Moneyball

“Moneyball” provides audiences with an engaging story, characters and performances that hits a going, going, gone homerun.

Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is the General Manager for the Oakland A’s a team that is… well crap (his words not mine). To create a winning team on a budget that is a couple million less than most other teams Billy tries to reinvent the system. He hires Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) who uses statistics, computers and mathematical equations to develop the perfect winning team.

It seems to be a simple and logical step but Billy faces opposition from the top of the management, to the scouts, coaches and even the media. Both Billy and Peter believe in their system, they know it will work, but will anyone take the plunge with them?

Despite the simple plot screenwriters Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin (who also wrote “The Social Network” and won an Oscar for it) make the game that’s behind the game of baseball exciting. Audiences constantly wonder how Billy will pull it off this time and how he’s going to convince them the plan will work. Also how the characters will deal with defeat and what the next step will be.

Not only is “Moneyball” well-written as far as plot but the dialogue is fast and funny. Billy especially is a fast-talking, shrewd baseball manager and when he’s trading players he always makes people think they’re getting a good deal and in often humorous ways.

Pitt and Hill make a remarkable pair and their strong characters are supporting by strong acting. Hill often the star of comedy films like “Superbad” takes a surprising turn in this sports drama and he pulls it off. Hill stand-out performance of Peter shows the audience not only his insecurity in the baseball world but also his strong belief in the new system, the players and Billy.

Pitt also shows off his acting abilities by playing his character with honesty. Pitt allows the audience to see an unfiltered look at Billy and his emotions, whether he’s happy, sad or angry as well as his nostalgia of his days as a player. Also, Pitt accurately portrays the personality of his character, his business-like mentality, his desire to win, his strong-willed determination to make the new system work and make people believe in it. Essentially, Billy is the center of the film and Pitt carries the film and makes the protagonist into someone the audience can root for, instead of just the team.

“Moneyball” lets audiences see a behind the scenes view of the world of major league baseball and the money that drives the system. The film turns into an entertaining and stunning story made even better by a solid screenplay and performances by Pitt and Hill. “Moneyball” doesn’t strike out and is worth spending your money to see.

Contagion

“Contagion” is a convincingly horrifying look at the deadly microscopic world of viruses and it tells a thrilling story through numerous people affected by an unknown disease revealing the dangers of not washing your hands and turning the most sensible audience member into a complete germaphobe.

“Contagion” contains many plot lines in the film that shifts back and forth. It starts out with Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returning from a trip to Hong Kong feeling a little sick but just calls it “jetlag.” Soon her husband Mitch (Matt Damon) is taking her to the hospital after a seizure and his step-son Clark (Griffin Kane) is also feeling a little under the weather. At the hospital Beth dies from the mysterious disease and Mitch is quarantined but not sick… yet.

After more people in Hong Kong, London, Minneapolis and Chicago are getting sick it’s time to call the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) sends Dr. Mears (Kate Winslet) to Minneapolis, where Mitch and Beth live to try to contain the disease. When containment begins to fail they try to treat the disease as best as possible and Dr. Cheever gets a team to first identify the virus and then work on a vaccine, which proves to be more difficult than it appears.

The World Health Organization (WHO) also gets involved. They send Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) to Hong Kong working with a Chinese man Sun Feng (Chin Han). Once again the task is not an easy one, after all how do you track something smaller than a grain of salt? The death toll rises in Hong Kong as well and Sun Feng’s mother and village are now affected and he will do anything to get them better.

The other piece to the puzzle is freelance blogger/journalist Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) who lives in San Francisco. He sees a video of an infected bus man and knows something big is coming, but no one believes him. When more people get sick he weaves a web of conspiracy that the government is somehow behind it but they’re just letting people die. Then he contracts the disease and claims he has found the cure.

As the disease spreads all over the globe people stay inside, not making any physical contact and the world has turned into almost an apocalypse. Soon it’s not just a matter of surviving the disease it’s surviving the lack of food and desperate people. Essentially: if the disease doesn’t kill you, your neighbors will.

The plot hopping doesn’t slow down or confuse the audience, but tells a solid linear story. It shows the audience enough of each character that they grow to care for all of them. It also balances well and doesn’t show too much of one story over the other, at times it seems like the script has forgotten a character but then they show up again. Also by doing this it skips the least entertaining parts of each story. Best of all, the questions are answered at the end, often screenwriters don’t give audiences the courtesy of resolving untied ends but “Contagion” does.

“Contagion” also tells an exciting, fearfully entertaining story. At times it slows down but then the audience is hit with a new threat or danger and thrust back into the story again. Every character is put into life-threatening situations and the audience is always asking who will live and who will die.

Part of the intensity of “Contagion” is the realism of the film. Not only are the entire cast performances perfect in portraying the fear, sadness or the symptoms of the disease but also the medical aspect as well. “Contagion” was also accurate in the medical terminology used, the quarantine procedures and the lab work as well. It felt like it was right out of a chapter in The Hot Zone.

“Contagion” will take audiences on a terrifyingly gripping ride into the world of the smallest deadliest organisms. Also the authentic performances by Winslet, Law, Damon, Fishburne, Paltrow, Cotillard takes the film above and beyond most movies of the genre. However, be forewarned that after watching “Contagion” you will flock to the store to stock up on Costco size bottles of Germex and you will forever see other people as giant Petri dishes full of bacteria and viruses.

The Debt

Despite the name, “The Debt” contains everything needed for a solid espionage thriller with plot, acting and characters; the IRS won’t need to audit this film.

“The Debt” bounces back and forth from 1997 to 1966 and the flashbacks aren’t always triggered by seeing a familiar face or object the way most films do. This, however, does not distract from the flow of the film. It still makes sense and is easy to follow.

The plot also contains many twists and turns as secrets are unraveled even until the end of the film there are still surprises around the corner. The surprises help keep audiences in their seats wondering what will happen next.

“The Debt” follows the story of three Mossad agents Rachel (Jessica Chastain and Helen Mirren), David (Sam Worthington and Ciaran Hinds) and Stephan (Marton Csokas and Tom Wilkinson) during their mission in 1966 and the after effects in 1997.

In 1997 Rachel’s daughter Sarah writes a book on the exploits of her mother along with David and Stephan who are ordered to bring back the Dieter Vogel “the surgeon of Birkenau” (Jesper Christensen). However, when the mission took place back in 1966 there was a slight hiccup in their perfect plan leading to a cover up. As the years go by and the book releases each character has to deal with their secret, and if I told it to you I’d have to kill you.

The entire cast gives a solid performance and their characters are so diverse it adds an exciting mix to “The Debt”. Rachel is afraid and eager to finish the mission and she begins to have romantic feeling for her fellow missioner her character works due to Chastain’s performance. The older Rachel struggles with how the secret will affect her daughter as well as the remorse and anger for her actions. Mirren gives her character the right balance of emotion but not going over the top.

David wants justice. He doesn’t want Vogel to just die he wants him to stand trial so the world will know what he did, which makes him the most impatient to say, “mission accomplished.” He also has the strongest motivations for getting Vogel making him the most P.O.ed when the mission hits a bump. Worthington portrays David’s passion with sincerity. Just like Rachel older David is also remorseful and he still wants to make things right. Hinds also makes the older David look so sad in not only his depressing facial expressions but his lonely bachelor beard that tells the audience he’s given up on everything.

Stephan is perhaps the most complicated character it’s hard to tell exactly what his motivation is other than just doing another job. However, Stephan is definitely in charge and he doesn’t take no for an answer. Csokas gives his character a slightly humorous spark but he performs the seriousness of Stephan naturally as well. It’s older Stephan that has the drive that young Stephan did not. He does not want the truth to get out and will do anything to stop it from doing so. Stephan’s anxiousness is well-portrayed by Wilkinson.

Perhaps the most Oscar-worthy performance in “The Debt” goes to the villainous Vogel. In his capture Vogel picks his captors’ brains like a neurologist. He plays with their emotions appears sympathetic and friendly by talking about his wife or apologizing for the suffering he caused. Then he angers them by talking about how uncourageous and weak the Jews were. The two-faced villain not only messes with the characters minds but the audience as well by toying with the audience’s pity which Christensen does beautifully.

The one flaw in “The Debt” is the fact that the old and new characters look absolutely nothing alike… at all. Sure it can be difficult people grow old, fat and whatnot and it will never be perfect but it could be done better. The way it was done makes it difficult for audiences to believe that these are the same people, and confusing when you find out they are. Besides has no one ever heard of prosthetics? Or make-up?

Essentially, “The Debt” is a labyrinth of plot and secrets that keep audiences in their seats focused on the screen. It also contains phenomenal performances that are keeping it real. “The Debt” earns three out of five stars and you owe it to yourself to see it.

Colombiana

In “Colombiana” cold-hearted assassin Cataleya kills everything in her path, which unfortunately also includes the plot of her movie.

After witnessing her parents’ murder Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) grows up to be a vicious assassin. As she kills she sends messages to her parents’ murders telling them, “I’m coming.” The killings also gain the attention of law enforcements and F.B.I. agent Ross (Lennie James). However, Cataleya manages to escape their grasp every single time.

Other than that there is no plot. The movie just ambles on from killing to killing without much direction. The movie takes too long to get to the climax and there’s not much of an increase in suspense to get their either. Also all the gunk in the middle doesn’t always clearly relate to the revenge story.

Although the action in “Colombiana” proves to be exciting for the most part, the pacing is significantly less so. This makes the overall pace of the movie uneven half the time audiences are bored waiting for something to happen, then it tries to excite audiences with dazzling lights of explosions and gunfire.

Even with the action there’s not enough action to carry the movie. However, since there isn’t much of a plot to carry “Colombiana” just aimlessly floats around. Essentially, the plot has not point and thus is pointless in the direction it wants to take audiences.

Screenwriters Robert Mark Kamen and Luc Besson fail to focus on getting their protagonist from plot point one to the climax. They give Cataleya strong motivation for what she’s doing but they don’t provide her with a clear direction of where to go. It’s almost like they wanted to write a revenge movie but forgot about the revenge part until the last forty-five minutes. Then once it’s over they don’t know how to finish it.

“Colombiana”’s only saving aspect is Saldana’s performance. Cataleya is nearly emotionless she can’t even have a normal conversation with someone. Saldana plays this stoic role with excellent coldness. However when she does show emotion, especially when thinking back on her parents, Saldana gives it her all and unleashes a passion of emotion on to the audience and everyone in the theater feels it.

In spite of Saldana’s performance it fails to compensate or cover up the unsatisfactory plot. “Colombiana” provides audiences with a forgettable action movie that is just like the villains in it: dead.

The Help

“The Help” this summer’s “feel-good” movie feels good due to convincing performances and characters as well as lots of laughs to make audiences feel even better.

Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone) recently graduated from college comes back home to Jackson, Mississippi and starts work at The Jackson Journal writing a cleaning column. Needing help on her column and knowing nothing about the topic she asks help from a friend’s maid, Aibileen (Viola Davis).

While learning from Aibileen she also learns of the hardships of “the help”. She finally convinces Aibileen to share her stories so they can be published to make a change. Along the way other maids share their secrets as well, including Aibileen’s closest friend the tough and bold Minnie (Octavia Spencer). The group also makes enemies such as Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard) who controls all the social circles in Jackson.

“The Help” brings a strong cast to the screen. The struggles that Aibileen and Minnie face because of their race and the courage they find to stand up are perfectly portrayed by Davis and Spencer. Also the sadness of Aibileen at the death of her son is heart-breaking for audiences to watch.

Stone also gives a strong performance as the no-nonsense Skeeter that also speaks her mind. Stone also manages to handle the emotional parts as her characters finds out what happened to her childhood maid while she was gone. Also the way her character deals with her pushy mother who is always trying to get her married and how their relationship changes is solidly performed by Stone.

Howard villainous character provides the audiences with a good bad guy to root against. Howard portrays Hilly’s hatred for Minnie (and other characters) along with her complete apathy for what happens to them are acted believably; particularly when her character comes completely enraged at Skeeter.

“The Help” also provides an adequate story and characters. The plot moves at a decent pace with obstacles for characters to overtake. The three main characters, Skeeter, Aibileen and Minnie are well-developed and audiences get to know and care about the characters as the movie progresses.

However some characters are less-developed such as Stuart (Chris Lowell), Skeeter’s boy-friend who gets about three scenes and so their relationship is not as expanded as it needs to be. Same with Leroy, Minnie’s abusive husband who fails to even appear on screen but proves to be big factor for Minnie’s choices.

“The Help” is not focused on Civil Rights or racism as much as it concentrates on the bravery that Skeeter, Aibileen and Minnie use to stand up to the social standards of Jackson. “The Help” also flawlessly blends the serious elements with comedy and balances each part in such a way that it’s not too funny or too serious. With strong characters and more importantly strong acting, “The Help” fails to need any.

Fast Five

“Fast Five” doesn’t try to be more than an action movie, but that’s okay because it accomplishes the task well providing audiences with an action movie that is entertaining, thrilling and contains strong interaction between characters.

“Fast Five” picks up where the last movie left off, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) broke Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) out of prison. Now the three are trying to avoid capture by authorities and are living in Rio de Janerio. Vince (Matt Schulze) convinces them to help with a job, so they steal some cars.

They discover that the cars they stole belong to the man in charge of Rio, Reyes (Joaquim De Almedia). They also figure out how they can steal $100 million from Reyes. So Dom calls in the old team.

However, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) a federal agent is after them and he always gets his man. Also, Reyes is still pretty peeved that his car was stolen so he sends his men after the team as well. So while they avoid capture from two different people they also have to plan the perfect job, which isn’t as easy as it sounds.

“Fast Five” is not part of the “Fast and the Furious” franchise for nothing, it is fast and the people are anything short of furious. Cars chases, explosions, gun fights, fist fights and street races plague the movie.

At times the action is a little far-fetched that seems to deny the laws of physics or appears to be too convenient. The movie at times has a little too much of the macho men flexing their muscles.

However, it’s not just the action that makes this movie engage the audience’s attention, but the plot itself. Audiences are not just worried about one bad guy, but two. So audiences try to guess how the characters will avoid capture after capture from villain after villain. Audiences also wonder how the team will pull off the job as they encounter obstacle after obstacle.

The acting in “Fast Five” is not necessarily exceptional for an action movie and sometimes the performances are flat. The characters are unique from other characters in the movie giving “Fast Five” a well-rounded list of characters. The characters also have excellent chemistry with each other.

The characters are supposed to be friends, and friends who have a long history with each other and it certainly feels that way through the performance. They laugh and joke with one another just like long-time friends would, and it makes the audience laugh along with them. The characters also care for each other, especially brother and sister Dom and Mia.

The characters also have good motivation for what they are doing. Dom, Mia and Brian all want the money so they disappear and start a new life without fearing the law. Other characters want the money to have their dreams. Hobbs wants to catch the criminals and Reyes wants to keep his money safe, get his car back and get the guys who did it. The drive of the characters also drives the plot.

If you want a deep, thought-provoking film, “Fast Five” isn’t your movie. However, if you want an action packed, fast-paced, entertaining movie filled with strong characters (and I’m not just talking about muscles) then “Fast Five” is the movie for you. Oh, by the way, if you do see “Fast Five” there is a special treat after the credits, don’t miss it!