SEPT. 4: “STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE”

Academy Award-winner Alex Gibney (“Taxi to the Dark Side”), the man who brought us “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks,” “Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place” and so many more searing docs, does it again. This time he turns his investigative camera onto why fans who’d never even met Apple’s visionary Steve Jobs mourned his death as they would a rock star’s.
The fascination never ends with ole Jekyll-and-Hyde Jobs — both cutthroat and the man who brought us our most personal and beloved gadgets. Interviews include a chilling account from the mother of Jobs’ first child, Lisa, about his refusal to accept any responsibility for his daughter until a court-ordered DNA test and the battle to collect a mere $385 per month (upped to $500 after Apple went public) from the multi-millionaire. Definitely a must-see. Documentary. Rated R. 127 min.
Watch the trailer:

SEPT. 16: “PAWN SACRIFICE”

Tobey Maguire is in top form playing complex chess prodigy Bobby Fischer. This is a journey into genius and madness. “Ray Donovan” fans, rejoice: Liev Schreiber stars as Soviet World Chess Champion Boris Spassky. Peter Sarsgaard plays chess-playing priest Bill Lombardy. Written bySteven Knight (“Eastern Promises”), this is a window into a gripping tale plucked from 1972, the time of Vietnam and Watergate, when Fischer and Spassky brain-battled each other in the chess world’s “Match of the Century.” This is not just a retelling of Liz Garbus’ 2011 doc, “Bobby Fischer Against the World.” Director Edward Zwick leads you through high drama at the height of the Cold War. Go. It’s your move. Biography drama. Rated PG-13. 116 min.
Watch the trailer:

SEPT. 18: “BLACK MASS”

If you only see one film this month, make it this one. Three-time Oscar nominee Johnny Depp (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Finding Neverland,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”) nails it as real-life mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, the stone-eyed killer from South Boston who debased the FBI. This is a “true” story, but poetic license was taken to insure the audience would care about the now-octogenarian Bulger, who is currently serving two consecutive life terms for a number of felonies including 11 murders (there were at least 19).
I’m not saying he comes across as a nice guy, but the movie intentionally leaves out some of the more gruesome details like Whitey’s murder of Louis Litif who he stabbed 38 times with an ice pick before shooting him in the head (talk about overkill). But, that’s entertainment, right? The ever-dreamy Benedict Cumberbatch plays Whitey’s conflicted brother, Massachusetts Senate President William M. Bulger. Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart”) directs. (Cooper also directed one of my favorite crime thrillers, 2013’s waaaay-too-underrated “Out of the Furnace,” which starred Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson and Casey Affleck.) The “Black Mass” screenplay, written by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, was based on the 2001 book “Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob” written by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill. The movie also stars Kevin Bacon, Joel Edgerton, Sienna Miller and Dakota Johnson. Biography crime drama. Rated R. 122 min. 
Watch the trailer:

SEPT. 18: “SICARIO”

You will never look at Emily Blunt the same way. Here, the actress rockets into acing the role of Kate Macer, a Clarice Starling-type of FBI newbie assigned to a task force at the border of the U.S. and Mexico. As Jessica Chastain did in “Zero Dark Thirty,” Blunt conveys the required backbone for a woman working in male-dominated worlds like the FBI and drug cartels. Go, Blunt, go; I’m with you, Sista. “Sicario” took me to my favorite place in a blackened theater — the dark side.
As with the aforementioned thriller “Out of the Furnace,” this opus of human depravity may fall under some viewer’s definition of too bleak, but not mine. It’s captivating, and I’ll watch Benicio del Toro in anything. Josh Brolin also stars, and the movie’s directed by French-Canadian Denis Villeneuve, best known for “Prisoners.” The current issues of drug smuggling across the U.S. and Mexico make this a timely topic. (Who can forget Donald Trump’s suggestion to build a divisive wall and name it the “Great Wall of Trump?” But I digress.) Gear up for an onslaught of action, hitmen, mercenaries and a potential Oscar nom for Blunt. Action crime drama. Rated R. 120 min.
Watch the trailer:

SEPT. 25: “WILDLIKE”

With no father and abandoned by her addict-in-a-rehab mother, Mackenzie (Ella Purnell), 14, is sent to live with her uncle (Brian Geraghty of “Ray Donovan” and “Chicago P.D.”) in Juneau, Alaska. The traumatized Mackenzie flees. Unable to reach her mother and terrified she’ll be caught by authorities, the in-over-her-head teen takes on the Alaskan wilderness to find a way back home to Seattle. Through a chance meeting with an experienced, yet sealed-off, backpacker (Bruce Greenwood), Mackenzie Velcros herself to him as a way to survive in the untamed wilderness. It’s an awe-inspiring setting for this story of a troubled girl and unlikely friendship that kept me near tears throughout. Deeply moving, this indie directed by Frank Hall Green is mesmerizing and gives a big payoff at the end. Drama. Not rated. 94 min.
Watch the trailer:

ON A FINAL NOTE FOR SEPTEMBER …

The documentary “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead,” which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival this year, hits theaters Sept. 25. It’s a romp through the madcap world of “Saturday Night Live” precursor, National Lampoon. The bittersweet doc includes the magazine’s history, the movies it spawned, hilarious film footage of John Belushi, Chevy Chase and a boatload of stars and their stories. Documentary. 98 min.
Watch the trailer:

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Now, about Johnny Depp—People magazine was brilliant when they named him sexiest man alive in 2009. Because he was. He should’ve been named 2010’s sexiest man alive too. So, how the heck did I fall asleep watching these powerfully seductive superstars?

Here’s my theory. It’s not just that the movie has a lousy script, it’s the way Angelina’s character doesn’t even seem like a person. She seems like a mannequin, or a runway model, prancing instead of walking with her nose too high in the air. One of the things I’ve always liked about her is that she seems to put out this tough chick persona attempting to hide a vulnerable, probably overly sensitive woman underneath. Without actually knowing her there is no way to know exactly who she is. Maybe it’s her PR team that has painted that image. She’s made motherhood sexy, philanthropy cool, and playing with knives, wearing blood in an amulet, tattooing herself silly merely seem like neurotic quirks. In The Tourist she is still beautiful but gave off zero heat. She was wooden like an automaton—robotic like … well … a robot.

Johnny Depp had a dorky hairstyle and seemed more like a nerd who worked in a library than a man capable of having a sexual feeling for anyone. He was stiff (or perhaps I should say unstiff) like dead wood.

The problems with The Tourist are an inane script and poor directing. The movie was a boring bit of nonsense that should be skipped. Better to spend the $12 renting Girl Interrupted and Blow.

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