Movie Review Madness: Insurgent

Insurgent is the second movie in the Divergent series, and I thought this was tighter than the book by Veronica Roth. I liked the whole series and reviewed the books in the past. But if you haven’t read them, no worries – just enjoy the action and adventure as Shailene Woodley (as Tris Pryor) kicks it up  a notch.  She’s a little thing, but she’s bad ass, and carrying a lot of weight on her shoulders. Her nightmares reveal her concerns – anyone she loves seems to end up dying. Her mother and father died protecting her and their factions. She killed her good friend Will, but he was going to shoot her first. Now she’s afraid for her boyfriend Four (handsome Theo James) 

They are hiding out with Amity under the reluctant protection of Octavia Spencer. But Jeannine (evil Kate Winslet) puts out a call to find all divergents. She needs someone to break the puzzle of the magic box that holds a message from the past. The army descends on Amity and Tris, Four, and Caleb flee. Tris and Four seek out Dauntless. Caleb decides to find his Erudite people. In their travels, Four encounters a surprise hiding amongst the factionless – someone he thought was dead, and still refuses to acknowledge. With life in disarray, Tris decides to face Jeannine, and subject herself to the puzzle test. So far no divergent has lived while trying to break the simulation tests.  

Will Tris prevail? Who shows up to help fight Jeannine and her Erudite empire – Candor? Dauntless? The Factionless? What is the message from the past and what does it bode for the future?

Is there life beyond the wall?  So many questions – go see Insurgent to root for Tris and Four. It’s the old theme – why can’t we all get along?

 

Movie Review Madness: Divergent

Look out Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games – you have a serious rival in this age of heroines. Beatrix in Divergent looks mild and meek in her Abnegation gray drab outfit. But her conversion to Dauntless, name change to Tris, and new workout regime has her in full fight mode.  I gave a review of the Divergent trilogy in a previous post, and I do recommend reading the books. However, the first movie is worthy and you’ll be caught up in this futuristic world.  

Chicago survived a world war and is now split into factions – Abnegation, Amity, Erudite, Candor, and Dauntless. At eighteen, the youth take a test which shows them their place in this world. Generally they fit in their family history, so no change. Some do show a different tendency and leave their family to join a new faction. And then there are the few like Tris who show a split – no true path. They are shockingly divergent and are considered dangerous. Tris is told to keep her mouth shut, and in further tests she needs to hide her divergent qualities and play along in Dauntless world. Here she learns to fight, jump, and calculate Dauntless power. The good looking leader, Four (Theo James), pushes her to extremes and also falls for her. 

Together they worry about the growing powers of Erudite’s Jeanine (a very icy Kate Winslet). There are rumors about Abnegation, and Dauntless warriors are given a drink which turns them into fighting robots. Tris and a few others are immune and able to help thwart this worrisome takeover. However, lives are lost and factions are split. Tris, Four, and Four’s father Marcus are last seen leading a new team for survival.  

Shailene Woodley is excellent as Tris. She’s a tiny thing with a lot of vulnerability. But she’s determined, smart, and demonstrates maturity on screen.  Divergent builds slowly and steadily, and all along you will root for Tris. At the end of the movie, you’ll be eager for the sequel Insurgent, and questioning which faction you would join.  Or are you … divergent?

Movie Review: Contagion

Don't catch this disease. Contagion is like watching a documentary from the Center for Disease Control, only the cast is all famous actors. There's Laurence Fishburne, as a concerned director. There's Gwyneth Paltrow, traveling back from Asia, coughing, and then dropping in a seizure on the kitchen floor while her husband, Matt Damon urges her to stop seizing. There's Gwyneth, all frothing at the mouth in the hospital, and then dead. Uh-oh. (No surprising spoiler alerts ahead - we're talking fatal disease here)

Slowly we see people all over the world, feverish and then dead - China, Japan, London, and then little Gwyneth in Minnesota. That's the puzzlement. But she was in Hong Kong and Chicago, and alas while cheating on her hubby, spreading fatal germs. Marion Cottillard is with the World Health Org. She's off to Hong Kong to connect the dots. Kate Winslet, lucky girl, is assigned to MN. Pale and wan, she dies a slightly prettier death than Gwyneth.

Lots of scientists peer into microscopes and discuss cell growth and linkages. Lots of folks with clipboards, and plenty of teleconferencing. No one in this movie gets to smile. Don't touch anyone or anything, or shake a hand.

Contagion is boring. You don't really get to meet and know these people enough to care. We all know how disease spreads - human contact. And yes, with planes, trains, and grocery shopping, we all know how fast disease spreads. Nothing new in this film. Lots of people talking, looking worried, and then worried with face masks.

Fortunately no one in our theater coughed, and I have to say I was conscious of touching the handrails on the way out. But the only infection we caught was ennui.

Yawn.