MOVIE REVIEW - The Intern

The reinvention of acting great Robert De Niro continues, and now he stars opposite the wonderful Anne Hathaway in The Intern.

This is a charming and original little movie.  But it would have been a bit better if it has been "little-er."  This is a comedy and light drama of sorts, that comes in at 2 hours, and that is about 20 minutes too long for this type of movie. This was written and directed by the fabulous Nancy Myers who has a bunch of nice movies to her credit, so the principles are in place for a great movie. And there are things about this that are great.

De Niro plays Ben.  He is a 70 year-old widower who is finding retirement difficult, so he applies for a senior intern program at a new start up online clothing retailer run by Jules (Hathaway).   This is an office of about 200 young people who have no contact with anyone Ben's age.  So he is an outcast at first, but in time becomes a fantastic example to those who have never been exposed to a gentleman his age.  Including Jules, who finds out she needs Ben to be her balance in life and business, as she is trying to do too many things.

I really like the whole idea of this movie.  There aren't many movies that place a real value on the older generation.  This story is one of bridging the gap between the generations.  It also shows that there may indeed be a place where experience is valued by young people who many need a helping hand, that was not lent to them growing up and being raised by more contemporary parents.  This movie does make some loud social commentary about modern parenting, and younger values but is careful not to trash young families.  But does show that they truly don't have all the answers either, even though they think they do.

The only real problem here is the length.  This is flat out too long.  There are a few silly scenes that really have no bearing on our story that could have been left on the editing floor easily.  This wanders off base a time or two, but it doesn't destroy this.  Overall, I would call this "entertaining."  It's just a fun movie to watch.

De Niro continues to reinvent himself in the movies as a kinder, gentler soul.  Hathaway makes any movie better, and the supporting cast here is terrific, lead by the lovely Rene Russo and Linda Lavin (where has she been?) .  This also a nice, refreshing change for some balance at the theaters right now, and if fine for virtually anyone to see.  Great date movie.

The Intern.  Nice idea, nice message, and nice movie.

MOVIE REVIEW - Black Mass

Here is a great example of a movie you have to stick with to really enjoy. Black Mass has some problems, but in the end it works.

Black Mass is based on the true story of Whitey Bulger, who became a very powerful organized crime leader with the "help" of the FBI.  This has great cast, and is a well written piece, but it does get off to a very slow start in its two hour run.

Johnny Depp plays Bulger, and is very good in this large role, and one that is very different for him.  Depp plays a character and not a caricature, and pulls is of nicely.  This also boasts great actors like Joel Edgerton, Kevin Bacon, Benedict Cumberbatch and Peter Sarsgaard.   All of our principles are solid, and there is also a very strong supporting cast behind them.

This takes place over about a 15 year period where Bulger came to power with the help of the Boston FBI.   One of the main agents in that office was a childhood friend of Bulger and makes a deal with Bulger to be an informant for the FBI, to take down the Boston Italian Mafia.  Which they do.  Problem is, two agents within the Bureau turn a HUGE blind eye to Bulger and his gang over a long period of time and Bulger becomes very powerful and basically has a free pass to rob, extort and kill anyone he wants.

Well, clearly all things have to end and the noose tightens on Bulger and the FBI.  So what happens in the end?  How does this all play out for one of the biggest gangsters in US history, and the Boston FBI?

This movie absolutely staggers out of the gate and being honest, is very disjointed at the beginning.  You have no real sense of where this is going and that's a problem.  But as this goes on, and more characters are developed and introduced this becomes far more interesting and entertaining.  This movie does not glorify Bulger, in fact is shows you just how brutal he really was.  And how insanely corrupt Boston politics and rogue Federal Agents can be. 

But being fair, this does get better as it goes along, but this is an opportunity missed of sorts.  It can only climb as high as being good, when everything is there for this to be great.  This is a nice comeback for Depp, but this will go down as just another decent movie in a year that average and decent are the rules of the day so far.

Black Mass.   Good, not great.

MOVIE REVIEW - The Perfect Guy

OK, every once in a while, we write one of these things up and keep it short and sweet because there just isn't much to say.  And my mama told me, "If you can't say anything nice, say nothing at all."

The Perfect Guy has found an audience to a degree, and my gut feeling is that much of them would love to have their money back. This is beyond horrible.  This is easily going to be one of the worst movies of the year, and will end up on many year end lists.  More than likely mine.

This is the story of a beautiful young professional and successful woman and this ex-boyfriend that turns into this horrendous stalker dude.  This has been done a thousand times before and done better just as many. The writing of this hunk of junk is so staggeringly bad in every single regard, it is literally laughable.  Our characters are thin and amazingly bland.  Our villain is so weak, so laughable, so meek, so incredibly bad that he takes the whole thing down with him.  There is not one shred of originality in this.  You may have a hard time making it to the end.

This does have a nice cast, and they all are completely wasted with the script which can only be described as Junior High caliber.  Insanely predictable, not scary, not shocking, not anything except flat out bad.  The direction is weak and the editing is very awkward at times. Plus, for the first half of this movie, they have some ridiculous romantic comedy, love story music running that I just could not get my head around.  This looks unbelievably small budget and it feels like it too.

The Perfect Guy.  Horrible.

MOVIE REVIEW - The Visit

M. Night Shyamalan has had some large successes over the years, and also some terrible failures. His latest attempt is really neither, and that's the problem.

The Visit is a supposedly scary movie that is not really. The audience today couldn't decide if it was silly, or serious.  There was some real laughter from the group at the screen, and I'm not convinced there was supposed to be.  This movie just lies there, and really takes you nowhere.  And pay no attention to all this "huge twist" stuff you've been hearing.  It's nothing you won't see coming.

The Visit is the story of a young single mother (Jessica Hahn) and her two kids.  She is estranged from her own mom and dad, and her two young kids have never met their grandparents. So, when mom decides to go on a cruise with her new boyfriend, she decides to send her kids to her parents house for a week so they can know each other.  Right there, it sounds pretty dumb.  Who would do that? Send her kids for a WEEK to someone you, yourself have not had any contact with at all in 15 years? Please!

So as the kids arrive, they find out that old Nana and Pappy are out of their collective minds, and have a sinister plan to kill the kids.   Now isn't this a lovely story - Granny and Gramps serial killers of their own grand kids.  Fact is, there is a plot twist that deals with this, but it doesn't work all that well.  This is simply silly, amazingly uninteresting at best.

Shyamalan has lost a whole lot of his touch from the early days. But being fair, you can't have The Sixth Sense, or Signs every time out, and that's what we expect from him, and we don't get it much anymore.  This is just a very forgettable movie, with cliche' performances, made on an adequate budget that simply goes nowhere. This is not scary, or suspenseful, but is mildly entertaining at times.

The Visit. A rental if your bored out of your gourd this fall.