Widows (2018)

Steve McQueen knows how to make an intense movie. Heist movies, by their very nature, are intense, but McQueen takes it to another level. Hans Zimmer's score as well as the moments of tense silence contribute to the mood. There are some gorgeous tracking shots. And Gillian Flynn of Gone Girl fame writes an engaging screenplay full of twists, grit and excitement.The plot is complex, intertwining race, power, money and gender roles. And the cast is all phenomenal.  Viola Davis is a badass.

Fences (2016)

I've never seen the play, but this is supposedly verbatim from August Wilson's words. This is the first film adaptation of any work of Wilson's. He is an American treasure, and Denzel Washington does an honorable job doing him justice. You don't mess with something that ain't broke. Denzel is an actor's director. He lets the stars (most of all himself) shine. Most of the cast is straight from the 2010 Broadway production, for which Denzel and Viola Davis both won Tonys. The whole cast is excellent. They've gotten some flack for basically just putting on the play in front of a camera. But I don't have a problem with that. Plays tend to have deeper scripts. And they retain all the elements of this essential portrait of American life. 

Suicide Squad (2016)

Suicide Squad was pretty terrible, not as bad as everyone said, but by no means good. There is definitely a style, but it's a strange one. The opening, a montage of origin stories, looks cheap with the punk video game writing on the screen. Viola Davis is too good for this. Margot Robbie is even too good for this. She does what she can with the little she is given. And Jared Leto is a maniacal freak. He scared the heck out of me. Despite a more unique idea, the execution of the film is poor. The plot is borderline boring. These superhero, or super villain, movies just aren't exciting anymore. 

Get On Up (2014)

The James Brown biopic is helmed by Chadwick Boseman who plays the Godfather of Soul convincingly.  He nails the huge ego and personality, the at-times-unintelligible speech, the dance moves, and the unforgettable singing voice.  However, a good performance can only carry the movie so far.  There is a lot of unnecessary time jumping and I think it would have been more appropriate for such a biopic to go through his life chronologically, to simply follow time linearly.  The movie is mostly about Brown's ego and how it affected his personal relationships.  I think we had enough of that; instead we were shorted on music in a movie about one of the greatest musicians of all time.