Juror # 2 (2024)

Clint Eastwood directing in his assured, lean but thoughtful style, the best moral quandry film I've seen in awhile. 'Juror # 2' stars Nicholas Hoult as an expectant father who fails in his attempts to get out of jury duty. Once empanald he realizes he may have inadvertently caused the death for which an innocent man is being prosecuted. He wants to do the right thing, but when his lawyer friend Keifer Sutherland advises him that if he steps forward he'll go to prison, Nicholas attempts to stear the jury, which starts out 10 - 2 in favor of conviction, towards an acquittal. Very well done, a solid cast including Zoey Deutch, J. K. Simmons, Toni Collette, Amy Aquino, Leslie Bibb, and Clint's daughter Francesca Eastwood as the dead woman. This movie feels like it's from 30 years ago, but in a good way.  ***1/2

The East (2013)

 Brit Marling co-wrote and stars in 'The East', in which she plays an employee of a private security firm who goes undercover to infiltrate an anarchist collective/ eco terrorist group. The time she spends with them weighs on her thinking and changes some presectives. This is a very smart movie and there were times when I was expecting the obvious, then it went in unexpected directions. I was really impressed. It's sociological character study meets 1970s style conspiracy thriller. ****