Draft Day:  

Kevin Costner is excellent in this NFL football-based story of a team general manager up against some serious deadlines, which mysteriously did not do well at the box office.  Perhaps because it was up against Captain America: The Winter Soldier?  In any case, as Sonny Weaver, GM  of the Cleveland Browns, Costner’s character deals with a series of characters, some of them actors, and some real football people, and a number of strategies and situations based on fact.  The action takes place over one full day with all the drama and all the angst of big business, big sports, and big decisions.  I loved it, thought it was great, and recommend it heartily. Rated 14A.

Night Moves:

I love the casting here, but the movie itself, although interesting, takes a little too long to get to its point, and the payoff is barely worth the 112 minutes spent in getting there.  Jessie Eisenberg (The Social Network) and Dakota Fanning star as a pair of eco-terrorists who see the dynamiting of a hydro-electric dam as the best way to make a statement.  After the event, things begin to go badly at every level, and the question that is presented, is “was it worth it?”  Same question you might ask at the end of this film after watching it.  Not great, but not bad either, and Eisenberg and Fanning are worth watching regardless of story and setting. Rated 14A.   

Mom’s Night Out:   

Although the story idea here is about as original as a duplicate of the Mona Lisa, it’s still a good-fun, feel-good movie that will have moms of young kids nodding and smiling in recognition.  Here’s the set-up:  three moms, all good friends, just want a night out on their own – for some adult conversation, and to not have to change a diaper.  But someone has to watch the kids.  How about the dads?  Perfect – what could go wrong?  Everything obviously.  Sean Astin are on the dad-side, with Sara Drew (Grey’s Anatomy) and Patricia Heaton (Everyone Loves Raymond) on the mom-side.  It’s a little silly, but fun for its target audience.  Everyone else beware!  Rated 14A.

Run:

Parkour is a form of activity that uses the physical environment to overcome obstacles, in much the fashion that Jackie Chan used to run up walls and flip onto a rooftop.  It is becoming a recognized sport since its development in the 1980s in France by a military practitioner.  This film is a chase and caper movie with Parkour at its heart ... that means we don't watch stunt work done on a wire, we don't watch computer-generated special effects, and we don't see anything that's fake ... all the action is the real thing done by real practitioners of the sport.  As for plot, well, father-and-son Parkourists decide to plan one more job before retiring. Eric Roberts (Julia's brother) stars along with Adrian Pasdar (Agents of SHIELD) and William Mosely (The Chronicles of Narnia) in an intense, physical action movie.  Rated 14A.

The Tempest (2010):  

There were many bad things said about this version of Shakespeare's classic tale of magic and conflict when the main character of Prospero was changed from a man to a woman.  Even with the character played by the incomparable Helen Mirren, the concept is muddied.  As the now-named Prospera, a woman accused of witchcraft sent into exile by her brother, the story barely hangs together.  Rated 14A.