Oh Tao and Jeff...

The World(dir. Jia Zhang Ke)
The film's message could be summed up as "this is your brain on capitalism." While that statement makes the film seem preachy and didactic, it's actually rather subtle and intelligent. It's just too long. I was enthralled by the whole thing, but I grew increasingly restless as it went on. It's commentary on how capitalism and globalization can ruin a culture and people's lives was interesting due to the fact that it was handled in a rather subtle way and the message is understandable coming from a man who grew up in and lives in a communist society. The scenes with Tao and Anna were quite lovely. The film's "affair" plot was pretty predictable. The animation seemed rather unnecessary even though it was kind of amusing. The ending was a little too grim and heavy-handed, but the last couple of seconds made it more bearable. This was the first film directed by him I've seen and now I want to check out some more of his work. I recommend.
*** out of ****
The Lookout(dir. Scott Frank)
It was relatively decent. For a caper, it wasn't all that exciting and the robbery was rather mundance. There are some good performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, and Matthew Goode. The script was pretty predictable and had some laughably bad dialogue ("I'VE GOT THE POWER!"), but the actors were able to make the film rather compelling despite the flawed material. I'm amazed by how Isla Fisher keeps getting casted as the "cute girl" in movies since she isn't the least bit attractive. The ending was a little too happy, but it was pretty much expected so it didn't seem that bad. I mildly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****