Spotlight (9/10): A Love Letter to Investigative Journalism

"It could have been you, it could have been me, it could have been any of us. We gotta nail these scumbags! We gotta show people that nobody can get away with this; Not a priest, or a cardinal or a freaking pope!"

Good investigative journalism is a dying medium in today's world where most media outlets are in a rush to get the exclusive and tell the story first. The same could be said for the film industry, but there are always exceptions because for every dozens of films like Alvin and the Chipmunks, we get a Spotlight. Director, Tom McCarthy, takes his time to tell this brilliant true story through a tight script that slowly begins to uncover the truth behind one of the Catholic Church's greatest cover-ups. It is a reminder of how important good journalism can be in today's world. Hopefully after watching Spotlight more people will begin reading their news from trusty newspapers instead of simply reading headlines from any internet article. It was refreshing to see a film like this portraying what good journalism is all about without taking any shortcuts. As a communication major the subject matter really appealed to me and I felt very emotional during a couple of scenes. McCarthy did a fantastic job at going through the every day ordeal of investigating. If you notice there is barely any reference towards these characters backgrounds or their family life. The entire film focuses entirely on their profession and that is what makes this such a powerful film because it avoids any kind of manipulation into character development. I loved the attention to detail that McCarthy brought to the film and how he decided to exclusively build it all around the investigation.

Bringing the true events of an investigation concerning the child molestation cover-up by the Catholic Church to life in a film might not seem like an interesting subject matter, but McCarthy handles the material with grace. He manages to slowly build the tension by going through the everyday ordeals of serious journalism. Spotlight is the name given to the investigative section of the Globe comprised of four reporters that take their time to research an important issue and build a compelling story. In this case they discover a link between several child molestation incidents with some priests from the Boston area and how the Church has repeatedly covered up for them by simply relocating them to other areas. These four reporters are given the gigantic task of trying to unmask this secretly huge system of defense built by the Catholic Church. The film accomplishes what it sets out to do from the first frame and it delivers one of the best films about investigative journalism in years. 

This is a team effort, there are no lead performances in this film. Michael Keaton might be the leader of the Spotlight team, but Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, and Brian d'Arcy James all deliver strong performances. Ruffalo has received much of the acclaim because he has some of the more emotional moments on screen, and that verbal standoff off with Keaton is powerful, but everyone on screen delivers solid performances. Liev Schreiber is also outstanding as the new editor in chief who arrives at the Globe and comes up with the idea for the story. And Stanley Tucci of course is always mesmerizing any time he's on screen. Spotlight has probably my favorite ensemble cast of the year. I was a huge fan of this film and of course comparisons with All The President's Men are justified.

Wild Card (5/10): Fun action scenes, but too few for a disjointed film like this one.

“I can take care of things. That is all you need to know.”

Don’t be fooled by the awesome poster that has Jason Statham pulling off an acrobatic stunt because Wild Card is more of a character driven drama than an action film. The only problem is that it never does manage to say anything about the character despite trying to be an inventive character driven film. Jason Statham is supposed to be this compulsive gambler living in Las Vegas working as a fixer thanks to his special skills, but we would’t actually know these things about the character until about forty minutes into the film so everything leading up to that seems like a waste of time. Wild Card has some interesting ideas and the action scenes are extremely fun, but there are only three action scenes in the entire movie. Getting to watch Statham beat up a gang of mobsters with a spoon and a butter knife is the highlight of the film, but the rest of the movie feels disjointed and disconnected. There are a number of secondary characters that have interesting appearances but most of the subplots end up going nowhere. It is surprising that the screenplay failed to work here because William Goldman is an Award winning writer (All the President’s Men and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and the film is based on his novel “Heat.” But somehow Wild Card feels like it is missing a link and every sideplot that is introduced doesn’t fit in the film as a whole. 

Simon West has directed several mediocre action films, but I will always have respect for his most entertaining film, Con Air. This is his third collaboration with Jason Statham and I think The Mechanic was their best one. He is trying to do something different with Wild Card by focusing on the character rather than the action, but the drama doesn’t make much sense. Statham is still able to keep us interested thanks to his charisma and the few action scenes are well choreographed and stylized. It was almost enough for me to recommend it, but ultimately the waste of a talented secondary cast and the disjointed subplots left me wanting more. 

I already mentioned Statham’s charismatic performance, but I want to point out some issues I had with other performers. Max Casella and Sofia Vergara have a small scene at the beginning of the movie that is far from memorable. They are talented actors but the way West introduces these characters and never connects them with the story sort of falls flat. Then you have the talented Anne Heche working as a waitress at a bar that Statham frequently visits, Jason Alexander who is a lawyer that shares his office with Statham, and Michael Angarano who wants Statham to be his personal bodyguard for the night while he is out in Vegas. As much as I like these actors their roles are wasted. Dominik Garcia-Lorido has an interesting role as Statham’s friend who is beaten by a mobster (played by Milo Ventimiglia) just for funs sake. She wants revenge and she knows Statham can help her. This is the part of the plot that worked best for me, but Ventimiglia never ends up being much of a threat. There is an incredible cameo however with Stanley Tucci that worked so well that I wished the film would’ve focused on his relationship with Statham instead. There are some interesting moments in Wild Card but West was never able to piece them together into a cohesive and entertaining film. By the end no matter how much fun I had with the action scenes I couldn’t help but feel as if I’d seen an incomplete film.

My Review: Transformers Age of Extinction (4/10)

"But when you look up to the stars, think of them as my soul."

Michael Bay is back at it again delivering a longer and louder sequel full of headache inducing action scenes. It's funny that a film like this, with no soul, puts so much emphasis in trying to convince us that these Transformers actually have one. The film felt like a parable warning us about the dangers of cloning and animal testing, but it was completely uninspiring. There was no reason for this film to be so long and at times I think that the over extended action scenes end up becoming anti-climactic. There is a scene at the beginning of the film where a theater owner is complaining how sequels are killing the industry (a clear parody of itself) and if Bay was trying to make fun of critics as old timers then I wouldn't mind being called a grumpy old man because this film was just terrible. The characters in this film are completely one dimensional and their sole purpose in this film was to allow for an excuse to jump from one action scene to the next. You have the now classic female lead role from Bay not doing anything else than looking good in front of the camera, and several attempts at humor from the rest of the supporting characters who simply seem to be in the movie in order to give funny one-liners. For every funny line, there were ten that didn't work. The film does look great; there is a beautiful scenery and cool looking CGI action scenes but it simply felt like another empty attempt at delivering a loud blockbuster. For Bay it seems like more is better, but for me with every new sequel that comes out I grow more unresponsive towards these cartoon characters that I once loved as a young kid. It's a shame because I did like the first film, but the sequels have ruined it for me.

Having Mark Wahlberg play the lead role instead of Shia LaBeouf was an interesting move considering he is more of an action star. I tend to like Wahlberg's action films, but he wasn't enough to save this film considering the real stars are the soulless giant metal robots. I also found Stanley Tucci to be a great addition although at times he did get on my nerves, but the blame for that has to be put on the poor script written by Ehren Kruger. It's as if for two and a half hours we got beat over the head with one repeated action scene after another. I don't know, the entire experience left me a bit dumbstruck and I was utterly disappointed even though my expectations were really low going into this sequel. At times I wondered if Bay's title, "Age of Extinction,"was referring to the future of blockbusters, but when I thought of what other directors did with films like X-Men and Edge of Tomorrow (to mention a few) I calmed down and realized some directors actually are making smart and intelligent blockbusters. Bay on the other hand is making the same film over and over again with the exception that they get longer and louder. Fans who are looking for this will be pleased because Bay gives you an all you can eat buffet of action scenes involving giant metal robots battling off one another while cities are being destroyed. I never thought I would say this, but Pacific Rim was a much better movie at that.

My Review: The Fifth Estate (6/10)

"If you want to know the truth... no one is going to tell you the truth. They're only going to tell you their version. So, if you want the truth, you have to seek it out for yourself."

The Fifth Estate is an engaging political thriller based on real events involving the popular and questionable internet site, WikiLeaks, which intended to work as a sort of watchdog site exposing the corrupt actions of powerful organizations and governments. Despite all the media attention this got all over the news, audiences didn't seem too interested in checking out this film. If you've basically kept up with the news about WikiLeaks than this film doesn't offer much more than a dramatic story focusing on the main characters. In the end this film only tells its own version of the truth, but if you really want to know what happened you will need to investigate more on your own. The Fifth Estate raises some interest towards the subject, but it never really informs much about it. Despite being a bit one sided and exposing Assange as an egocentric and obsessive character, it still managed to raise interesting questions. The film focuses more on the relationship between Assange and Daniel Berg who teamed up to build the site than on the actual events themselves. It is worth watching for the dynamic relationship between the two, perfectly played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Bruhl, two actors that weren't on my radar before 2013, but have had an impressive year.

The Fifth Estate was based on Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website) and David Leigh's books (WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy) and the screenplay was adapted by Josh Singer (The West Wing) which focused on the relationship between WikiLeak founder, Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch), and Daniel Berg (Daniel Bruhl) who teamed up with him to guarantee that the website would protect the anonymity of the whistleblowers that were exposing corruption and dark secrets of powerful organizations such as banks or dictatorships. Thus the site began exposing corporate crimes and other government secrets at a very fast pace. However when the site receives thousands of confidential US military and government documents, Assange and Berg differ in how they should deal with this sensitive material. 

The lack of public interest in the WikiLeak scandals kind of hurt this film, but the truth is that with everything that went on it's hard to decipher what the intentions of the producers of this film truly are. It might be one sided, but it still presents some interesting points and it is left to the viewer to keep on searching for the truth on their own. The focus of the film is on the relationship between the two main characters and I was fine with that because the performances were strong. Alicia Vikander, Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, and Stanley Tucci aren't given much to do with their characters considering the plot kept on jamming a lot of information in a short period of time and they really didn't stand out, but it was still nice to see some of these talented actors here. Vikander is gorgeous and I'm glad she's getting more roles after her great performance in the danish film, A Royal Affair. Bill Condon is a talented director (Gods and Monsters, Kinsey, Dreamgirls), but The Fifth Estate is a flawed film. We never learn much about the secrets that were being uncovered, since the film focused more on the relationship between Assange and Berg. It's more interested in the characters and exposing Assange's flaws than in telling the actual story. Cumberbatch and Bruhl save this film and make it watchable.

My Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (9/10)

"Remember who the real enemy is."

Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) takes over director duty from Gary Ross in the sequel to The Hunger Games franchise which results in a much darker and better film. I know I gave the original Hunger Games film the same rating as this one, but I think I was a little too generous with the first film. Francis clearly sets the right mood and tone for this franchise by giving us a better picture of the world outside of the games. The districts and the Capitol are better portrayed here and we get a sense of who the real enemy is now. In the first film I felt like the enemies were some of the kids from the first districts, while in this sequel you get more of a sense as to why the Capitol and President Snow are the true enemies. The film takes more time to set up this world and it does so with a great sense of pacing and storytelling. The actual Hunger Games don't begin until the second half of the film, but I was ok with the buildup since it was absolutely necessary. Catching Fire gives us glimpses of what we are going to get in the next two films as sparks of a revolution begin to develop, and it also gives us new characters that are certain to play a key role in the upcoming films. These new characters are far better developed than the ones in the first film and the entire film sets things up perfectly for the grand finale. Jennifer Lawrence carries this film and she truly is a girl on fire showing both sides of her persona: her courage and her vulnerability. She balances these elements and the struggles she's going through perfectly and allows the audience to identify with her character. I don't think that two and a half hours have gone by so quickly for me as it did during this movie (I've seen 90 minute films that seemed to be longer than this) because it was just so exciting and engaging. The action during the actual games were also much better developed (no more shaky cams). Catching Fire is probably along with Star Trek Into Darkness the best blockbuster of the year.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrece) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), the winners of the 74th Annual Hunger Games, have returned home. Katniss has turned into a symbol of hope for the people who are beginning to rebel against the totalitarian government of the Capitol under President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Katniss and Peeta's return home is short lived as they embark on a Victor's Tour around all the districts paying their respects to the falling tributes. Despite Katniss's love for Gale (Liam Hemsworth), she is forced to continue with the farce surrounding the media coverage of her relationship with Peeta. Effie (Elizabeth Banks) and Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) join Katniss and Peeta as advisors during the tour. President Snow recognizes that Katniss has become a symbol of hope for the people outside of the Capitol and therefore has a surprise for the upcoming Quarter Quell (the 75th Annual Hunger Games). He announces that for this special event a male and female tribute winner from every district will have to compete against each other in this tournament of champions. Katniss and Peeta are the chosen tributes from District 12 who will face other tributes in a special arena designed by the new Head Gamemaker, Plutarch Heavensbee (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Other tributes include Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin) and Johanna Mason (Jena Malone) who form an alliance with them. President Snow is planning on crushing Panem's new symbol of hope, but Katniss will do what it takes to survive and protect her loved ones.

Francis Lawrence does a much better job here at exploring the different themes that the film is trying to get across. Catching Fire is more than a simple survival tale as other themes such as government oppression, heavily marked social classes, and society's obsession with celebrities are all explored very well. The characters are better developed as well. Take Katniss for example, as she's forced to live a double life feeling hypocritical and imprisoned at times as she has to hide her true feelings for Gale. She doesn't feel like a hero and doesn't want to be that symbol of hope that's she become. She has to come to grips with her new identity and the responsibility that has come with it. Jennifer Lawrence delivers a strong performance as she shows these inner struggles she's facing while at the same time proving she can be lethal. The film is also very well adapted by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) and Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) from Suzanne Collins' novel. The returning supporting actors like Lenny Kravitz and Stanley Tucci are phenomenal once again, while the new characters played by Jenna Malone, Sam Claflin, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Jeffrey Wright have sparked my interest as to what they can bring to this franchise. They were all very well developed and add so much to a first part which in my opinion was dependent entirely on Jennifer Lawrence. She carries this film once again, but has an even more impressive supporting cast to leave us even more hooked with the cliffhanger ending. This film was great and I haven't even mentioned the amazing sets and awesome costume designs that went up a notch from last year's Hunger Games. Catching Fire is an upgrade over the original film and one you should definitely give a chance.

My Review: Julie and Julia (7/10)

"You are the butter to my bread, you are the breath to my life."

Julie and Julia felt like going to a fine restaurant to eat. It is not your typical fast food Hollywood movie, this is much more refined. Many people when going to the movies want to see some light film that will entertain them without having to think much about the performances, story, or dialogues (what I call fast-food). On the other hand there are some others (although fewer in number and much harder to please) that want to go to a movie that will make them think and feel like their time at the theater is productive and well spent. They go into the movie searching for good performances, great dialogues, or at least a decent story that hasnt been told before (which I compare it to the experience of going to a fine restaurant to eat). Well Julie and Julia falls into the fine restaurant category thanks to a great performance from the always reliable Meryl Streep, good supporting job by Stanley Tucci and Amy Adams. At times the movie can feel a little overcooked because you get the sensation the movie is so long and takes forever to end, but every time Streep is on screen she just shines and puts a smile on your face. Once again she plays a totally different role, she is such a versatile actress, and this time she has a very unique accent that is very sweet and funny at the same time. 

The film has two parallel stories that intertwine during the movie. They are both based on true stories. One of the stories takes place during the 1940s where Julia Childs played by the great Meryl Streep is moving to Paris with her husband (Tucci) because he works for the government and is going to work at the American consulate in Paris. From the beginning we know Julia Childs is a famous TV cook host and a writer as well, but the story focuses more on how she became so passionate about cooking and the decade it took her to write her first recipe cook book. Tucci and Streep are just wonderful together and their chemistry is great. He is always supporting her wife, especially when she is searching for her passion. They share the funniest scenes in the movie. The other story is about Julie played by Amy Adams, who lives in the post 9-11 days and works for a government agency where she helps people deal with the tragedy. She used to be a writer, but she seems to leave everything half-way. She also has a very supporting husband who wants her to find a passion as well and together they discover that she can blog about food. Julie identifies with Julia and decides to cook her more than 500 recipes in one year and blog about the experience each day. 

Even though the movie might feel like it drags at times, the film works because of Meryl Streep. She is terrific and plays a very sweet and likeable character. Her voice is very funny and there is even a SNL clip where Dan Aykroid is playing Julia Childs that is probably one of the funniest scenes of the movie so I am glad they included the clip. It helped the viewers understand the true fame that Childs reached because the film explores her early days even though she was more than 40 when she began. Her performance was worthy of an Oscar nomination and the movie should have focused more on that story, not because Adams did a bad job, but because Streep was simply superb. The movie has a feel good message as well and teaches you that it is never too late to find your true passion in life and fight for it. This is a highly recommended movie if you are in the mood for fine cooking, but if you are more into a fast-food movie than this is probably a movie you will want to skip.

My Review: Jack the Giant Slayer (3/10)

"Why is it that people always scream before they die? Do they think it's gonna help them?"

Jack the Giant Slayer is yet another forgettable Hollywood film that should have remained in our memory as the fairy tale we always imagined. This film makes the Snow White one look like a masterpiece, but the truth of the matter is that these films don't really work on the big screen, and much less when you try making a darker version of the known tale. The effects might be interesting, but they don't do anything for a fairy tale which has much more power in the imagination of a child. I really hated every minute of this movie despite it having some great actors and cool visual effects. The story is just terrible and I was never drawn into it. Kids might have a great time, but adults will certainly have a hard time enjoying this action tale. It is a shame because Bryan Singer is a great director who probably is responsible for the super hero boom in Hollywood for his work in X-Men and X2. He also directed one of my favorite films, The Usual Suspects, but lately I've been having a hard time enjoying his movies. I hope he returns to his roots soon and gets back on course because he is a talented director. This film just felt lazy and I was really bored with its action pieces. I wasn't impressed at all.

Centuries ago humans were in war with a race of giants, but that was a long time ago and now it is only a legend. A farm boy named Jack (Nicholas Hoult) grew up listening to these stories of how the Great King Erik defeated the giants and sent them back to their home in the skies. One day he is sent to the market by his uncle to sell his horse since they are going through financial difficulties, but Jack decides to help a monk and gives him the horse in exchange for some magic beans. Furious about the exchange, Jack's uncle throws the beans out, but that night Jack has an unexpected visitor. The princess, Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson), shows up at his door after having escaped the castle in search for adventure. While the two are talking it begins to rain and one of the fallen magic beans begins to take roots and transforms itself into a giant stalk carrying Jack's house to the skies. The King (Ian McShane) sends his men to climb the stalk and search for the princess. Along these men are his guards: Elmont (Ewan McGregor), Crawe (Eddie Marsan), Wicke (Ewen Bremner), and Roderick (Stanley Tucci) who clearly has a hidden agenda and wants to become King himself. These men are about to discover that what they thought was a legend is a reality they are about to face if they want to save the princess.

Stanley Tucci and Ewan McGregor are great actors, but I honestly don't understand why they accepted to make this project because the screenplay was really terrible. We even got to see Ian McShane and Eddie Marsan in yet another fairy tale after seeing them last year as the dwarves in Snow White. In all honesty I have to say that I hated this film and perhaps it may be due to the fact that this genre is really not working for me. I know several critics liked this film, but I felt it had a really weak script and depended entirely on the action sequences which I found boring and exhausting. I couldn't care less for Jack or the princess and really found the lead performances rather weak. Hoult does a much better job in Warm Bodies where he doesn't need too much charisma since he's playing a zombie. I will never be watching this film again.

My Review: The Hunger Games (9/10)

"We wish you Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor. "

The Hunger Games have begun and the odds are definitely in director Gary Ross`s favor as he has managed to adapt Suzanne Collins`s bestselling novel really well to the big screen. Ross has delivered a highly entertaining post apocalyptic, sci-fi, action, romantic thriller. Most fans will be satisfied with this film because it is truly entertaining and has a little bit of everything for those people who are looking for action, or for those who are more interested in the romantic story, and so on. It also has a great cast and the lead performance from Jennifer Lawrence is just brilliant. She captures the ideal female heroine who we all want to root for. She is truly the girl on fire. It comes as no surprise since Lawrence blew us all away with her performance in a small independent film called Winter`s Bone. She has already turned into a true star and proves she can have a lead role in what looks to be a very successful trilogy. The rest of the cast is also pretty interesting as you have great actors like Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, Toby Jones, and Donald Sutherland, along with young talented actors like Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, and Alexander Ludwig. They`ve really done justice to the characters that were created by Collins, and I can`t forget to mention Lenny Kravitz who was also excellent as Cinna. As good as all these actors were, Jennifer Lawrence was above par and she really delivered the story and brought a lot of heart to her character. A great deal of the success this movie is having can be owed to her remarkable performance as Katniss.

Suzanne Collins has created a very creative new futuristic world with some common elements from the past. The United States doesn`t exist as a country anymore, but it is divided into twelve districts which are all controlled by the Capitol. The name of the country is Panem, and the further away the districts are from the Capitol the poorer its people. The wealthiest families live in the Capitol and in order to control the districts and avoid another uprising they have created the Hunger Games, which consists of selecting two teenagers (one male and another female) from each district and have the 24 teens face off one another until only one survivor remains. They force the entire nation to watch these games and it has become a popular sporting event, kind of like the Roman Empire did with the gladiators, except that the arena is much bigger as they have the wilderness to hide in. This serves as a reminder of what happens when the districts rebel against their capitol and at the same time it keeps the districts fighting amongst themselves so they won`t form any alliances to try to begin a revolution. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) lives in the 12^th District along with her little sister and mother. She is a hunter and is excellent with the arch. Her best friend is Gale (Liam Hemsworth). When the elections for the 74^th Hunger Games take place, Katniss`s younger sister is selected, but she takes her place instead as a tribute. The other member selected from the 12^th District is Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), who is very strong and has a secret crush on Katniss. Together they must face the rest of the tributes with the help of their trainer, Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), the sole Hunger Game winner from their district in its 74 year history. The favorites are always the tributes from the first two districts because they have been raised all their lives to be prepared for these games. Cato (Alexander Ludwig) from the 1^st District and who is sadistic in nature is their biggest threat.

Once the Hunger Games begin the audience is immediately submersed into the story and Katniss`s struggle for survivor. The story is really well told and there are plenty of thrills and suspense for the audience to enjoy. The two and a half hour long movie has such a quick pace that by the end it will seem like you were only in there for an hour. The games are really that interesting and have you at the edge of your seat for almost the entire movie. I really enjoyed the pacing of this film along with the performances. It is hard to get a lot of character development with a movie that has so many things going on and that focuses almost entirely on Katniss, but we really do grow to care for several of these characters that have to face off each other. Of course there is no time to really know all 24 of them, because the story centers on Katniss and Peeta. There is sort of a love triangle going on, but the film really doesn’t delve in too deep with it. We will probably have more of that in the upcoming sequels, but most of the scenes involving Katniss don’t have to be spelled out for us. She delivers such a great performance that we can hear what she`s saying without ever having to say anything. We can read what she`s saying through her eyes alone. When I heard about the story I thought this was going to be a violent film, but it really doesn’t focus on the violence as much as it does on surviving. I really enjoyed every second of this film and it is my favorite film of the year so far.

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My Review: Margin Call (8/10)

¨There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat¨

Margin Call may be a fictional movie, but it has more truths in it than an actual Hollywood film that claims to be based on a true story. Despite not knowing a whole lot of economics I assure you we are all familiar with what happened in 2008 with the bubble burst in Wall Street because it has affected everyone`s life. First time director and screen writer J.C. Chandor does a great job at recreating what probably happened inside one of the investment banks the night before the financial crisis actually took place. I don`t know much about economics, but this movie is pretty easy to follow thanks to the smart script which in a way serves as an Economic for Dummies book. By making the actors explain the situation to their bosses in ¨plain English, ¨ Chandor is actually telling us what is going on in understandable terms. I wouldn`t argue that their bosses would actually understand everything in harsher terms, but the audience needed to be informed so I`m not going to take credit away from Chandor for this because it needed to be done. If not most of us wouldn`t have a clue of what was going on. Margin Call isn`t just a film about the financial crisis, it also deals with some aspects about important business corporations and how sometimes as employers we are forced to do things that go against our moral beliefs. Most corporations run as ¨a dog eat dog world¨ and ¨survival of the fittest¨, and in this film we see plenty of that.

A Bank investment firm is reducing its personnel in the risk management division letting go of almost 70% of its employees including their main analyst, Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci). Dale seems to be working on something very important, and before leaving he gives his pen drive to a co-worker, Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto), so he can finish the work and warns him to be very careful. Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey) is the division manager and he gives the remaining employees an inspirational speech about them being the best in their line of work and thus surviving in the company. The group decides to go out and celebrate with their boss Will Emerson (Paul Bettany), but Sam stays to see if he can review what Dale was working on. He manages to solve the equation that Dale never quite finished and the result was dreadful. The company is heading towards bankruptcy and the financial meltdown is about to begin. Sam calls his co-worker, Seth (Penn Badgley), and tells him that he should come back to the office with Will as soon as possible. It`s midnight, but the situation can`t wait any longer. When they arrive and discover what is happening they realize they have to call their bosses so up we go through the corporate ladder, first they call Sam, then Sam calls his boss Sarah Robertson (Demi Moore), and she calls Jared (Simon Baker), until the Owner finally arrives in his personal helicopter, John Tuld (Jeremy Irons). They discuss everything that is going on in a meeting and realize that the financial crisis is about to hit hard and have to sell all their stocks as early as possible.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about this movie is that it focuses on the financial meltdown in one confined space. We get to see how the main characters interact with each other inside the company and how everyone has to face a moral dilemma. It`s not just a movie focusing on the financial meltdown, but it`s more of a corporate drama where we have interesting characters who we end up caring about and understanding the moral dilemma they have to go through. There are some real good performances from some of the actors, and the cast is also very interesting. Stanley Tucci is always great in these small roles, Zachary Quinto delivers a strong performance as one of the lead characters, and Paul Bettany along with Kevin Spacey also give powerful performances as the struggle with some moral issues. Everything they have been working for all their lives is about to go down the drain, and the hardest decision is still right in front of them. The script is really engaging and well written. I loved this movie. Inside Job was a great documentary about the financial collapse, but Margin Call gives us a better look inside as to what might have gone on inside these big corporations. Don`t be scared off by the plot dealing with economics, this is a very strong and entertaining drama with good performances.

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My Review: Captain America: The First Avenger (6/10)

¨General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons but are won by men. Our goal is to create the greatest army in history, but every army begins with one man. He will be the first in a new breed of super-soldier.¨

Summer is synonym of superhero action movies. It seems as if every week we get bombarded with new superhero films, whether it be from the Marvel universe or the DC comics (I know, I`ve said this before). This summer started off with Thor, then it followed with the X-Men Origins franchise, next came The Green Lantern, and now finally we approach the end of the season with Captain America. I don’t have a problem with this at all since they usually end up being pretty good and some of my most anticipated movies for 2012 are actually superhero films (The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises). The question is how long can the producers keep on making these films entertaining and fresh for audiences. Captain America seemed to suffer from some of this overexposure these comic heroes have been having on the big screen. It`s still a good movie, but it didn’t feel all that fresh and we`ve grown used to seeing these heroes do great stuff and fight some terrible villains. The visuals are great as usual, the characters are interesting (comic book characters usually are very well developed since they`ve been in circulation for years), the stories are well developed, and the performances are great (especially from the supporting cast). So the question still remains: why wasn’t I that excited about Captain America? I found it an average and forgettable film despite all these great factors contributing to the movie. I guess I`ve already answered this: it just didn`t feel fresh enough, and it didn`t bring anything new to the genre. I did however still have a good time with the movie although I don’t think I will be seeing it again, and it won`t even come close in comparison to some of the other great superhero films like The Dark Knight or Iron Man.

The story takes place during the Second World War in 1942. The United States is in the middle of recruiting new, young and strong men to fight with the military overseas. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is one of those guys who is desperate to serve his country. He has a great heart, but unfortunately his small size doesn’t help. He keeps on getting rejected, but he is persistent and doesn’t let anyone bully him around. His best friend, Bucky (Sebastian Stan), has been called to serve with the 107 infantry and Steve wishes he could go along. Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) overhears a conversation the two of them are having and decides to give Steve a chance- due to his great passion- to serve the country on a special mission. Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) are in charge of this secret mission which consists of finding the perfect soldier and injecting him with a special serum that Dr. Erskine has created that will enable him to have greater powers. Steve is the chosen one and the project is successful, but somehow a Nazi spy has managed to sneak in on the experiment and destroys the entire facility. This spy works for Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) who is in charge of the Hydra division, which is sponsored by Hitler and is designed to build special weapons for the War. But Schmidt has something more in mind considering he wants to rule the world and uses science to build these special weapons. Steve Rogers, who becomes known as Captain America after undergoing the experiment, will now have to stop Schmidt before it`s too late.

One of the problems I had with this film was that Chris Evans played a very serious Captain America. He is a much better actor when he is allowed to be loose and funny. I know his character didn’t allow for that, but I guess the producers should have decided for another actor in that role considering Evans is a more charismatic and playboy kind of fellow. Hugo Weaving is usually great in his roles as villains, but in this case Red Skull wasn’t a very fearful one considering all he did was run away each time he had to face off with Captain America. This film could have used a much more intimidating villain. The best performances actually come from the supporting actors such as Tommy Lee Jones and Stanley Tucci who share some of the best scenes. In my opinion Evans didn’t have what it takes to be the lead character, but I expect he will be great in The Avengers as one of the supporting actors. He will probably be outshined by Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jeremy Renner (or at least his Captain America film was by Iron Man and Thor), but that is ok because he always does well in those films where he just lays back in the supporting role. The best part of this film was by far the scene after the end credits where we get to see the trailer for The Avengers. The film looks so great and it will be interesting to see how all these actors work together. Hopefully audiences won’t be tired by then from all the overexposure and producers can maintain the freshness and originality alive.

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