Black Mass

ew.com

Black Mass opens with "Breaking Bad's" Jesse Plemons (who I momentarily thought was Matt Damon) wielding a Boston accent, telling investigators he's not a rat. For a second there, I thought I was watching The Departed. Then the story unfolded, and director Scott Cooper wove us through a portion of mob boss Whitey Bulger's life alongside the FBI agent reluctant to take him down. During this time, I felt like I was watching Heat. While Black Mass has a gritty feel, incredible performances, and certain a cinematic quality, it can't seem to match the excellence of the gangster genre greats, all of which I'd gladly watch again before this.

The film recounts the rise and fall of James "Whitey" Bulger, real-life Boston crime kingpin rom his prominence in the 70s to his fugitive status in the 90s. To reduce their sentences, everyone who worked with Bulger recount their experiences with the mobster. Told through flashbacks, the film covers 20 years of Whitey pulling off countless crimes under the governmental protection of his Senator brother Billy (Benedict Cumberbatch) and FBI Agent John Connolly (The Gift's Joel Edgerton).

There were countless approaches this film could've taken (thought to be fair though, it's heavily based on the historical book of the same name) in regards to its main character. We didn't see enough of Bulger the pusher, Bulger the family man, Bulger the adulterer, Bulger the businessman, or any pre-1975 Bulger. Instead, we get murderous Bulger. Now, there is no lack of authenticity in that aspect of his life, but turning Bulger into a well-rounded character for the screen would have given the film the boost it occasionally needed.

And even though the script doesn't always give him the most to work with, Depp manages to take the film to a level that I can't imagine being matched without his presence. He's impulsive, psychotic, decisive, and quite creepy all at once. It's the kind of glorious portrayal that will get film students talking about Depp's talents again without being shunned by their peers and professors - even if his makeup artists did make him look like an extraterrestrial.

With that, it's sad that Bulger oftentimes became a supporting character in his own movie. The focus all to frequently turned to Edgerton's John Connolly - the FBI agent who grew up on the same streets as the Bulger family. Hoping to keep his good friend out of jail, Connolly enlists Bulger as an informant to surpress the North End crime family and put him on the bureau's good side. When Connolly's wife and colleagues start doubting his intentions, the result is more screentime for Edgerton. I normally don't complain when I see Joel Edgerton onscreen, but what's disappointing is knowing his moments could have been given to Depp's character, or anyone else in Bulger's crew for that matter. Nearly all of them feel like complete strangers by the end of the movie, despite top billings and laudable performances.

Years from now, Black Mass will be remembered less as a film about Whitey Bulger's crime saga and moreso a film in the Johnny Depp filmography (and deservedly so on that last point). It's a gritty and blood-soaked crime film I'm not disinclined to watch again. Just sign me up to watch The Departed, Heat, GoodFellas, Donnie Brasco, and a slew of others beforehand.

Rating: 3/5

AJ's Entertainment Show

Nice of you to stop by.

I'm excited to announce I've started a brand new show here at school, which I've dubbed "AJ's Entertainment Show" (I'm open to other suggestions).

Every week, I'll be talking about entertainment news. That includes Hollywood breaking stories, TV show updates, and movie ranting, all of which will have my opinion. Since we're currently trying to find a place to put the final product, I made a YouTube channel so that you can watch it for now. The pilot is visible here. Mind you, it's not perfect - but it's a start!

Got an idea to make the show better? Let me know! I want to hear from you.

Make sure you subscribe to my channel so you don't miss an episode!

Thanks again for reading (and now, watching!),

-AJ

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

FoxMovies

Let's take a second and talk about what a good sequel does. First off, a worthy sequel should only follow a good, original story that made the audience want more. Second, the sequel should continue to build on that originality as opposed to retreading or borrowing too heavily from other sources. This sequel to meets the first criteria - 2013's The Maze Runner was a good movie, and its original and suspenseful mystery approach to the YA universe made me excited for a sequel. But looking at the second identifier, it's clear that The Scorch Trials doesn't qualify as a good sequel - at all.

Following his escape from The Glade, Thomas finds himself transported to a safe haven with allies Newt, Minho, Teresa, and the rest of his friends. It's assumed to be a sanctuary protecting them from those who orchestrated the maze trials, WCKD. Thomas is greeted by the man running the facility, Jensen ("Game of Thrones'" Aidan Gillen), who assures them their troubles are over and a new life is ahead of them. But when familiar faces start disappearing, Thomas is warned by maze survivor Aris (Mud's Jacob Lofland) that Jensen can't be trusted. They discover that they're actually in a WCKD run containment center exploiting those immune to the virus that wiped out humanity. Confused yet? Yeah, me too.

After an exciting and impressively-filmed escape, the group treks across a barren cityscape (the "Scorch") looking for survivors to help them fight WCKD. They team up with rebels Brenda and Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito, who milks his "Breaking Bad" fame by saying hermano in almost all his conversations), two survivors who are also looking to take down WCKD. They spend the rest of the movie looking for weapons and recruits and trying to avoid contact with those infected with the Flare virus, which turns its victims into mindless zombie-like attackers.

As I mentioned earlier, a good sequel elevates the originality of its predecessor instead of falling back on recycled storylines and clichés of sequels past. At times, I felt like I was watching I Am Legend (running zombies), 28 Weeks Later (running zombies in dark underground areas), each of The Hunger Games movies (waking up after escaping a government-controlled arena, hiding from a hovercraft, kids fighting against the government), both Divergent (zip lining over dystopia) and Insurgent (poorly-dressed rebels hosting escapees from those in power), Face/Off (that prison break), Cloverfield (climbing up a tilted city building) and more. And these weren't subtle nods to cinematic classics, these were blatant rip-offs from better movies of a similar or the same genre. Couple that with the overload of unnecessary characters and a muddled screenplay with too much violence and language and not enough character development, The Scorch Trials makes it too easy to get lost along the way.

It was a struggle to watch Dylan O'Brien as Thomas, because you could see he was giving the movie his all while virtually every other cast and crew member seemed to assume their Hollywood faces would carry them to box office success. It's even more painful to see a talented actor like Aiden Gillen waste a good chunk of his screen time sitting on a helicopter in terribly lit scenes.

So on behalf of the filmmakers, sorry fans of The Maze Runner. If you're looking for the excitement, fun, and compelling mystery the first Maze Runner movie brought, you won't find it here. Instead, you'll find boredom, confusion, an overlong production, and another cliffhanger that will lead us into what will likely be another letdown. The Scorch Trials is a disappointment that I can only imagine diehard fans of the original could appreciate. And even then, still probably not.

Rating: 2/5