The Accountant:

Ben Affleck is exceptional as Christian Wolff, a self-employed accountant who is autistic and who is amazing with numbers.  While working for a number of shadowy clients, where he has helped to keep their ill-gotten-gains outside the purview of the law, he decides to take on a more legitimate client, a .com robotics corporation which turns out to be even more shadowy than the worst of his previous clients.  Working with the in-house accountant (Anna Kendrick), it soon becomes clear the problem isn’t money that’s missing – the problem is money that has come, gone, and then come back.  Wolff doesn’t do well with people – he isn’t comfortable making eye contact, and he has no interest in conversation.  Turns out he’s pretty handy with an automatic rifle though, and he has a boomer of a weapon that comes into play as the bad guys close in, realizing that the accountant has found what he should not.  Excellent movie – lots of action, lots of thought.  Rated 14A.

Deepwater Horizon:

Mark Wahlberg is the real-life Mike Williams, the Chief Electrical Engineer on the offshore drilling rig that exploded and burned in April of 2010, creating the worst oil spill in American waters in history.  Most of the characters portrayed in the movie actually existed, and they do in the movie what they did in real life, and even the dialogue is often word-for-word.  The set used for the drilling platform was the largest ever created for a movie, and when it was fired up, it could be seen from space, so big was the explosion.  Often overlooked is the fact that 11 workers were killed in the blast, the pollution aspects overshadowing the loss of human life.  BP’s executives are portrayed as they were in life – more interested in meeting deadlines than in worker safety – and the portrayal of Mr. Vidrine (John Malkovich) is said by those who were there to be word perfect.  Kurt Russell is perfect as Jimmy Harrell, General Supervisor on the rig.  Watch the closing credits to see the actual people who are portrayed in the film, as well as a fitting tribute to those who died.  Rated 14A.

The Birth of a Nation:

This highly controversial film about a slave revolt in the pre-Civil War American South tells the mostly true story of Nat Turner, a preacher, and a slave, who was forced to use his ability to read, to influence the slaves on nearby plantations.  Turner, played by Nate Parker who also wrote the script and directed, learned to read the Bible, and was encouraged to do so by his plantation-owner’s wife (Penelope Anne Miller).  As he grew up, and as money became more and more scarce, he was used by his owner (Armie Hammer) to preach to other owner’s slaves, to help put down rumours of an uprising.  Going from plantation to plantation, he tells his fellow Africans that the Good Book says for “Slaves to obey their masters.”  Bu the more he preaches, the more scripture he finds that supports freedom, and eventually Parker organizes a revolt.  It does not end well for the slaves, but it sets the tone for the Civil War and all that prevailed afterwards. Rated 14A.

John Wick (2014):

If you haven't caught up to this quick-paced action thriller in which Keanu Reeves plays the title role, this is your chance.  John Wick is a now-retired "contractor" for the mob.  He spent his professional life doing whatever was necessary to satisfy his bosses who used him as an ultra-efficient hitman.  Out of the business for five years, he loses his wife to cancer, and she leaves him a bequest - a dog that will ensure that he won't be alone.  When a gang of punks harass him in a service station lot where he is gassing up his classic muscle car, he John is able to turn the other cheek.  But when the punks later do in his dog, it means war, and it isn't pretty.  A sequel to this one will be out in the middle of next year.  Rated 18A for violence.

The Hurt Locker (2008):

 An Oscar winner for its portrayal of the work of a bomb expert during the war in Iraq, we get a strong taste of the tension, the fear, and the intense concentration required to defuse roadside bombs and other devices, we see Jeremy Renner's breakout role as Staff Sgt. William James. The script was written by Mark Boal who was an embedded journalist during the war, and he clearly knows whereof he writes.  Katheryn Bigelow directed, and won an Oscar for her skill here, Boal won for Best Screenplay, and the movie also got Best Picture.  Rated 14A.