Isaac's Film Reviews

By Isaac Handelman In Black Mass , Johnny Depp plays notorious Boston crime kingpin James “Whitey” Bulger, although you might find yourself forgetting so on occasion. Depp resides on the megastar level alongside Hollywood’s Pitts and Clooneys, a tier which, oftentimes, prevents its inhabitants from escaping their real life personas, even when they are on-screen. But, thanks partially to a heavy, exaggerated make-up job and contacts, Depp is as unrecognizable as he’s been in years. Make no mistake -- the transformation isn't all physical. Cinema audiences have, over the course of the past decade or so, become accustomed to seeing Depp take on a wide variety of predictably loony, cartoonish characters, Jack Sparrow chief, but certainly not alone among them. Depp’s Bulger is the polar opposite of these lovable buffoonish types. He’s a ruthless mobster with a history of drug use that’s perhaps contributed to his coldness. His eyes are empty, his smile crooked, and he makes most

Film reviews by Isaac Handelman The Theory of Everything In James Marsh’s historical drama, Eddie Redmayne takes center stage as renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. The film chronicles his relationship with Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones), and is more concerned with depicting Hawking’s personal struggles than it is with explaining the reasoning behind his groundbreaking research. Redmayne carries the film, delivering the sort of career-defining performance that will be remembered for years to come. He’s nothing short of revelatory, portraying Hawking’s illness with uncanny accuracy, and also managing to convey momentous emotion with the smallest of gestures and expressions. Jones also dials in a strong performance, and the confident direction and smart script help to ensure that Theory , while tragic, is never a tear-monger. The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water Series creator Stephen Hillenberg returns to the Spongebob franchise for the first time since his departur

Wake-up call Film review by Isaac Handelman Shockingly, in the half-century since Martin Luther King Jr. made his impact on history, not a single cinematic biopic has chronicled the life of the legendary reverend until now. After years of neglect, it’s probably for the best that Selma doesn’t try to shed light on the entirety of King’s momentous life. Instead, the film focuses squarely on the events leading up to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights, during which King and his colleagues based their demonstrations out of Selma, Alabama. Though Selma ’s story is confined, its themes are far-reaching, and it succeeds at depicting the importance of the civil rights movement and the ideals of its leaders despite being seemingly small in scope. The film pays as much attention to King as it does to those he motivated and inspired along the way. Its tendency not to focus solely on the leader means that it doesn’t get inside King’s head to quite the extent that some may hope for. As

Chasing the gold. Film review by Isaac Handelman Foxcatcher is director Bennett Miller’s follow-up to his 2011 hit Moneyball , and though both films reside in the sports biopic genre, the similarities end there. Foxcatcher is, by all accounts, a darker, more thematically mature film; its ability to consistently retain viewer interest in spite of its deliberate pace speaks to Miller’s increased comfort in the director’s chair since his last outing. The film starts slow, though not detrimentally so. Viewers are given time to assimilate the drab life of pro-wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum), whose time since winning the Olympic gold medal in 1984 has been spent in training monotony, preparing for future competition under the shadow of his brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo). Screenwriters Dan Futterman and E. Max Frye subtly depict Mark’s feelings of inferiority to his brother during the film’s opening section, setting the stage for the drama to follow. Mark jumps on the oppor

A serviceable biopic about an exceptional man Film review by Isaac Handelman In The Imitation Game , real-life mathematician Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a genius who is eternally misunderstood. The film itself, by comparison, goes to great lengths to ensure that everyday viewers are not left in the dark by the sophisticated lingo used by the on-screen characters -- and it does a marvelous job of making its complex subject matter accessible without dumbing it down outright. Early on in the film, Turing’s goal is clearly established: he’s to decrypt the German coding machine known as “Enigma” in order to intercept important military communications and ensure that the Allies emerge victorious from World War II. The film balances Turing’s high-stakes race against time with an accompanying account of his troubled personal life, plagued by his closeted homosexuality and severe inability to cope with normal, social situations. The latter issue was, as the film portray

Neither here nor there Film review by Isaac Handelman The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies tries simultaneously to be the culmination of The Hobbit trilogy, the missing link to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the “defining chapter” of Peter Jackson’s epic “Middle-earth saga." The result is a film that struggles to live up to its lofty ambitions. That’s more than can be said for perpetually ignored protagonist Bilbo Baggins, who has few ambitions at all during this final chapter. This time around, the titular hobbit does very little over the course of the film’s two-and-a-half-hour duration. Martin Freeman again does quite well with the material he’s given, showcasing his stellar deadpan comic delivery and ensuring that Bilbo is, far and away, the most relatable of The Hobbit ’s huge ensemble of characters. But as far as the events of the main narrative go, Bilbo is much more an observer than an active participant. The film’s scope is more confined than has

A delectable witch's brew Film review by Isaac Handelman Disney’s Into the Woods is just the sort of eclectic, devilishly clever film that’s tailor-made for a Christmas Day release. This adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s beloved Broadway hit draws inspiration from a multitude of classic fairy-tale sources to craft a spectacularly entertaining final product greater than the sum of its disparate parts. Weaving together the tales of Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (Lila Crawford), Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) and the Beanstalk and more, Woods finds a focal point in the form of the unnamed Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt). The childless couple is approached by a delightfully deranged witch (Meryl Streep), who promises them fertility in exchange for the ingredients necessary to restore her youth. And so, the couple sets off into the woods to mount their search; luckily, several fairytale characters have also ventured forth, each bearing an ingr