The Intern

The soundtrack is very nice in “The Intern” (2015). Happy and comforting. That’s also kind of the role that Robert De Niro plays as a senior citizen intern at an e-commerce startup founded by Anne Hathaway. The story is predictable: geezer who knows nothing about tech transforms into wise elder in eyes of younger co-workers and everyone learns a little something about themselves. Awww. Like the film’s marketing slogan: “Experience never gets old.” Awww. Thankfully, the filmmakers avoid total cliche immersion and spare us from the typical over-the-top ending involving corporate back-stabbing, contrived boardroom speeches and/or impossible last-minute deadlines. Awww.

 

Outbreak

Modern cinema suffers from a disease known as blockbusteritis. Symptoms are cookie-cutter plots in which the hero saves the world and hooks back up with ex-wife/girlfriend, in no particular order. Oh, and helicopters. Lots of helicopters. Experts are trying to track down the host virus, but it dates back at least as far as a 1995 outbreak called… well, it’s called “Outbreak.” Dustin Hoffman saves everyone from a killer disease by making impassioned speeches. Ex-wife Rene Russo might have been better off dead. In an unusual twist, neither of the two black co-stars (Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding Jr.), get killed.