‘Cherry’: This Holland/Russo brothers vehicle takes uninspired turns

“Cherry” – “My one true accomplishment was not dying.” – Cherry (Tom Holland) Cherry, a 21-year-old Iraq War vet, finds himself back in the U.S., and more specifically, a high school gymnasium.  A big band celebrates his and other local heroes’ return with genuine pomp and circumstance, but Cherry wasn’t impressed with his two years of service, so he broke the fourth wall and declared the aforementioned statement. Cherry breaks the fourth wall a lot in directors Anthony and Joe Russo’s adaptation of Nico Walker’s novel, a loosely-based autobiographical book,…

Roberts and Hedges effectively play a struggling mother and son in ‘Ben Is Back’

“Ben Is Back” – “Instead of a criminal or a drug addict, I was looking at a boy, just a boy.” – Shannon A. Thompson, “Take Me Tomorrow” Ben (Lucas Hedges) is back home on Christmas Eve. Patches of crusty snow are scattered on suburban lawns, wintery-grays fill the skies and leafless trees remind us that warm weather won’t hug this neighborhood for a few distant months.  It might be comfy inside Ben’s house, but this (roughly) 18-year-old kid is locked out, because he did not tell his mom Holly…