Alex Wehrung

January 7, 2016

“The Force Awakens” Brings Back What We Love

By Alex Wehrung

“I’ve never seen so many nerds in one place.” I said that to my father as the theater continued to fill up with kids and adults, most wearing Star Wars T-shirts. It was the first time he and I sat down ...

January 5, 2016

The Money’s on the Humor

By Alex Wehrung

I’d be lying if I said I understood half of what the hell people were talking about in this film. Not since “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” have I been so befuddled. Listening to its financial jargon is lik...

November 12, 2015

Peanuts Returns, and It’s Wonderful

By Alex Wehrung

I may have shot myself in the foot here by choosing to review a film mired in a universe I am only somewhat familiar with. And I doubt very many people will want to go see a rated-G film in lieu of “Spectre,” which w...

October 30, 2015

A Success Chiseled in Stone: “Trumbo” screens at Pollock

By Alex Wehrung

As a writer, I found myself basking in the characterization wonder that was Dalton Trumbo, realized on-screen by Bryan Cranston. I believe the audience in the Pollock did as well, as they were not only laughing uproariou...

October 29, 2015

Spielberg. Hanks. The Coens. Hell Yes.

By Alex Wehrung

While some spent their Friday nights getting drunk, partying it up or maybe even tickling their nostalgia with “Goosebumps,” I saw “Bridge of Spies.” Because how else will I further cement my reputation as a bona...

October 21, 2015

“Trumbo” Comes to Script to Screen

By Alex Wehrung

The Hollywood Ten sounds like a cute name, doesn’t it? Sort of like the Fab Four or the Magnificent Seven. In reality, though, that name brought only disdain and misery for its members. The Ten were a group of filmmake...

October 8, 2015

The Martian is Out of This….Ugh, Please Don’t Make Me Say That.

By Alex Wehrung

I will not deny it; writing that headline was somewhat painful. But it’s true: “The Martian,” the adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel, is pretty damn good as a matter of fortunate fact. And, even better, it stands ou...

September 24, 2015

‘Black Mass’ Shows Depp Can Do More Than Make Faces

By Alex Wehrung

Over the past decade-plus, we’ve watched Johnny Depp play sauntering, maniacal weirdos in so many films that I wonder if he goes to bed flailing his hands in the air like he’s trying to bat away flies. After “Pirat...

September 17, 2015

Fear for the Future of this Spinoff

By Alex Wehrung

  About two and a half years ago, I couldn’t sleep one night, so at three in the morning, I went on Netflix and popped on the first episode of “The Walking Dead.” The first 20 minutes absolutely dripped with a...

August 27, 2015

The Men From U.N.C.L.E. Need To Find a Better Plot

By Alex Wehrung

“The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” is a bit of a misleading title. For starters, there’s more than one man in a leading role. Secondly, who or what is U.N.C.L.E.? A spy organization? A coalition force? A men’s fashion lin...

August 2, 2015

‘Sharknado 3?’ Oh Hell Yes!

By Alex Wehrung

The way I saw it, I had one of two options: see “Pixels,” a movie that I knew I was going to hate and give more of my money to the hellspawn that is Adam Sandler in the process, or see “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!,”...

July 30, 2015

Ian McKellen Redefines Our Dear “Mr. Holmes”

By Alex Wehrung

We’ve seen a lot of different versions of Sherlock Holmes over the years, from the stereotypical deerstalker-wearing version popularized and made iconic by the likes of Basil Rathbone to the much-adored, long-faced Ben...

July 13, 2015

He’s Back. What a Surprise.

By Alex Wehrung

If anything, this movie proves that if you set your expectations low enough, anything will satisfy you. Was “Terminator Genisys” necessary? No. Was it fun?  A bit.  Does it prey on your nostalgia? Eyup. At the end ...

July 6, 2015

A Satisfactory Catharsis: ‘Inside Out’ is a Good Time

By Alex Wehrung

Imagination can be a wonderful thing, depending on how it’s applied. If you muck it up, you end up with something that seems cool, but in reality, you realize that someone fell asleep behind the controls. Take “Docto...

June 30, 2015

Jurassic World: Life Will Always Find a Way to Bite You in the Ass

By Alex Wehrung

Whether or not the Jurassic Park die-hards hate this movie and the average blockbuster junkie loves it, I think we can all agree on one thing: It could have been a lot worse. For one thing, you’d think that the people ...

May 21, 2015

‘Bloody Poetry:’ Punk, Poetry and Eccentricity

By Alex Wehrung, Jason Chun

Not exactly the headline you were expecting, was it?  And we weren’t either; “Blood Poetry” takes an unexpected angle and turns its characters into anachronisms: Percy and Mary Shelley, Lord George Byron and Clair...