Man of Steel

First Hit:  By the last 45 minutes I got bored stiff with the relentless ill conceive battles.

A little over a week ago I was watching the “Colbert Report” and he posed a question to the director (Zack Snyder) of this film: Why did you forgo the red trunks this character has always worn? Snyder’s response was we wanted to make this film more realistic. Really?

Make a film more realistic about a man who flies faster than a speeding bullet, leaps tall buildings in a single bound, and more powerful than a locomotive, realistic? I will say that Snyder did do a good job of making Clark Kent / Kal-El (AKA: Superman) (played by James Cavill) somewhat human as we go from his childhood to adulthood. It is when we get to his having to fight General Zod (Michael Shannon) his home planet Krypton for his and earth’s survival that it loses steam.

Be prepared to spend 40 – 60 minutes watching an ill-conceived battle. It is a wasteful use of CGI and my time. Superman is about helping individuals in trouble on earth, not fighting some alien invasion.

Cavill as Superman is good. There is some depth in his character but made to spend all his time fighting Zod. Amy Adams playing Lois Lane is wonderful. I really like her. Shannon was very good as Zod but unfortunately his role was too large. Diane Lane and Kevin Costner play Clark Kent’s earthling parents and they were very good – grounded. Russell Crowe as Jor-El (Superman’s father) was overplayed. The only reason we saw so much of Jor-El was because he was Zod's arch enemy and I'm sure they felt required to beef up the role for Crowe. David S. Goyer wrote an overly long battle driven script. Snyder wasn’t able to make Clark Kent both human (he did this better) and savior. He made this film about fighting Zod – so what.

Overall:  Wasted my time despite some wonderful moments.

We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks

First Hit:  Extremely thought provoking and with new disclosures by Snowden in the news, very timely.

I was driven to and enjoyed learning more about PFC Bradley Manning who decided that the information he had access to, needed to be public.

We, the public of the United States, pay for all of what the government does. We are the employers of our government, we’ve entrusted them with them to make the right decisions about what we do, how we do it, and in the name of protecting us the people who pay them.

Granted I wouldn’t agree with all the decisions our government employees make, but given the type of information of what our government is doing in our (my) name; I think there needs to be more transparency and accountability. 

The film is mostly based round the organization called WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. Assange is a nomadic internet expert and coder. He developed WikiLeaks as a place for people to confidentially post information which would normally be hidden from public view. Assange also lives a nomadic life in crash houses and hotels.

The sharing of information to WikiLeaks by Bradley Manning brought them both into the headlights of public press only after Adrian Lamo let everyone know it was Manning who posted the confidential information. One of the sadder parts of the film was Adrian Lamo, who leaked that it was Manning. 

This guy is troubled about his own history of hacking troubles, the law and his struggles to relate to people. Added to the overall story are the legal troubles Assange is embroiled in because of charges two women have brought against him.

Alex Gibney wrote and directed this interesting film which begins to bring to the forefront the story about government secrecy and transparency.

Overall:  I’ve been thinking about this film for a week now – that’s a good sign that it told a story.

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.

The Internship

First Hit:  Moderately funny scenes and the real truth is the difficult story about finding jobs for anyone at any age.

When John Goodman fires Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson) from their sales jobs and then tells them that they were sales “grinders”, were facing a cruel world out there, and that their prospects were minimal the film's set-up is made.

There is another segment where one of Team Lyle's members' states that more than half of today’s college graduates will not get a job that uses their education when they graduate. I’ve been on the job market as a 30, 40, and 50 year old person and I know just how hard it is. The older you get the harder it is, especially in a technology world. When 100 kids show up to Google for a summer internship in the hopes of 6 of them securing jobs at Google, it tells a huge story.

The story is about how two old salespeople use their skills at bringing people together so that the team can win. They learn who has what skills and how to support each other and help them grow. The downside, as I’ve stated before in other reviews, Vaughn is Vaughn no matter what role he takes. He’s got one character and it just shows up in different films so this film becomes predictable very early on.

Wilson, like Vaughn, plays the same character in most of his roles, although he can be more subtle in his acting. With these two as the main stars, the film lacks surprises and, for the most part, does not reveal its characters in interesting ways. If the film focused more on the second level actors it may have been more interesting. Regardless, there are funny, sad, and heartfelt moments which make it watchable.

Vaughn is just that, Vince Vaughn, no more or less. Wilson is the same thing, no surprises, and a knowable character. Nothing very interesting about these people or their characters. Rose Byrne (playing Diana) was OK in a minimal role. Aasif Mandvi (playing Mr. Chetty) was OK and a bit stereotypical. Max Minghella (playing a jerk named Graham) was good and showed the kind of arrogance this role called for. Josh Brenner (playing Lyle) was believable as a computer nerd – which he does on some movie theater promos. Dylan O’Brien as Stuart was good as the always negative to be cool guy. Tiya Sicar (as Neha, the only female on this team) was really good and deserved more script time. Tobit Raphael (as Yo Yo Santos) was wonderful as the oppressed by his strong mom nerd. He portrayed the fear and his change to finding his voice, sort of speak, perfectly. Vaughn and Jared Stern wrote this occasionally funny and adequate script but I do think there was more available for this film. Shawn Levy directed this film. There were nice moments and staging but other times it felt pressed and too made up.

Overall:  A “On Demand” film for sure and enjoyable on a Sunday afternoon or evening.

Now You See Me

First Hit:  I like magic and therefore I was interested and entertained during this film.

However from a plot point of view it was confusing and didn’t necessarily hold together. In the opening scenes we see four magicians performing their particular types of magic. J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) doing street magic that is grand in its own right.

Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson) does mindreading and hypnosis in small venues to make a living after his bother stole all his money. Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) use to be Atlas’ assistant but does her own dramatic magic in small showrooms. Lastly there is Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) who is mostly a con-artist with deft hands and the ability to be clever.

They are corralled together by an unknown guide and a year later is performing major stage magic in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas. They identify Author Tressler (Michael Caine) as their financial benefactor to the audience.

Also the audience is introduced  to Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) in this “First Act” show as someone who makes a living debunking Magic by sharing magician's tricks on his website. In the first act the 4 Horsemen, as they’re called, are to have someone from the audience come up to the stage and rob a bank in France and give the proceeds to the audience.

This is the films setup because the magicians are brought into the FBI for questioning and here they meet Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) who is heading the US investigation of the robbery while his Interpol counterpart is Alma Dray (Melanie Laurant). As each of the three 4 Horsemen acts unfold, the story gets more convoluted. This is the problem with this film, it just doesn’t provide enough sustenance and bread crumbs to make it work.

Eisenberg is intense as usual and although he’s good for the part, he’s become more of a one trick pony. Harrelson, as he’s done in the last few years, takes each of his characters and makes them interesting and compelling. Fisher is good enough but I would have seen more grit (street smarts) from her to beef up her part. Franco is OK as the most minor of the four characters but reappears at the end as a critical component. Caine is good as the hard, steely eyed, guy who gets taken for a ride. Freeman is strong as the guy who gets his in the end. Ruffalo is OK, however didn’t seem very believable as a FBI investigator. Laurant is OK but I’m not quite sure this character was needed. Ed Solomon and Boaz Yakin wrote the convoluted story with big ideas. Louis Leterrier directed the film, and it seems, with a certain respect for magic.

Overall: I found the film entertaining and that could be that is because I like the illusion of magic.