Coming Distractions - The Latest Movie and TV Reviews

Movie Review: What happens when you bring two competitive people together to make a married couple? What happens when that couple is forced into an unwittingly dangerous real-world kidnapping situation when they think its a game? "Game Night," asks these questions and with John Francis Daley in the director's chair, answers them in hilarious fashion. The film follows a group of friends who meet regularly for their game night, and one night they find themselves investigating an actual murder mystery. The film stars Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Jesse Plemons, and Kyle Chandler.

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Making his big onscreen debut in Captain America: Civil War, the character of Black Panther/T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) gets to finally step out on his own solo adventure. While the wait was long, it was more than worth it. Director Ryan Coogler manages to deliver Marvel's most diverse and unique adventure to date. Taking place in the fictional country of Wakanda, a hidden gem of Africa with technology that far surpasses the rest of the world, we see the coronation of the new king T'Challa. After watching his father be murdered in Captain America: Civil War, he must become the new leader of his people and learn to balance that with his superheroics and need to be a good man. T'Challa will be challenged not only at home by other tribes but also from enemies from afar, including the arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) and a newcomer, Erik "Killmonger" Stevens (Michael B. Jordan) who's background is most complex than it appears. T'Challa does have the benefit of not having to fight alone. He is supported by his tech genius sister Shuri (Letitia Wright), head of his royal guard, the Dora Milage, Okoye (Danai Gurira), and his former lover and spy operative Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o).

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The latest, and hopefully last, film in the Fifty Shades film series, "Fifty Shades Freed" has officially arrived. The film follows a newlywed couple of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele-Grey played by Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson respectively as they must deal with the sins of their past.

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Den of Thieves is the latest action film from director Christian Gudegast starring Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, 50 Cent, and O'Shea Jackson Jr. The film works as almost an exact retelling of Michael Mann's 1995 masterpiece, Heat. This time we get the more meathead version of that story but the outside framing is much the same. The movie pits a group of ex-military bank robbers who work with extreme accuracy against a group of major crimes officers who ride the line of legality. Den of Thieves may not be a cerebral film with amazing acting but for a somewhat mindless action film, it works. Worthwhile gunplay, elaborate schemes, and extreme bits of cat and mouse interplay, this very well might be the best film coming out during the film drought that is January, or at the very least the most entertaining.

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Taking place in the middle of the Fox X-Men universe, The Gifted is a 13 episode season that explores the adventures of a family as they are thrust into the battle between humans and mutant-kind. When a brother and sister publicly display their mutant abilities by accident in high school they are immediately put on the run alongside their parents from the evil Sentinel Services, who are tasked to capture and contain dangerous mutants. The family eventually joins up with the Mutant Underground, a group of powerful mutants who are the fantasy version of the Underground Railroad from times of slavery in the United States. The show works on a "fetch quest" of the week premise and finds the family and the Mutant Underground heading from one position to another to garner some new knowledge or pick up some item to ease they lives on the run. With some cameos by mutants from a deep cut in Marvel's X-Men comic lore and a decent side story about the Mutant Underground members, the show rises to the level of mediocre TV but flounders just about everywhere else.

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Liam Nesson is back in yet another action movie based on a type of conveyance. This time he finds himself on a daily commuter train being approached by a stranger to do the unthinkable for money. The former cop turned life insurance salesman must make a race against time to find out what his true mission is and save everyone on this train before things go "off the rails." - Pun very much intended.

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Back before Iron Man was leading the Marvel Cinematic Universe to massive success, there was Brian K. Vaughn's Runaways. Originally planned to jumpstart the MCU the teen-focused series has finally made it to live-action. Telling the story of a group of high schoolers who happen upon their parents performing a secret ritual that leads them to discover their parents are actually villains. The teens come together to form their own odd Breakfast Club like "superhero" team. Comprised of the boy genius, tech inventor, telepathically dinosaur linked girl, a girl with massive strength, a magician, and a girl who has mysterious alien-like powers the teens aren't just forced to take on their parents but they are forced to get along with each other. Marvel's "Runaways" works best with its interaction between the kids and that is well mirrored with the parents interacting with their own group. Both teams are complex, well written and acted. Marvel's Runaways is yet another hit in the ever-growing MCU freight train. Directed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the series has been renewed for a second season and expanded from 10 episodes to the standard Marvel 13.

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Imagine if the Twilight Zone and Google had a baby, well that would be Black Mirror, and the Netflix exclusive show is back for its fourth twisted season. Covering topics from a Star Trek parody to an episode that everyone is describing as just too much. Black Mirror is a show about blurring the lines of fear, anxiety, and technology into a modern freak out. Micah and Terrence sit down and discuss their thoughts on each of the six presented episodes in this latest season. They stay as far away from spoilers as possible, but we encourage you to watch the show before checking out their review.

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Amazon Studios gave a two-season order for their period comedy show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel starring Rachel Brosnahan and created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and they shouldn't stop there. The show follows Midge Maisel as a 1950s Jewish Upper Westside in NYC housewife who through some tragic circumstances in her marriage finds herself single and back living with her parents with two young children. Midge is bitten by the stand-up comedy bug when she drunkenly gets on stage at The Gaslight Cafe and performs an impromptu set. An employee at the cafe, Susie (Alex Borstein) sees potential in Midge and helps her hone her newfound passion. Midge's life isn't all roses as she has to navigate 1950 ideals (some she holds and some she fights), her parents in Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle who play Abe and Rose Weissman respectively, and her former life of privilege.

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