Movie Review-The Intern

The Intern is the new movie starring Oscar winners Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway. De Niro won his Oscar for "Raging Bull" in 1980 (Best Actor) and Hathaway won her Oscar for Les Miserables in 2012 (Best Supporting Actress). The generational gap between the two actors is the main emphasis of the movie's story. De Niro plays Ben, a 70 year old widower who discovers his retirement isn't all that he had hopped it'd be. He takes advantage of a "Senior Intern Program" to get back into the work force and quickly has to adjust to the new technology and social order of the new millennium.

Hathaway plays Jules, the founder of an online fashion site that is growing by leaps and bounds. However the success of her business comes at the expense of the personal life of the company's CEO and founder. Enter Ben (De Niro) whose old school ways of chivalry and nose to the grindstone work ethic changes the entire company's attitude and it's corporate culture.

The Intern is a movie with a great trailer. As a matter of fact my fear was that the movie used all of it's good bits for the trailer, but the movie's preview doesn't even scratch the surface of the good stuff in this movie. The movie is really sweet, with out being schmaltzy. It's "Ooo and Aaa cute", not "kittens in a box cute". It's a movie that deals with life and love in a very funny and sincere way. De Niro carries the movie with his old school charm. He's like a grandfather to everyone in the movie and teaches his young male colleagues about old fashioned chivalry and manners; something sorely missing in most young men today (just my opinion).

The Intern is rated PG-13 and it has a run time of 121 minutes. On my "Hollywood Popcorn Scale" I rate The Intern a JUMBO.
Hollywood Hernandez

Movie Review-Black Mass

Black Mass is the new gangster film based on the 2001 book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill. The movie stars an unrecognizable Johnny Depp as one of the most notorious criminals in American history, James "Whitey" Bulger. The movie is based on actual events that took place during the 1970's through the 1990's in South Boston. Events which landed Bulger on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. Which was ironic because during that period of time Bulger was an actual informant for the FBI.

The story centers on three friends who grew up playing cops and robbers in the Irish neighborhood of South Boston. Two were brothers; "Whitey" and his brother Billy, who grew up to be a corrupt state senator (Benedict Cumberpatch) and John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), a friend from the neighborhood who grew up to be an FBI agent. Connolly recruits "Whitey" as an FBI informant, but the head of the Irish mob instead uses the FBI to do his dirty work in bringing down the Italian mob in South Boston.

Depp is pure evil in his portrayal as the gangster "Whitey" Bulger. At first I thought the movie needed more of Depp's character, because he is so good in the movie, but after chewing on it I realized the parallel stories about the FBI and agent his brother, the corrupt government official were also needed to tell the whole story of the events which occurred during that time. Still, it's Johnny Depp's performance in this movie that send chills down your spine. 

Black Mass is full of graphic violence and it contains strong language. It's rated "R" and has a run time of 122 minutes, but I swear if felt longer. It's a compelling story, but the movie just seems to jump off the track at times. Overall though I enjoyed Black Mass and on my "Hollywood Popcorn Scale" I rate it a LARGE.

Hollywood Hernandez