F33: 300 Rise of an Empire-Directed by Noam Murro

"Seize your glory!"

Oh there will be blood. Oceans of it. While this second installment of 300 series was not quite as good as the original, it was still preposterously awesome. Back are the shredded abs of our Greek heroes, gone are the 300 Spartan troops that ultimately were annihilated by Xerxes' Persian army. Aesthetically, this movie is a ridiculous. It plays out like a living, breathing comic book. The style of how the action is filmed is terrifyingly beautiful as you can almost feel the whisper of arrows and swords gracing past your earlobes. Shot mostly against a green screen, the effects and fight sequences are gnarly and are definitely worth your $8.75.

Leonidas is dead and the angry swarm Persian troops begins its march to Athens. This film serves as both prequel and sequel as the action begins with the monumental Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon. Led by the cagey general Themistokles, the Greeks stave off the mighty Darius in an unlikely victory against his voracious army. Witnessing the embarrassing defeat of his father is the adolescent Xerxes, whose gluttony for revenge and gold body paint bring him back to Greece years later to finish what Darius started. Although he is leading the charge, the real villain in this film is the ruthlessly Machiavellian Artemisia, a Greek herself whose sole passion is the utter destruction of Athens. Historically speaking, she was a Greek female naval commander and did exact a great deal of influence of the actions of Xerxes. I loved seeing this strand teased out and developed into her becoming the arch nemesis of Themistokles. Everything comes to a head at the battle of Salamis. And if you paid attention in class, the rest as they say, is history. Highly recommend seeing this, just make sure you know what you are getting yourself into. To victory!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zqy21Z29ps

F32: Dallas Buyer's Club- Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée

"I swear it, Ray, God sure was dressin' the wrong doll when he blessed you with a set of balls."

We have a winner. Several, hopefully. Packing the force of a Mike Tyson right cross, this small 4 million dollar budgeted film is a force to be reckoned with. 34 days of filming. 47 pounds shed. And just a shade over 20 years to rework a screen play that culminates in Matthew McConaughey's epic role as the mercurial Ron Woodruff. I flat out loved this movie. The rawness. The grit. The assertive truculent way that the story unfolds. And then you have the acting. Holy tornado is there acting. After 5 minutes into Dallas Buyer's Club you forget you are watching a movie. You become swept up with the events onscreen and feel like you are parked outside a bay window with binoculars watching this man's life. There is something beautifully haunting about watching a train wreck and this movie is no different. McConaughey is cadaverously brilliant in his portrayal of a man who, faced with the grim atonement for the plethora of poor decisions he made in his life, fights with every fiber of his being for the chance of redemption.

Ron Woodruff is a drifter. Foul mouthed, homophobic and derelict he works his way through life at a break neck pace. Working at a rodeo outside of Dallas, in Ron's world he has it all. A little cash in the pocket, a liter of Jack in his belly and a legion of drugs crawling through his veins. His world unravels when his mild headaches morph into episodes of seizure and unconsciousness. While at the hospital he learns that he has HIV and is given 30 days to live. This death sentence galvanizes Ron's life and ironically, finally gives him purpose. He travels across the border to Mexico and begins smuggling untested, but effective drugs back for redistribution amongst fellow HIV/AIDS patients. Throughout his mission of reeducating people of how best to treat their illness he meets Rayon. Played exquisitely by the musically inclined Jared Leto, the two find comfort in their efforts and incidentally form the most improbable of friendships. 

Overall this film blew me away. After hearing about it for months, I was finally able to squeeze it in before the big awards show this coming weekend. With all the big budget movies it will be up against, I really hope that it gets the recognition that it deserves. While the Academy awards are not the end all for how successful a movie was, you just hope this movie gets what it deserves. The commitment of McConaughy to lose that amount of weight is astounding. He was on Actor's Studio discussing his role and how he stayed inside for 4 months to achieve supreme paleness and what his diet consisted of. Amazingly enough, he mentioned that despite all the muscle mass he lost, he felt extraordinarily acute and hyper observant to everything happening around him during filming. He felt like he became Woodruff and it definitely showed on camera. If you have time this week, find your way to the box office or check the In Theaters tab of your pay per view movie downloadables and watch this amazing movie. You will not be disappointed.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvMPU0WaPcc

F31: Monuments Men-Directed by George Clooney

"Let's get outta here."

I really wanted to love this movie, but it stunk. With a sterling cast including Matt Damon, John Goodman, George Clooney and Bill Murray, I had really high expectations for this film and it was a major disappointment. Historical drama is just about my favorite genre of film and this one plotted around the Nazi ransacking of Europe's most famous art treasures had the promise of being memorable. Memorable it was not. It had the feel of watching a M*A*S*H marathon, complete with a score that was abhorrently annoying. This biggest problem with Monuments of Men was that it lacked the gravity of what a picture on such a topic should have embraced. It was too fatuous, too disjointed and poorly edited.  It was a collection of scenes loosely stitched together, set in entirely in different keys. Drama? Comedy? Thriller? Character study? Bollocks. 

Frank Stokes (Clooney) assembles a team of art enthusiasts to tromp around Nazi Germany in an attempt to reclaim over 1,000 years of high jacked culture. The biggest prize being the Madonna and Child statue of Bruges sculpted by Michelangelo. Our team of heroes bumble around unearthing caches of paintings and do everything they can to restore rightful ownership. With the war coming to a close and news of Hitler's Nero Decree to burn everything looming, the treasure hunt becomes a race against time. About the only positive thing that I can say about this film was how it made you think of how demonically unstable Hitler really must have been. Here is someone who loved painting and truly enjoyed an affinity for art, only to become hell bent on eradicating many of the world's greatest artistic treasures. Outside of that thought, stay away from this movie. Don't even bother renting it.  Enjoy the trailer posted below and the unfulfilled promise of what could have been a great movie. C'mon Clooney, you are better than that. 

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CreneTs7sGs

B20: Occupy Nation by Todd Gitlin (320 pages)

"I was unprepared for their sheer sprawl and inventiveness. In rapid order or disorder,they produced a social phenomenon that did not feel like a fad, because a fad is a single style and Occupy was all kinds of movements at once, some more visible and some less."

Need an interestingly eloquent non fiction book that reeks of rebellion? Snatch up Occupy Nation by famed Sociology professor of Columbia University, Todd Gitlin. He tackles to chore of dispelling myths and misconceptions regarding the Occupy Wall Street movement. I really became obsessed with this protest after a heated discussion in one of my classes revolving around the Freedom of Speech. After a viewing a short informational video, link below, we dove into this protest, dissecting the parts that drove this ultimate demonstration of dissatisfaction. While its engine was flawed in many ways, the story of how it came together and what it hoping to achieve is definitely worth learning about. 

In the late summer of 2011, anti-consumerist and pro environment magazine Adbusters ran a graphic initiating the call for a protest against the greed of Wall Street and economic inequality that seeps from the veins of America. "What is our one demand?" it beckoned. Occupy Wall Street it stated. Bring tent. And that ladies and gentlemen, is how a revolution is born. First amendment exercisers unite! What followed was a spectacular year in which media and social media were set ablaze with images and misgivings tied to this movement. Gitlin is very informative in his writing and charmingly pens an insightful account of what this explosive movement was all about. He sheds light on the fibers that held the movement together and more importantly how the OWS movement compares with other equally ebullient gatherings of people who are a little more than pissed off with their government. While the success of OWS is still being debated over, there is no debate on whether this book is worth your time. It is. After all, we are the 99%. 

Video:
 http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2012/apr/13/occupy-seven-months-of-protest-video

F30: Lone Survivor-Directed by Peter Berg

"I've been around the world twice and talked to everyone once."

Whole-lee sh#&. This movie was incredible. It may not quite be movie of the year, but Peter Berg should win director of the year hands down. The former director of Friday Night Lights, despite his talent, sometimes has a suspect picker when it comes to screen plays (Hancock/Battleship). Not so with his latest release centered around true events of a clandestine mission in Afghanistan that went sideways. From the title we go into this movie knowing the ending, but what is unexpected is how craftfully this story is told. This film is beautifully vicious and savagely touching on many levels. It is filmed through a truly artistic prism and is a must see. I am very fond of the band Explosions In the Sky and Berg again taps them to haunt the score of his scenes. The cinematography is refulgent, the acting superb and the sequence where the troops spill down the side of a shale cliff is staggering to say the least. Anyone can make a simplistic military movie that blows everything up and leaves everybody wounded, but Lone Survivor will leave you thinking about war on a much deeper level.

The core of this story is the relationship of the team assembled to take out a top Taliban leader. These men have a passion for living and dying for each other and all parts are played incredibly. Leading the charge is Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) flanked by his right hand man Marcus (Mark Wahlberg). The team is stranded mountainside and faces a quandary when their position is stumbled upon by seemingly innocent goat herders. Taking the moral approach, the team cuts loose the herders and aborts the compromised mission. However, a quick extraction quickly dissipates when all communications are lost due to rugged Afghany terrain. Sure enough, the Taliban learns of their presence and all hell breaks loose. Literally. The quiet, serene mountainside transforms into a battlefield as a flood of enemy fire engulfs our heroes. 

Say what you want about war time situations, but I my opinion this movie is a reminder that the men and women fighting abroad are human beings and have a remarkably unbreakable bond between them. I am not going turn this entry into a soapbox for my own feelings toward war, but when watching this film, it just struck a cord with how deep these relationships run. Much like the classics Band of Brothers and All Quiet on The Western Front, this movie with be talked about and remembered for a very long time. Berg ends things in a touching way that humanizes the violence committed and pays an emotionally tribute to the lives lost during the mission. See this, stat.   

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoLFk4JK_RM

F29: Philomena-Directed by Stephen Frears

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." 

I liked this movie despite the absence of mind swirling action. There are no car chases and zero explosions. The ending will not send a jolt of excitement through your veins. In fact this movie is quintessentially the complete opposite of the last movie that was reviewed. What this film lacks in sexiness it makes up in depth of character and plot. It is like having a warm cup of coffee in a rocking chair on the porch of your mountain cabin. There is a sharp chill in the air that is beginning to weave its way through the blanket wrapped around your shoulders.  Quietly rocking, you look out over the tranquil landscape, and realize the allure of being trapped in this paradox. Beauty comes in different shapes and sizes and there are many wonderfully graceful moments to this picture.

On the surface the it seems to be a stuffy little story about a young girl who had a little too much fun at a local carnival in Limerick, Ireland. She goes on the give birth to a baby boy, Anthony, while entrenched in the town's abbey. Her future looks bleak as the nasty nuns who run the convent also just happen to have a small side business selling the children of the poor girls who live there to foreigners. They appallingly get the girls to give up their maternal rights, brainwashing them into believing that it is proper atonement for their carnal explorations. Oh the glory of God. Fast forward to modern times and our thrill seeking protagonist, played marvelously by the iconic Judi Dench, has decided that after 50 years of silence she must know what became of her beloved Anthony. She sets out on a quest with a former controversial news journalist that will ultimately lead her to the capital of the United States and the office of Ronald Reagan. 

This film is quite simple and in that simplicity I found it to be rather enjoyable. With all the bulky budgeted films out there and the anxious directors concocting the next big twist, seeing a movie that essentially plays out from a-z was refreshing. There are a few turns in the story and a couple of bumps in the road, but the real triumph of this film is the acting; specifically the interaction between Sixsmith the journalist and Philomena. Look for Mrs. Dench to garner several best actress award nominations in the coming months as her performance was brilliant. 

Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2753669401/

F28:Catching Fire-Directed by Francis Lawrence

"Let it fly."

By no means is this a historic achievement in film. It is however damn entertaining and quite thought provoking. The scope of the computer generated affects is imposingly alluring and the world that is created therein swipes your attention from the first majestic sweep of dismal District 12. You immediately get lost in the dystopian world that is Panem. Jennifer Lawerence is back as Katniss Everdeen for the second installment of the ground breaking series of young adult novels, The Hunger Games. Young adult novels. Distrust, revolution, butchery and carnage. What great material for the youth of our world. I know I spoke to these same ideas for part one of the series and yes, children are exposed to violence everyday, but having such an rabidly violent story thrust into the minds of young kids doesn't get any easily to swallow. 

The story has everything that would be captivating for a middle school student and adults alike. Action, adventure, suspense and a zest of romance. Having the privilege of working with this age group of humans, I can ascertain that the undercurrents of defiance and governmental brazenness are not recognized as being the crux of what this story is about. When I asked my classes about it, they mostly mentioned the romance and violent aspects as being what they savored the most. It is not that they are incapable of dredging out to central theme, its just that mechanism used to deliver it it too tantalizing for them to see past it. Much like Animal Farm and 1984, when read at the appropriate age, the kaleidoscope of intention surely will become clearer. I strongly encourage all my students after enjoying them now, to revisit these books later on in their literary careers. 

We all know the story of the Hunger Games and if you don't, shame on you. Take a week and hammer through the series. If not for your own interest then to stay in the loop with what has already become a world wide phenomenum. I would say my favorite facet of these books/films is that is it getting our youth reading and thinking. Yes they are strong in content and revel in themes that may be beyond their reach, but kid's interest in reading them has reached a feverish pitch. Is it better to read violence or to not read at all? Also, I love that the protagonist is a strong willed, obstinate female. It is refreshing to have a heroine that the kids are conversing about in their inner circles. Overall, Catching Fire is a good movie and will jump in rank if you have read the series. I thought the director stayed true to the writing and I fancied the gritty approach to telling the tale of the Quarter Qwell. Philip Seymour Hoffman makes a nifty appearance as Plutarch Heavensbee, while Stanley Tucci's role as Caesar Flickerman is simply awesome. See for your self what everybody is talking about and watch this movie. The revolution will not be televised.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9stT8tcwHZk