AMERICAN HUSTLE

Directed by: David O. Russell

Starring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence
Running time: 138 minutes

Rosalyn Rosenfeld: Life is ridiculous. And you know that I would never say anything bad about your father in front of you, but your father is a sick son-of-a bitch.
Danny Rosenfeld: Daddy's a sick son-of-a-bitch?
Rosalyn Rosenfeld: Don't repeat that... but yes.

I didn't remember the last time I enjoy a crime film, was it a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away? David O. Russell proves that he can take the mantle from Martin Scorsese by delivering us a "funny" crime story. Loosely based on the FBI ABSCAM operation of the late 1970s and early '80s, this one reunites Christian Bale and Amy Adams for The Fighter (2010); Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro for Silver Linings Playbook (2012).

The story is how an FBI agent, Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) who employ to con artist Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), with his girlfriend and partner-in-crime Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) to frame some government officials in New Jersey. They all have their own motives. Richie wanted to climb up the rank and be popular. Meanwhile Irving just wanted to escape the FBI by doing the job and Sydney is torn between Richie and Irving.

Irving himself has a wife, Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), some sort of trophy wife but with an easygoing and sometimes erratic personality. The rest of the story is a thrill. Somehow I don't get it why the FBI wanted to hire con artists to do their job, don't they got people to do that? I can feel the aura of Goodfellas and some Coen brother's movies here. Blending black comedy and drama, David O. Russell direction is getting better.

As usual in the acting category Christian Bale triumphs. There is no sign of Bruce Wayne at all, he is a fat and nervous Irving Rosenfeld. As for Jennifer Lawrence, she shines here. The rest is okay, I relish upon the fact that Robert De Niro is here, although for some brief moment. Some of her lines made me chuckle. The twist by the end is very smart. It reminded me of Matchstick Men (2002) or Ocean's trilogy with a touch of Scorsese.

MAN OF STEEL

Directed by: Zack Snyder 
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne
Running time: 143 minutes

Every summer we got the treat we are looking for. Resting our logic and surrender to the awesomeness of explosion, three act story and fantastic superheroes. Man of Steel is one of them and personally I liked the film although I had some disappointments too.

Man of Steel refused to call itself Superman, and this is good. Re booting a very familiar cape hero is also something nice. I liked it how David Goyer and Zach Snyder strips everything we are familiar about Clark Kent/Superman and use flashback to tell the story.

The experience every individuals watching Man of Steel may vary, those who loved the comics will out it apple-to-apple with the comic (I myself does not read the comic at all), and those who loved Richard Donner's Superman the movie might hate it. Superman doesn't kill so they say.

But they forgot that "this" Superman is grounded in reality where even a hero must chose who to save and what to fight and most of the time, the choice is very slim and difficult. As for the story, the last 30 minutes seems rushed, the action scenes are too much (well what do you expect? Some teenagers want their money worth spend, so give them destruction). No need to tell the story here Zack Snyder, working with a script by David Goyer and Christopher Nolan, embraces the myth of Superman  with a realistic understanding of how to present it in a modern way. Superman does not need to save a cat from a tree, or a kid from a burning building, here he must find himself, chose his destiny and must face the reality that although he is "super", the world might not ready for an almost undefeated hero like him.

Some performances are strong, like from Kevin Costner as Pa Kent who can shows that he is a loving father and Diane Lane as Ma Kent who is compassionate. As for the main star, Henry Cavill, he is just average. The music score is amazing, in some scenes it can make you believe that a man can fly. In general, although it has some flaws in storytelling, Snyder manages to tell a human story of an alien from Krypton who came to save us all. Isn't it nice to have a superhero someday?