Zero Dark Thirty Movie Review

I’m coming at my review of Zero Dark Thirty after it has become a lightning rod for criticism and charges that it depicts torture as having elicited a positive outcome in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, overplaying the role of “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques” in tracking down the world’s most wanted terrorist. Director Kathryn Bigelow’s defense is as reasonable and accurate as you can get: depiction is not the same as support. But the specific charge is that the story, as laid out in Mark Boal’s screenplay, has the chain of information leading to bin Laden coming from facts gleaned through torture. I recognize this is problematic, made more complicated by the fact that Boal and Bigelow have touted the journalistic nature of the film.

Short Cut Review: Lawless

A Short Cut Movie Review is normally less than 400 words, but in some cases may go slightly over. This is my attempt to keep writing about as many films as I see without getting bogged down with trying to find more to say. They are meant to be brief snapshots of my reaction to a movie without too much depth.

Tom Hardy is menacing and vicious as one of three brothers who run a moonshining operation in the hills of Virginia in 1930. Shia LaBeouf is not nearly as annoying as usual and plays just about the only character in the film who undergoes any kind of change. Guy Pearce gives an odd performance as a Chicago lawman trying to shut down the brothers' operation. Jessica Chastain again reveals her fantastic acting talent and old-Hollywood dame-like charm. She looks and acts like she stepped straight out of a 1940s noir. The film carries a constant sense of dread. I felt uneasy through the whole thing, expecting shocking violence to strike at any moment. Hillcoat demonstrates again he's a more than apt director for depicting the violence that men inflict on one another.