Movie Reviews: Mama and Gangster Squad | Gay Richmond News ...

The fabulous Emma Stone and a bit of Goth flare

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Mama

Director: Andr?s Muschietti

Writers: Neil Cross (screenplay), Andr?s Muschietti (screenplay)

Stars: Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier

Runtime: 100 mins

For 5 years, 2 little girls are raised in the woods by a ghostly specter. When they?re returned to civilization, they move in with their uncle (Nikolaj Coster Waldau) and his girlfriend (Jessica Chastain). Of course, their ?mama? comes with them. This is a relatively well-told ghost story with a creepy atmosphere, some nice surprises and a few good scares. Since there?s only one evil presence, the intrigue is limited. To make things worse, it completely falls apart by the time we get to the laboriously overdone ending. Fans of the genre might enjoy much of it, but it?s not special in any way. Ironically, the action takes place in Richmond and Clifton Forge, but was actually shot in Canada and Spain.

GAY ANGLE: Girls might like Chastain?s goth/punk look.

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Gangster Squad

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Writers: Will Beall, Paul Lieberman (book)

Stars: Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone

Runtime: 113 mins

In 1949 Hollywood, a gangster from New York (Sean Penn) muscles his way into the West Coast crime syndicates. To bring him down, a renegade cop (Josh Brolin) assembles a team of outsiders (including Ryan Gosling). This is a time when everybody smoked and women were called ?tomatoes.? This film?s elegant period style and suave, snappy dialogue verge on parody, but director Rubin Fleischer manages to keep a sense of fun, while loading it with plenty of fights (fists and guns). The performances are enjoyable and the pacing never lags. While this isn?t exceptional in any way, it?s still thoroughly entertaining.

GAY ANGLE: Only tiny glimpses of flesh from Penn, Brolin and Gosling, but Emma Stone and Gosling both look fabulous.

Jerry Williams reviewed movies for WTVR-TV for 14 years and for Style Weekly for 10 years. When he launched his own website in 1998 at TVJerry.com, he took his reviews to the Internet. Through those hundreds of reviews, Jerry kept his sexual orientation muted. So, he's excited to be adding "gay angles" to his postings for GayRVA.com.

Source: http://www.gayrva.com/arts-culture/movie-reviews-mama-and-gangster-squad/

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