Starring: Hugh Jackman and Levi Miller
Directed by: Joe Wright
Rated: PG
Running time: 1 hr 51 mins
Warner Bros

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

It’s a familiar theme in some films. Mother leaves newborn on a friendly doorstep hoping the people inside will give him/her a better life. Such is the case of young Peter, who is left outside a London orphanage in the sometime before World War II. Wrapped only in a blanket and wearing an odd-looking necklace, the baby is taken in.

Jump forward and we find a 12-year old Peter and his friends living in a cramped area, doing menial chores for the tyrannical Mother Barnabas (Kathy Burke). Among their chores is going up on the roof to clean out the gutters, which is a rather odd task to assign a child, especially with all of the air raids going on. While doing their daily tasks, Peter notices that the population of children is dwindling. He’s assured that the youngsters have been “furloughed” out…send to a safe place because of the war. However, he soon learns the truth when he and his fellow orphans are plucked out of their beds and carried away to…you know where!

Full of amazing effects and riding a fine, over-the-top performance by Hugh Jackman, “Pan” is sure to be a hit with the 12-14 crowd. All of the familiar characters are here: Smee (Adeel Akhtar), Tinkerbell and a certain Mr. James Hook (Garrett Hedlund), who quickly befriends Peter. This version of Neverland is full of young boys who like to have fun. For some odd reason they often break into song, including a rousing version of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” When on screen, Jackman gives a bravura performance. It’s almost as if he’s imagining he’s back on Broadway and he has to be “big” enough for the people in the back of the balcony to hear him.

The rest of the cast is equally energized. Young Miller gives Peter a certain youthful quality that’s often not shown in other films dealing with the same subject. Things get a little weird when Rooney Mara shows up as Tiger Lilly, who immediately strikes up a reciprocated flirtation with Hook. The fact that there should be a good 15-years between the two is glossed over. And before the protests begin, I think Mara did as fine a job here as any Native American actress would have!

Some of the grand battles are quite impressive, though I should warn people with kids under 12 that they may be a little overwhelmed, especially with the 3-D, which works to some success here, helping make “Pan” a fantastic adventure for kids.

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Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie and Adam Scott
Directed by: Leslye Headland
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hr 41 mins
IFC Films

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

It’s what everybody wants. True love. To find someone and stay with them forever. That’s what Jake (Sudeikis) wants. Or so he says. However, he has a problem. Whenever he finds what he says he’s looking for he gets a little antsy. In the pantsy. Jake is a serial cheater. Enter Lainey (Brie). Or should I say re-enter Lainey. It’s been over a decade since she and Jake met cute at a party and lost their virginity to each other. Like Jake, she’s been looking for love. She thought she found it with her gynecologist (Scott, in rare dramatic form). But he’s getting married. What is a girl (and guy) to do?

Like “Bridesmaids” and “Trainwreck” before it, “Sleeping with Other People” is a sometimes raunchy comedy that occasionally tries too hard to shock. When it’s not trying to top itself it’s a modern-day “When Harry Met Sally,” once again trying to see if men and women can truly be friends with no benefits.

The cast does it’s best to keep the film moving. Sudeikis is his likable self, with just a touch of sarcasm. He’s like Ryan Reynolds, if Ryan Reynolds was your next door neighbor. Brie is the bravest of the cast, having to take off the blinders and charge headlong into a role that, if played any differently, would not be likable at all. I mention that Adam Scott is in “rare” dramatic form but I should mention that I saw this film over a month ago. Since then he’s turned in another fine performance in “Black Mass,” proving himself to be quite a skilled actor.

The screenplay, by director Headland, has some fine moments when it gets past the sexual politics and situations. I will say that I will never look at a Snapple bottle the same way again! However, the finer moments outweigh the cringe-worthy ones so I recommend you give it a try.

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Starring: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, and Benicio Del Toro
Directed By: Denis Villeneuve
Rated: R
Running Time: 121 minutes
Lionsgate

Our Score: 5 out 5 Stars

From the first gunshot to the final frame, “Sicario” takes hold of that trepidation in the pit of your stomach and doesn’t let go. At times, it shakes that anxiety in your guts violently. At other times, it merely plays with it like a kitten. “Sicario” is a two hour intense ride through the battlegrounds of the Mexican Drug War. “Sicario” is merciless and unflinching in its perspective of the drug trafficking currently taking place at the United States southern border.

The film opens with Kate (Blunt), leading a mixed group of federal agents and local police in the raid of an Arizona home. What these law enforcements agents are looking for horrifically becomes clear once they discover the bodies of people in the walls of the home. It’s stated halfway through the film, and it’s actually a sad real fact, but raids like this are becoming more common without any end in sight. If anything, they’ve only gotten worse. Kate’s work is professional, clean, and by-the-books.

Her work attracts the attention of Matt (Brolin). He doesn’t seem important since he’s the only one in a meeting of law enforcement leaders and officials wearing civilian clothes. Matt wants Kate for a special assignment into the heart of Mexico, but he won’t reveal too much to her. Matt is clearly scheming and things are even more ominous for Kate as the stoic Alejandro (Del Toro) enters the picture. His arrival is unquestioned and without introduction, leaving Kate deeper in the dark. Along with Kate, we follow foreshadowing breadcrumbs cautiously, because just like her, we know there cannot be a good outcome.

Once everything comes to fruition and everything is revealed, it’s a fairly basic story. But with the right cast, the right direction, the perfect balances of themes, and blending all those together is what makes “Sicario” one of the best movies of the year. The exciting bliss we watch in “Sicario” comes down to director Denis Villeneuve. Without Villeneuve’s vision or his willingness to mold and shape “Sicario” into something more we would have been left with a run-of-the-mill action movie. Instead, Villeneuve has put together a slick, chilling thriller.

Just like in “Prisoners” and “Enemy,” Villeneuve is becoming a master of dread. Villeneuve harnesses a dense soundtrack, echoing our fears about what’s ahead, and buries it under unsettling close-up. Villeneuve has an eye for gorgeous establishing shots and has a keen instinct about what puts us on the edge of our seat. “Sicario” cleverly unnerves us as we closely follow characters that are armed to the teeth and ready to fire off some deadly shots.

Del Toro, Blunt, Brolin, and everyone else is spot on. Del Toro, like he usually does every once and awhile, reminds us why he’s an Oscar winner. Just his icy cold stare speaks miles about what kind of man Alejandro is. Blunt perfectly encapsulates Kate’s lone wolf strength at the beginning, but nurtures that slow grip of fear that inevitably paralyzes Kate. Meanwhile, Brolin handles Matt like an average Joe who has every little detail plotted out behind his childish quips.

The final thing that makes “Sicario” undeniably good is the ethical questions it asks. They’re proposed in a very unique way. “Sicario” bluntly states the first part of the question while letting the viewer ponder what the second half is. You may not know you were asked a question once the movie is over because you’ll still be frozen in its grasps. But once you leave the theater, you’ll definitely have something to ponder. And if history is any indication, along with Kate’s story, you won’t like the answer to that question.

Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetal Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan
Running Time: 141 minutes
20th Century Fox

Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars

If Saving Private Ryan taught us anything, it’s that you can make a damn great film about a Damon in distress. The Martian, Ridley Scott’s joyous tribute to the ingenuity of scientists, is lightyears away from Spielberg’s gritty epic but the results are still spectacular. The Martian is a massively satisfying sci-fi film on every level that’s anchored by a standout performance from Matt Damon.

When an unexpectedly harsh storm rips through their mission on Mars, Commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain) makes the heart wrenching decision to leave one of her crew on the surface of the planet, presumed dead. Mark Watney (Damon) in actual fact wakes to find he’s alive having taken a communication antenna directly to the equipment that monitors his vitals. Not to mention to his own abdomen. It’s really the perfect setup for a space horror and indeed Watney’s bloody DIY surgery is cringeworthy to watch, but that’s not the film we’re watching. It’s funny that the director who gave us the iconic ‘in space, no one can hear you scream’ and with Watney has added an addendum of unless you “science the shit” out of your situation and get your own communications back on line. Here Watney’s approach is that of a highly trained scientist–a botanist to be specific–who responds not with panic but with measured practicality and optimism. Watney turns immediately to video logging his progress, a clever way to clue the audience into what’s up as well as the unspoken truth that his journal, and own sense of humor, are vital to his sanity and by extension, his survival. Damon is charming as ever in his solo scenes, still grumbling at his now-absent crew mates as he rifles through their belongings for anything useful. Like Guardians of the Galaxy last year, Watney’s ship is stocked with disco records courtesy of his captain to keep the mood on Mars generally upbeat. When he has setbacks, Damon does let loose with some powerful emotional breakdowns that are all the more affecting for how strong a character we already know Watney to be.

Meanwhile on Earth, Damon is supported by a bevy of strong actors including Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean (who gets in a pretty great Lord of the Rings shout out), Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kristen Wiig. They’re faced with not only how to keep their astronaut alive, but whether to inform Watney’s crew (still on their ship and out of the loop) and how to ‘spin’ their situation with the whole world watching. I think what’s most refreshing about the Earth-bound scenes is the spirit of rational teamwork among the NASA personnel. There’s disagreements and debates but never, as too often is the case in sci-fi films, a Bad Guy or any gross caricatures of government officials hellbent on an agenda. Some of the best scenes are the NASA leaders just throwing down challenges to their tech teams and watching all their wheels turning into motion. Scott wrings suspense out of the sheer amount of options the space agencies have for a mission where if one astronaut is lost in pursuit of another, the whole thing is a failure. If anything, the enemy is determining who ultimately will take responsibility for the chosen course of action and its outcome.

Already powered by its strong cast and the gripping central dilemma, The Martian also excels in every technical aspect. Harry Gregson-Williams provides a touching, often ‘futuristic-sounding’ score that never overpowers the action while Dariusz Wolski’s cinematography is gorgeous. Jessica Chastain simply floating through her ship on her rounds is already a beautiful image and in the RealD 3D I saw it in at NYFF, it soared. The film doesn’t rely on the 3D, but it is immersive in the space scenes and frequently had me in awe. A thrilling cinematic experience made even better for regarding complications in space as inevitable and workable rather than with terror. It felt like exactly what we need in a moment where NASA continues to make discoveries (just this week: water!) despite threats of shutdown.

The Martian opens on October 2nd. 

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon, James Badge Dale
Running Time: 124 minutes
Sony, TriStar

Our Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars

When I saw James Marsh’s 2008 documentary Man On Wire, I recall my heart racing. Just listening to Philippe Petit rapid fire recounting his tight rope walk between the Twin Towers, and the amount of sheer luck that his plans hinged on, was exhilarating. When Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit popped up on the top of the torch of the Statue of Liberty in the opening of Robert Zemeckis’s The Walk to narrate the exact same tale, well exhilarated is not the word I’d use. In a perfect world, audiences could see the breathtaking wire walking sequence that Zemeckis has crafted appended to something as thrilling as that Oscar-winning documentary but of course this is not a perfect world. As Gordon-Levitt’s Petit would say through outrageous French accent, c’est la vie. In moving from Man on Wire to The Walk, we must revisit Petit’s spectacular tight rope act with a hefty side of fromage.

The year is 1974 and French street performer Petit, is enamored with wire walking. During his search for more places to hang his wire, he finds a newspaper heralding the nearly-completed Twin Towers in New York City. They’re perfect and he becomes obsessed with the idea of walking between them. In racing towards this vision, Zemeckis takes us through a candy colored vision of the France from the countryside to the circus and Paris. It all culminates in a newsworthy walk between the two towers of the Notre Dame cathedral–a death defying feat unto itself, presented here as a quick bit of exposition. Along the way he picks up French ‘accomplices’ in girlfriend Annie (Charlotte Le Bon in a thankless role), a photographer (Clément Sibony) and eccentric circus mentor Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley) who pleads with Petit to use a safety harness (he won’t). For all the fast paced camera work and bustling Parisian unicycle rides, this first act drags under Petit’s over aggressive narration. In light of the Marsh documentary where the vibrant real Petit told his own story, my mind truly boggled at having this level of wall to wall voice over. For audience members who have not seen the doc, your tolerance may be higher than mine. If anything I miss the different voices from Man on Wire, because here doubt by other characters is treated as repressing an excitable artist. His success is taken as a foregone conclusion.

In 1970s New York, the film takes on more of the heist-like mood that was established in Marsh’s documentary and the film finally takes off. Petit enlists his American accomplices and the element of suspense is restored while Petit and co employ ‘spywork’ to figure out the inner workings of the massive construction site. The level of lax security and staff eluded with charm and confidence of the crew is really something to see from a post-9/11 perspective and is one of the essential elements to Petit’s being a once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment. The biggest hurdle is getting from the sky lobbies to the roof and ensuring the roof is free of guards. Here Zemeckis is great at giving us what can only be described as warm up acrophobia as the team contends with incomplete elevator shafts in the build up to the final walk across the void. That walk is undeniably breath taking and seeing it with a crowd in a theater, the level of tensed muscles was strongly felt. And the walk is not short either. As Petit the artist felt more and more connected to the wire and the towers, the more liberties he takes up there. And the sequence is stunning in spite of Petit remaining on hand to tell us how stunning it is.

With the 3D walk itself being worth price of admission, more so in vertigo-inducing IMAX, and poignant final moments that especially resonated with the New York Film Fest crowd, Zemeckis has crafted a spectacle to be sure even if the rest of the film will likely not stand the same test of time that the 2008 documentary has.

The Walk opens in limited IMAX on September 30th with a wide release on October 9th.

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Starring: Robert DeNiro, Anne Hathaway and Rene Russo
Directed by: Nancy Meyers
Rated: PG 13
Running time: 2 hrs 2 mins
Warner Bros

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I just turned 55. Which means, hopefully in the next decade, I will be able to retire. I sometimes wonder what I’ll do. I’ve actually seen myself as the old man who tears tickets at the movie theatre during the day. I know I like to stay busy.

Ben (DeNiro, looking much younger than his 72 years) is a widower with nothing to do. He spends his days taking Tai Chi in the park and doing his best to avoid Patty (always great to see Linda Lavin on screen), a woman he had dinner with five months ago and has since tried to avoid. One day he comes upon a flyer reading SENIOR INTERNS WANTED. Intrigued, he applies for the position. The job is with a hip new clothing company, with everyone in charge appearing to be 15. During one interview the person asks Ben what his college major was, and then rudely adds, “Do you remember?” Ben gets the gig, along with a couple oldsters, and finds himself assigned as the personal intern to the company boss, the ambitious Jules (Hathaway). His only instructions in dealing with her is that she hates people that don’t blink. A hands on person, Jules at first has nothing for Ben to do so he keeps himself busy helping others at work, whether it’s teaching one of the young men how to dress properly for work or trying to fix a broken office romance. Eventually Jules calls on Ben and his new career is on.

A hit or miss comedy, “The Intern” creeps along at the beginning. It also has a lot of tropes that are common in films like this. Hard working mom. Adorable kid she leaves at home with her husband. Husband who feels ignored. Thankfully writer/director Meyers is an old hand at films like this, and she manages to salvage the film in the second act, which is made up of some well written set pieces that make you laugh out loud. I must also give Meyers credit for avoiding an ending I thought was telegraphed in the first 30 minutes of the film.

The cast seem to be having a great time. DeNiro is his usual charming best and Hathaway takes what could have been a one-dimensional character and breathes life into her. Russo lights up the screen whenever she’s on it. The supporting cast is just as good, with special mentions going to Adam Devine, Zach Pearlman and Christina Scherer. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Anders Holm pretty much brings the film to a screeching halt every time he shows up as Jules’ husband, Matt. His flat delivery and sleep-walking tone makes you understand why Jules works long hours.

With a summer of dinosaurs, Minions and super heroes behind us, you might feel like you need a little laughter to start the fall. You can’t go wrong here.

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Starring: Jason Clarke, Ang Phula Sherpa and Thomas M. Wright
Directed By: Baltasar Kormakur
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 121 minutes
Universal Pictures

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Often times in disaster movies, the power of nature is mocked or built up like some supernatural phenomenon. “San Andreas”, “Volcano” and any Roland Emmerich movie are prime examples of nature needing to be deadlier than it already is to captivate an audience, but the director and writers of “Everest” have realized something very few know. Nature is already a disturbing mystery that doesn’t need to create 100 foot high tidal waves or to spawn volcanoes in the middle of a sprawling suburb to have a profound impact.

“Everest” follows along the events of a deadly 1996 Everest expedition, that’s been the subject of many documentaries and books, and it was most likely a news firestorm when it happened. I was only eight at the time so my memory banks were being dedicated to learning fractions and the plot line to rudimentary cartoons. So if you remember this incident, you know there’s not going to be a happy ending and in all fairness, that’s what makes a disaster a disaster.

Competing expedition groups are traversing the world’s tallest mountain. Each group is made up of individuals with their own personal accomplishment to achieve. Rob Hall (Clarke) heads up Adventure Consultants while Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) heads a team called Mountain Madness. The groups are armed to the teeth with oxygen tanks and supplies. The journey, as expected, is a difficult one, but the real problems arise once they reach the summit.

The cinematography of “Everest” is nothing short of breathtaking. While most disaster movies rely heavily on CGI to make the unbelievable more believable; “Everest” uses CGI to make the believable even more bone chilling. Tension is so sparsely used that when it bubbles up, it’s acute. Knowing that the icy hands of death are ready adds to the suspense, especially for someone like me who had no previous knowledge of the events unfolding in this movie.

As for the true story aspect, my research reveals that “Everest” is fairly faithful. The most unbelievable moment of the movie for me was actually the most truthful to the actual events. So maybe that says something about film creators before who’ve abused the title of “based on a true story.” “Everest” has the emotional heft, but not the narrative weight to really convey a powerful message.

Its basic attempt is to have you shed a tear, but a better planned attack would have you leaving the theater pondering the existential meaning behind the deaths of these people. The articles I’ve looked up on the matter have raised questions that “Everest” never asks. In some regards, “Everest” is an expensive and star studded TV movie, but that’s not entirely a bad thing. In that light, “Everest” is sentimental storytelling at its finest. But I wouldn’t mind a message about the common man thinking he can trump nature with plastic oxygen tanks or how we just shouldn’t mess with things we’ll never understand. But as far as biographical disaster movies go, “Everest” has set a remarkably high bar.

Starring: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton and Benedict Cumberbatch
Directed by: Scott Cooper
Rated: R
Running time: 2 hrs 2 mins
Warner Bros

Our Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Some actors have the ability to lose themselves in a character. Some don’t. Among the best is Johnny Depp, who has built a career playing characters as diverse as Gilbert Grape and Jack Sparrow. But as real-life mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, Depp may have found his greatest performance.

“I just want to say one thing for the record,” a former bad guy tells the authorities. “I’m not a rat.” Rats seem to be the one thing no one wants to be, or be around, in South Boston in 1975. Here the streets are run by “Whitey” Bulger (Depp), a man so feared that to cross him almost always means death. With his snake-like eyes that never seem to blink, just a glance sends most people running the other way. But Whitey is also a loving father and all-around good guy to those he knows. When he sees a former teacher of his carrying groceries he stops his car and has his men not only take them home but put them away as well. What a nice guy!

Fast moving and full of great performances, “Black Mass” is a welcome return to the big screen of the Johnny Depp we admired 20 years ago! He is joined by Edgerton, who plays local boy/now grown-up FBI agent John Connolly. Connolly has been tasked by his superiors to clean up South Boston, and he strikes an almost un-holy bond with Whitey. Whitey will provide information on rival gangsters to the Feds while they will turn their back on his activities, providing he doesn’t murder anyone, which is a pretty hard promise for Whitey to keep. Another fly in the ointment is the fact that Bulger’s brother, Billy, is a state senator, which can make for an uncomfortable dinner party.

As things get worse in Southie, Connolly must find ways to show that Whitey is a productive informant. Of course, this leads to big arrests which lead to raises and a bigger office. Soon Connolly is wearing fancy suits and gold watches, which draws the curiosity of his superior (Kevin Bacon, still in Boston-mode from “Mystic River”). As Connolly, Edgerton is amazing. If you include his amazing writing/directing debut with last month’s “The Gift,” this has been one hell of a year for him. But the top draw here is Depp, who loses himself in the character completely.

If you’re not familiar with “Whitey Bulger,” think back to the Oscar winning Best Picture of 2006, “The Departed.” The character Jack Nicholson played was based on accounts of Bulger and while Nicholson played him well, his “Frank Costello” can’t hold a candle to the real thing!

Starring: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie
Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 94
Universal Pictures

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Has M. Night Shyamalan set the bar so low for his movies over the past decade that anything above mediocre is seen as good? That’s a legitimate question I had to ask myself after leaving “The Visit” because I was generally shocked. I couldn’t remember the last time I had left a Shyamalan movie with positive notes to tell. So now a new question must be asked. Has Shyamalan redeemed himself for a decade’s worth of awful movies? No. But “The Visit” is a good start on that road to absolution.

It’s a real trick these days to come up with a new way to tell a found footage movie and for it to make sense. Becca (DeJonge) has an interest in filmmaking and plans on making a documentary for her mom (Kathryn Hahn). The documentary being made by the aspiring teenage filmmaker involves herself and her young brother, Tyler (Oxenbould), visiting their never before seen grandparents. All she knows is what her mom tells her. Becca’s mom says when she first became pregnant with her, an untold incident happened and the family members parted ways, never to speak again. But unluckily for them, the grandparents reached out to them online and wanted to see the grandkids that they’ve never laid eyes on. Sappy documentary gold.

Despite her hesitance, Becca’s mom allows them to go spend the week at the ol’ farmstead. Everything seems normal enough with their grandparents, Nana (Dunagan) and Pop Pop (McRobbie). The elderly couple once had their own individual careers, but moved on from that. Now they take care of a farm and volunteer at the area hospital. Nana has a knack for baked goods and Pop Pop seems like an old fashioned man who keeps busy maintaining the rustic farm. It’s only until their imposed bedtime of 9:30 at night do things really take a turn.

As each day passes, more and more troubling signs crop up and they become more severe as the week goes on. What seems like simple “grandma and grandpa are old” problems slowly unravels into something far more disturbing. As anyone growing up and staying the weekend with their grandparents know, there’s always some weird things that we don’t get that our grandparents do. But when the kids find Nana naked clawing at the walls at the dead of night, these disturbing incidents begin to imply something more sinister.

What Shyamalan has finally done, after a lot of trial and errors, is abandoned the way too serious tone for an engaging mix of laughs and scares. Someone must have told him that one of the best ways to scare an audience is to lull them into a state of safety by making them laugh. Nearly every jump scare is sandwiched between jokes, and those jokes are hits or misses, but I’m more hits than not. Without that chuckle, our defenses aren’t dropped and we instead focus on some of the weaker qualities of the movie, which “The Visit” is not without.

What made Shyamalan such a household name after the “Sixth Sense” was his trademark twist, the ability to tug at the heart strings, jump scares, and Lifetime movie jokes. He’s brought all that back, but his heartfelt message gets lost in the mix and doesn’t land as well as it should. What really helps sell the terror is Dunagan and McRobbie. Both turn in spectacular performances as the borderline senile and sincere grandparents to the children who seem captive by choice. Bonus points are also given when your child actors aren’t nauseating to listen to or watch.

“The Visit” has perfectly blended comedy and horror, but it finds an even balance. It doesn’t take long for an audience to laugh at silly old Nana before clinching the arm rests when she tells Becca a story that could easily be an allegory for hiding bodies at the bottom of the lake near the home. It’s definitely an odd feeling to give a recommendation for a Shyamalan movie, especially when speaking in the present tense. The much joked about director has finally realized that maybe the best way to win an audience back over is to include them in on the joke.

Starring: Owen Wilson, Lake Bell and Pierce Brosnan
Directed by: John Eric Dowdle
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hr 43 mins
The Weinstein Company

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

What do you do when your business goes under and you have to start over? For Jack Dwyer (Wilson), the answer is to move your wife (Bell) and two young daughters (Claire Geare and Sterling Jerins) to the other side of the world. Asia, we’re told – we never find out what country. When they get to their hotel, after being given a lift by a friendly fellow traveler, they are impressed to see a large banner with Jack’s photo on it, welcoming him and his fellow co-workers. Unfortunately that welcome will only last a few hours.

Brutally violent, “No Escape” keeps you on the edge of your seat as Jack leads his family in an attempt to escape what appears to be an uprising of the local population. A political assassination has triggered a mob mentality and, be it guns, clubs or a handy two-by-four, pretty much no one is safe from some kind of retribution. Wilson is probably the last person you’d expect to see as an action star, but here he lets the situation dictate his actions. He’s as timid of violence as you or I but, when his family is threatened, he slowly becomes like the people he is running from. “I killed somebody,” he almost casually tells his wife, Annie. She can only nod, having also been taken to the brink in the fight to keep her family safe. Bell is also well cast, displaying an inner toughness we haven’t seen in other films. As the mysterious “friendly” fellow traveler, Brosnan is cool as a cucumber, no matter what the situation.

Written by co-director Dowdle with his younger brother, Drew, the film captures both the anger of those causing the disturbance as well as the fear and frustration of the Dwyers. The story moves quickly, and you’re almost as breathless as those on the run when it ends.

Starring: Zac Efron, Emily Ratajkowski and Wes Bently
Directed By: Max Joseph
Rated: R
Running Time: 96 minutes
Warner Bros. Pictures

Our Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Unlike a lot of my male cohorts, I’m willing to admit I like Zac Efron. I think he’s very talented, but he’s been stuck with fodder that simply wants him shirtless and smiling. But I’ll admit those are two qualities that go hand-in-hand with his likeability and charm that he radiates on screen. Maybe Efron’s charm was just the right amount for me to enjoy the shoddy script that inhabits “We Are Your Friends”.

Cole (Efron) is an aspiring DJ, hoping to break out in the electronic dance music scene. He’s talented, but bogged down by his gang of friends which play like a trashy version of Vincent’s from “Entourage”. Mason (Jonny Weston) acts like his scumbag manager, but only maintaining the scumbag part. As for his other two friends, Squirrel (Alex Shaffer) and Ollie (Shiloh Fernandez), they’re relegated to mop up duty as simplistic drug dealers who are occasionally called upon to shift a subplot in a different direction.

All four have their own personal dreams and goals, aspiring towards a grand life. They all appear to have delusions of grandeur, but it’s never really explained why they feel like they’re life is building towards a life of fame. Cole’s trio of friends are so underdeveloped, you sometimes wonder why Cole would bother clinging to a bunch of lowlifes. The lack of details in Cole’s gang plays in later when the movie asks you to care.

But because Cole is genuinely the only one of the group with talent, he’s the only one that seems to move forward with his aspirations as he catches the attention of an already established DJ, James (Bently). James continues to live off a couple of one hit wonders, simply playing music that caters to his inebriated audience. Seeing the chance to try something new, James becomes a mentor to Cole, but the mentor role is complicated when Cole falls in love with James’ voluptuous live-in assistant/girlfriend/sex doll, Sophie (Ratajkowski).

Most of “We Are Your Friends” is predictable. It times it comes off as cheap when it steals a lot of music biography elements, but when it wants to it manages to handle a few things differently. At a certain point, Cole is told to find his own voice instead of using other people’s music samples in his work. I’m assuming this is advice director Max Joseph was told, but unlike Cole, he can’t follow that advice. Joseph appears to pick out his favorite clichés, weaving them in. Visually though, Joseph has a wonderful style when he wants one. He turns multiple scenes into music videos while adjusting the audio levels to match blasts of music with the adrenaline and the lows of sound with the raw emotion.

The ups and downs, like the music our main characters plays, are tolerable or repulsive, depending on your age. “We Are Your Friends” is definitely a movie catered towards Millennials that appreciate EDM and the scene, much like a Baby Boomer who watches a documentary on Woodstock. So maybe Efron’s charm isn’t what has me recommending “We Are Your Friends”, but maybe it’s because of my age and because I have yet to crest outside its target audience.

Starring: Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware and Zachary Quinto
Directed By: Aleksander Bach
Rated: R
Running Time: 96 minutes
20th Century Fox

Our Score: 1 out of 5 Stars

The award winning videogame franchise, “Hitman”, has yet to create anything worthy of a film award, unless we want to start talking about Razzies. But I’ll concede that it’s damn near impossible to create a decent movie based on a videogame. A videogame story is easily understood because the person diving into it is ready to spend 25-40 hours with the main character, being the character, and interacting with the world the character inhabits. We have a fraction of that time in a movie. So, the idea of creating a videogame movie is an insurmountable task, but there’s no reason it should suck this much.

The perplexing story starts with a narrator giving us meaningless exposition about characters we have yet to meet and don’t care about yet. It then shows us Agent 47 (Friend). He comes after a long list of agents, biologically engineered to be uncaring killing machines, in an unexplained agent program. We watch him do what he’s been trained to do as he violently disposes of multiple people so that he can track down the whereabouts of Katia Van Dees (Ware). She is an even more mysterious person on the search for a man that she doesn’t know. In fact, she doesn’t know why she’s really searching for him or what he means to him. Hoping to get a hold of Katia before Agent 47, is John Smith (Quinto).

So who do these people work for? That’s a really great question that the movie never really answers or seems to bother itself with. Maybe Agent 47 is working for a syndicate interested in rebooting the agent program. Maybe he’s working for a world power that’s hoping to create its own agent program. Maybe he’s working for it’s a nefarious conglomerate hellbent on restarting the agent program. Simply remove Agent 47’s name from the previous questions, and put in Katia and John’s name where his is and you begin to see the problem.

What’s even more bizarre is that while it doesn’t explain what’s going on with these people, it feels really predictable when Katia and John deduce/admit who they are. Every five minutes it feels like a new person is directing the movie and there’s no clear direction or narrative in general. When the action stops, it’s dreadfully boring. But even when the killing flares up we’re simply watching these three characters interact while unnamed soldiers, police, henchmen, and guards get caught in the crossfire or become fodder for lazy kill scenes.

For being an alleged action movie, “Hitman: Agent 47” is about as entertaining as watching someone who’s watching someone play a videogame. It’s a bit morbid to say that “Hitman: Agent 47” should spruce up the joy by having fun murdering countless people, but it’s true. Watching an expressionless person kill an expressionless person followed by more expressionless reaction elicits about as much excitement in me as winning a game of solitaire in my downtime at work.

If my may indulge my nostalgia for a second…way back in 2000, I played the first “Hitman” videogame at a friend’s house. We had a blast, had our eyes glued to the screen, and talked about the game for weeks at school. We wasted hours on it and couldn’t wait to waste more on the inevitable sequels that were to follow. To those who created “Hitman: Agent 47”, you have tainted that memory with your garbage movie.

Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman
Starring: Paul Sorvino, Terrance Zdunich, Emilie Autumn, Adam Pascal, Marc Senter, Dayton Callie, David Hasselhoff, Tech N9ne, Briana Evigan, Bill Moseley, Nivek Ogre
Production companies: Execution Style Entertainment/Limb from Limb Pictures
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 98 minutes

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

Fa la la! It’s off to Hell we go…again! The carnival is back with a feature length sequel to 2012’s “The Devil’s Carnival”. I was a huge fan of the first film and the sequel is a great improvement on the first film. I mean who doesn’t love a horror musical?! There is definitely not enough of these available for us horror fans. Darren Lynn Bousman, who also directed the cult film “Repo! The Genetic Opera”, is back in the director chair for this sequel. “Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival” is definitely bigger and more fun than the first film. The songs are so well written and very catchy, kudos to Terrance Zdunich. You can tell that this film is a real labor of love to the fans and that everyone involved gave their all. A devilishly fun ride! A must for any genre fan!

At the end of the first film, which took place in Hell made it seem like in the second film we were going to be heading up to Heaven, as it does. We get to learn a little bit more about God (Paul Sorvino) and how he runs things up there and let’s just say that he makes the devil looks like a nice guy. Back in hell, Lucifer (Terrance Zdunich) reveals his plans to take the fight to the big guy and we get a great origin story to the character The Painted Doll, which means that the amazing Emilie Autumn takes front and center in this sequel. She is outstanding on the screen and deserves the spotlight.

Spotlight newcomers to the series include Adam Pascal, know for his role of Roger Davis in the original cast of the Broadway musical “Rent”. He is an amazing addition to the cast of this sequel. His voice is so powerful and he has such a presence in the film. Along we him, we have Kansas City born rapper, Tech N9ne, who plays the role of the The Librarian and reprises it from the sequel’s teaser back in 2013. The guy is not only a talented musician but also a great actor as well. I hope he plans to do more acting.

This horror musical also recruits a few legends including David Hasselhoff. Honestly, his character doesn’t add a lot to the film but just having The Hoff in the film is just fun. Plus I love when this guy sings! Barry Bostwick, aka Brad Majors from cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” gets to have some fun also along with some great makeup effects that almost make him unrecognizable. Ted Neeley also pops in, who is known for playing Jesus Christ in the 1973 film “Jesus Christ Superstar”. His song, “All Aboard (Everybody’s Doing the Ark)”, was my least favorite of the bunch and runs a bit too long for me. Lastly there are a bunch of original cast including Dayton Callie, Marc Senter, Briana Evigan, Bill Moseley, J. Larose, Nivek Ogre, who pop in as well to the sequel.

The film kicks off with the very intense song “Shovel and Bone” lead by Terrance Zdunich and featuring Briana Evigan. Great track but I felt like it runs a bit long as the film’s opening scene. Terrance makes up for it with his second song “After the Fall”, which is mesmerizing. “Only by Design” shows off the vocal talent of David Hasselhoff, which brought me back to seeing him on Broadway in “Jekyll & Hyde”. Even though his character could have been fleshed out a bit more, he is still classy as hell and commands that stage during this performance. Haters gonna hate, but I gotta tell you that The Hoff rules!

My favorite track is easily “Down at the Midnight Rectory” by Adam Pascal. The track has so much energy and is a blast to listen to. I love the jazzy feel to it. I was also really excited that Barry Bostwick got to show off his singing skills again with his song “The Watchword’s Hour”. Tech N9ne really scored with the track “Hitting on All Sevens”, my second favorite track in the film. Lastly I almost thought we weren’t going to get a track from Emilie Autumn but she delivers the epic “Hoof and Lap” before we close out. Each production is much bigger and these new songs easily top the first film’s music without question.

Overall, “Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival” is well paced and works well as a feature as opposed to the original short film. I was expecting a little more from the ending but I do like the way it sets up plans for more and leaves your mouths watering. But if horror fans want to ensure that the carnival goes on then I would recommend you to check out the current road tour for this film and make sure to attend at a city near you. Click here for dates and tickets. Film’s like this can not be made without the fans support. I will be at the show in Orlando, FL, so come on down and let’s have some fun! The road tour is sure to be a blast with special guests and surprises.

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Starring: O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Corey Hawkins and Paul Giamatti
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Rated: R
Running time: 2 hrs 27 mins
Universal

Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars

In the movie business, timing is everything. On August 2, 1991, the film “Body Parts” opened to virtually no business. Two-weeks before the film opened, a young man’s arrest made national headlines. The young man was Jeffrey Dahmer. That was a textbook bad example.

This past weekend marked the one-year anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Whatever your feelings are about the events that led up to Mr. Brown’s death, you can’t deny the fact that there is a large discourse in this country among young African-Americans and law enforcement. This isn’t something new. Almost a quarter-century ago this nation had the same problems, brought to a head by the videotaped beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. The acquittal of the four policemen involved brought about the same reactions we are seeing today. It was this injustice, and many before it, that helped inspire a new kind of hip-hop music, referred to as “gangsta rap.” And when it came to the best of the best, you only had to watch the news and you quickly learned of N.W.A.

“Straight Outta Compton” tells the story of the group that took its life experiences, both good and bad, put them on its shoulder and told the people what was going on their world. Led by Ice Cube (Jackson) and Dr. Dre (Hawkins), the group went on to inform a nation that things needed to change. The film follows the group from earnest beginnings to the in-fighting and disagreements that follow. Along the way, the group meets two very different people with two very different ideas. First up is Jerry Heller, a white record producer who recognizes the group’s talent and promotes them. The second is Suge Knight, a hulk of a man who also wants a piece of the pie.

What makes the film so good is that this is not some tepid screen biography. With Ice Cube and Dr. Dre working behind the scenes, nothing is left out. This is N.W.A., bruises and all. The cast is outstanding, with (try to follow me here) O’Shea Jackson, Jr. playing his father, O’Shea Jackson, better known as Ice Cube. He captures the anger that is constantly bubbling just under the surface, as well as the fun sense of humor that Ice Cube often displays in interviews. As Dr. Dre, Corey Hawkins gives the most layered performance. It is his beats that propel the group to the top and his beats that led him to the place in the world he occupies today. Another stand-out is Jason Mitchell as money-man/reluctant rapper Eazy-E. Giamatti is strong as is R. Marcos Taylor, who makes Suge Knight so scary I found it hard not to squirm in my seat every time he came on screen.

Director Gray, a veteran of music videos, gives the film a slick, powerful look. It’s an outstanding achievement, putting it on my short list of the year’s best films.

And, of course, there is the music. It was the soundtrack of a turbulent time almost thirty years ago. Sadly, in some areas, those times haven’t changed.

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Starring: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer and Hugh Grant
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Rated: PG 13
Running time: 1 hour 56 mins
Warner Bros.

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

As a young boy growing up in the 1960s I learned very quickly that the Catholic school system frowned on popular culture. Two times during my second grade year I was sent to the office. The first time came after I was scolded several times for playing the tambourine in music class off of my hip, like Davy Jones did on “The Monkees.” The second was when I held my pen to my mouth and commanded in a loud voice, “Open Channel D,” just like Napoleon Solo did each week on “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” Of course, I should have known better. As Whoopi Goldberg pointed out in “Ghost,” nuns can’t even buy underwear so why should they have a sense of humor?

It’s the start of the Cold War. An evil villain has obtained the ability to make an atom bomb. In an unprecedented move, the C.I.A. and the KGB agree to team up their two best agents: Napoleon Solo (Cavill) and Illya Kuryakin. Like the relationship between their respective countries, the two are wary of each other. But orders are orders.

A straight-forward action film that owes its look to James Bond (“Bond” creator Ian Fleming actually helped create the original television program, which was initially titled “Ian Fleming’s SOLO), Matt Helms and a plethora of spy films that came before it, “U.N.C.L.E.” works thanks to its cast and the steady hand of director Guy Ritchie. Englishman Cavill is spot on as Solo, so much so that I’m sure somewhere Robert Vaughn is smiling. Hammer is equally enjoyable as the easily-angered Russian. Hammer was pretty much lost in the crowd in the box-office fiasco that was “The Lone Ranger” and it’s nice to see him inhabit a character completely and confidently.

The set pieces are beautifully photographed and the action unfolds smoothly. If you’re expecting the kinetic editing tricks Ritchie used in the “Sherlock Holmes” films, prepare to be surprised. Long-time fans of the series may quibble a bit with the back-story given Solo. They may also be a step or two ahead of the script when Hugh Grant is introduced as Mr. Waverly. That being said, neither of those facts kept this fan from enjoying the film immensely.

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