by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent While Mark Wahlberg as JOE BELL, the grieving father who was initially ambivalent about his gay son Jadin, might seem a curious casting choice to some on the topic of bullying, it makes sense from the standpoint of where “Marky Mark” started out in life. Wahlberg, who turned 50 this year, is from Winter Hill gang-boss Whitey Bulger's birthplace Dorchester, Mass. The place was a notorious 1970's hotbed of racial and homoph...

All the Money in the World, Review: Ear today, gone tomorrow Cinquanta to Gail: “Who is this so-called grandfather? How can he leave his own flesh and blood in the plight that your poor son is in? Here is the richest man in America, and you tell me he refuses to find just 10 miliardi for his grandson’s safety. Signora, you take me for a fool.” Two Ridley Scott releases in the same year? Alien Covenant and All the Money in the World mark the repeat of a phenomenon that occur...

Daddy’s Home 2, Review: Audience’s at home too When you can count twelve credited parts, and five of them are children, you might yourself arithmetically challenged. For relief, the film is titled Daddy’s Home 2, which, thankfully, does not make you look for your abacus. But you do realise that in this case, 2 is 1 too many. Okay, so we will make no comparisons to the first outing a couple of years ago, and accept that in part II, as in Chapter I, the two Daddies are going t...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Mel Gibson comes back from traffic court, lol, okay too soon. Mulligan. Mel Gibson comes back from his Hollywood resurrection this year with his six-pack Oscar-nominated movie HACKSAW RIDGE (2016), that won two Oscars for sound mixing and editing, to join son of anarchy Mark Wahlberg and deviant nice guy Will Ferrell in DADDY’S HOME 2, their hit franchise reteam. But he’s not alone in the father-figure star power value-add. Beloved ...

Transformers-The Last Knight, Review by Siraj Syed: Michael’s Bay Watch A lot of words related to media get either entirely new meanings or stretch their known meanings to the limit and beyond, once you have watched Michael Bay’s Transformers. It is far too tempting to let the last Knight remain as it is, without getting punny. I saw the film last Night (Wednesday late afternoon, to be precise), and I often felt that last Night was never going to end. It eventually did, and exiti...

Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Mark Wahlberg sits in a director’s chair on stage to a packed house at The Dolby Theater after the world premiere of his new film The Gambler at AFI Fest presented by AUDI, and says “there are four pictures on the wall in my basement. Steve McQueen, Jimmy Cagney, John Garfield… and James Caan. I wanted him (Caan) to see The Gambler. He comes over to my house, sees the pictures on the wall, and says ‘Did you put this up just...

  By Liza Foreman Michael Bay has signed Irish actor Jack Reynor to star in "Transformers 4," Bay announced on his website www.michaelbay.com on Tuesday. “I just hired a great new actor for Transformers 4 to star against Mark Wahlberg. Jack Reynor, he is an Irish kid that came to America with 30 bucks in his pocket. Pretty ballsy. Seriously who does that? Anyway I spotted him in a great little Irish movie WHAT RICHARD DID. This kid is the ...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Q: What's up with Sharon Stone? A: God. No kidding.  Specifically: Elohim, IHVH (i.e.; the Tetragrammaton), Allah, Mohammed, Vishnu, Buddha, Krishna, Jehovah, Generic Other-Worldy Beings, A Force Greater Than Ourselves, The Universe, and L-O-V-E, in the soul sense. Apparently Ms. Beaver-shot-seen-'round-the-world has lost her baser instincts.  If this sounds cryptic, wait until you hear Stone's narration of the upcoming docume...