Mediaculture

FILM REVIEWS

Gravity (PG-13) is an extraordinary film that you experience as much as watch. It follows two surviving astronauts from a damaged Space Shuttle as they try to make it back to Earth. The film combines wrenching suspense while exploring themes of meaning. Every aspect—writing, acting, cinematography—make this the best film thus far of 2013.—Gordon Houser

Captain Phillips (PG-13) is about the 2009 hijacking of the U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama by a crew of Somali pirates. Although the real Phillips is not the hero the film portrays, the film is both a pulse-pounding thriller and a portrait of the economic results of globalization. When poor countries like Somalia cannot provide a stable economy, piracy is one consequence. Tom Hanks, who plays Phillips, is a terrific actor.

Prisoners (R) is an intense film about a father who goes to extreme measures to try to find his missing 6-year-old daughter after she and a friend are kidnapped. The film shows the moral ambiguity of its characters, with one exception. It’s certainly not for everyone’s tastes.

DVD REVIEW

The House I Live In (NR) is an informative and heartbreaking documentary from 2012 about the war on drugs and its consequences. The film uses historical footage and many interviews to explore the judicial system that has filled our prisons with nonviolent offenders whose crime is often selling drugs. Because of harsh sentencing requirements established by Congress during the Reagan and Clinton administrations (and carried on by others), judges are handicapped in handing out sentences to those found guilty of drug offenses. Interviewee David Simon, creator of The Wire, says, “They might as well say, Let’s get rid of the bottom 15 percent of the population.” That’s the effect of this so-called war on drugs. It destroys individual lives; it destroys communities. It costs all of us.