Semi-Spoiler Free Review

When Lambs Become Lions is a documentary by Jon Kasbe, who lived in Kenya before making this. This is the story of Ivory poachers and the park rangers who protect the elephants of Kenya. It focuses on their home life, mostly, and contains some footage of when the soldiers are patrolling, as well as when the hunters are hunting.

It’s a fascinating tale that does not glorify either side of the situation. One lead poacher, dubbed “X” in the documentary, struggles to keep his business going, while the rangers close in, making his thievery more and more difficult to accomplish. Meanwhile, the park rangers suffer through their circumstance, often unpaid, and always under-equipped. Kenya is a poor country, and the citizens struggle to survive on a daily basis.

There were several things that I found amazing about this documentary, aside from what happens in it. First is that the director spent over a year with X before he got him to agree to be filmed for the documentary. The same was true for the rangers that were involved. He had to build up trust that this was not some sort of undercover work for the government. The second, and more astonishing thing is a matter of Kenyan law, and I’m paraphrasing what I remember – If someone is filmed for a documentary, the documentary footage cannot be used against them in any legal matters. That’s completely different from US Law. The third, and more shocking thing is revealed late in the film, and I will not spoil it here. The finale pretty much blew my mind.

If ivory poaching is something of interest to you, I wholeheartedly recommend this documentary. There is very little violence depicted in the film (towards both people and the elephants), but a small fraction of it is implied by events on screen. I was grateful we were spared that.

When Lambs Become Lions opens in LA on Nov. 27th, and NY on Dec. 6th.

Semi-Spoiler-Free Review:

The Kill Team is dramatization of the events that took place during the documentary of the same name. It chronicles the story of a soldier Andrew Briggman (Net Wolff) in Afghanistan, who’s new platoon sergeant (Alexander Skarsgård) is a rule breaker on several fronts. Their task is to visit the villages in their area of operation, to root out any ISIS collaborators. They seem to find them wherever they go. While this is expected, these people are labelled enemy combatants and are killed.

Problem is that Briggman has doubts that everything’s being done by the book. This causes the dilemma for Briggman, and is the focus of the movie. Briggman doesn’t know where to turn for help. Given that it’s based on a documentary, it’s relatively true. It’s also a war film, so it’s difficult to see, at times, and may not be for everyone.

It’s a powerful film that would be waived off as fantasy, if not for the fact that it’s based on real events. It’s a sad tale, and we must acknowledge it as similar to what’s happened in previous wars. It is worth seeing.

There’s not much else to say, other than it’s going to be on a limited release, starting on October 25th.

Spoiler-Free Review:

Ad Astra is an epic space movie, taking place in the near future. An astronaut, Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) is pulled out of his regular duties, for a special mission. Years ago, his father was on a mission, and his ship disappeared. Things are happening on Earth, and it’s unclear if it’s related to the disappearance. It’s never simple, is it?

This is a great story about the hard science of space travel in the near future hammers home some of the more specific details that get glossed over in other space epics, and it appears to remind us not everything is warp speeds and force fields. While it may seem to follow the gist of the film, the pacing of the film is it’s downfall. If you enjoy the nitty gritty of the science fiction genre (aka Hard Science), you will enjoy the film, however, if you’re more a fan of plot and exposition, there’s a good chance you won’t.

Standard Review (with minor plot spoilers):

Roy is a cool-as-a-cucumber kind of guy. Go out, get the job done, or work at it until you can’t. Nothing fazes him. That’s good, because all astronauts are constantly evaluated for their mental state by computer – are you ok, how is your stress level, etc. Roy is focused on his job, so much so that his wife (Liv Tyler) has divorced him and it barely registers. He plays videos of her, and it’s like he isn’t even participating in his own life. He is extremely detached from it.

Something happens to the space platform/elevator he’s working on. It’s destroyed, but he survives, after falling into the atmosphere from space. He shrugs it off and wants to get back to work, but is pulled into a special secret project that he is to discuss with no one. Funny thing is that he has no one to discuss it with.

He’s sent on a mission to Mars. The space platform that was destroyed is shown to be the victim of some cosmic energy discharge, and that somehow, is coming from the vicinity of where his father’s ship was lost. He is expected to send a message to his father and get him to respond, because their efforts have failed. His handler for this, Pruitt (Donald Sutherland) implies that there’s more to this than he’s been told, and that he should figure it out.

All of the space sequences are incredibly done and shot. As I mentioned, there’s a lot of hard science in this movie, and they make every effort to make it all seem plausible. Zero G activities look right. It was all quite convincing. The problem is with Pitt’s character. He’s pretty cold and unfeeling. It’s really difficult to relate to, or sympathize with someone like that. I also mentioned that the plot drags. Some of it was definitely related to the slowness and isolation of space travel in the foreseeable future, but there were times where I wondered when they would just get on with the story as it was laid out before us, and go go go. That moment never really happened.

There are two scenes in the film that just don’t seem to fit, yet they are there, perhaps at some producer’s insistence. One just seems out of place, and the other is not resolved to anyone’s satisfaction that I know.

After viewing the film, there are two words that came to mind, which would definitely “spoil” the whole thing, but I will not mention them here. After you see it, I suspect you’ll know them, too.

As a fan of the hard science aspects of the story, I rather enjoyed it from that standpoint. The main story could probably be told in a fraction of the time, but then, how would we get to see all the cool space stuff? I recommend it with a caveat that it’s not for people expecting a great story. If you’re one of those people, stay away. Otherwise, Enjoy!