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Manchester by the Sea is a slice-of-life, straight drama set in Boston's suburban North Shore area. It is a tragedy as much about a place as the people living in it. Filmed on location, the nautical backdrop provides a realistic glimpse into the way of life in those parts, i.e. a fishing village culture. It's Good Will Hunting meets Young Adult.

Casey Affleck (Good Will Hunting, Gone Baby Gone) plays with type as the hotheaded janitor with a dark past. There are cameos from Matthew Broderick, Michelle Williams, Tate Donovan, and Gretchen Moll. Newcomer Lucas Hedges steals the show as the grieving ginger nephew forced onto Affleck's hands pursuant to the will of his deceased brother. Therein lies the plot, albeit deconstructionist.

The biggest drawback for me was the nonlinear storytelling. To be sure, Manchester is a slow burn. It has its moments of poignancy and dramatic irony. Like any good Boston picture, there are plenty of dropped Rs and local references. One mistake that got past the cutting room was the line "You're a janitor in Quincy." Quincy is a separate city from Boston, where the protagonist was supposed to be doing his janitorial penance. He is depressed.

Regret, loss, substance abuse, heartbreak, life going on, coming of age (getting laid), the awkwardness of forced small talk, replacement, boating, and family are the central themes. Some of the characters were needlessly introduced without developing their story arcs or serving as plot points. Fair warning, there is a lot of profanity. Manchester is about going back to your hometown, in this case, the titular town being a metaphor for facing the past. The future remained uncertain, leading up to the culmination, of what to do with the living situation and legal guardianship arrangements. The tone was wry. Like life, the story is messy. I think that was the point.

Beyond Darkness is a b horror picture about a haunted house. It's Poltergeist meets The Exorcist.

A reverend and his unsuspecting family move into a house with mysterious supernatural symptoms. Even more mysterious was why a married Protestant minister was a part of the Catholic Church, but these are details, just a minor technicality! The creepy ambient music was doled out with a heavy hand and it worked. The special effects were on point, and the tone was camp-free.

The acting was what you would want to see in this type of story. The hag and the Catholic exorcist killed it. The minister and his wife, not so much. The writing didn't make a whole lot of sense. It could have used more development, such as the backstory about the property being built on the sight of a mass witch lynching. The opening scene more than made up for the gaps in the narrative logic. Beyond Darkness is nobody's classic, but it delivers.

Central Intelligence is a studio feature film in the bromance/buddy comedy genre. It's The D Train meets The In-laws.

Kevin Hart (American History X, Kevin Hart) plays the straight man opposite Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (Scorpion King, Expendables), reprising his gentle giant role from Pain and Gain. Like much of the jokes, Central Intelligence falls flat--not that there are many to go around.

It's basically one joke repeated ad nauseam, a la Saturday Night Live. The Rock asks Kevin Hart "Are you in?" (a mad-cap adventure) to which Kevin Hart replies, "No, I am definitely not in." In a twist that outdid itself in stupidity, The Rock somehow becomes Kevin Hart and his clueless wife's marriage counselor.

Central Intelligence was very 2016 in that it dealt with the "body shaming." The Rock was bullied as a youth, yet inexplicably he is still stuck in high school nostalgically and can't wait to hit the reunion. The Rock's lines were delivered with the enthusiasm of Ferris Beuhler's teacher, with McLovin style. He was better in true crime story Snitch. Kevin Hart is better doing stand-up.

This is a good example of what the industry is buying in the comedy genre. Central Intelligence has themes of regaining lost youth with "inappropriate" behavior and finding redemption.

Central Intelligence can't hold a candle to the ultimate bullying movie: Carrie.