THE REVIEW CORNER

Starring: Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monáe, Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes, and Naomie Harris Directed by: Barry Jenkins Screenplay by: Barry Jenkins       Moonlight is the story of a young boy who grows up in a rough neighborhood in Miami looking to find his place in his world and who he is.  This is more than a story about a young African American boy who grows up to find out he is gay.  This is the story of someone trying to understand his own human condition.      In the first third of the film, the audience meets Chiron (Alex Hibbert) as a young boy running away from schoolmates after school who are trying to attack him.  This is where he runs into Juan (Mahershala Ali), a drug dealer in the area who becomes almost a father figure to Chiron.  Juan and his girlfriend Teresa (Janelle Monáe) help Chiron as a young boy grow up when his mother, Paula (Naomie Harris), is not the most positive influence in his life...

     About last night... that was interesting, wasn't it?  The show was great, Jimmy Kimmel was a fantastic host, the thing with the tour bus was entertaining as hell, and the best picture mix-up was... unfortunate.  The 89th Academy Awards were last night and here are a few highlights of the films that were celebrated this year I enjoyed.     Things I wasn't Happy About       Like many of you, I filled out an Oscars ballot this year to see how well I would do.  Heck, I was so confident, I filled out two; one for what I wanted to win and one for what I thought would win.  As of the end of the awards show, both of my ballots had the same number of things I predicted correctly.  I was good for 6 of the 24 awards given out last night, on both ballots!   That's the first thing I'm not happy about.      I'm not thrilled about Casey Affleck for Actor in a Leading Role.  Most people I've ta...

Starring: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula, and Betty Buckley Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan Screenplay by: M. Night Shyamalan Here's a statement that will shock you.  M. Night Shyamalan has made a decent film again!      Three young women have been kidnapped outside of a mall.  They are taken back to the kidnapper's lair where he likes to watch them undress and dance for him.  He comes back to check on them occasionally, but wearing different clothes and having vastly different personalities.  He turns out to be a guy named "Kevin", but "Kevin" has 23 different personalities, all of whom are almost completely different characters.      While the girls are trying to escape from the windowless, dungeon-like room they've been put in, "Kevin" goes to a psychologist who specializes in dissociative personality disorders like he has.  But it's one of the 23 identities who gets the help needed. ...

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Corey Stoll Directed by: Stephen Gaghan Screenplay by: Patrick Massett and John Zinman      Ever wonder when you're watching a movie and you think, "Where have I seen something like this before?"  I know I've had that thought.  It only took about three seconds for me to start wondering this, and about four seconds to have an answer (and that was while watching the trailer).      Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey) is a gold prospector who has inherited a gold mining company from his father (Washoe Mining).  He seems to know what he is doing running the company, and looking for gold, but he doesn't really.      The company is having some difficulty finding gold, but he knows a guy.  That's Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez), a geologist who's credited with finding a massive copper find some years back; in fact, one of the biggest copper finds ever. ...

Starring: Michael Keaton, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, Laura Dern, and Patrick Wilson Directed by: John Lee Hancock Screenplay by: Robert D. Siegel Based on true events      Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) is a salesman from Illinois.  It's 1954 and he's trying to sell five-spindle milkshake machines to various fast food restaurants around the country (a new trend at the time).  He constantly is traveling and finds out about a small burger stand in San Bernardino, CA.  Owned by Dick and Mac McDonald (Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch respectively), the stand is called McDonald's.  But there aren't any golden arches over the place yet.  It's not a drive in place with car hop service, like Kroc is used to seeing.  Instead, one must physically park their car and exit the vehicle to place an order for their food.  And surprisingly, it's extremely quick; faster than car hop service.  So, Kroc decides to help out with this litt...

Starring: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, and Stephen Henderson Directed by: Denzel Washington Screenplay by: August Wilson Based on the play by August Wilson     Pittsburgh, 1957.  Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) is a sanitation department worker, who hangs on to the back of the garbage truck collecting people's trash.  He desperately wants to move up to be the truck driver.  Along with waiting for the weekend to come every week, he grumbles about his broken dreams of being a baseball player in the major leagues.  He was good enough once for the Negro leagues and is upset that Jackie Robinson was the first African American in the majors instead of him.  His disdain for Robinson spills over into his family where his son, Cory (Jovan Adepo), wants more than anything to play college football.  Troy is the patriarch of a dysfunctional family.  Troy is a bitter man, the opposite of his wife, Rose (Viola Davis).  Rose wants Cory to go...

Starring: Ben Affleck, Elle Fanning, Brendan Gleeson, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana, and Chris Cooper Directed by: Ben Affleck Screenplay by: Ben Affleck Based the novel by Dennis Lehane      Ben Affleck is back, both in front of and behind the camera for this prohibition-era gangster thriller.      Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck), a native of Boston and the youngest son of a high ranking captain in the police force, wants to be a gangster.  He doesn't want to be called a gangster but he basically wants to do everything that involves being a gangster.  Liquor is flowing everywhere even though it's illegal, as the roaring twenties are in full swing.  He gets involved with the Italian mob led by Maso Pescatore (Remo Girone).  Pescatore wants to expand the family's rum operation in south Florida (specifically Tampa).  So, he sends Joe down there to essentially run that part of the operation.  While there, Joe has to make friends ...

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, J.K. Simmons, John Goodman, and Kevin Bacon Directed by: Peter Berg Screenplay by: Peter Berg and Matt Cook       This is the story of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the events that followed, including the city-wide manhunt for the terrorists responsible.       The film jumps right into the story without too much exposition.  Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg) is perhaps the character we get to know best.  He is a police officer in Boston who has had some trouble on the force in the past.  He is not the most respected guy in the police department, but on the day of the marathon, he has an important job to do.  He is stationed near the finish line when the bombs go off, making him one of the first responders.  In the aftermath, he and the rest of Boston PD have to work with the FBI to find the men responsible, the Tsarnaev brothers.       Berg and Wahlberg have wor...