Jesse Eisenberg, Alexander Skarsgard, and Salma Hayek have all played roles where they have egos. Eisenberg had one in “The Social Network” (2010), Skarsgard had one in “Straw Dogs” (2011), and Salma Hayek has had many more egotistical roles. In “The Hummingbird Project” all of them have an evil plan to get what they want through technology, but Eisenberg and Skarsgard are on the same side and Hayek is the antagonist. Director and writer, Kim Nguyen, arranges “The Hummingbird Project” so that its audience has an idea of which responsibility each character plays in the conflict of the movie. The film is a funny, clever, and dark story about the negatives of the digital world we live in. The negative chemistry between the characters shows how business in the digital world is all about profit and performance, and the risks people take to make their businesses or technologies more enthralling to its consumers. “The Hummingbird Project” will hold a viewer’s attention if they are a technology connoisseur.

The film is about two cousins named Vincent Zaleski and Anton Zaleski (Eisenberg and Skarsgard). They are high-frequency traders that decide to quit their jobs and prove they are better than their former boss, Eva Torres (Hayek). They want to prove their point to her by attempting to earn millions of dollars through a fiber-optic cable deal. Vincent is the business man in charge of the money and the locations for cables, and Anton is the computer geek who knows all kinds of coding and hacking skills. Vincent wants Anton to be able to make the internet one millisecond faster than most other businesses to establish their goal and get more traffic. The problem that arises is when Eva tries to stop them. As Vincent and Anton arrange for their teams to build the cell towers in the mountains of the east coast, Eva starts buying the land they intended to use and filing lawsuits to impede their progress.  The film turns into a war in terms of money, politics, taxes, real estate, and computers. “The Hummingbird Project” is “The Social Network” meets “Wall Street” (1987).

Even though I did enjoy the “The Hummingbird Project” it was a predictable performance for Eisenberg. He was Mark Zuckerberg all over again!  This time he owned land not a new website. His acting seemed the same because his character does not admit fault or agree to his penalties. In “The Social Network” he did not admit to those elements either. In “The Hummingbird Project” he is back to playing the person who believes he is a legend, but at the same time, he is socially awkward and very opinionated.

In terms of Skarsgard’s performance, I felt this role was different for him in a positive way. In a variety of his films he is either the antagonist, or the man who is the negative authoritative figure, but not in “The Hummingbird Project.” In this film, he had on the nerd glasses, was on the shy side, and would let claustrophobic elements stress him out to the extreme. He played the role quite well and I can see him playing characters that are intelligent. This is one he will be remembered for.

Hayek is decent in this movie and I did enjoy seeing her play a superior in a technological business. She has the intelligence, the scary presence, and the sharp dialogue gives viewers watching “The Hummingbird Project” a bumpy ride. The last film I remember where Hayek played a superior was “Savages” (2012). In “Savages” Hayek was the superior of a criminal organization, and in this one she is the superior of a computer business. She always plays superiors who wants negative results for those who she feels are her enemies.

“The Hummingbird” project is not amazing, but it is done properly and is not all that predictable. There are many elements to pay attention to in regards towards what the Zaleski’s are trying to accomplish. The film is setup in a step-by-step process that helps its audience to understand what the Zaleski’s go through to make their cable projects successful. There are obstacles that make the project a challenge, but some get surpassed, and some do not. The film is a hit or miss, but I found it worth the time. For my rating, I give “The Hummingbird Project” three stars.

When there are films with the subject matter being discipline and improvement, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s “The Mustang” shows how one man is destined to make a difference in his life. The difference is with training horses. Actor, Matthias Schoenaerts is Roman. Roman has been in jail for years for committing a crime that is not well known. He has temper issues, trust issues, and on top of that, he has a kid that is pregnant. He is introduced to Myles (played by Bruce Dern). Myles is the captain of the horses that are used to be trained by prisoners as a rehabilitation program. Myles gives Roman the opportunity to work with the horses. The problem is that training horses, is harder than Roman thinks. That is because Roman is quite impatient and very confrontational. In the opening of the movie, Roman is already all fueled and angry.

With “The Mustang” I find that redemption is an aspect to the movie. In moments of the movie, where Roman is in group sessions with his other inmates, or in visiting hours with his daughter, he does mention a couple of times about how he regrets his judgment that got him to end up in prison. With that, he feels that training horses is making him start to feel like he is in a more positive place. With that, he hopes that he can make up when he eventually is released from jail. Myles has hope in Roman, but also Myles does not remind Roman of how horses can be a different challenge on different occasions. The two main challenges that Roman faces is having patience with horses, and how long he may be in prison for.

The director played Diane in “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (2007). I felt “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” was quite similar because of how both films gear on characters who cannot do much in the world, and they want to make a difference despite their restrictions. In “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” the character is almost completely paralyzed, and his only way of communicating is to blink his eyes for yes or no. In “The Mustang” the character’s reputation is based on how well he can train the horses with very little experience. Both are very detailed in elements to why the characters have restrictions and struggle to get farther than they would like to.

“The Mustang” is one of those movies that has only some dialogue but not a whole lot. That element in the film’s writing I feel helps us understand Roman through his facial expressions and anger that he has built up inside him throughout the movie. The moments where Roman outbursts are unexpected and that intensifies certain scenarios that viewers do not see coming. Based on Roman’s background, viewers will also wonder if he can behave or hold his attitude together. “The Mustang” has unexpected events that will hold attention well. I will say three and a half stars.

I came across watching “Secret Window” recently after about six years of not watching it. I went back and read reviews, it had some good and some bad, and to me the film is not, amazing or horrible, it is average but needs improvement. “Secret Window” is a film that leaves viewers to have multiple questions as the movie goes on. The film has some terror, tension, and disturbing scenarios that creates a pattern of an unexplained puzzle and that does not make sense to its viewers. The film stars Johnny Depp (as Mort), John Turturro (as John), Maria Bello (as Amy), Timothy Hutton (as Ted), and Charles S. Dutton (as). These characters play a role in this catastrophe that is in the hands of one man whose life may be at risk due to plagiarism.

The main character is Mort. Mort is someone that has a successful career as a writer, however is going through a divorce. He lives in a cabin in a forest around the out skirts of New York. He is introverted and does not have much of a social life. That is until one day, another writer (John) knocks on his door and starts to interrogate him claiming that Mort had stolen one of his stories. Mort believes that it is all a lie and is false and he starts collecting facts and evidence to prove his belief that John is making the scenario up and is crazy. That may be the truth, but harrowing events starts to impact Mort’s life the more he denies what John claims. Mort finds himself having to go back to talking with his soon-to-be ex wife Amy and her boyfriend Ted. This is challenging for Mort because he has memories of events that he believes to be the cause of him and Amy separating. He also hires a detective (Ken), and that detective is very costly and is not solving many of the answers for Mort. Throughout the film, Mort tries to piece together if John is right or wrong.

The film is attention-grabbing, but in a sense, cheesy. A couple of conflict scenarios in the film do not make sense. I feel the director, David Koepp, tries to have his viewers gear on one character when it comes around being curious to who is responsible for damages in the movie. A pet is killed early in the film, a house is burned down by someone, and people are found dead in a car in a forest. Viewers wonder if John is responsible for them, however there is a twist to those shady events.

When I have watched this movie, I can tell the writing was done to make Mort to be a self-absorbed, and opinionated person. That is because whenever anyone in his life tries to have him to terms with himself, he acts like he is above everyone else, and does not admit at all to his negative attitudes or sarcasm. He is someone that will believe his problems will blow over him, and not be a big deal, but they do turn to be big deals slowly. For Depp’s character, he is nerdy, angry, and clueless towards how to deal with his problems. He puts off important priorities just because he wants to believe he is right.

For Turturro’s character, he is someone that tries to create tension and stress for Depp’s character. He dogs Mort for the manuscript that Mort claims he wrote and that he did not steal from him. He threatens to make Mort’s life miserable and place all kinds of charges on him. Those threats start to put Mort in a place where he cannot runaway from his problems. The other issue is that this is not the only issue for Mort, the other issue is finalizing his divorce with his Amy. Mort being set in his own ways prevent him from his other responsibilities in his life, and he does not have very many.

For Koepp, I felt “Secret Window” was an average film for him to direct. The film may seem predictable, but it is not. Many of the unanswered questions in the film are the opposite answers of what his viewers think. That is why I have grown to enjoy “Secret Window” in the amount of times I have watched it. The sense of dramatic irony that Koepp uses leads to a catastrophe in one moment of the film or the other. Did Mort steal John’s story? Did John commit those crimes? All are questions that has a wild explanation towards the climax of the movie. That is why I find “Secret Window” as a film that is worthy of a viewing every so often.