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Detroit Michigan in the mid 1980’s, teenager Richard Wershe Jr. (Richie Merritt) would find himself in the awkward position of being a street hustler, an FBI informant, and a massive drug Kingpin all before his 16th birthday. Meanwhile, Father Richard Wershe Sr. (Matthew McConaughey) would battle his own demons as a small time arms dealer with aspirations of opening a video rental store. It all sounds impossible, but it actually happened, this is their story. Written by Andy Weiss, Logan Miller, and Noah Miller, Directed by Yann Demange and Darren Aronofsky amongst the list of producers, the pedigree of this film immediately makes for a point of demarcation between Summer time blockbusters and Awards Season flair; driving home a sobering story from the seedy underbelly of the rustbelt. Solid performances from the whole ensemble including work from Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bel Powley, and Bruce Dern further bring this bitter tale of woe to life. And, well thought out cinematography bathed in darkened hues by Tat Radcliffe effectively paints a vivid and indelible picture of the era. Strangely, original scoring by Max Richter comes across less impressive and the rather haphazard writing and editing of the overall story does leave the viewer craving a bit more finesse, alas, this does not spoil the picture, but does make for a few demerits. Worth catching up with at some point before the awards, White Boy Rick is rated R.

Since the 1980’s the universe’s most lethal sport hunters, the predators, have been making appearances on Earth, hunting down the strongest and most dangerous humans alive. Now, for whatever reason, it would appear their presence is increasing. But, putting the predators back in their place to save humanity is no small task, it’ll take the efforts of military badass Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook), a rag tag team of other former soldiers, and science teacher Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn) to get the job done. But do they really stand a chance? I mean really? Directed by Shane Black and Co-Written by Fred Dekker and Black this ridiculous homage to the world of Predator harkens back to the insanity of 80’s action films ripe with impossible fight sequences, gallons of blood, massive body counts, a modicum of bad CGI, a smattering of pithy humor and witty comebacks galore. Ensemble wise, notable work from all makes this breezy hour and 47 minutes whiz by. All In all, it’s a blast; from the outset the film delicately stomps the line of taking itself seriously, often dipping its toe in the goof pool as if to remind you this potential train wreck of a concept is actually fun. And there’s the meat of it, a film made with no delusions of grandeur but rather a film made for fun and entertainment, kind of like Saturday morning cartoons, but for big kids now. The Predator is rated R.

Years before Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Verga Farmiga) encountered the horrors of Amityville, the demon doll known as Annabelle, and countless other supernatural forces, an even more powerful evil would be released upon the grounds of an abbey hidden in the hills of Romania. Seeking miracles and answers the Catholic Church would deploy Father Burke (Demián Bichir) and the young and impressionable Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga)– what the two would find was nothing shy of hell. Now to sanctify the grounds and send the evil packing from whence it came…or is it too late? Written by Gary Dauberman and James Wan and Directed by Corin Hardy this jump scare (often telegraphed) extension of the Conjuring cadre aims to play upon the foundations of demonic possession but instead falls flat with the same mechanism of terror/horror on repeat. Confusing matters further, nods to the Evil Dead franchise and curious smatterings of humor throughout create for an odd tonal pairing, not necessarily wrong, just odd, end result, underutilized resources and missed scares, especially from the work of the titular Nun played by Bonnie Aarons, ultimately our villain gets a surprisingly low amount of screen time. And, coming in with a runtime of 96 minutes welcomes aren’t overstayed, but then, they aren’t encouraged just the same. Perhaps making the rental list for a later date in the winter when the skies are already dark, The Nun is rated R.