Elysium

Elysium is one of those "summer blockbusters" from last year. There were so many though, it was difficult to keep them all straight. Once I got a look at Elysium's trailer, knew the premise and saw who was starring, I knew this was a movie I'd like to see. The base of Elysium's premise was not new, but interestingly done. Elysium is not the first movie/story to imagine what will happen with an extreme separation of the rich and poor, but I haven't see the space station in the sky, looming over the poor before. It's as though the station is mocking those stuck in the pollution of the Earth. It hangs above people too poor to ever get there. It's also sad to think that instead of making Earth better, the rich merely escape it and continue to pollute it. 

I enjoyed Elysium, but I didn't love it. I really wanted to. I enjoyed Matt Damon and Jodie Foster and the other actors/characters on screen. The actions sequences were intense and well done. Something was just missing for me, some kind of spark or connection between me and what was happening. I feel like Elysium didn't quite meet its potential. I do recommend it, though, if you're a fan of grown-up sci-fi/dystopian stories.

Ocean’s Thirteen

I loved the first two movies. They were funny, interesting and full of surprises. I found some of that lacking in their latest installment. It was still a clever story with an unexpected end. There is definite growth in each of the characters, most noticeably in Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) and Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). I also loved the Oprah cameo. Yet, there was no mystery. There was no replaying of the story from the beginning, letting us know about all the secret things that happened; what the group did to fool their opponent. Worst of all, I found it slow paced. I kept waiting for the action to pop, but it didn’t happen. As much as I love the actors in this movie, I found Ocean’s Thirteen did not compare to its predecessors.