Sheep Movie Review: Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, stars Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, and Joel Edgerton. From the director that brought us The Hurt Locker we now have a film that feels like a hard-hitting sequel. While it's a story that should be told, I'm not quiet sure it needed to be told this way.

Plot: 

For a decade, an elite team of intelligence and military operatives, working in secret across the globe, devoted themselves to a single goal: to find and eliminate Osama bin Laden. Zero Dark Thirty reunites the Oscar winning team of director-producer Kathryn Bigelow and writer-producer Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) for the story of history's greatest manhunt for the world's most dangerous man. 

I love a good war story, as weird and sick as that sounds, I just do. I enjoyed The Hurt Locker and thought Jeremy Renner did a fantastic job as the wacky bomb guy, but I didn't feel the same about this latest middle east edition. The first 45 minutes of the film are tedious and crawl at a snail's pace. I'm not saying I need a bunch of action and naked men to make me happy, but I do need something a bit more gripping then what was offered. I have no clue what the CIA jargon was that took up a good portion of this film. Not to say I'm simple minded or stupid, ok maybe a little, but I've never been to CIA school and I'm not going to know half of the things you're prattling on about. Is this a movie for everyone or for a select crowd? It felt like you needed a degree in war tactics and foreign affairs to figure out who was doing what to whom and why. 

Aside from the CIA ongoings, we have a woman fresh out of school who's in Iraq and taking part in her first torture/interrogation. Water boarding was first on the menu and while it looked like a romping good time you can tell the dude who's on the receiving end isn't singing yippie doda day. As we move on with the Black Site super secret locations we find that Jessica is part of the special unit that's tasked with finding the top terrorists, gathering intel and hunting down the most wanted out there, which includes bin Laden. 

There's a lot of covert, black-ops types of ongoings, buying of information from folks that have relations with the terrorist groups and more torture and punishments. You do get a good picture of just how hard it is to track someone down that's staying off the grid. TV shows make it seem as thought his should be some easy job to perform, but as we learn this is not the case. When someone wants to stay off gone they will, and bin Laden was one of them. 

We all know that the terrorist mastermind was taken out by our military boys. When the film finally gets to the day of the OP everything happens fast and gets intense, with all the build-up leading to this point. Jessica was nominated for her role in this film, but I really don't think she deserves it. Not to say she's a bad actress or anything, but there's not much emotion going on in the film. She has one scene of yelling at her boss but aside from that she's playing a tough bitchy chick who's goal is to find bin Laden and bring him down, which took years of her life and everyone else involved with this mission. 

I get it, it's a story that needed to be told but at the same time I was quiet bored with the delivery. With five Oscar Nominations there must be something more here that I failed to see. If you liked The Hurt Locker and you enjoy watching people talk nonstop about the comings and goings of terrorists then you'll get more out of this film then I did. 

Getting 3 and 1/2 'back in the box' Sheep 

KD

Sheep Movie Review: Lawless

Lawless, directed by John Hillcoat and starring Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Shia LaBeouf, Guy Pearce, and Jessica Chastain is a gritty film that left me emotionally wrecked by the credits. However, I don't think the film could have ended any other way and is worth the emotional turmoil.

Plot:

Lawless is the true story of the infamous Bondurant Brothers: bootlegging siblings who made a run for the American Dream in Prohibition-era Virginia. In this epic gangster tale, inspired by true-life tales of author Matt Bondurant's family in his novel "The Wettest County in the World", the loyalty of three brothers is put to the test against the backdrop of the nation's most notorious crime wave.

It's a part of the past that many Americans, especially of the younger generations, are quick to forget. Prohibition left many folks scrambling to take matters into their own hands and start making their own bootleg moonshine and bathtub gin. Add the fantastic sums of money to be made from bootlegging, and you end up with citizens and cops alike all taking part in the buying and selling of this illegal but tasty drink. This movie is extremely stylish and visually breathtaking to watch, it leaves you truly feeling like you're right in the thick of Virginia partying at the local square in town. I'll bring the banjo! Combined with a musical score that's on point and you've got yourself the makings of something really special.

Give me characters I can stand behind and root for! Lawless has its moments of really shaking the audience down with the emotional stick when it comes to its characters. I wanted to jump in and help kick some butt, and then laugh with the boys afterwards. The actors all did an outstanding job of knowing the characters and delivering them in a very authentic and rich way. Shia has a tendency of grating on my nerves, but I found him both refreshing and spot on throughout this film. Hardy brings the heat and passion like no other, he's gruff and probably smokin' a tad too much of the wacky tabacy but it all works out in the most delicious of ways.

The only downsides I found were the lack of clear pronunciation at times and the mumbling of lines was annoying. This was recently a problem in the Batman movies, like The Dark Knight Rises and it really takes away from the movie. I want to be able to hear what the heck the characters were saying! I can dig the accents but it's so frustrating when you have to turn to the person next to you (Shout out to my girl Ceci!) and ask "what'd they say?". And even worse when they don't know either. Some choppy editing from scene to scene left me a tad confused as we transitioned along the storyline. You add that the movie's core lacked a serious something and I have to give this movie a lower rating than I'd like.

Dirty cops that you'll love to hate and bloody realistic fights will leave you rooting for these backwoods brothers, this drama is one to see.

Getting 4 'girl what you doing in my bed' Sheep

KD