Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Four years after the brilliant The Hurt Locker, which earned her an Oscar for Best Director, Kathryn Bigelow came back with another war film, Zero Dark Thirty, the film I've been meaning to watch but kept putting off because of its genre and length for the past seven years. Netflix adding it to their catalogue was the push I needed to finally watch the film and I'm glad I spent 157 minutes to watch it as it turned out to be such a gripping thriller all the way through, with great performances from its cast.

Written by Oscar-winner Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker), the story is a dramatized depiction of the events that led to the discovery of Usama bin Laden's whereabouts and his eventual killing. It is divided into two parts. The first follows a stubborn female CIA agent, Maya (Jessica Chastain), over the course of 10 years as she obsessively hunts down al-Qaeda's leader. The second, shorter part focuses on the US Navy SEALs operation that led to the killing of bin Laden. 

Zero Dark Thirty's is a compelling and gripping story about the strenuous fight to find a man who cannot be found, a story that sucks you in, engages you and makes you feel the frustration of the CIA agents as their search goes nowhere, going three steps backwards for each step forward. 

One of the many criticisms the film got back in 2012 is the lack of character development. And it's true, the characters are underdeveloped. But shouldn't one keep in mind Bigelow and Boal's intention? Depicting a historical event and the set of events that led to it rather than making yet another Hollywoodian war film that focuses on its main character and essentially forgets about the event itself. Which is exactly what they did, a dramatized historical film that feels authentic from start to finish. 

Despite the lack of development, the character of Maya makes for a very interesting lead. She is a war machine in the sense that she's tenacious, determined, and won't let anything or anyone stop her. She is a smart, hard-working woman who tries to find her way, make her voice heard in a man's world. But there's also a human side to her. As much as she wants to find her target, she cannot stomach torture and the tragedies striking fellow CIA agents and innocent people, and at the end, although she does it, she find al-Qaeda's poster boy, she is wrecked because of how much it was lost because of it. 

Jessica Chastain is a force to be reckoned with as she gives an astonishing performance as Maya. She captures to perfection every single aspect of the character's personality and does an excellent job at delivering Maya's emotional state. Is it believable that a single person, moreover a woman some could say, was able to accomplish all that? No, it's not, but Chastain's performance is one of the things that makes it believable. 

The supporting cast also gives strong and compelling performances, despite their brief screen time and thin characters, with Jason Clarke being the standout as the CIA agents who initiates Maya into the tough work of handling terrorists.

Authenticity is the other aspect of the film that struck me the most. The reproducing of the compound's surveillance footage is impressive, as it is the insense final half hour that follows the SEALs operation — Bigelow does a wonderful job at making it suspenseful and tense through night vision shots from the SEALs point-of-view. This part of the film is so masterfully shot that it feels real as if the events play out in real-time.

Zero Dark Thirty does have one major issue though, it is incredibly uncomfortable to watch right from the beginning as it opens with phone recordings of 9/11, followed by a brutal, almost unbearable torture sequence. 

Which brings me to another thing Bigelow's film was criticized for, being pro-torture. Now, I get that each one of us is entitled to his/her own opinion, but if you think torture is portrayed in a good light in the film and justified as a mean for the greater good, in that case, I'm not sure we have seen the same film. Sure, the interrogations are shown producing useful and accurate information throughout but it's also shown how it was hunches that led to the discovery of bin Laden. The filmmakers simply want to present us with the hard truth, to show how far we are willing to go to protect our safety and freedom, even though it means taking from rights away from others.

At last, many criticized Zero Dark Thirty for being an American propaganda film. Again, I'm not sure exactly how a 10 year order ending in an execution-style raid, a raid that happened because of lucky hunches, not through interrogation and whose target's identity wasn't even certain, a raid that resulted in SEALs and a helicopter crash killing innocent people, can be seen as American propaganda. How exactly does this paint America in a good light?

Ultimately, Zero Dark Thirty is not a perfect film as it comes with its flaws — the characters are thin, there are some incredibly cheesy and quite cringy lines here and there (I'm the motherfucker who found this place), and some artistic liberties were taken with some of the events —, but it definitely isn't the propaganda film it has been accused of being — if anything, Bigelow had a feminist agenda. The film is, on the contrary, a realistic, suspenseful and absorbing war thriller.

A Most Violent Year (2014)

I've been wanting to see A Most Violent Year for ages because of Jessica Chastain but I've been putting it off because, honestly, the film itself didn't really appeal me. It still didn't but I gave it a shot anyway because of Chastain and Oscar Isaac. 

The story is set in 1981 New York City and follows Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac), a successful and ambitious immigrant, owner of a heating oil company who is planning to grab a bigger piece of New York's gas industry while dealing with very dangerous competitor and a hungry district attorney (David Oyelowo) who starts investigating Adel's company's financial records,. In the meantime, his wife, Anna (Jessica Chastain), accuses him of not doing enough to protect his family.

The biggest, if not the only issue with A Most Violent Year is the story, it is simply too thin to fill a two hour film, it feels dragged, like a repetition of the same things over and over again, and there are subplots with the potential to be involving and complex but get lost in a glass of water. It's not compelling as a gangster story should be, and barely held my attention.

Just like the story, the characters too are never that compelling. They are quite stiff and one-dimensional, they don't have a backstory —because of this, in Abel's case, stoicism is often mistaken for naivety—, some of them are nothing but plot devices —at least they make things a bit more logical— and most of them are stereotypes. Because of this lazy writing, I found it very hard to care about any of them.

Somehow, the actors still manage to do a good job. Oscar Isaac gives a captivating performance as Abel Morales, a man who does not believe in violence and does not accept it as a mean and captures Abel's moral struggle very well. Jessica Chastain gives yet another magnetic performance as Anna, Abel's powerful wife and business partner —unfortunately, she doesn't get enough screen time to make a bigger impact. The chemistry between Isaac and Chastain is amazing and makes their relationship and its developments more interesting. David Oyelowo also does a good job as the district attorney who wants to bring Abel down.

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As for the direction, J.C. Chandor does a great job at delivering an eighties look. From the dark and gloomy cinematography to the make-up and costumes, it really feels like being back in the eighties. He doesn't, however, really build much tension, and because of this, A Most Violent Year is ultimately very dull. Not to mention the utter lack of grittiness and violence —contrary to what one would assume from the title, the film ditches action for dialogue but unfortunately, it's not very sharp.

Miss Sloane (2016)

I knew absolutely nothing about Miss Sloane when I started watching. I only knew the lead was Jessica Chastain and that her performance had been critically acclaimed and that's basically the reason I checked it out.

Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain) is a ruthless lobbyist who always does whatever it takes to win. But when she is asked to work for a fun lobby looking to boost sells amongst women, she quits her job and joins a small anti-gun movement headed by Rodolfo Schmidt (Mark Strong) to fight it. 

The film starts off slowly, taking all the time it needs to develop and deliver a plot that is highly intriguing, engaging and suspenseful and that has several clever and brilliant twists along the way. What there's to like about it is that it presents us both sides of the argument. It explores the issues of gun control very well, showing strategies from both sides and interesting, well-thought debates. 

That said, Miss Sloane could have been about anything else really and be just as compelling because it has a very strong female lead and as well as one of the most fascinating in recent years. Elizabeth Sloane is a powerful woman in a man's world. She doesn't care what it takes to win. If there's a line to cross or something unethical to be done in order to reach her goal, she sure will go for it. She is arrogant, self-centered, manipulative and unlikable, but despite this, I ended up admiring her for her ambition, her determination and her intellect. 

What I liked the most about her --and it was mentioned by other people as well-- is that we are not given a character background. She is a heartless bitch, pardon my French, but thank god there's no childhood trauma or whatever thrown at us to explain why she is the way she is. She never cared about anything but now, all of the sudden, she quits her job and joins an anti-gun movement. Does she do it because of something that happened to her or for pure greed and power? We don't know and that's what makes the character so compelling and fascinating. 

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And the performance by Jessica Chastain as Miss Sloane is mind-blowing. She adds a lot of depth to her character delivering some impressive emotional scenes, and makes you root for her. Chastain is backed up by an equally strong supporting cast. Mark Strong is great as Sloane's frustrated boss, Gugu Mbatha-Raw is great as Sloane's colleague who plays a crucial role in the story, and Michael Stuhlbarg does great as Sloane's ex-colleague and opponent. 

Whether you are pro or against guns, you should check out Miss Sloane because it's a brilliant, suspenseful political thriller and character study that will keep you glued to the screen for 2+ hours. 

Watch: New Trailer For Ridley Scott's THE MARTIAN

Oh man - can't wait for this movie to touchdown. Matt Damon stars in director Ridley Scott's native 3D return to space and it looks like all systems go for a great movie here. The story should be amazing as I've read the book and hopefully they don't stray too far from the original material. It seems they aren't - Damon's character even uses the same terminology that's found in the book: "Here's the rub...".

I think Ridley is going to knock this one out of the park. Hopefully there's ample momentum here for his PROMETHEUS 2 afterward! 3ality Technica is behind the rigs for the production so you know the 3D in this movie will be jawdropping.

Here's the storyline for the movie:
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring “the Martian” home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney’s safe return.

Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Donald Glover, Mackenzie Davis, and Chiwetel Ejiofor

THE MARTIAN takes off October 2 in Real D 3D. Enjoy the trailer!

MUST WATCH: First Trailer And Intro Clip for Matt Damon's THE MARTIAN

I've read the book guys and this trailer seems to indicate that the original story is fairly intact and that is great news, because the book rocked. And it's directed by Ridley Scott - so there's THAT.

Watch the trailer - this is a huge personal survival story in the harshest of climates - Mars. The additional video clip introduces the crew of the Hermes to us in an affable manner as well - so far the marketing for the movie has been intelligent and at a human level; perfect for the story. Trust me, if they keep to the book (and they should, it was a best seller), then this movie will definitely take off.

Here's the movie's storyline:
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring “the Martian” home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible, rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney’s safe return. Based on a best-selling novel, and helmed by master director Ridley Scott, THE MARTIAN features a star studded cast that includes Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara, Michael Pena, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Donald Glover.

THE MARTIAN takes off on November 25.

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