Hell or High Water

First Hit:  Very well acted Texas Ranger crime story that evokes the old west while resolving a modern day problem.

Brothers Tanner and Toby Howard (Ben Foster and Chris Pine respectively) are two bank robbers who clearly have a plan. During the robberies they take only loose cash, only what is in the teller drawers, and only from the small Mid-Texas Midland Bank branches.

As the story evolves the audience learns how Tanner has been a trouble maker his whole life while Toby has been walking the straight and narrow path. So why are they doing this? We eventually find out and that is what makes this story work. Because the amount of money they are taking are small, the FBI isn’t interested in finding the robbers, so the Rangers get the assignment.

Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) is a near retirement Ranger who is a little long in the tooth while being old time smart and is very loyal to his job. His partner, Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham), is a younger man who is also Indian. The running jokes in the film is that Marcus cannot help himself about making racist and pointed jokes about Alberto’s heritage. However, the audience also sees the love and respect Marcus has for Alberto. In the pursuit of the robbers the audience learns about each of the characters and the story of the ranch Tanner and Toby are trying to save.

The script does a great job of defining the characters and letting the story unfold.

Pine is wonderful as the thoughtful smart brother who finds a way to help his family. Foster is perfect as the on-edge bad-boy brother who wants to help and support his brother. Bridges embodies the old west in the new world with this role. He’s amazing. Birmingham is fantastic as Bridges’ partner. A shout-out to Margret Bowman who plays a waitress in a restaurant. Her 2 minutes on the screen were brilliant. Taylor Sheridan wrote a very strong script. David Mackenzie did an excellent job of directing the actors through this story. The small Texas town feel was very well done.

Overall:  This was a very entertaining film.

War Dogs

First Hit:  I enjoyed this film because it showed the absurdity of how the US Government created a system allowing two young men in their 20's to bid for and win large contracts to provide arms to and for our government.

Based on a true story, I was both flabbergasted and amazed at the ingenuity of Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz (Jonah Hill and Miles Teller respectively) to find ways to bid for and win US Government arms contracts.

David is a massage therapist in Miami and his fiancé Iz (Ana de Armas) becomes pregnant. Efraim, his old junior high-school friend, comes back into town with a proposition to help him in his new business, arms dealer.

Together they start landing contracts, but the one that puts them on the map is one where they end up having to drive cases of Beretta handguns from Jordan to Baghdad. The complications to their story included, David lying to Iz about his whereabouts and what he was doing as well as Efraim’s deep seeded greed and how it plays out in their deals as well as his personal relationships.

Bradley Cooper as Henry Girard a US Citizen arms supplier (middle man) who is also on a watch list because of some previous nefarious dealings. Many of the scenes were made good because of the acting of both Teller and Hill.

Teller was strong as the somewhat gullible friend, who in the end, was not so gullible. Hill was a blast. His laugh and intensity was perfect for the kind of guy that uses people to benefit himself. Armas was very good as David’s fiancé and mother of their daughter. Cooper was well cast in that he brought the right kind of intensity and friendliness when it suited him. Stephen Chin, Todd Phillips, and  Jason Smilovic wrote a fun and intense script based on a Rolling Stone article. Phillips also seemed to have a strong hand in the direction as the various countries and scenes were well constructed.

Overall:  Although not a blockbuster, it was a fun film and enjoyable to watch.

Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World

First Hit:  A deep and very interesting look at how quickly and amazingly our lives are being changed through the information space (World Wide Web) and its access through the Internet.

I loved the opening scene where documentarian Werner Herzog walks into a room on the campus of the University of Southern California (USC) where he opens and inspects the very first machine that opened the door to the Internet.

Here is where the first email transmission was sent from an operator in this room to a like room on the campus of Stanford University. In the first attempt, the machine was to automatically logon as soon as soon as the sending machine operator typed in “Log”. However, the receiving machine crashed after the sending machine operator typed “Lo”. Hence the title of this film.

Yes, this initial test didn’t work but as we all know the engineers and programmers learned from this experience and today we have the internet, an amazing communication system through the World Wide Web.

The film discusses, through interviews with the people who founded the internet, how this new way of accessing people and information all over the world instantaneously is helping us connect to each other and also how it is separating us from each other. The personal isolation that can be created, while engaging with others through games, videos, information and emails presents the type of juxtaposition this film attempts to share with the audience. We are connected with each other, yet we are alone when we do it.

I was impressed with the way and discussions about where all this technology can go; robots, space travel, and how it connects people. I loved the examples about how education is moved forward by the internet. I was amazed about how medical problems were discussed and resolved through the use of the interconnected people attacking the problem from all over the world.

Herzog, again, tells an amazing watchable story about the human experience on the internet.

Overall:  This was a very thoughtful engaging film.

Indignation

First Hit:  Extremely well-acted, beautifully shot, thoughtful film about a serious young Jewish man exploring love, life, death and his understanding of the truth.

Marcus (Logan Lerman) is from a small New Jersey town where his family owns a small butcher shop. He works in his father store to earn some extra money before he goes off to school. The small college is located in Ohio.

Arriving at his dorm room he finds he's been assigned to room with two other Jewish students in a town and college that has few Jews. These upperclassmen tell him that the college tends to put Jews together for social reasons. Immediately, the audience sees that Marcus’ seriousness and introverted behavior may be in conflict with, at least, one of his roommates.

While studying in the library he sees and is bowled over by Olivia (Sarah Gadon) who is studying a couple tables away. He’s never had a relationship before and finally gets the nerve to ask her out.

His first date takes him extremely out of his comfort zone, while opening him up to feelings he’s never had before. Olivia is open and very direct and tells him about her difficult past. Marcus has never experienced anything like her before and it turns his world upside down.

All the students are required to attend church lectures given by Dean Caudwell (Tracy Letts) followed by Christian prayer. Marcus is offended by this as he is both Jewish and his developing belief structure doesn’t support a “God”. There are two meetings with the Dean that are phenomenal to watch.

The acting by the actors is both amazing in their characterizations and the content of their discussions. The film is book-ended by scenes of the Korean War and of a rest home, which pull the film together because this film is not just about the budding relationships and coming of age, but about the cycle of life, death, and love.

Lerman was wonderful in this role. He clearly embodied this role and made his struggles the audience’s. Gadon was sublime. When she was on the screen, she was all I could watch. The depth of her struggles and intelligence was obvious. Letts as the Dean was truly amazing. I so enjoyed his logic and conversation twists during the two meetings with Marcus. James Schamus’ writing and direction was outstanding. His interpretation of this Philip Roth novel was great.

Overall:  I was totally engaged with this film and story.

Equity

First Hit:  Although the story could have been interesting, the acting and execution didn’t stand up to the story that was available.

This film is about three of things:  It is about how a company goes public (IPO). It is about women and their place in Wall Street banks and investment companies. And lastly it is about the cheating, greed, and fraud on Wall Street and how money is the root of these issues.

Unfortunately, the drive from the main character Naomi Bishop (Anna Gunn) was a turn off. Not because of her aggressive behavior but there was little that was likable about her character. There was no charm and little compassion. She is supposed to be smart and wants to be a company “rainmaker” but she’s not people smart nor does she connect with others and it shows. She wasn’t likable.

Her part time lover Michael Conner (James Purefoy) is part of the same company but is in the brokerage area. He’s a ruthless broker, yet charming and has a way of coercing information through intelligence and charm. He does this to take advantage of ill begotten information and make money for himself and others.

When we see him trying to obtain information from Naomi’s phone while they sleep together, you get his deep seated lack of integrity. He never really cares about anyone in this film except about himself. Naomi’s right hand person Erin Manning (Sarah Megan Thomas) is being held back by Naomi. She continues to do excellent work for Naomi but is treated indifferently and oppressively by her boss.

This is where I began to dislike Naomi. She didn’t care about someone she was supposed to be mentoring. The film follows the IPO of a privacy software company run by a young arrogant guy named Ed (Samuel Roukin). He’s got a programmer who finds a hole in the security and he reacts poorly which puts his IPO in danger.

This could have been a very good film, but because the story was never set up to like anyone, nor to create an in-depth view of the characters, I was left to just watch poorly defined characters (except Samantha – Alysia Reiner) vie to one up each other in mediocre ways.

Gunn was unlikable. Yes, the role called for it, but as the main character it is important to find something to make me (and the audience) want to root for her, I couldn’t. Purefoy was charming and precisely the type of uncaring person you’d expect to find for a broker/banker. He was appropriately self-serving, just as he shared about how his kids only see him as an allowance giver. Thomas was one of the more interesting and better acted characters. Reiner as the Federal Attorney who wanted to find inappropriate and illegal collusion was engaging. She was the only one who seemed to have an interesting background and was allowed to grow in the film. Roukin was good enough in the arrogance department to be the kind of Silicon Valley company CEO. Amy Fox created a mediocre screenplay from a strong story by Thomas. Meera Menon didn’t bring this film to life very well. Despite the well intentioned ideas of the film, the execution was poor.

Overall:  I had high hopes for this film, but when there isn’t anyone to care about, I ended up not caring.