The East

27th out of 365.

There was an academy award nominated movie called "If a Tree Falls: The Story of the Earth Liberation Front", that didn't really cause me to empathize with the eco-terrorism. However, the fictional story of the The East did give some angles that made me think harder about the acts of eco-terrorism.

An ex-FBI Christian agent joins a private investigative firm that wants to infiltrate The East terrorist group to attain contracts for the world's largest corporations. She has a boyfriend who is a bit of a dingus, he remains a dingus the entire movie, that believes she is going to Dubai, when really she travels about 2 hours to a house in a forest. 

Ellen Page and Alexander Skarsgaard lead this team of hippies and perform "jams". These jams all have a personal connections to the members of The East. The personal vendettas make it difficult to know if they have the purest intentions behind their acts, in the end that doesn't matter. The hippies get hippier and do some crazy things and then everything is gray.

Judgement: Send Away for It. 

What Maisie Knew

6th of 365

There has been a recent string of movies that have relied on young protagonists. Mud, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Super 8, and now What Maisie Knew.

Every scene in the movie contains Maisie. The custody hearing is just the parents coming out of a court room. The parents fighting is only around the corner. The information given is only what Maisie can know. For the first third of the movie, Maisie is the most adult person in the movie. She makes her own sandwich and tries to make everyone feel better. Her parents are more interested in winning than they are caring for their daughter.

Each parent gets remarried to a person who is far more attentive to Maisie's needs. This movie was able to tug at the heart strings even for detestable characters. 

Judgement: Prime/Instant