Review: The East

-
It's easy when it's not you...
 
Sarah (Brit Marling) is an undercover operator for an elite intelligence firm. She's tasked with infiltrating a group known as The East. They're anarchic environmentalists that are targeting large corporations. Oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, etc. Sarah is mesmerized by the group's unofficial leader, Benji. (Alexander Skarsgard) With fellow group members, Izzy, (Ellen Page) Doc, (Toby Kebbell) and Luca, (Shiloh Fernandez, how the hell this guy keeps getting roles is beyond me) Sarah gets in on their "jams" and starts to question her place in all of this.
 
Brit Marling not only starred in this, but she wrote the screenplay as well. I'm officially looking forward to seeing more of her, because I thought the whole thing was brilliant. The film felt very tense, as I was always worried that Sarah was going to get caught. I got very attached to her, so I felt like I was having the same dilemmas she was during these jams. It's wrong to terrorize people, but it's also wrong to knowingly poison them. These are some of the situations we are faced with.
 
Marling was great in her role. Having written Sarah, it's obviously she knows her inside out. Skarsgard is always a pleasure to watch. He's mysterious and sexy and it's easy to see why Sarah would have feelings for him. Ellen Page's role is a bit smaller, but she provides quite a bit of the voice overs for The East's video clips they post on the web. It was fun seeing her in a role like that. Izzy was wary of Sarah all along.
 
The East is one of the best films I've seen all year, and you should definitely check it out if it comes to your city. Stay during the beginning of the credits too.
 
Recommended: Yes
 
Grade: A
 
Memorable Quote: "I missed feeling uncomfortable." - Sarah (Brit Marling)

Comments

  1. Candice FrederickJune 25, 2013 at 11:32 AM

    woohoo! so glad you liked this too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. CourtneyJune 25, 2013 at 1:01 PM

    Your review has convinced me that I need to see this one, and to stop putting it off!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alex WithrowJune 25, 2013 at 4:59 PM

    Whoa, an A?! Okay, I need to see this ASAP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 25, 2013 at 8:14 PM

      Definitely worth your time! I think this is the best film I've seen all year. (Other than Star Trek Into Darkness, which I liked more than everybody despite the logic gaps)

      Delete
  4. JoshJuly 8, 2013 at 6:54 PM

    I loved Sound of My Voice, but I didn't expect this to be that good. Now I really need to see it!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more