Ocean's 13

Ocean's 11 had to be one of the most entertaining movies I have ever seen. It is the epitome of fun. But then 12 came along, and was very disappointing. 13 is back on par with the first, an overall good time. Soderbergh scores again.
The thief dream-team is now living large, but when one of their good friends (Reuben) is screwed over by the new mogul in Vegas (Willie Bank - played by Al Pacino), Reuben is on his death bed. Thus, the guys decide to get together and take revenge, a dish that is best served cold. They decide to destroy Bank and his casino on opening night., which by the way is the most Uber-cool hotel ever. Let the plan and execution begin.
One thing I don't quite get about the Ocean's movies is how they pay all those incredibly famous actors (Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Pacino, Mac, Cheadle, etc. etc.). But I guess that's not up to me.
We all want to be these guys. We want to be rich, smart, and always in control. We want to be able to do whatever we want and get away with it. The "heroes" of the film are all bad guys, in that they are stealing and deceiving. Yet we love them, and we long to see them get away with it. Why is that? We are rooting for evil to triumph, and that's the way it' set up. There are times when we all wish we had the cahones to do something incredibly brash, like rob a casino and steal millions of dollars. Instead of doing this (hopefully), most of us just live vicariously through Ocean and his crew. But that begs the question: why do we desire this? That's an interesting thing to think about.
Although not as great as the epic joyride that is 11, Ocean's 13 entertains and makes us feel cool. As a sidenote, my favorite part had to be the Oprah scene, where Clooney is watching Oprah with a bottle of wine, crying. Pitt comes in and asks "were you watching Oprah!?" Then they both stare transfixed at the screen for what seems like minutes. Ah, how we all get sucked in to wasting time.

Breach

Breach tells the story of Robert Hanssen, the most wanted spy in U.S. history. Hanssen (played incredibly by the wonderful Chris Cooper) has worked at the F.B.I. for nearly twenty-five years, and he has been selling secrets to the Russians for twenty. The U.S. government is on to him, but needs to catch him in the act to make sure the charges stick. Thus, they assign a young man working in the Bureau, Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe) to babysit Hanssen. Sounds like an interesting idea for a movie, right? The most enthralling part is, it actually happened. The film starts with U.S. Attourney General John Ashcroft telling of Hanssen's arrest (so don't worry, I am not giving it away - the film is not about whether he is caught but how he is caught, and more importantly why he did it in the first place). Let the case begin.
This is a simple but wonderful film. It is straighforward, taut, and perfectly executed. Breach is a deep and thought-provoking character study. It is a shame it came out during the absolute worst time of the year for movies (February), because that takes away from its recognition. But at least we had one good film to watch.
Hanssen is a cold, distant, calculating man. He is a very devout Catholic, a family man, and a man who takes his job very seriously. O'Neill has a hard time finding anything wrong, and that is because Hanssen is a master at the game we all tend to play: leading a double life. Breach does a great job of showing us the extent to which people will go to deceive others. It is not that we must merely look underneath the surface to find the real Hanssen. We must look under the next layer, and the next, and the next. Hanssen became incredibly adept at something destructive and deplorable. He even had his wife fooled (in a pretty disturbing way, I might add). We should walk away from the film thinking about how we live two (or three, or four) lives, and how dangerous that is. Sometimes we even deceive ourselves. "Holistic" has become a buzz-word among Christians lately. It means living a life that is not compartmentalized; living for Christ in every aspect of your life all the time. Hanssen is the opposite of a holistic Christian, he has compartmentalized his life, and it has destroyed him and many others.
So why did he do it? Money? Probably not. I won't give it away, but the answer lies among the thorns of another trap we all fall into: pride.
Hanssen was a devout Catholic, as I mentioned earlier. He and his wife are focused, go to mass religiously, pray constantly, and discuss their faith openly. For the first half of the movie I thought we might for once get a positive view of a Christian from Hollywood, but then I remembered who Hanssen was. Was his faith all just a hoax, or did he truly believe? I believe the answer may lie in the final line of the film: "Pray for me." After being caught, Hanssen realizes he has nowhere to turn but to God. He did believe to some extent, though his faith did not turn to action all the time. It reminds me of Paul when he says in Romans 7:15 "What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate." He is discussing the sinful nature, and the struggle against the flesh that we all face. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. We all go down the path of sin from time to time, and the further you go, the harder it is to get back. Yet 1John talks about faith being action, and if we say we love God but hate our brother, we lie. So did Hanssen really believe? Good question. What should our faith look like?

Marie Antoinette

Sofia Coppola is a rare commodity in the film community, a unique female voice. In her latest film, Coppola tells the story of the famous French/Austrian queen in a way that only another woman could. Marie Antoinette tells the story of a young Austrian princess (Kirsten Dunst) who is married off to the prince of France (Jason Schwartzman) just before the French Revolution. The Revolution is in the back of our minds, if we are familiar with the story, but that major historical event never takes center stage. Instead, the focus is on Marie, and how she copes with leaving her family at a young age.
What is a woman's role in 18th century France. What is a woman's role in the world at any time. The film investigates this idea to a great extent. Marie spends most of her time hanging out with her entourage, trying on clothes, and just frolicking in life. She does have hard times too though, especially the fact that everyone wants her to bear a son but her husband won't sleep with her (at times she is seen as little more than a baby factory). One scene in particular stuck out to me in regards to her search for identity. She had just given birth to her first child, a girl, and is playing with her. Marie wants to nurse her, but Marie's chambermaid takes her away and says "we have a nurse for that." What the crap? She can't be a mother? Marie is on a journey to find purpose, but sees hardly any at all. This brings up the point that our culture doesn't see being a mother as a "good enough" job for a woman to have. But the opposite is true, nothing could be more important than raising children.
Another aspect of French court life that sticks out is the ridiculously complicated ritual system. The servants and maids maintain an elaborate structure of "do's" and "don'ts" nearly every second of every day. It seems incredibly excessive, and this sheds light upon the causes for the Revolution. Even in the end, when the angry mob is outside the palace with pitchforks and torches, ready to skewer the royal family, the servants bring the wine glass of the king over on a silver platter. How often are we caught up in the daily in's and out's of our life, the meaningless rituals we perform, when there are far greater problems growing right outside our door (human suffering, lack of spiritual vitality, etc.). What a great scene, and a sad but great metaphor for our lives sometimes.
Marie Antoinette is a different kind of period piece. It is ornate and beautiful, but moves at a unique pace. It feels different. It feels very down to earth, which is ironic, considering the subject matter. We as the audience care deeply for the queen. We want her to be happy, and we sympathize with her. She is naive, fun, and definitely different than those around her. She brings a fresh voice to the French court. (As an interesting side note, this film would make a splendid comparison/contrast with The Queen) Marie Antoinette is quite enjoyable, even breathtaking at times. Another great outing from a great filmmaker.