfully walking this fine line. The film begins by cutting between telling the story and interviews with the teens pre and post-trial. The story goes that Marc (Israel Broussard) is a soft spoken that doesn’t like to go to school. He’s dropped off by his mom at yet another new school and she says, "have a good day at your new school".

Comments by mean-spirited kids begin immediately as he walks up the steps to his new school. Just as he’s leaving school, Rebecca (Katie Chang) walks up and chats him up. Like me, Marc thinks she’s going to do or say something rude to him, but instead takes him out with another friend and they get high on the beach. Rebecca suspects she can get Marc to do things with her and eventually invites him to go steal from one of his friend’s homes.

Caught between his knowing he’s doing something wrong and wanting to be liked by this beautiful girl keeps him in the game of doing more and larger thefts with her. Her other peers Nikki (Emma Watson), Chloe (Claire Julian), and Sam (Taissa Farmiga) all join in the fun of stealing from the celebrities’ homes and blow all their loot on drugs, liquor, and partying. When they get caught, Marc is contrite, Rebecca tries to make people she didn't do anything, but it is Nikki that steals all the scenes.

Her mother Laurie (Leslie Mann) is fully immersed in the teachings of “The Secret” and has raised her kids this way. Nikki’s public interviews and expressions of being misunderstood (“it will all be clear when my side of the story gets out”) with illusions of grandeur are fascinating.

Broussard is very strong as the meek, wanna fit in boy, who goes along with the thefts but the audience always knows it goes against his beliefs. Chang is a knockout as the conniving “in” girl who is fascinated with Lindsey Lohan. Watson is amazing and is showing some real variety and acting chops since the Harry Potter series has ended. Julian and Farmiga are very good as compatriots of the thieving team. Mann is superb as the disillusioned mom. Coppola did a great job of walking the fine line although the real lack of a strong opinion of her character’s acts could have been a weakness as well.

Overall:  Scary to think that others might want to duplicated these kids’ acts. But definitely an interesting film.

World War Z (3-D)

First Hit:  Despite the unrealistic plot and 2 hour length, it was very entertaining. First off, the buzz in the trades and in reviews is the argument of whether this film is or isn't a zombie movie. Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) is introduced as a family man who makes pancakes for his kids. He’s not working and left his old job by choice. He's taking his family on a day trip when all of a sudden there is an outbreak of people who are being attacked and bit by people infected with an unknown virus. These newly bit people take on the same virus behaviors in about 12 seconds, which in turn create more infected people running around biting people. These infected people surround Lane's car so Pitt highjacks a motor home and they hightail it out of the city. What we learn about these infected people is they stand around moving little, in a zombie mode, until there is noise mostly human made noise depicting humans doing something and upon hearing the noise, they rush around in a crazy way to find, bite and kill the nearest humans. The rushing around is very un-zombie like. It didn’t appear that these creatures don't eat the un-infected humans, they just bite and kill them to pass on the virus. This is all done very effectively, however a weakness in the film is that Lane's character, without explanation or supporting information, as some very important United Nations guy who… solves problems? The film never lets the audience know his who Lane is and what is his background story. He’s not a doctor, researcher, but someone who has this undefined power to be important and to fix something that is wrong. Despite this lack of background, Pitt does a good job being this person. Of course they figure out how to conquer the virus and for the movie goer, the ride is enjoyable.

Pitt is very good as someone who figures out how to conquer the virus problem even though the script provides no background of who he is and what his capabilities include. Mireille Enos (as Karin Lane) is good in a minor and caring role as Gerry Lane’s wife. Daniella Kertesz (as Israeli soldier Segen) is good as the soldier who helps Lane figure out how to stop the virus. Matthew Michael Carnahan and Drew Goddard wrote a good screen play but it lacked context and background for the main character. Marc Forster directed this well enough. Some of the CGI effects of people climbing up very tall walls looked very much like how ants accomplish this when driven.

Overall: This film was entertaining despite little context to ground it.

The East

First Hit:  Interesting, thoughtful, and stayed with me long into the next day.

The premise of this film, for me, was three fold: It was about activism, social responsibility, and personal responsibility.

In this context, the film gives viewers the ability view these three concepts in their own way. The scriptwriters’ and director’s personal biases aren’t overtly being pushed on the audience.

They state a set of facts about what a company is doing or has done, then what “The East” intends as punishment and why. They are an eye for and eye group. The East is a group of younger people who found themselves, for personal reasons, working together to do “Jams” which are the payback sessions for the large corporations. An oil company executive’s home is vandalized by having oil pumped through the vents.

As the Jams get more intense, the prices get higher. The film moves through this story by having Sarah (Brit Marling) get in to and then spy on this activist group. One of the opening scenes after she is with the group gives you a wonderful view of what the group hopes to achieve – it is about eating.

The security company Sarah works for, puts her and other company agents in harm’s way by inserting them with activist groups to find out what companies the activists are going to attack. Then, her boss pitches security services to mitigate activist actions to said companies. It is a rather interesting way for the filmmakers to share the story and give the audience the opportunity to better understand responsibility – theirs and a companies’.

Marling is sublime as the agent who hides her life from her boyfriend, boss, and groups she infiltrates. All the while, the audience understands her dilemma, position and stays engaged with her character. Alexander Skarsgard (as Benji) was perfect as the leader of the group, although they portend to not have a leader. His excellence comes from an insecure sureness that juxtaposes his mission. Ellen Page (as Izzy) is fantastic. Her pointed intelligence stands out as she continues to grow as an actor. Tony Kebbell (as “doc”) was strong as a strong member of the group. Zal Batmanglij and Marling wrote this very strong and thought provoking script. Batmanglij’s direction was superb in its execution.

Overall: I liked this film and it had me thinking about my actions and being responsible for them – just as all of us need to do.

Before Midnight

First Hit: First rate dialogue, acting and film.

It isn't always that sequels to a film are as good as the original. I don't think any of the "Rocky" sequels were as gritty and inspiring as the first although a couple were OK.

The entire "Godfather" series were strong and the color and feel of the original set the tone by which Francis Ford Coppola moved forward with mindfulness – not just for the money. The newest prequel to the "Star Trek" series may also follow in good standing as I certainly enjoyed the first two film (see my previous reviews in this blog) and hope the next continues the quality previously set forth. "Star Wars" did a great job on some of the follow-up films and certainly fell down in some of the others.

What makes this group of films ("Before Sunrise", "After Sunset", and "Before Midnight") unique is that these films are based in dialogue. They aren't about special effects or right triumphing over wrong or good versus evil. These stories hold together with deep and truthful scripting and the execution of this script by outstanding actors.

One of the major differences in this film versus the other two was that there were other actors featured in this one. Although Jesse’s (Ethan Hawke) son Hank (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) has minor screen time, he is prominently a featured subject of the ensuing dialogue. It was very smart to have him be featured in the opening scene. Jesse and Celine’s (Julie Delpy) twins Nina and Ella (respectfully Charlotte and Jennifer Prior) and working friends and colleagues were also part of the mix in lively conversations.

However, this film is about Celine and Jesse, how their life has unfolded, who they are as people and how they love each other. I cannot say enough about how I admired the long scenes of non-stop dialogue. There was no clipping of their exchange to make the film move faster – there was no need – it moved at light-speed anyway because the characters we strong and deep enough for the audience to be pulled into their story.

Hawke was the best he’s ever been. His maturity, clarity, and belief in his character made for a performance, that to me was sublime - Oscar worthy. Delpy’s delivery of Celine’s dialogue was filled with feeling and emotion. She believed her dialogue and it showed. Delpy, Hawke and Richard Linklater (Director) wrote and extraordinary script filled with compassion, passion, and depth of character. Linklater performed magic directing this film with long beautiful sequences that captured two willful people. Direction was Oscar worthy as well.

Overall:  If there is another film in this series, I’ll go see it because this is a series of intelligent delight in film making and storytelling.

What Masie Knew

First Hit:  Extremely well-acted film about a young girl surviving her parent’s egos and righteousness.

The first scene is hearing Susanna (Julianne Moore) and Beale (Steve Coogan) fighting. The audience hears the cutting remarks, each person downgrading the others’, careers, parenting ability and egos.

Masie (Onata Aprile) sits in her room, listening – expressionless. You see that he’s heard it all before, again and again. Susanna is a “has been” rocker who is trying to find her career again. Beale is a businessman dealmaker and he’s trying to chase down a new deal down.

It is obvious their own career struggles affect their conversations with each other. Masie loves her parents and they profess their love for her. The time comes; Beale and Susanna get a divorce and unknown to everyone, except Beale and Margo (Joanna Vanderham), the current nanny, Beale gets custody of Masie and Margo moves in with Beale.

They quickly get married and the shocked, angry and upset Susanna decides to do one better, so she thinks by marrying a bartender named Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgard) she hangs out with. She tries for custody again but her anger and lack of emotional stability keep her from getting Masie. All through the missed custody pickups and angry phone calls, Masie soldiers on with maturity and strength. It becomes clear that the two non-parents, Lincoln and Margo care more about Masie’s day to day welfare and their actions show it.

The scenes of New York, the locations of the apartments and the whole atmosphere of this film were very good and reflective of the characters and story.

Moore was very strong as the aging rock star and her drive to let nothing get in her way of coming back. Coogan as the more calming parent is good. Aprile is fantastic as Masie and I suspect that if she continues to act we’ll see more of her. Skargard is very good as the flunky bartender who has a heart of gold. Vanderham is genuinely wonderful as the nanny who is slowing beginning to see how she was being used. Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartwright wrote a very strong and insightful screenplay. Scott McGehee and David Siegel co-directed this film with sensitivity and clarity – well edited.

Overall:  Very good film.