Saw Blue Jasmine and Elysium this week-end

On the good news side, Elysium was fun.  I am constantly amazed how Matt Damon does all this "superhero"-ish things, and yet still pulls off the everyman demeanor.  He makes it look like he is working hard - where the Arnolds of the world make playing through the pain look too easy.
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It's a tough act to pull off - often requiring him to look like he's ragged for a while but continue on.  But it is usually believable.  He never looks about to die, then comes to life with super-strength.
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In other news, Jodie Foster is an ice-cool powerful woman in this movie.  Protecting the habitat like a lioness with her cubs.  She isn't evil, but relentless.  Not nasty for power's sake, but power hungry for "saftey's sake".  It is only through force of will that she never falls into the "bitch" stereotype than most other actresses would fall into  in the role.
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The allegorical references to today are both obvious (the haves - whose lives have value versus the 99% who mean nothing) and subtle (Jodie Foster as Obama or Bush or any other leader who values safety over freedom).  And it never overly preaches the references.  The are just a given.
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Having said that, the last fight could be cut by 2/3s and I would have gotten the point.  It is like they said to the director - okay we'll give you parts 1 and 2, but in part 3 you gotta blow more shit up.  They even seemed to create a different set, just where explosions where bigger.
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And then there is Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.  No one tells Woody what to do anymore.  Which allows him to pull some amazing, touching beautiful performances out of actors both expected (Cate Blanchett) and unexpected (Louie CK).
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Unfortunately, in Blue Jasmine, he pulls out amazing performances only to showcase them in a piece of tacky drivel that doesn't perform the basics of film making.
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Cate Blanchett starts as a crazy, isolated, bitch of a socialite at the beginning of the movie and becomes a crazy, isolated, bitch of a socialite at the end of the movie.
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Apparently unaware of ancient Chinese proverb that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  In Woody Allen's hands the proverb is turned upside down and a journey of a thousand steps makes an circle.  And since he has made this particular circle a lot, a journey of a thousand steps makes an infinite loop.
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The ancillary characters start one way, are changed by Cate, and then realize it is all bull-shit and end up the same way they started.  Which isn't an emotional journey so much as another way to showcase that Cate Blanchett is an isolated, crazy bitch.
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But the acting is great, I couldn't stand to watch her one more second.