Movie Review: Stronger (2017) *Boston Strong….Eventually*

In the past year we’ve had two movies focusing on the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing.  Peter Berg’s masterful Patriots Day (click here for review) gave a macro view of the event and the manhunt for the bombers.  Stronger serves as a companion film, focusing not so much on the bombing, but on the effect it had on the lives of one of the victims: Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal).  Unflinching in its look at the price of recovery and the struggle toward redemption, Stronger sometimes errs on the side of making its subjects so “human” that the audience loses sympathy.  Ultimately, though Stronger’s subjects and the film itself hit their stride and the lasting feeling is one of inspiration.

Cuphead Complete Achievement List (Xbox, PC – 2017)

One of Microsoft’s biggest problems right now is a lack of exclusives, especially this year.  Console exclusives are getting more and more rare, but when they come, they’ve been coming to the PS4, and that’s a long-term problem for a company launching the XboxX in two months.  Gamers who don’t have 4K are going to need convincing reasons to lay down the $500 Microsoft is asking for the powerful new console.  Cuphead isn’t going do that, but it is a Microsoft exclusive, well-reviewed, and there are-to my knowledge-no other games that look like 1940s WB cartoons featuring tea cups with run and gun action.  Cuphead is available now for Microsoft PC and the Xbox One.  Achievements below courtesy as always  from the peerless xboxachievements.com.

Darkest Hour Trailer #2 (2017) “We Shall Never Surrender”

A thrilling and inspiring true story begins on the eve of World War II as, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill (Academy Award nominee Gary Oldman) must face one of his most turbulent and defining trials: exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation. As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to change the course of world history.

Gary Oldman is considered right now to be the front runner for Best Actor, which is saying something since his movie doesn’t even open for two months.  The second trailer for The Darkest Hour could be mistaken for a trailer for Dunkirk as it borrows not only the ticking watch motif that defined Hans Zimmer’s score for that film, but centers wholly around the event itself.  Dunkirk was a huge event in Churchill’s reign as wartime prime minister and for the British people, so it only makes sense that it’s part of the film, but this trailer almost makes Darkest Hour seem like a Dunkirk spin-off.  With Oldman, the supporting cast of the film includes Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Stephen Dillane, Ronald Pickup, and Ben Mendelsohn. Darkest Hour will be released on November 22, 2017.

In Theaters This Week (9/29/2017): American Made, Flatliners

Each Thursday we look at what is going to be coming out in theaters this weekend, show you the trailers for the big releases, predict the box office winner and just generally give you enough of a carrot to pull you through the rest of the work week.  This week brings Tom Cruise and another remake in to close out a weird September that’s been dominated by a clown.

Movie Review: IT (2017) *A Reasonable Critic Review*

Stephen King’s epic fantasies The Dark Tower and The Stand constitute his best work, but when it comes to pure horror, IT is his magnum opus. The novel is a monster of a book, the most intricate, powerful, engaging horror tale he ever wrote. It concerns a group of misfit 1950s children who discover that an entity from another dimension has come out of hibernation and is terrorizing the denizens of their small Maine community. The demon feeds on fear by killing people, especially children. IT frequently takes on the form of a circus clown named Pennywise, but its scariest attribute is its ability to embody whatever its victims fear the most. King’s novel leapfrogs between the heroes’ past and present, as they confront IT as children, then later as adults