Collateral Beauty

Life is Cynical continues Will Smith’s Pursuit of Oskars but falls like so many dominos as it drifts from clichéd to conniving to contrived. Star-studded cast turn in career low performances as the illogical and deeply troubled mini-machiavellis. One clever third act reveal hardly compensates for all the collateral BS.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

It’s another Turner’s turn to cage Sparrow into fighting a bigger baddy. Chaotic whirlpool of a plot plays broken compass so aggressively that Depp nearly loses his head. Silva’s stint in No Ocean for Living Men is predictably entrancing, but excessive parent-child cheese drops an anchor into otherwise surfable wave.

The Imitation Game

Cumberbatch cracks a code with aid from his beautiful mechanical mind and seems right at holme with crackling clever dialog and a supporting team who are undeniably Goode and Strong.  Somewhat contrived flashback structure and overly enigmatic opening voiceover are more than offset by a devastatingly powerful genre reassignment surgery.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Little Miss Melancholia struggles to find steady pace or comfortable tone.  Populated by underwhelming appearances from anyone who missed Franco’s apocalypse.  Carrel and Knightley cling to tiny strands of character arc as they are tossed violently from one vignette to the next in an unedited brainstorm one year too late.