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Black Mass:
Well-deserved Oscar buzz for Johnny Depp in his chilling portrayal of real-life mobster and murderer Whitey Bulger, who ran organized crime in Boston. Bulger was also an FBI and police informant, which essentially allowed the authorities to clear out all the kingpin criminals in areas of the city that Bulger wanted – they did his dirty work for him. Bernard Cumberbatch is excellent as always, as Bulger’s non-criminal brother, with Kevin Bacon and Joel Edgerton as other real people who factored into the underworld life of Bulger. Depp’s performance is chillingly real – he disappears into the character in amazing fashion. Rated 18A.
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Pan:
Not a good idea, given the box office results which were dismal, to create a Peter Pan origins story. Hugh Jackman is the pirate Black Beard in the days before Captain Hook was Captain Hook. Peter, at age 12, lives in an orphanage dominated by cruel nuns. When he and some of his pals are kidnapped by a flying pirate ship bound for Neverland, he learns that the nuns are in cahoots with the pirates. There are no Darling Children here, no dog named Nana, as none of that had yet happened. On arrival in the strange world where cruelty prevailed at a different level as men worked the mines for their pirate captors, Peter begins his journey on becoming the boy who would never grow up, but who would one day learn to fly. A bad version of what tries to be a sort-of-musical, this one really satisfies no one. Not even the kids. Rated14A.
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War Room:
This Christian-based film sat atop the box office for three weeks in the US before it was released in Canada despite a small budget, a no-name cast, and almost no promotion. The “war” in question here is between a husband and wife who’ life looks perfect from the outside, but who’s home is a war zone as they pick each other apart mercilessly. Their young daughter is caught in the middle, and the couple does not realize for a time just how much damage they are doing to her. A kindly older woman teaches them the power of prayer, and how to live a better life … which changes everything. Rated G.
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Home (2015):
Perfect for holiday viewing when the kids get out of school, this animated feature is a fine little sci-fi tale about an alien named Oh (voice of Jim Parsons) who is at odds with his own kind, who want to take over the earth - because this is aimed at kids, it's not the kind of blow-them-up kind of takeover, but rather a more gentle one. The aliens decide what parts of the earth they want for themselves, and what part humans can have, and they decide to send all the people to Australia, and keep the rest. A little girl named Tip (voice of Rihanna) gets left behind when her Mom is scooped up and sent off, and it falls to Oh to go against his people and get Tip reunited. Steve Martin is the voice of the conquering alien, and JLo is Tip's mother. Rated PG.
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| Machete (2010):
At the opposite end of the scale from "Home" is this R-rated action thriller inspired by Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse movie from 2007. In that film were several fake trailers of movies that didn't actually exist, including Hobo With a Shotgun, and Machete - each were made into movies on their own. Machete is played by tough guy Danny Trejo who actually served time in San Quentin for armed robbery and drug offenses. Here he is an ex-Federale from Mexico who is double-crossed by the man who hired him to assassinate a US senator played by Robert Di Nero. It's all fast action with lots of blood, and a cast that includes Cheech Marin, Steven Seagal and Don Johnson. Rated 18A.
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