The search for truth and justice always come with consequences. We live in a world where liberties are at risk, but also there is an illusion of liberties in general. The invasion of privacy for the greater good is the price that civilians have tho pay in order to catch groups who are trying to hurt our people in the most unimaginable ways.

Our laws have so many gray areas and people feel that the government is not trusted just for a simple reason. In order to find mayor threats we need to break the law.

This is the mayor focus of Oliver Stone’s movie “Snowden” Edward Joseph Snowden (Joseph Gordon Levitt) born in Elizabeth, NC. is a computer professional who worked for the CIA and also was a former contractor for the NSA. The film starts the story when he is training in the Army Reserve suddenly he breaks his legs in an accident and later discharged. Hi interest in computers leads him to apply into a position at the CIA, where he meets Corbin O’Brien (Rhyys Ifans) who hire him as one of his top computer wizard.

The film use as main arc Laura Poitras (Melisa Leo) Glenn Greenwald (Zachary Quinto) and Ewen MacAskill (Tom Wilkinson) famous interview in China after Snowden leaves the USA and bringing a collection of secret classify documents from NSA servers. This sub scenes allow the audience to connects with Snowden personal conflicts about the secret programs from the US government spying their people, but also his political view during the Irak war, his commitment to a job that not only was his passion, sometimes was his own obsession. During his relationship scenes with Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley) he experiences happy moments in his life, but also makes him doubt about the work that he is doing for the government looking for a more mundane life.

Olive Stone drives the movie with a film structure which develops between the years 2003 to 2014, but specifically pays attention to the crucial days where Ed Snowden is hidden in a Chinese hotel with the group of journalist. Joseph Gordon Levitt is excellent playing the famous whistleblower, sometimes his physique and posture tricks you, which is very scary. One my favorite performance is by Nicolas Cage playing Hank Forrester.

The films excessive drama, specially of Ed and Lindsey relationship ruin part of the experience. At the beginning of the movie we been warned with opening titles: This film is a dramatization, which prepare the audience for a not be very accurate story. But according to a media personality Alex Jones, he talks about the scariness of what the film portrays and how the government collects data from their citizens, from social media to constant communication.

Snowden is a great film representation of what’s happening in the world of hacking, invasion of privacy but also the conflicts between serve your country and respect the liberties of every citizen.

A noisy Caracas street shows a 50's year old men Armando a dental prosthetic. He is very serious, formal man searching for his prey. Constantly he approaches to teenagers on the bus, offer them a stack on money, in exchanges of company. For him seems to be his hobby.

One day he noticed a 17th year old kid name Elder who works in a junkyard where he repair old cars. He is also a member of a gang who steal auto parts Suddenly a relationship of love and hate develops between them, as well a dramatic revelation for both and the consequences of their drastic actions.

Lorenzo Vigas directs "Desde Allá/From Afar" the first Venezuelan film to win the major price at last year Venice Film Festival. The movie explore homosexuality as a taboo in Latin American countries, but also the roughness of life in opposite places like United States where the capitalism has take over. The film shot in the neighborhood of Catia in Caracas, presents a place that can easily be confused with Bogotá, Lima, La Paz or even Quito. The director is not focusing as the city itself, but the characters in a city. "From Afar", separate the establishment of a country and concentrate in the intimacy and loneliness of the characters.

Armando and Elder both works in a place where they constantly fix and hide the traces of the damage of time, either in someone's mouth or someone's vehicle. Their life center of solving the problem of fixing part of a life, while their life itself is tortured by abuse, wealth and unsatisfaction. Elder always wear a jersey with the number 10, a sign of success of soccer players but also their demise a curse by becoming the best in the world, while in the end they become no one's hero.

In a recent interview Mr Vigas seems to be influence by the style from Robert Bresson's "Pickpocket" his shots are long and force the audience to look around and discover what the actors are thinking without telling everyone. It's an exercise of hide and seek. Less words more visual, describe what's happening. The actions goes out of focus, or the main roles separate from each other in a foreground background dance. It's visual style borrow from Europeans like Luc Besson, Michael Haneke, Igmar Bergman and even Mathieu Kassovitz.

The film is powerful and delivers an intense story with no music at all, that cause a big conflict in the audience who are expecting a cheap solution from drama. Vegas plays with the audience looking for there reactions.
The film is powerful and delivers an intense story with no music at all, that cause a big conflict in the audience who are expecting a cheap solution from drama. Vegas plays with the audience looking or there reactions.

Tom (Michael Fassbender) is a war veteran who get’s the offer to become lighthouse keeper in the remote shore of Australia, since his arrival, Isabel (Alicia Vikander) show interest in him, but due the social aspects of a small town she cannot live with him, unless she marry him. Their love grows with the distance, long distance communication help them to stay connected and share their dreams. The new married couple live in solitude trying to procreate but with several unsuccessful attempts cause cracks in this perfect loving couple. Until one day, they rescue a baby girl who has washed up on a adrift rowboat with a dead body. This happening will be the beginning of a happy life as family the also the beginning of their demise.

Dereck Cianfrance directs “The Light Between the Oceans: a tragic story of love and deception that teach us the real value of making the right choices in life. Cianfrance is not a rookie in the subject of tragic love stories. His previous films Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines represents parts of his body of work. This time he explore a period drama with two strong actors: Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender.

There is something unique about this couple on film, is because they are a real life couple and the chemistry for them is perfect, most their scenes are strong and the addition of Rachel Weisz make the film powerful enough.

One of the problems of this movie is the length, the story develops but it gets sunk in one point trying to make the audience understand what’s the real problem. For me it’s pretty simple to understand. A couple living in solitude who are trying to have a baby, she suffer two miscarriages and then they found a baby girl in the shore. Against all rules and regulations they keep the baby without permission just to feed their grief for their lost babies. The story is about love, commitment but is also the difference between right or wrong.

The film is nicely done, with beautiful cinematography by Adam Arkpaw and a masterful score by Alexandre Desplat.

Woody Allen is always been surrounded by the nostalgic 30’s and 40’s Film like Midnight in Paris, Bullets over Broadway, Radio Days. The emotional aspects of this period, the glamour and fashion, represents the essence of a time that most of grandparents remember as magical.

Many film stars and musicians became legends for the audience who went to see them perform or play in the local clubs or movie theaters. There was also a very dark period during the 30’s and 40’s, it was called the organized crime, where gangster will use their power to control licor, gambling and also sophisticated clubs where everyone wanted to be.

This is the story of the Dorfman family. A jewish family who live modestly in NYC. Marty and Rose are the parents of Bobby (Jesse Eisenberg), Evelyn (Sari Lennick) and Ben (Corey Stoll). Bobby wants to go to Hollywood and find fame, Evelyn is married school teacher, who’s husband have socialist ideas and Ben who is gangster.

Rose’s brother Phill (Steve Carell) works a powerful talent agent. Who received Bobby with the intention to help him to find his way into Hollywood. That’s when he introduce to his secretary Veronica ( Kristen Stewart) who have the task to help Bobby to get settle in California showing him around.

After a few days Bobby confess his love to Veronica claiming that she is different to any other girl in Hollywood. She rejects him claiming a relationship with a journalist…

Cafe Society is Woddy Allen’s latest film and explore the charming time of Hollywood in the 30’s using as an excuse a young kid who is looking for meaning to his life in the glamours setting of film stars and fancy clubs and restaurants. The story explore the twist and turns of several characters and their choices. It’s a comedy like any other Woody Allen’s comedy but more predictable than his previous work. The film is colorful thanks to the masterful cinematography by Vittorio Storaro and beautiful designed by Santo Loquasto.

The stronger characters in the movie are Jeannine Eisenberg, Cory Stoll and Ken Slott who portray Bobby’s parents and brother.

United States of America is considered for some experts as one worst education system in the world, that’s been said when you put your kids to school in America, you’re facing big challenges to make your kids to learn and been inspired to become a better persons. In America people face challenges in a healthcare system too, with so many loophole, lobbyist, pharma companies who care about the product more than the people and insurance companies who do their best to collect all the money they want a filled patients with financial burden.

What it takes to a person to give up the confort of the modern world and decided to embark on a mission to isolate from society in order to say goodbye to live a better life?

In the forest of the Pacific Northwest Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen) he’s been rising his six children by himself after his wife Leslie (Trin Miller) was hospitalized for bipolar disorder. Ben kids been living in the woods for quite sometime completely isolated from modern society, but well educated by their parents who made them to follow several routines: Exercise, reading, gardening and hunting. From the very beginning you see this independent kids dealing with life in the woods using limited resources and enjoying learning. This routine is broken when Ben received the news that his wife kill herself. Convinced by his kids and the pressure of the funeral honoring his wife, the Chash family embark in a a road trip to discover America and the wonders of capitalism.

Actor and Director Matt Ross creates this wonderful story of a human being questioned by society on why he and his wife confined in the woods a bunch of kids and isolate them from the world. In way the film explain the main reason. Guide them as a smart human beings who are capable to hunt their food and use resources to their benefit. But also offers the challenge of this decision by showing them what they been missing. Nothing is good in excess, that’s the motto. Overall you cannot isolate so easily from the society. but you can manage the information that you get and how to control your life.

We live in a world where people act like zombies looking down to their phones, instead of looking front or up to the sky. Several key scenes in the movie shows you the peculiarities of life. When Ben bring the kids to meet his cousins in the city, the culture crash in big. City kids are unable to explain and quote the “Bill of Rights” but they are able to know what is the most popular game of playstation, but the youngest of the Cash family is able to recite all the bill of rights.

Viggo Mortensen is excellent as a father of this kids as well a very troubling father who is coping with the loss of his beloved wife. Is considered an outlaw and villain for his wife family, but simply said that he is totally against the status quo and he wanted to make his kids brighter.

The film explore parenthood from a independent director point of view, there is a distant conection with Hollywood parents, like Steve Martin in Fatther of the Bride and Spencer Tracy, George Clooney in the Descendants, Lamberto Maggiorani in the Bicycle Thieres, Brad Pitt in The Tree of Life,

George MacKay, Samantha Isler, Annalise Basso, Nicholas Hamilton, Shree Crooks and Charlie Shotwell as the Cash kids is an outstanding cast. A notable mention is Frank Langella as Jack Leslie’s father.

Rise and fall of celebrities always come with so many theories related to their relationship, wealth and lastly their health.

In are daily basis, we see celebrities become successful in a heartbeat, perhaps thanks to technologies. Social media is able to create an aura of fame in people who just do something mildly meaningful for the rest of the world, but still consider important from large group of people who make fame based on controversial actions not for the sake of art.

In the 1940’s a infamous singer became famous, no for been a good singer, but for beed a terrible one. That’s the story of Florence Foster Jenkins. An amateur soprano and american socialite was able to cross the NY elite and been coach by the most famous people in the music industry.

Stephen Frears directs Meryl Streep playing the main role, supported by Hugh Grant and Simon Helberg.
The film explores her life and dreams to become the famous singer, as well her pivot performance at the Carnegie Hall.

The film is fun and is another great performance to Mr Streep, but also is a great acting achievement for Mr Grant and Mr Helberg. The film is is not a over the top exploration of society but representation of the constant facade of wealth in NYC from the 40’s
The film explore how powerful people can diminish your aspirations, not matter your social background, but ability to inspire others and succeed.

The term rom com is the abbreviation of Romatic comedy film. The terms refers to movies with a aromatic ideals with humorous plot-lines and lighthearted content. Apparently “Girl Shy” (1924) is consider the first one on this genre.

Thought the years so many movies are been made and new subplots been created. USA and UK are the countries producing most of these films, sharing success and failures. The genre drive women and men to the movie theaters with the promise of make them laugh and cry. But the big mystery lives on, what makes this movies so important, who is a good actor for this kind of role?

“Me Before You” is the film adaptation of the famous book written by Jojo Moyes. it tells the story of Louise Clarke (Emilia Clarke) a young girl who lives with her family in a small town outside London. She just been laid off from her job in a coffee shop. After a intensive job searching she is offered to work as a caregiver for Will Traynor (Sam Claflin) a successful banker who had been paralyzed by a motorcycle accident.

Will vision of life is sad and depressing and Louise personality is silly, bright and happy. For her everything is pleasant, she always smile and dress very colorful dresses. At the very begging for Louise is hard to connect with Will, but thanks to a film Louise discover a different world with him.

This romcom presents the most important aspect of the genre. Comedy, colorful characters and conflict. Emilia Clarke performance is good and seems that she fits perfectly for this kind of role, perhaps better than playing Sarah Connors in Terminator Genisys, for Sam Claflin his performance is pretty flat, his not very expressive and seems that his role wasn’t as demanding.

Overall “Me Before You” is film that do what it does right, tale a love story, but is forgettable.