Doctor Strange

Review by Bob Ignizio

In recent issues of Marvel comics (remember, those paper thingies the big blockbuster movies are based on?), Tony "Iron Man" Stark has taken to referring to Dr. Strange as his "facial hair bro." But the two characters have more in common than just their goatees. Each of them started out as a genius in his respective field – Stark in technology, Strange in neurosurgery. And each also started their journey to heroism as an arrogant asshole.

And yes, to some degree DOCTOR. STRANGE follows a superhero formula not even unique to these two characters, in which they must learn, after suffering severe misfortune, to put others ahead of themselves and become heroes. Just because it's been done before doesn't mean it's bad, and it certainly isn't here. But truth be told, it is starting to feel a bit familiar at this point.

Black Mass

Review by Joseph Anthony

James “Whitey” Bulger is a bad man. Murder, extortion, narcotics and money laundering are just part of his rap sheet. For decades (when he wasn’t doing time at Alcatraz), Bulger was running the south side of Boston under the nose of the Italian mob. Getting drugs into the hands of Boston’s youth, exporting illegal arms to the people’s rebellion in Ireland, and killing anyone who might set off his sensitive paranoia, all while eluding capture by the FBI. Perhaps though, as BLACK MASS points out, eluding is the wrong word.

BLACK MASS tells us two tales over the course of three decades: one of Bulger’s activities, and the other of corruption within the FBI. Federal agent John Connolly, a childhood friend of Bulger, believes loyalty is everything - even if your job title requires arresting guys like Bulger. Connolly convinces his colleagues at the FBI to use Bulger as an informant; the FBI turns a blind eye to Bulger’s dealings in exchange for information that would help take down his enemy, the Italian mob.  Connolly is intoxicated by Bulger’s acceptance, something not easily won, and Connolly’s corruption within the bureau allows Bulger to do his worst.

Penguins of Madagascar

Review by Bob Ignizio

Having previously appeared in the three MADAGASCAR feature films and being spun off into a TV series on Nickelodeon, the PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR now get their own feature film. The plot involves an angry octopus named Dave (voice of John Malkovich) trying to get revenges on Skipper (Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Chris Miller), Rico (Conrad Vernon), and Private (Christopher Knights), collectively the Penguins of the title. Seems as though every time Dave would settle in to a zoo, marine park, or aquarium and win over the adoring public, the penguins would be shipped in and steal his thunder. There's just no way a homely cephalopod can compete with such plucky cuteness.

August: Osage County

Review by Pamela Zoslov

Every time I think I can't bear to see Meryl Streep in another movie, she surprises me with her transporting skill. As Violet Weston, the pill-addicted matriarch at the center of Tracy Letts' AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, Streep sinks her incisors into the role and works it with savage precision. It is exactly what's called for by the play, a dark comedy that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and has now been adapted, by the playwright, for the screen.

I have a similar aversion to Julia Roberts, whose familiarity can make it impossible to see her as anyone but Julia Roberts. But as Barbara, Violet's daughter, Roberts takes the tough-minded character firmly in hand . She may be a bit too refined-looking to have emerged from the rural Okie home where the story takes place, but her performance, a vehement match for Streep's, compensates. The casting of well-known stars in roles made famous by less known stage actors is, I guess, a necessary part of adapting plays (box office, you know.). In this case, the casting choices are good, even though we're never for a moment unaware that we're watching movie stars.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Review by Pete Roche

Bilbo Baggins and the Company of Dwarves continue their quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain of Erebor for would-be dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield in THE HOBBIT:  THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG.

The second chapter in Peter Jackson’s tripartite prequel to last decade’s acclaimed THE LORD OF THE RINGS saga will be revered with the best middling movie installments for its effectiveness in fleshing out characters we’ve already met, thrusting them into knuckle-whitening new perils, and setting up narrative dominoes we know will topple next time out (or saw unfold already in LOTR). 

Don’t worry if you’re a little hazy on your Tolkien.  Like his celluloid LOTR adaptations, Jackson’s HOBBIT films are as long and winding as the journeys undertaken by their protagonists, and it’s easy to get lost among the colorful characters and fanciful places—or forget a few plot points between outings. 

12 Years a Slave (now in theaters)

Review by Bob Ignizio

When criticized for the graphic depiction of the horrors of slavery in his film DJANGO UNCHAINED, Quentin Tarantino defended himself by saying (among other things – read more here if you like), “"When slave narratives are done on film, they tend to be historical with a capital H, with an arms-length quality to them. I wanted to break that history-under-glass aspect, I wanted to throw a rock through that glass and shatter it for all times, and take you into it.” He has a point, and while one can argue whether it's appropriate to take that approach in a film that is, first and foremost, meant as a cathartic work of entertainment like DJANGO was, there's no denying that it made an impact and got people talking. This year director Steve McQueen offers his take on the subject with 12 YEARS A SLAVE, a more sober and thoughtful film than Tarantino's that nonetheless offers more than its share of violence and brutality.

The Fifth Estate

Review by Pamela Zoslov

While preparing to play Julian Assange in THE FIFTH ESTATE, actor Benedict Cumberbatch wrote to Assange in hopes of meeting him. The Wikilieaks founder replied politely, writing that while he is “fond” of Cumberbatch's work, he does not approve of the film, an early script of which he had read. “I believe you are a good person, but I do not believe that this film is a good film,” Assange wrote. “I know the film intends to depict me and my work in a negative light. I believe it will distort events and subtract from public understanding. It does not seek to simplify, clarify or distill the truth, but rather it seeks to bury it. It will resurrect and amplify defamatory stories which were long ago shown to be false.”

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Review by Pete Roche

Captain’s Log, Stardate 2259:

Damn it, Jim, it’s a dicey thing discussing STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS without revealing major spoilers, referencing past films, or alluding to episodes of the original 1966-69 CBS television series (TOS in Trekkie vernacular), like “Space Seed” and “The Trouble With Tribbles.”    

Hell, it’s still hard for some of us old dudes to concede that Gen-Y doppelgangers of the Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock played so memorably (and for so long) by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy even exist.