The Post

Well written, well acted, fascinating story. The Washington Post is a 'local paper' in 1960's with a style section that is equal in importance to the political coverage. This film covers the development of the paper into a national political reporting leader based on its role in covering the story of the pentagon papers. These papers were a series of classified documents leaked to the press giving an in-depth look at what the US government knew about Vietnam, and how it made decisions about the war effort. Meryl Streep plays the first female publish of a major newspaper as she struggles to make the transition from socialite wife of a newspaper owner to a newspaper owner who is invested in journalistic integrity. She has Tom Hanks as her editor to push/pull her along this journey. Really a fascinating story as I was not really aware of this piece of history (just before my time). In terms of overall movie enjoyment, the obvious comparison here is to Spotlight of a couple years ago, and maybe based on temporal relevance, I liked that one better. But don't get me wrong, this good, and should be seen.
4 stars (out of 5)

Molly's Game

Jessica Chastain plays Molly Bloom, former aspiring olympic downhill skier who crashed out of the sport and needed something to do. She lucked into a personal assistant job where she was able to manage a high stakes poker game, and basically made her entire income from tips. When things went sour with her boss, she moves to New York to set up her own game and gets caught up in the wrong crowd leading to her eventual arrest for illegal gaming. The story is told mostly in flashback as discussion with her lawyers reveals the history. While not anything near the complexity of the late 2000's housing crisis, this film had a feel very much like The Big Short. I will say that as a written and directed by Aaron Sorkin film, I expected lots of wandering the hallways, long dialogue scenes a la West Wing. And sort of got it in the form of long monologue voiceover from Chastain. But somehow it seemed appropriate and was not distracting or annoying. I learned quite a bit about gaming and poker, and Chastain was excellent as basically the entire show (voiceover and all). 

4 stars (out of 5)

Bright

Hailed by some critics as the worst movie of 2017, I clearly had to see this. And I have no idea what they saw. Will Smith plays a police officer in basically modern time Los Angeles. However, in this world, elves and fairies and orcs are part of the population. Smith's partner is the first Orc police officer ever, the result of a newly instituted diversity program. And since Orcs supported the Dark Lord centuries ago, they are the one race despised by all. Add to this racial drama magic wands, terrorists, and typical gang controlled neighborhoods. Granted, this isn't academy award level acting or writing. But for the fantasy nerds out there, this reminded me of The Word and the Void trilogy that was built out of the Shannara world. Buy into the evolution of races where humans aren't the only ones to survive as an opening premise, and then imagine what life might be like. Of course the elves are the wealthy, pretentious upper class. Of course the orcs are despised. But beyond this, I loved the dialogue with the chief orc about how he really is just misunderstood as he tries to throw an inter-racial party. I tolerated the over-the-top magical evil girl. I appreciated the cheesy buddy-cop banter. I enjoyed the small details (fairies attacking the birdfeeder, deep hole under orc-land, bumbling orc super strength, etc.).
4 stars (out of 5)

Moonstruck

Yes... that Moonstruck... with Cher and Nick Cage. As an Oscar nominated best picture film, this was amazing... in that it was comically over the top. I know that Nick Cage has a type, but go back and watch this and you see a caricature of himself. The story is of Cher getting engaged and then falling in love with the brother of her fiancé. It is stereotype Italian family, stereotype Brooklyn, stereotype 90's rom-com. And because of that, it is quite fun. It would never even get a viewing today, much less a nomination, but as flashback fodder, I loved it.
4 stars (out of 5)

The ParkingLot Movie

This is a short documentary about working as a parking attendant at the Corner Parking Lot in Charlotte. Really this plays like a senior thesis film for a film student, or an artistic coming out party for a wanna-be film maker. That is, it is pretentious, unaware of that status, and self-satisfied with the finished product. It is a series of interviews with hipster-employees about what it means to be a parking lot attendant and the struggles of said employment (or more likely the struggles of said hipster status). I laughed at a couple situations, but mostly found myself wandering around the house waiting for the time to run out. Good thing it was short.
2 stars (out of 5)

Jumanji

As a sequel this fails miserably. The only real connection to the original or the book is the name, and the fact that a jungle exists. But as a stand alone comedic action-adventure, I found it quite entertaining. The plot was video game-ish, and so appropriate. But the brilliance lies in the performance of the adult actors embodying teens. With Jack Black leading the way (and killing it) as a 16 year old, self-absorbed, popular girl, I consistently bought into both the concept and execution of teens in adult bodies... so well played. Nothing heavy, and not meant to be. Just fun.
4 stars

Pitch Perfect 3

I am a sucker for acapella music. I liked all three of these films and #3 does not let down. The plot is sufficient to get us through the playlist. Here it is a reunion/farewell as the Bella's get a place on a USO tour through Europe. The best single scene is again the riff-off. I could watch that all day. So ...
4 stars