Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Black Mass" (2015)

Johnny Depp

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

Review: "Black Mass" is a Cliche Gangster Film with Squandered Potential By All

Johnny Depp

There is one notion that I have that has flickered in recent years: Johnny Depp is a great actor. Not in the sense that his every film he makes is a masterpiece, but that he brings something authentic to each role. Where I've seen a handful of beloveds unable to immerse themselves in a role, it is rarely true with Depp. He can be eccentric or menacing when the role calls for it. With director Scott Cooper's Black Mass, I was hoping that audiences would get to pick up on that, especially after a long stretch of clunkers best immortalized with this year's Mortdecai. However, it is only fuel for their fire. While it isn't entirely his fault, a lot of the blame for why Black Mass is an abysmal, cliche-ridden movie falls on his shoulders. He crumbles underneath with one of his least inspired performances to date.

The "Black Mass" Trailer Looks Like Depp is Trying to Impress Us Again

Johnny Depp

Here is a fact that many likely will find odd: Johnny Depp has earned three Oscar nominations - all between 2004 and 2008. For modern audiences, it is probably hard to believe that the actor behind critically panned movies like Mortdecai and Transcendence used to be one of the most interesting and rebellious mainstream actors out there. He even got an acting nomination for The Pirates of the Caribbean as Captain Jack Sparrow. While I don't feel his passion is entirely gone, there is a need for us, as well as him, to reassess his current acting career. With director Scott Cooper's Black Mass, it looks like if nothing else, he is back to giving a role that shows the edgier and more interesting side of Depp. The only question is if it will be enough.