Game Night: Way better than its premise might suggest and genuinely funny. Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams are so garsh darn charming and the supporting cast complements them well. Jesse Plemons as their creepy neighbor is inspired stuff. ***1/2
Minding the Gap: This goes from being a movie about some silly skateboard kids to being a movie about LIFE. It’s way deeper than expected, a slice of life from a struggling young town and three complicated young men living in it. ****1/4
The 15:17 to Paris: More an experiment than a movie, with the three (well, four) real-life heroes of the 2015 Thalys train attack playing themselves in a very by-the-books biopic. It all feels very Hallmark movie, plus terrorists and guns and stuff. The actual attack is wild, but the build-up isn’t much. **
12 Strong: This is a whole lot big war action set pieces and if you’re into that kind of thing you might enjoy this. I thought it was too long and offered nothing new to the genre. Michael Shannon is in it though. *3/4
Ready Player One: Call this one right down the middle – a big ol’ sci-fi blockbuster that I can’t say is some new age Spielberg classic but also delivers a fun enough ride. The animated parts felt kind of weird though. ***1/4
