Closed Circuit (2013)

The successful conspiracy flick rests on the audience unsure of who to trust or how deep the conspirators –- be they Big Brother or Big Corp. -– lay buried. Endings are key. From “Conversation” to “Most Wanted Man,” if I’m not shaken paranoid, then what’s the point? There’s none in “Closed Circuit,” a meek flick about London spies putting two attorneys (Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall) through hell as they represent the Muslim suspect of a shop bombing. Upfront: The villains are ploddingly obvious, with Jim Broadbent all ham as a John Mitchell type with an ugly beard, and another Famous Name as a mentor who -– of course -– turns traitor. Zero suspense. And that’s surprising as Stephen Knight (“Dirty Pretty Things”) wrote the screenplay. I wanted a dark tale that left me breathless, but when our heroes meet in secret at a football match, surrounded by cameras, I was laughing. More so, the heroes are dumb. Who doesn’t question the sudden suicide of a pal working on a top secret case? No one here has seen a movie. And that’s the problem, the likely studio-mandated fix-it ender is so happy, it feels like every movie we’ve seen. C-

Transcendence (2014)

A week after seeing Wally Pfister’s “Transcendence,” the flick barely registers in my brain. I vaguely recall the finale as insulting, and unfathomably boring, everything proceeding a slog lacking any remote urgency. That’s an unexpected turn for director Pfister, who served as DP on all of Chris Nolan’s films, including “Inception.” Johnny Depp is Will, an AI genius obsessed with loading a person’s consciousness to the Cloud because, I mean, that’s safe. When fate deals Will a blow, his scientist wife (Rebecca Hall) uploads hubs to a supercomputer lest she lose him forever. Will 2.0 takes his new environment too well, becoming a HAL high on Orwell: Watcher of all, raiser of dead, and controller of the Cloud, and clouds. The folks at Infowars might shake in fear. I yawned. See, Depp -– appearing like a ghostly sleep-deprived Max Headroom -- mumbles his lines and gets halfway creepy, but never dangerous. This film desperately needs danger. Skip HAL. Will becomes a lovesick Speak N’ Spell. I won’t spill the end, but know this: It defies logic in such a leap that it left me fuming. Artificial intelligence has never been slower. D+

Iron Man 3 (2013)

SPOILERS ABOUND because I cannot do the out-of-left-field “Iron Man 3” justice without spilling its secrets like the myriad flying, not-quite-controllable bits of Iron Man armor that plague our hero Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in this first-post-“Avengers” Marvel film. Nor can I stick to my 200-word count. (I really, really, truly tried.)

Upfront: Director/cowriter Shane Black steers this sequel to a sequel toward the “Lethal Weapon” thrillers that made him famous as a writer. Genius move. He finds every excuse to get Stark out of the tin suit and load him with MacGyver-like weapons, running alongside Don Cheadle as military man Jim Rhodes, to attack the villain’s glitzy Miami chateau and then go after a cargo pier at the finale. The ghosts of Riggs and Murtaugh hover close, as does Black’s directorial debut “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,” which starred Downey post-rehab/ prison/near-career-death. 

We only think mastermind terrorist named Mandarin (Ben Kingsely), one of Marvel’s most infamously racist creations, is the villain. Trusting the marketing and trailers. In truth, the dude’s a two-bit actor downed by drugs, working for a sun-tanned rich guy (Guy Pearce) who Tony once did wrong. 

The characters are metas, off-screen and on, Kingley’s loser the What if Downey?, while Pearce’s evil CEO is the What If Tony Stark? If neither had not “become” Iron Man. The stunt also takes the character down a peg, what can Marvel do? Complain their anti-Chinese boogeyman 1-D stick figure was not played accurate? 

The movie -– like the clap-trap maze of cranes at that finale -– is a Rube Goldberg machine of asides and homages, including 1980s “child sidekick” flicks, peppered with kick-ass action and a full tear-down of the franchise. Indeed this ends with Downey throwing the ball at Marvel and saying, “You’re move.” Cast iron balls he has. 

The plot is a wiry mess, and Pearce’s scientist lacks motive and focus. Never mind Rebecca Hall as another scientist with a quarter personality, and less screen time. These are moot complaints for all eyes are on Downey. He is Iron Man. Lest we, or Marvel, ever forget. B+

Everything Must Go (2011)

Will Ferrell goes mostly serious in the dramatic comedy “Everything Must Go,” which follows an Arizona man as he 1) Loses his job, 2) Loses his wife and home, and 3) Falls off the sobriety wagon all in the same day. Much of the film takes place on the lawn of Nick Halsey, that’s Farrell, because that’s where his wife has dumped all of his belongings after she decides their marriage has hit a dead end. Jobless, carless, hopeless, Nick pounds beers, and waits for … nothing. This being a movie, we can’t have the guy drink himself to death, so he gets two lifelines -- a lonely teenager played by Christopher Jordan Wallace and a friendly (but platonic) new neighbor played by Rebecca Hall. Based on a Raymond Carver short story and directed by newcomer Dan Rush, “Go” is a low-key flick about a guy taking stock of his life. A late-in-the-game reveal is too neat and smacks of an easy out. Ferrell rocks as he did in “Stranger Than Fiction.” Alas, when I said “low-key,” I meant nothing grand happens. B

The Town (2010)

Critics are falling over themselves to praise Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” his follow-up to the 2007 drama “Gone, Baby, Gone.” Me? Not loving it. It’s not Affleck’s direction –- tight and so localized, one feels like they just received a private, gritty tour of Boston’s Charlestown –- or even his acting. It’s the problematic script (co-written by Affleck) that dives from smart crime thriller into a contrived romance before falling into a vat of sentimentality. People who compare this film to 1970s gritty crime dramas need new eyeballs.

The story: Charleston, it is said, is home to the largest per capita population of bank and armored car thieves in the world. Children follow their fathers into a life of crime with no reservation. Doug MacRay is such a child, with an old man (Chris Cooper) in prison. The plot kicks off with Doug's group robbing a bank. In a panic, hot-headed leader Jem (Jeremy Renner) takes bank manager Claire (Rebecca Hall) hostage. She’s insurance, and once the guys are safely away, Claire is set free. But not for long. Jem decides to kill the woman. Doug, our Robin Hood, wants to save this distressed damsel. In the process, Doug falls in love with Claire. And she with him, not knowing her man was her captor. Meanwhile, an FBI agent (John Hamm) is on Doug’s tail. It all ends in a shoot out at Fenway Park and an eye-roller escape.

Look, the trailer laid out every plot detail to this film beforehand, so I have no problem dishing openly on the Bunker Hill-sized plot holes: 1) I did not buy the rich girl/poor boy relationship of Claire and Doug, nor its silly outcome. 2) Once Claire learns of Doug’s secret, she cries and yells, but then gives in. She loves this guy too darn much. Really?!!? 3) Once Hamm’s Fed gets wind of the tryst, he suspects Claire is an insider on the theft. “Get a lawyer,” he says. But the accusation is dropped. Not believable.

What saves “Town”? That local flair. The bartender, cops and the guys at an AA meeting are wonderfully true. This is no CW show full of anorexic models. These people don’t just know the Boston neighborhoods, they are the neighborhood. Renner, Cooper and Pete Postlethwaite rule in their roles, the last playing a crime boss florist who turns pruning roses into an act of menace. I also dug the car chases through Boston city streets. Every tight corner turn leaves a surprise for the getaway driver.

"Town" as a drama offers no such surprises. Affleck's Doug is too much an aw-shucks saint to make a full impact, and Hall –- a wonderful actress -– as Clarice is also too damn nice. Is it too much to ask for this woman to snap in seething anger? To claw out the eyes of the guy who robbed her, kidnapped her, lied to her –- and screwed her –- literally? Why must women in crime flicks be wilting wallflowers desperate for a man? I have large hopes for Affleck’s directing career, there’s much good here, and I dug “Gone, Baby, Gone.” But “Town” left me feeling robbed. B-