Mike's Movie Tips

 1/4 Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong, David Wilmot, Fionulla Flanagan Rated R for Pervasive Language, Some Violence, Drug Material and Sexual Content The longer I do this job, the less patience I have for movies like "The Guard."  Movies that not only fail but don't even seem to be trying to do anything.  It's a comedy without many laughs, a drama with no depth, an action movie with little action. Gerry Boyle (Gleeson) is a misanthropic cop who insults and berates everyone in his range of fire.  Admittedly, some of his anti-PC behavior is funny, but that's all there is to him.  He's the kind of guy who'd steal the drugs off a dead man and do them right then and there.  But he has a soft spot for his ailing mother Eileen (Flanagan).  When an American cop named Wendell Everett (Cheadle) comes to town hunting some drug dealers, he's partnered up with Gerry, who is none too pleased with this, and makes no secret of it. ...

 3/4 Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Chris Cooper, Laura Linney, Caroline Dhavernas, Dennis Haysbert, Kathleen Quinlan Rated PG-13 for Violence, Sexual Content and Language A person's opinion of "Breach" will probably depend on the perspective with which it is viewed.  As a thriller, it doesn't work.  The suspense is limited and the opportunities for clutching the armrests are almost none.  This isn't that kind of movie, nor was it intended to be.  As a drama, it's on more solid ground.  Watching Chris Cooper command the screen is enough of a pleasure that it makes up for an occasionally jumpy story, Eric O'Neill (Phillippe) is ambitious trainee at the FBI eager, perhaps too eager, to make agent.  His go-getter attitude sometimes rubs people the wrong way, but not the higher ups, who tap him for a special assignment.  His handler, Kate Burroughs (Linney), tells him that a veteran agent is suspected of being a sexual deviant.  Eric is surprised to f...

 3/4 Starring: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno, Sally Field, Harry Hamlin, Tom Brady Rated PG-13 for Brief Strong Language, Some Drug Content and Some Suggestive References "80 for Brady" is exactly the movie you think it will be.  Knowing the premise, you can imagine pretty much everything that happens in it.  In broad strokes, at least.  I doubt that anyone could imagine Sally Field tripping balls at a swanky pre-Superbowl party, but it happens in this movie.  Then again, considering where comedy is these days, perhaps it's not that far-fetched.  This scene is one of many, many reasons why I sincerely doubt the film's claim that it is based on true events. Does that hurt the film?  Not really.  It's funny, the actresses are charming, and that's all that's needed in a movie like this.  It's safe and predictable comfort food, so if that's what you're looking for, this will fit the bill.  Of course I am not in the target audience for...

 3/4 Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Theo Rossi, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Gina Gershon Rated R for Language, Some Violence and Brief Drug Use In many ways, "Emily the Criminal" is a movie for our times.  It zeroes in on the economic stresses of today's world, particularly for Millennials.  Emily isn't a criminal by choice.  She becomes one because she has no other options. Emily (Plaza) is trapped between a rock and a hard place.  Saddled with seventy grand in student debt and unable to find anything but menial labor due to a criminal history, she is stuck.  She works hard and is not lacking in ambition, but finds that no one is going to open a door for her no matter how hard she tries.  One day, Emily gets a tip from a co-worker on a way to make an easy two hundred bucks.  She attends the meeting, and although she is initially nervous about engaging in criminal behavior, she decides to take the chance because she needs money.  It pays off, and while she...

 3/4 Rated PG-13 for Mature Thematic Content including Detailed Descriptions of Sexual Abuse of Minors Early into "Athlete A," the Netflix documentary about the scandal where USA Gymnastics, US Olympics, Michigan State University and the FBI knew that Larry Nassar was sexually abusing athletes and covered it up, a reporter poses an obvious question: why do cases of sexual abuse get covered up?  After all, people are required to notify the authorities as soon as they are made aware of allegations of sexual misconduct.  Yet this keeps happening time and time again.  Penn State covered up Jerry Sandusky's abuses.  Ohio State did the same thing too.  And there are hundreds of cases of religious officials doing the same for religious officials all around the world.  Is it because sexual assault is just too terrible to imagine?  That's no excuse, though.  But what's puzzling is that for some reason knowledge of this seems to drive people in positio...

 2.5/4 Starring: Ewan McGregor, Johnny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald, Kevin McKidd Rated R for Graphic Heroin Use and Related Depravity, Strong Language, Sex, Nudity and Some Violence They say that when an addict gets sober, what they miss isn't so much the drug itself but the camaraderie of being around people who understand the lengths you're willing to go to get high because they have the same impulses you do.  I'm not sure Mark Renton would agree with that, though.  Certainly he loves heroin more than his friends.  At one point he muses, "Take the best orgasm you've ever had...multiply it by a thousand, and you're still nowhere near it."  Would a relatively smart guy like Renton hang around with the gallery of misfits and psychos he calls his mates if not for the influence of heroin?  Doubtful, but then again addiction can drive even the most gold-hearted men to do unconscionable things. Renton (McGregor) rationalizes his ad...