There is a great scene two-thirds into the new gritty, true-crime drama, ‘Black Mass,’ that perfectly displays both the strength and weakness of the overall picture.  Johnny Depp, chillingly portraying former kingpin of South Boston, James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, is in the home of his childhood friend and FBI enabler John Connelly (Joel Edgerton in another multi-dimensional performance). … Continue reading ‘Black Mass’ – Is Depp back on track channeling Whitey Bulger?

What is more impossible, the fact that Tom Cruise is 53 years of age and still pushing the limits of what action films can be, or that this 5th installment in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise is the most assured, exciting, pulse-pounding, and intelligent one yet?  Cruise is the guiding force behind this unique series –… Continue reading ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ – The best in the series?

Sequels to comedy classics are inherently hard to pull off – the successful ones (’22 Jump Street’, ‘Toy Story 2’) both build on what has come before and take the conceit in a new direction, while the middling ones (‘The Hangover II’, ‘Men in Black II’) directly repeat the same formula, providing decent laughs and evaporating. … Continue reading ‘Ted 2’ – Yet another DOA Comedy Sequel?

‘Kingsman: The Secret Service,’ the newest film by writer-director Matthew Vaughn, is available now for rental after a successful theatrical release earlier this year.  It’s an overly violent, darkly comic send-up of the James Bond spy genre based on comic-book writer Mark Millar’s ‘The Secret Service,’ a decidedly adult comic book collaboration between the prolific… Continue reading ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ – Gratuitously Violent Bond Send-Up?

A new Pixar release is almost always a cause for celebration, and ‘Inside Out’ is no exception.  It’s a perfectly balanced original creation – an animated entertainment about emotions Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling), that elicits and completely earns these same emotional responses from an audience thoroughly… Continue reading ‘Inside Out’ – Pixar Perfection Continues?

The original ‘Jurassic Park,’ released in the summer of 1993, was a huge blockbuster hit for Steven Spielberg.  Its’ now classic elements of wonder and awe quickly turning to fear and horror, still resonate in the collective movie-going psyche.  The sequels could never live up to the original, upping the ante on fx and action,… Continue reading ‘Jurassic World’ – Reinvention of a Classic?