Logan Lucky (2017)
Genre: Comedy
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Seth McFarlane, Katie Holmes, Brian Gleeson, Jack Quaid, Hilary Swank, Katherine Waterston, Riley Keough
Duration: 118 minutes
Class: 12A
KRS Releasing Ltd

Channing Tatum (right) and Adam Driver try to convince Daniel Craig to join their cause in Lucky Logan.

Director Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Ocean’s Eleven) returns to the big screen with a heist comedy featuring an ensemble cast.

The film revolves around two brothers Jimmy (Channing Tatum) and one-armed Clyde Logan (Adam Driver), who trying to reverse a family curse, set out to execute an elaborate robbery during the legendary Coca-Cola 600 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina.

They recruit Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), a convicted safecracker, as well as Joe's dimwitted brothers Sam (Brian Gleeson) and Fish (Jack Quaid), and their own sister Mellie (Riley Keough), who plan to break Joe out of prison and return him as soon as the heist is complete before anyone notices.

Complications arise when a mix-up forces the crew to pull off the heist during a popular Nascar race while also trying to dodge a relentless FBI agent (Hilary Swank).

The film received very positive reviews, with critics praising Soderbergh’s direction and strong performances.

David Sims of The Atlantic wrote:

“Logan Lucky is yet another of Soderbergh’s wonderful ensemble pieces, one that should stand out in the cinematic doldrums of August [the film was released on August 18 in the US].”

Jeffrey M. Anderson of Common Sense Media commented: “Steven Soderbergh returns to the big screen after a self-imposed “retirement” with a film that's very much in the vein of his Ocean's trilogy but pulpier and quirkier – and tons of fun.”

And the critics’s consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: “High-octane fun that's smartly assembled without putting on airs, Logan Lucky marks a welcome end to Steven Soderbergh's retirement – and proves he hasn't lost his ability to entertain.”

The $29 million budget film has so far garnered $25 million in box offices worldwide.

Ratings
IMDB: 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Empire: 4 stars

Detroit (2017)
Genre: Drama
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Will Poulter, Algee Smith, Jacob Latimore, John Krasinski
Duration: 143 minutes
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd

Detroit turns the spotlight on a dark chapter in US history.

Director Kathryn Bigelow and writer/producer Mark Boal reunite after their successful The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty for a period crime drama based on the Algiers Motel incident during racially charged Detroit’s 1967 12th Street Riot. Three teenage civilians, all of them black, were beaten and killed by police at the motel. Nine others – two white females and seven black males – were badly beaten and humiliated by members of a riot task force.

The film, starring John Boyega, Anthony Mackie and Will Poulter in the main roles, received positive reviews.

Simon Crook of Empire described it as “a gruelling, nightmarish, ferociously vivid riot epic that recreates one of the darkest chapters in American history. Unflinching, unmissable and terrifyingly pertinent”.

Owen Gleiberman of Variety said: “This is no comforting drama of social protest. It's closer to a hair-trigger historical nightmare, one you can't tear yourself away from.”

Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal was equally impressed: “Dramatically relentless and emotionally shattering, it brings news from a turbulent past that casts a baleful light on America’s troubled present.”

Made on a $34 million budget, the film has so far grossed $16.5 million in the US since its release on August 4.

Ratings
IMDB: 7.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Empire: 4 stars

Tobey Maguire as chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer in Pawn Sacrifice.

Pawn Sacrifice (2014)
Genre: Biopic
Director: Edward Zwick
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber, Peter Sarsgaard, Lily Rabe, Michael Stuhlbarg
Duration: 115 minutes
Class: 12
KRS Releasing Ltd

The biographical drama is based on the true story of Bobby Fischer’s challenge against top Soviet chess grandmasters during the Cold War and culminating in the 1972 World Chess Championship match  against Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Tobey Maguire stars as Fischer while Liev Schreiber plays Spassky.

Critics gave mixed reviews of the film which was released in the US in 2015.

Among them, Justin Chang of Variety wrote: “This straight-forward but focused biopic doesn't crack the mystery of the mentally troubled misanthrope who became the game's greatest player.”

And Sandy Schaefer of Screen Rant commented: “Pawn Sacrifice is an engaging and well-made biopic with solid performances but fails at being an insightful and thematically rich work of cinema.”

Ratings
IMDB: 7.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 72%
Empire: N/A