Black Mass: Glad Johnny Depp is Off the Weird Train

Black Mass is the tail of Whitey Bulger, who I sadly didn't know a lot about besides that he's a famous criminal. Depp plays Bulger, a Southy project legend of Boston. He's outstanding. Benedict Cumberbatch plays his Senator Brother and Joel Edgerton plays a "friend" from the same projects as the Bulger's Edgerton becomes an FBI agent who utilizes Bulger as an informant. It allows Bulger to have a certain amount of immunity as the FBI's main goal is the destruction of the Italian Mob. Bulger helps in that process and then rides the wave out as he dominates the Boston underground. I have no clue about the accuracy of the movie, but I can tell you that it's very good. Depp has a ton of range as Bulger and Edgerton is a great screenmate. Edgerton recently cranked out a great director/actor movie called The Gift that I already wrote about, so his star should certainly be on the rise. Excellent acting and an amazing story highlight this film. Bottom Line: 8.4 out of 10. I was a huge fan and certainly recommend viewing it soon. It kicks off Oscar bait season and I'm very excited.

Straight Outta Compton

This one scared me since it's so incredibly ambitious to attempt to tell the story of the formation and destruction of N.W.A., the Godfather's of gangster rap. The group was formed with Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy E, MC Ren, and DJ Yella. It led to the formation of Ruthless Records, which cranked out the N.W.A. albums and a few solo projects for Eazy E, MC Ren, DJ Yella, and later Bone Thugz-N-Harmony (Their mega-hit "Crossroads" was actually written for Eazy-E shortly after his death from AIDS). The group came on essentially out of nowhere. Eric Wright (Eazy-E) was dealing drugs and was recruited by Dr. Dre to spend some of his elicit money on music. Dr. Dre was already in a group, but had no problems working on music with Wright. Ice Cube was in high school at the time, but still penned most the rhymes used by N.W.A., specifically Eazy-E's and Dr. Dre's, in addition to his own. DJ Yella was a DJ with Dr. Dre in their group World Class Wreckin' Crew and came with Dre immediately. This movie does an incredible job of cutting through the around 7 years from their formation and meteoric rise, to the separations of Ice Cube and Dre from the group, to forming Death Row Records and Cube's solo projects, to Eazy-E's unexpected death. It covers so much ground, much of it deserving of separate films, but it does an excellent job. N.W.A. deserves a TON of credit for getting rap that wasn't meant for the radio and MTV to get mainstream play and success. I'm presuming without their contributions it would be impossible to tell when rap would've been so popular in all of America. The actors all do very well playing incredibly difficult, iconic roles that most people that watch have an idea of how they sound, look, and act. O'Shea Jackson Jr. finds the role of a lifetime in getting to play his dad, Ice Cube. Even later on the actors playing Snoop Dogg, Suge Knight, and Tupac do a very good job. The story was produced by Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E's wife, so you were getting various points of view, etc, so one artists isn't focused on, or shown in a more favorable light than the others. Strong showing from F. Gary Gray as well, who is probably best known for directing Friday. Bottom Line: 9.1 out of 10. I'm biased because I like rap, but this movie does just an amazing job of covering a TON of ground and the basics + more about an amazing tale about N.W.A. and all that went with it.

Maleficent

During the free Starz trial and took a flyer on Maleficent. The tale follows the formation of the "wicked" witch of the Sleeping Beauty story and why someone would put a curse on a child that would cause them to go into a coma upon pricking their finger on a spindle on their 16th birthday. It was visually VERY impressive with incredible CG/effects. Angelina Jolie is very solid and they chose Sharlto Copley (District 9 fame) to play the King, and he's alright, but far from special. The story takes an interesting view on the age old tale and it holds up alright. You still wonder how hard it would be to keep a 16 year old from a sewing wheel, but whatever. Bottom Line: 5.9 out of 10. Worth watching for the visual effects, but not much else is very strong. I would think it's a bit scary for children under 9-10 as well, but I'm far from an expert on that. Watch it for free when it's on basic cable if you have some free time.

The Gift: Michael Bluth is a Dick

The Gift has gotten really good reviews and limited press, so I was excited to check it out. The story follows Jason Bateman and his wife as they move into a new place in California and start their life over after a miscarriage. Bateman runs into a "friend" from high school who starts dropping off gifts, showing up a lot, and pissing Bateman off. I don't want to really give a ton of the story away, but it does a great job of slowly unravelling back story and plot while keeping you primarily in the dark. Excellent performances throughout and hats off to Joel Edgerton for writing, directing, and starring in a tough role on this one. Bottom Line: 8.6 out of 10. Worth seeing in theatres. Bateman plays an asshole REALLY, REALLY well and that's scary. I think he should be a campaigning politician that just shreds everyone and everything. Can I get royalties for this great idea?

Still Alice: Oscar Home Run

Julianne Moore takes the dramatic role of a lifetime as a former Columbia Linguistics professor suffering from early onset Alzheimer's disease. You follow the journey from the earliest of symptoms until her memory is a real struggle, forgetting her children's names and needing help getting dressed. For anyone who has experienced when this happens to a loved one it's heartbreaking. It hits too close to home as Moore's portrayal is spot-on. She's almost too good. Alec Baldwin is rock steady as her husband as he tries to figure out how to balance career vs. care for her. Kristen Stewart plays a daughter (she has a great agent), Kate Bosworth as another daughter, and Hunter Parrish (Silas from Weeds is the only thing he's done) round out the cast. It's simplistic and carried by the strength of Moore's performance and the brutally honest story that follows someone who suffers from a deteriorating disease. There's little humor or fun, just brutal reality. There are a few peaks of the pain and sadness that really rip your heart out, but it doesn't bend reality for feel-good moments. Bottom Line: 8.3 out of 10. Probably rated lower than I should just because it tears your heart out, but worth watching just to see Moore knock the role out of the park. It's a career role and she gets everything out of it possible.

The Purge: Anarchy Round Two of Failure

The Purge takes the noble concept that if once a year we all took a 12 hour period and had no rules that everyone would be happier for the other 364 days. Instead of making these movies a crazy, Mad Max-esque action film that throws crazy shit at you for 90 minutes, this ugly think clunks and sputters trying to form characters you care about in 3 minutes or less and then have them endure some epic survival adventure. It's shocking to me how someone takes an idea so crazy and new, yet the movie is cookie cutter and lame. I found myself playing around on my computer and watching tennis on the other TV in much greater proportion than THE PURGE: ANARCHY. Bottom Line: 2.9 out of 10. Even the shitty CGI blood sucked at some parts. There was no redeeming qualities other than the bad guy with the gatling gun mounted truck looks actually pretty badass. Everything else was shit garbage.

The Theory of Everything: Eddie Redmayne's Best Actor Bait

HBO started showing The Theory of Everything, the story of Stephen Hawking and his life/relationship with his wife. I was excited knowing Redmayne beat a LOADED field to win Best Actor at the Oscar's, but I was not overly impressed with his performance. I think he played Hawking VERY well, but, and this is going to be horribly offensive, he didn't have to do all that much for the majority of the movie. I also wasn't an enormous fan that the movie didn't do a great job of talking about Hawking's numerous breakthroughs in Science/Math and I also thought it didn't do a great job of showing his family life, though that was the intent. It's a very visually stunning film that does explain some of Stephen Hawking's remarkable life and that is a achievement. Bottom Line: 8.2 out of 10. Very good film, but the struggles that I didn't like are noted above. Very good film with very good performances, but it's like generically saying "he's a nice guy".

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (also, the last anime movie I watch probably ever)

Because Amazon.com does such a great job with advertising deals I jumped on Cowboy Bebop for $7.00 on blu-ray. The movie follows a group of bounty hunters lead by Spike, an americanized/stylized bounty hunter with excellent kung-fu skills. It's actually a pretty interesting story and the animation is impressive. Spike and the other bounty hunters struggle to find work that pays decent money, but en route to collect the bounty on a hacker there is a bio-terrorism attack, putting their target in the $500 million of whatever currency they use range. The story follows their hunt for him and the hunt to figure out what his weapon is. It's subtitled, which isn't the worst of things. I fell asleep during a part of it, but I think I rewound to the right point and caught up. The character of Spike as the hero I have trouble accepting with his original "Devil may care" attitude that's completely changed when he experiences a cliched "near-death" experience. It's a decent story and unfolds well, I'm just not huge fan. Bottom Line: 5.7 out of 10. No reason to run out and watch this one. I feel like I did a disservice reviewing it. I am clearly not an anime fan.

Top Five

Top Five is Chris Rock putting together a semi-autobiographical film with a bunch of his friends, but unlike when Adam Sandler does, it's hilarious and really good. The film follows Andre Allen (Rock) around while he promotes a movie called Uprizing, the story of the Haitian slave revolt that resulted in 50,000 dead whites. He takes an interview with the NY Times providing us with Rosario Dawson in the perfect role for her, a beautiful, smart, strong woman. She follows around Rock for the day as he promotes the film, comes clean about his life, and they find similarities in their lives. Rock's character has a drinking problem that he has fought with and stayed clean for 4 years, so the film is supposed to take place in 2007 apparently. He's surrounded by his wife to be, a reality starlet played (perfectly) by Gabrielle Union. JB Smoove is his best friend/entourage of one/manager. His family is hilarious and played by mostly other stand-ups, most notably Tracy Morgan. The cast is just unreal playing either themselves, or hilarious characters. The tale goes through these two crazy days in his life and it's fantastic. It's interesting to have his take on a bunch of things throughout the film, like his friends Top Five rapper/MC list, hence the films name. Bottom Line: 8.4 out of 10. Run out and see this hidden gem. It didn't get near enough notice when it had it's run in theatres, but it's excellent. Funny, insightful, entertaining, and thoughtful. Even being a white dude I thought it was spot on.

Spirited Away: Anime Attempt #3

In an attempt to continue to find movies I haven't seen and are unique I bought Spirited Away, an anime film that, according to IMDB, is one of the best "cartoons" ever. The movie follows a girl (maybe 11?) and her family as they are moving to a new house in a new city. They stop near their new house and explore a long archway that leads to another world. It's a world very unique where humans are scarce and thought little of. The movie follows her journey to reunite with her parents and get out alive. I didn't watch with subtitles, but with English dubbing, which isn't great, but not terrible. The animation is impressive, the story is pretty good, and it is unique. Bottom Line: 6.4 out of 10. Not a huge fan, but it wasn't too bad. I think it's safe to say I'm not a huge anime fan. Next up, tentacle porn. P.S. I've been watching The Wire again and I'm almost certain season 3 is the best season of television ever. What a great series.