Woody Allen‘s summer movie has become an annual event. For well over two decades the writer/director has pumped out a film a year from his shoebox of notes–his work ethic has to be admired. But he’s always been hit or miss, and lately the pattern has seen something good pop up every other year (two years ago we got Blue Jasmine, two years before that Midnight In Paris, between those films we got the forgettable When In Rome and the harmless Magic In The Moonlight). So, the question is, will Allen stick to that formula and give us something noteworthy this year?

Irrational Man surely has potential. The film is led by the excellent pairing of Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, which is more than enough to put tickets in our hands. The always great Phoenix has been on something of a tear of late with his odd ball roles in Her and Inherent Vice, Irrational Man looks to keep up the same sort of wacky/serious vibe.

Like most Allen films, the plot details are scarce: Irrational Man follows a philosophy professor (Phoenix) in the midst of an existential crisis who falls for a student (Stone). As per usual, the film was written and directed by Allen himself (he trusts no one). The small cast is rounded out by Jamie Blackley (If I Stay) and Parker Posey(Grace Of Monaco).

Irrational Man opens July 24th. Check out the very Woody Allen-esque first trailer below.

Irrational Man Official Trailer

If you were asked to do something unthinkable and told that one act would benefit a great number of people, would you do it? If it was for the “greater good” would that make the act somewhat justifiable? That well describes how protagonist, Mark, being questioned by police, feels in the opening scene of the Andrew Douglas directed thriller U Want Me 2 Kill Him?, a drama based on events that occurred in 2003 in the UK. The Vanity Fair article released a couple of years after the incident occurs describes in detail the shocking events that took place. After reading both the article and viewing the film, I was astounded and in disbelief at the lengths to which an individual would go to gain the affections of another person.

This is the vivid picture that Andrew Douglas paints as he goes back in time and retells the true story of a troubled teen looking for friendship who becomes the unsuspecting victim in a tangled web of lies and deceit. 16-year-old Mark is an average teenager, he lives with both parents, has no trouble dating , excels at sports and is getting by relatively well with his schoolwork. However, behind closed doors, Mark leads a different life. Spending much of his time cooped up in his bedroom on internet chat rooms, where he encounters some interesting people. People he knows he would not associate with in real life but who, in the virtual world, garner his friendship. Mark develops a serious online relationship with a girl named Rachel who, along with her possessive and abusive boyfriend, are in the witness protection program. Mark and Rachel love each other but and have a deep friendship, so when Rachel asks Mark to look out for her younger brother, John, who attends the same school as Mark, he agrees. Over time, Rachel and Mark’s online fling brings them closer together though they have never actually met, and ultimately this leads to Rachel’s death at the hands of her boyfriend who grows increasingly jealous of their relationship.

After her death, Mark and John grow closer and an unlikely friendship develops. Though they spend a lot of time together and seemingly get along it is clear that in any other situation these two boys would not strike up a friendship. Mark’s outgoing, confident demeanor does not quite match John’s withdrawn, introverted self. What brings them closer is in fact their deep love for Rachel and hatred for the one who took her away from them, and their insatiable need to avenge her death. It is this need that ultimately blinds Mark  to the fact that John is not the friend that he appears. The death of Rachel is secondary to a bigger issue, one that Mark fails to realize. His friend is more manipulative than he first thought, and Mark learns John’s true motivations and priorities.

Frequently discussing the topic of Rachel’s death and his need for revenge in online chatrooms, Mark finds himself the target of Rachel’s boyfriend, and soon piques the interest of the British secret service. The authorities enlist Mark’s help in preventing a crime with large-scale casualties, and he’s faced with the serious dilemma of choosing between the good of many and the good of one.

U Want Me 2 Kill Him? succeeds in not only being a gripping drama but also magnifies the harrowing dangers that lie behind the screen of a computer. While based on a true story, it is refreshing to see that the events depicted are not portrayed as overly cliché exaggerations, nor is the message conveyed as a watered down version of the truth. Both Jamie Blackley and Toby Regbo deliver engaging portrayals of Mark and John. Douglas gives us a film which serves as an excellent character study, reminiscent of the film Primal Fear. Both contain characters whose boyish innocence plays to their manipulative advantage. The film is thought provoking and presents the sort of moral ambiguity that makes fact-based drama so intriguing.

Does being able to identify with these characters make their actions throughout the film any more justifiable? That’s up to the viewer, but one clear takeaway is a modern lesson in Internet use. Choosing our friends in real life is a gamble, choosing them online can be even more so.  The real fear evoked by Douglas’s film and the true events it’s based on, is that betrayal by those we trust can and does happen.

U Want Me 2 Kill Him? trailer

Kat Coiro’s tender romantic drama And While We Were Here takes us into the romantic, yet foreign, background of Italy to emphasise a situation that’s all too familiar – a marriage in trouble. The film was originally screened in black and white on the festival circuit, but was converted to color for general release. This was a wise decision for two reasons: firstly, it avoids alienating certain audiences, given the current mindset most people have about black and white films; and secondly, the settings are just too beautiful to take away their color and vibrancy. Though this does lead to more focus on the scenery than the development of the characters, the film is nevertheless a unique tale of a woman discovering herself when it seems too late.

Married couple Jane (Kate Bosworth) and Leonard (Iddo Goldberg) are in Naples for two weeks while Leonard is playing the viola in an orchestra, it quickly becomes clear that he has stronger feelings for his instrument than he does for her. There are no disagreements between the two, simply a lackluster attitude toward the other. While this inspires some sympathy, (particularly for Jane, since Leonard seems to be about as interesting as… well, a violist) it isn’t much, since we never knew them when they were happy; this lack of contrast makes it hard for us to feel a sense of loss at the disintegration of their marriage.

On the other hand, it does mean that when Jane meets 19 year old Caleb (Jamie Blackley) we’re as relieved as she is to finally see some sparks. While their chance encounter quickly evolves into a whirlwind affair caught up in the romance of the city around them, the relationship between Jane and Leonard becomes even more strained, despite Leonard’s obliviousness to the entire situation, eventually building up to Jane’s climactic decision – and, refreshingly, it’s not what you’d expect.

This is where the film’s strength lies – in its lack of predictability and its unique take on marriage – because it understands (in a way few romantic films do these days) that it cannot possibly speak for all relationships, and instead chooses to focus on the individuality of one. This individuality is especially clear in Blackley’s character; the carefree teen with a love of beauty isn’t just a stereotype, but is also intelligent, ambitious, and mature. Particularly as he’s mature enough that the age difference seems negligible, it’s not hard for us to be seduced by what he represents just as much as Jane is. Rather, Leonard’s reliability functions as a flaw when shown in such proximity to Caleb’s spontaneity.

The film’s soundtrack is punctuated by Jane listening to tapes of her grandmother’s recollection of living through two world wars as she wanders through the streets of Italy. While this provides an interesting narrative, and is often poignant when it seems her grandmother’s words apply to her own life, it also seems a little too convenient; it often turns moments that could have been subtly intriguing into something of a conspicuous agenda. Kate Bosworth’s reactions to these realisations, however, inject some vital legitimacy to the plot, as she does a fantastic job of building our involvement with Jane’s emotions. In contrast to those instances in which we’re hoping for a character to take a certain course of action, we’re instead as unsure of what we want as she is of her own desires.

And While We Were Here, with its simple premise, predictable conflicts and unexpected resolutions, is both every romantic film you’ve seen and every romantic film you haven’t seen. What originally seems a slightly pointless venture soon shapes into an organic experience that stirs our own thoughts on life, death and love. Indeed, it picks up on tensions present so pervasively through film and society that it’s hard to feel as though it’s not an argument you’re having for the twentieth time. What makes this film worth watching is that for the first time, the argument doesn’t end the same way.

And While We Were Here trailer: