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Abduction Slumber Party,” is the film’s
scary heart, as a parentless day for
some siblings ends with a violent alien
abduction. While P/W/Smay be scarier,
its shorter successor is a more enjoy
able, easier watch.
WHITE HOUSE DOWN (PG-13) In
White House, Channing Tatum stars
as D.C. cop John Cale, who must
protect the President (Jamie Foxx)
and rescue his precocious daughter
(Joey King) after terrorists take over the
White blouse. Disaster master Roland
Emmerich stages the destruction with
his usual crowd-pleasing clarity, and
the movie, written by The Amazing
Spider-Man's James Vanderbilt, has a
sense of humor about it. Here’s hoping
the Confederate Air Force doesn’t take
it seriously and start fomenting copycat
plans. You can’t be too careful about
these things.
WORLD WAR Z (PG-13) The biggest
zombie (and arguably horror) movie
ever made is better than expected.
Former U.N. employee Gerry Lane
(Brad Pitt) is sent around the globe
to discover the source of the zombie
pandemic threatening to wipe out
humanity. One-time Bond director
Marc Forster and his stable of writers
turn Max “Son of Mel” Brooks’ oral
history of the zombie conflict into a
more focused, traditional “one hero
must race time to save the world,” and
it works. Minor quibbles range from
a lack of blood (blame the need for a
PG-13 rating to recoup the massive
budget) and way too fast, superstrong
zombies; still, it’s way more excit
ing than the second season of “The
Walking Dead." And why shouldn’t
zombies get faster and stronger over
time? Everybody else does who hass
the opportunity for a better diet.
Drew Wheeler
QUICKSAND
THE EAST (PG-13) A corporate private security
agent who used to work for the FBI, Jane (Brit
Marling), goes deep undercover to infiltrate
a group of anarchist eco-terrorists called The
East. The tightly-knit organization, led by
the handsome, charismatic Benji (Alexander
Skarsgard), targets heads of companies that
have reaped blood money from the destruction
of the planet through environmental disas
ters, dishing out some Old Testament-style
punishment as retribution. Jane, a Christian,
seeks to dismantle the organization from the
inside posing as Sarah, reporting her findings
(the two also collaborated on the 2011 indie
Sound of My Voice) focus on The East's various
plots to exact vengeance on those personally
responsible for their environmental misdeeds,
the movie begins to buckle beneath the strain
of its plot-heavy Hollywood cliches and illogi
cal narrative twists. Unfortunately, it also lets
the character of Sarah get lost in the narrative
momentum, losing sight of her internal strug
gles along the way. As The East careens into
its final act, abandoning its initial political
complexity for patented Hollywood apolitical
ambiguity, the movie flatlines.
to her ruthlessly opportunistic boss (Patricia
Clarkson). But Sarah's emotions about the
group and her allegiance to the security firm
become blurred as she gets to know the vari
ous members of The East better and begins
to sympathize with their motives, though not
always their methods.
Much like its main character, played by the
emotionally placid and cautious Marling, The
East never wants to burrow deep inside its
subject matter. At first, the movie establishes
itself as a fascinating character study of Jane's
descent into her undercover persona (albeit
with an absurd and unintentionally funny
scene of her dyeing her hair). But as director/
co-writer Zal Batmangli and co-writer Marling
Despite The Easts drawbacks, there is much
to savor, particularly the performances by
Skarsgard and Ellen Page, the latter playing
one of the most fearlessly committed of the
group. Page continues to develop as one of
the more interesting actresses working today,
generating real humanity into her otherwise
underwritten character. Marling, on the other
hand, is never believable as the mole. Her per
formance is too mannered and cold, making it
difficult to invest heavily into her character's
psychological transformation. Ultimately, The
East is a good effort, but the subject matter
could have used a more insightful approach.
Derek Hill
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