Allegiant (2016), Night Moves (1975), Our Brand is Crisis (2015), Us and Them: Religious Rivalry in America (2013)

Allegiant (2016)

Most recent movie in the Divergent series picks up right where the last one left off, and I really mean  right where the last one left off, the first scene in this film is set about 2 days after the climax of the previous film, all these movies really seem to run together with very little recapping. Well here we finally get to see what is on the other side of the cities wall and well, I was a little underwhelmed. I was underwhelmed with the whole movie really, I mean its fine but surprisingly pedestrian, especially after the last film broke my expectations creatively. I thought this was supposed to be the last of a trilogy but the ending strongly implies more to come, though I thought the next book in the series was supposed to be something of a sidequile, well I could be wrong. Weakest Divergent movie so far. **

Update: Okay so it seems that they split the last book into two movies, as studios tend to do with YA fair.

Night Moves (1975)

Gene Hackman plays Harry Moseby, a retired pro football player turned private detective who tracks the run away daughter of a fading B level actress of Hollywood's golden age from California to Florida, where he stumbles upon some pretty serious nefarious dealings, only he doesn't' realize it at first. Directed by Arthur Penn the film feels a very intentional effort to make a contemporary picture in the style of one of Raymond Chandler's stories and its succeeds, though more as a work of fine imitative craftsmanship then of independent art. An 18 year old Melanie Griffith plays the runaway girl, and look for a young James Woods in a small role. Hackman's great as always. ***

Our Brand is Crisis (2015)

The screenplay was originally intended for George Clooney but was lightly rewritten for its eventual  star Sandra Bullock, that and the fact its story is loosely based on real events are perhaps the only things interesting about this movie. American political consultants involved in a foreign presidential election campaign, in this case Bolivia's in 2002, is doubtless more interesting in documentary of the same name from which this film was adapted. Like too many political films Our Brand is Crisis thinks it has something important or interesting to say but it really doesn't. Always helps some to have Billy Bob Thornton in your film thought, even when he's not given that much to do. **


Us and Them: Religious Rivalry in America (2013)

Bryan Hall is a life long Mormon from Utah who was taken aback, as many Mormons were, by the extent of religiously motivated opposition to Mitt Romney in his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. This opposition, though existing to an extent on the left, was most concentrated amongst evangelicals on the right. Hall uses this as more or less his starting point for what becomes more broadly a discussion of a conceptual fight, long running, over the identity of the United States vis a vie its status as  'A Christian Nation' and what that means for those who fall outside of the 'main stream' definition there of. The movie discusses JFK's efforts to overcome the discomfort many Protestants had with his Catholicism in the 1960 presidential campaign, the vocal protesting over a Hindu cleric who was invited to offer the opening prayer of a U.S. Senate session some years ago, problems many Evangelicals had with the idea of a Mormon President in the previous two presidential election cycles. Hall does a pretty good job with his film, especially given his apparent amateur status as a filmmaker and comes down predictably on the side of tolerance. The film ends with his extoling Americans toward religious civility, which he demonstrates by his making what appears to be a legitimate friendship with one of those Evangelical protesters who like to show up at the LDS General conference. I had a few minor issues with the way some things were handled in this film but on the whole liked this good spirited film. **1/2