Ocean’s 8 / *** (PG-13)

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Warner Bros. Pictures

Debbie Ocean: Sandra Bullock

Lou: Cate Blanchett

Daphne Kluger: Anne Hathaway

Rose Weil: Helena Bonham Carter

Tammy: Sarah Paulson

Amita: Mindy Kaling

Nine Ball: Rihanna

Constance: Awkwafina

Claude Becker: Richard Armitage

John Frazier: James Cordon

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a film directed by Gary Ross. Written by Gary Ross and Olivia Milch. Based on characters created by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Golden Russell. Running time: 110 min. Rated PG-13 (for language, drug use and some suggestive content).

I think there’s an expectation with a heist movie these days that it will be action-filled, have a bunch of twists and turns, and involve a plot that is so complicated it could require a couple of viewings to understand. The new female-centric heist flick Ocean’s 8 follows a more classic notion of the heist flick—something more akin to Rififi, considered by many to be the greatest heist flick of all time. The formula involves a group of characters with specific skill sets, who each provide a vital aspect of the heist that they lay out in precise detail and then visually execute for the audience to appreciate how it all plays out. The outside elements are well-considered by the heist crew and the pleasure comes from watching these characters work together towards a goal while the rest of the cast remains oblivious as to how they are being played. Not every detail in the plan is revealed ahead of time, but the capable and charismatic author of the heist has any speed bumps well in hand. It’s not so much about whether they’ll pull it off, but an appreciation of well-written characters and the actors who are hired to depict them.

Romance Thoughts ‘15—Obvious Child (2014) ***½

R, 84 min.

Director: Gillian Robespierre

Writers: Gillian Robespierre (also short film), Karen Maine (also short film), Elisabeth Holm, Anna Bean (short film)

Starring: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacey, Gaby Hoffman, Gabe Liedman, Richard Kind, Polly Draper, David Cross

Sick of those formula driven romances? “Obvious Child” provides a fresh alternative to those highly predictable rom coms while remaining truly romantic and pretty consitently funny throughout. It’s a little more serious than your average rom com fare because it deals with realistic people and some subject matter that is decidedly unromantic, but it hits home as a positive romance with roots in the reality of relationships that we’re used to dealing with in an actual love affair.

Horror Thoughts ‘14—Only Lovers Left Alive (2014) ***

R, 123 min.

Director/Writer: Jim Jarmusch

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Anton Yelchin, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, Jeffrey Wright, Slimane Dazi

What Jim Jarmusch did for the spy genre with “The Limits of Control”, he now does for the vampire flick with “Only Lovers Left Alive”… for a little while anyway. I think if he’d stuck on his minimalist line with this one, he would’ve lost me; but the second half of the movie gets a little more conventional. In doing so, it finds its purpose.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Orange Is the New Black, season 2 (2014) ****

TV-MA, 13 60+min. episodes

Creator: Jenji Kohan

Directors: Jodie Foster, Michael Trim, Phil Abraham, Andrew McCarthy, Allison Anders, Daisy von Schuler Mayer, S. J. Clarkson, Jennifer Getzinger, Constantine Makris

Writers: Jenji Kohan, Piper Kerman (book), Sian Heder, Tara Herrmann, Lauren Morelli, Nick Jones, Stephen Falk, Sara Hess, Hartley Voss, Alex Regnery

Starring: Taylor Schilling, Uzo Aduba, Danielle Brooks, Michael J. Harney, Natasha Lyonne, Taryn Manning, Kate Mulgrew, Jason Biggs, Kimko Glenn, Laverne Cox, Wanda Bell, Lea DeLaria, Joel Marsh Garland, Annie Golden, Diane Guerrero, Selenis Leyva, Matt McGorry, Adrienne C. Moore, Matt Peters, Jessica Pimental, Dascha Polanco, Alysia Reiner, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Nick Sandow, Yael Stone, Lorraine Toussaint, Samira Wiley, Vicky Jeudy, Emma Myles, Jackie Cruz, Maria Dizzia, Beth Fowler, Lin Tucci, Julie Lake, Barbara Rosenblat

Guest starring: Laura Prepon, Deborah Rush, Todd Susman, Lori Petty, Lauren Lapkus, Laura Gomez, Ian Paola, Pat Squire, Abigail Savage, Richard Gallagher, Constance Schulman, Yvette Freeman, Judith Roberts, Dale Soules, Michael Chernus, Tracee Chimo, Ramon Franco, Lori Tan Chin, Sanja Danilovic, Lolita Foster, Mary Looram, Alex Wraith, Nick Stevenson, Peter Rini, Alan R. Rodriguez, Stephanie Andujar, Pablo Schreiber, Germar Terrell Gardner, Ben Konigsberg, Jamie Denbo, Deirdre Lovejoy, Brendon Burke, Bill Hoag, Tanya Wright, Hamilton Clancy, Stephen O’Reilly, Aubrey Sinn, Tiki Barber, Ricky Garcia, Trey Gerrald, Donté Grey

There is really one word that describes the strength of season two of the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” which sets it apart from its previous season. That word is “Vee.” Of anything that was different about this show from the first season, it was the addition of the character of Vee, played spectacularly by Lorraine Toussaint, that brought it to a new level. Vee added an element to the Litchfield prison that really had been lacking in the first season—a villain.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Orca (1977) ***

PG, 92 min.

Director: Michael Anderson

Writers: Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Donati

Starring: Richard Harris, Charlotte Rampling, Keenan Wynn, Peter Hooten, Bo Dereck, Will Sampson, Robert Carradine, Scott Walker

Certainly in many ways “Orca” is a ridiculous movie. It’s a shameless attempt by Hollywood to capitalize on the success of Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” from two years prior. It’s taken from an Italian script—cleaned up for Hollywood by an uncredited Robert Towne—stars two British actors who were known to American audiences but far from the A-list, and it grossly misrepresents the behaviors of killer whales and the terrible practices of the industry involved in hunting them. However, it’s a surprisingly good revenge story.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Odd Thomas (2014) ***

NR, 97 min.

Director: Stephen Sommers

Writers: Stephen Sommers, Dean Koontz (novel)

Starring: Anton Yelchin, Addison Timlin, Willem Dafoe, Shuler Hensley, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Nico Tortorella, Kyle McKeever, Laurel Harris, Patton Oswalt

If anything, “Odd Thomas” is odd. It follows a man who sees dead people. They appear to him and he helps to bring their murderers to justice. He also sees these things that are kind of like demons who hang around people that are going to cause chaos and death. This makes him an invaluable resource to a local police detective.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) ***½

PG, 130 min.

Director: Sam Raimi

Writers: Mitchell Kapner, David Lindsay Abaire, L. Frank Baum (“Oz” works)

Starring: James Franco, Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Zach Braff, Bill Cobbs, Joey King, Tony Cox

It’s funny how movies will succeed and fail in the same moment. “Oz the Great and Powerful” shared amazing success at the box office and surprising backlash and disappointment critically when it was released in March of 2013. It was accused of being a visual extravaganza, which it was, but why didn’t critics see that’s not all it was?

Penny Thoughts ’14—Oldboy (2013) **½

R, 104 min.

Director: Spike Lee

Writers: Mark Protosevich, Garon Tsuchiya (manga), Nobuaki Minegishi (manga)

Starring: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Imperioli, Pom Klementieff, James Ransone, Max Casella, Linda Emond, Lance Reddick, Hannah Ware, Richard Portnow

Why do American filmmakers feel the need to dumb down their material for the audience? Spike Lee is a smart filmmaker. He’s made films that don’t dumb it down for people. Why does he dumb it down when remaking a brilliant film from South Korea?

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Octopussy (1983) **

PG, 131 min.

Director: John Glen

Writers: George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum, Micheal G. Wilson, Ian Fleming (stories “Octopussy” and “The Property of a Lady”)

Starring: Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Louis Jourdan, Krystina Wayborn, Kabir Bedi, Steven Berkoff, David Meyer, Anthony Meyer, Desmond Llewelyn, Robert Brown, Lois Maxwell, Michaela Clavell, Walter Gotell, Vijay Amritraj, Albert Moses

Sochi has inspired me to watch some Russian themed movies. First up, “Octopussy”. Huh? Yes, one of the least impressive James Bond movies sees the end of The Cold War coming and invents a plot where a Russian general bent on keeping up the image of Soviet strength is caught up in a counterfeiting ring to raise money for and implement a war by detonating a nuclear devise on an American military base located in Germany. It’s all done under the cover of a Circus run by the mysterious Octopussy, who is apparently a pawn in the game.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—The Onion Field (1979) ***½

R, 122 min.

Director: Harold Becker

Writers: Joseph Wambaugh (also book)

Starring: John Savage, James Woods, Franklyn Seales, Ted Danson, Ronny Cox, David Huffman, Christopher Lloyd, Diane Hull, Pricilla Pointer, Beege Barkett, Richard Herd, Lee Weaver

“The Onion Field” is kind of a strange movie. It’s certainly a cinematic child of the ‘70s, a movie that would never be made the way it was then today. It contains some amazing performances, notably by the very young James Woods as a sociopath with a remarkable ability to manipulate people and the justice system. It also contains a surprisingly good performance by a pre-“Cheers” Ted Danson, and a strong leading performance by John Savage as a young detective who becomes a victim of the system within which he works.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Orange is the New Black, season 1 (2013) ****

TV-MA, 13 60-min. episodes

Creator: Jenji Kohan

Directors: Michael Trim, Andrew McCarthy, Phil Abraham, Uta Briesewitz, Jodie Foster, Constantine Makris, Matthew Penn

Writers: Piper Kerman (book), Jenji Kohan, Sian Heder, Sara Hess, Nick Jones, Lauren Morelli, Marco Ramirez, Liz Friedman, Tara Herrmann, Gary Lennon

Starring: Taylor Schilling, Laura Prepon, Dascha Polanco, Jason Biggs, Pablo Schreiber, Michelle Hurst, Taryn Manning, Michael Harney, Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne, Kate Mulgrew, Emma Myles, Alysia Reiner, Nick Sandow, Lauren Lapkus, Joel Garland, Lea DeLaria, Samira Wiley, Matt McGorry, Yael Stone, Uzo Abuda, Catherine Curtin, Selenis Leyva, Constance Shulman, Annie Golden, Nick Stevenson, Laverne Cox, Vicky Jeudy, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Maria Dizzia, Lolita Foster, Beth Fowler, Abigail Savage, Jessica Pimentel, Kimiko Glenn, Madeline Brewer, Matt Peters, Lin Tucci, Tamara Torres, Michael Chernus

“Orange is the New Black” was one of the great pleasures of television in 2014. I do feel a little funny calling a Netflix show television, since it’s only available through streaming, but I guess there isn’t anything better to call it. HBO isn’t TV. It’s HBO. Netflix is just mind blowing.

Penny Thoughts ‘13—The Omen (1976) ***½

R, 111 min.

Director: Richard Donner

Writer: David Seltzer

Starring: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw, Harvey Stephens, Patrick Troughton, Martin Benson

Even during the second Golden Age of Cinema in the 70s the studios often pursued successful trends in the box office. In 1973, Warner Bros. hit it big critically as well as with audiences with their Best Picture Oscar nominated “The Exorcist”. Other studios realized the horror format could contain serious dramatic entries; and in 1976, 20^th Century Fox released “The Omen”, the first in a trilogy of films about the Antichrist rising to power to become President of the United States.

Penny Thoughts ‘13—Only God Forgives (2013) ***½

R, 90 min.

Director/Writer: Nicolas Winding Refn

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm, Gordon Brown, Yayaying Rhatha Phongam, Tom Burke, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Pitchawat Petchayahon, Charlie Ruedpokanon

Nicolas Winding Refn’s second outing with star Ryan Gosling after their sleeper cult critical hit “Drive” is probably not what audiences expected, but it’s much richer than it’s been given credit. The title “Only God Forgives” suggests the relentlessness of the material here. Of course the implication is that God will forgive someone here, but he would be at a loss to find someone worthy of forgiveness.

Penny Thoughts ‘13—Orange Drive (2011) ***½

NR, 11 min.

Director: Mark Lester

Writers: Mark Lester, Chad Reinacher

Starring: Chad Reinacher, Jordan Dunn, Libe Barer, Leah Munson

There is a time in our American lives when we have a special relationship with our cars. It is usually when we are younger and closer to that point when we first obtained a license. It is a time when everything we do seems to happen with our car. “Orange Drive” is a short film that perfectly captures this special relationship and the relationships that take place within that one.

Ebert Thoughts ‘13—Oslo, August 31 (2012) ****

NR, 95 min.

Director: Joachim Treir

Writers: Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt, Pierre Drieu la Rochelle (novel “Le feu follet”)

Starring: Anders Danielsen Lie, Hans Olav Brenner, Ingrid Olava, Kjærsti Odden Skjeldal, Emil Lund, Malin Crépin, Øystein Røger

Today’s offerings are a little harder to find the good in, but it’s there. “Oslo, August 31^st” starts almost like a documentary praising the Norwegian city. Voiceover provide memories of Oslo by is citizenry, and then the story begins with a man filling his jacket pockets up with stones, picking up a huge rock in his arms and walking into a river.

Oblivion / *** (PG-13)

Jack: Tom Cruise

Victoria: Andrea Riseborough

Julia: Olga Kurylenko

Beech: Morgan Freeman

Sykes: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Sally: Melissa Leo

Universal Pictures presents a film by Joseph Kosinski. Written by Kosinski and Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt. Based on the comic book by Kosinski and Arvid Nelson. Running time: 126 min. Rated PG-13 (for sci-fi action violence, brief strong language, and some sensuality/nudity).

I am suspect of reviews of science fiction films that complain of “meandering”, and many of the reviews of the movie “Oblivion” do. Somewhere along the line Hollywood confused the science fiction picture with the action picture, and now most audiences are trained to believe that science fiction is supposed to be filled with action, when it is really supposed to be filled with ideas. “Oblivion” isn’t a cornucopia of ideas, but it does take its time to allow the audience to think about what is happening and why.

Olympus Has Fallen / ** (R)

Mike Banning: Gerard Butler

President Benjamin Asher: Aaron Eckhart

Kang: Rick Yune

Speaker Trumbull: Morgan Freeman

Forbes: Dylan McDermott

Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs: Angela Bassett

Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan: Melissa Leo

General Edward Clegg: Robert Forster

Leah: Radha Mitchell

Connor: Finley Jacobson

FilmDistrict and Millennium Films present a film directed by Antoine Fuqua. Written by Creighton Rothenberger & Katrin Benedikt. Running time: 120 min. Rated R (for strong violence and language throughout).

I don’t know if there’s anymore angst targeted on Washington by the American people than any other period in our nation’s history or not, but it certainly isn’t one of the most amicable periods of time between the Republic and those elected to represent them. I think the success of a movie like “Olympus Has Fallen” is probably a result of that. Oh, it’s filled with all the American pride and respect for the institution you can expect from a patriotic Hollywood establishment, but it gives us the satisfaction of seeing the symbols of our government blown to smithereens.

Oz the Great and Powerful / ***½ (PG)

Oz: James Franco

Annie/Glinda: Michelle Williams

Theodora: Mila Kunis

Evanora: Rachel Weisz

Frank/Finley: Zach Braff

Girl in Wheelchair/China Girl: Joey King

Master Tinker: Bill Cobb

Knuck: Tony Cox

Walt Disney Pictures presents a film directed by Sam Raimi. Written by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire. Based on the “Oz” series of novels by L. Frank Baum. Running time: 130 min. Rated PG (for sequences of action and scary images, and brief mild language).  

I imagine that many an average moviegoer often feels they’ve seen an entirely different movie than the critics. Critics will frequently decry audience pleasers, complaining about dramatic and directorial technicalities that matter little to someone just going to the movies for a good time. Often critics allow their biases against certain formats, such as 3D, to distract them from the movie at hand. Often these critics will make good points about the storytelling that are lost on the untrained eye. I remember when I was just a fan of movies and not a critic. It was always disheartening to feel that the supposed “experts” looked too hard into something from which I’d found great enjoyment. I imagine this must be the case with the new movie “Oz the Great and Powerful”.

Penny Thoughts ‘13—October Sky (1999) ***½

PG, 108 min.

Director: Joe Johnston

Writers: Lewis Colick, Homer Hickam Jr. (book)

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, Chris Owen, William Lee Scott, Chad Lindberg, Natalie Canderday, Scott Miles, Randy Stripling, Chris Ellis, Elya Baskin, Courtney Fendley, Kaili Hollister

“October Sky” is the moving story of Homer Hickam Jr., who grew up in a small West Virginia mining town, and against all odds escaped the life of the mines to become a NASA engineer and trainer. The movie is based on his memoir “Rocket Boys”, which tells of how he and three other boys earned education scholarships at the National Science Fair with their experiments with small rocket engineering.

Penny Thoughts ‘13—The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012) **½

PG, 105 min.

Director: Peter Hedges

Writers: Peter Hedges, Ahmet Zappa

Starring: Jennifer Garner, Joel Edgerton, CJ Adams, Odeya Rush, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Rosemarie DeWitt, David Morse, M. Emmet Walsh, Lois Smith, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dianne Wiest, Ron Livingston, James Rebhorn, Common

“The Odd Life of Timothy Green” is a movie that is all heart. It has a good story to tell, and for the most part it tells it well. It also contains perplexing ambiguities and a grave misconception of the adoption process. Perhaps its poor depiction of adoption can be forgiven as the film is intended to be a fantasy about the adventures and hardships of parenting. In a fantasy, I suppose it’s OK that a kid can just be left with a loving family and that’s all there is to it. But it’s like when the fighter pilot is watching “Top Gun” and says, “Yeah, you can’t really do that.” Getting a kid from an adoption agency just isn’t that easy.