The French action movie The Crew (Braqueurs) was released in the US on November 15, 2018. A gang of armored car robbers find themselves in a bigger mess when one of them sells a gun to the local crime gang. In order to pay off a debt, they are forced to hold up a caravan loaded with 80,000 euros (around $90,000) worth of heroin.

Most of the actors were good and very believable. The director was also very good. I don’t know if French action movies are usually this dialogue heavy, but this did tend to slow down the story. The action sequences were good, but had very little blood. The cinematography was good and helped bring a sense of gloom to the film. The soundtrack was good and didn’t overwhelm the story.

Despite the slow section of the movie, it was entertaining. An audience would be drawn into the story more if there would have been more emphasis on the action sequences instead of establishing the relationships between the characters. I give this 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Mowgli was released on 29^th November 2018 and is directed by Andy Serkis who also voices one of the characters in the movie. It is based on Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book and stars Rohan Chand in the lead role.

 The first thing that hits you when the movie opens is that this is not going to be the same as the cutesy, sing-along Disney version as there is a lot of blood and death which will probably explain its 12-rating. So, I would not recommend it for a younger audience. The story is very good and the acting from young Rohan was very believable. The voices for the main characters are from very well known, mainly British, actors and I thought they played their parts very well. The usual characters are all there as well as one I have never seen before, a young albino wolf voiced by Louis Ashbourne Serkis. If Bhoot does not make you cry, you are HEARTLESS! The CGI was also very good with a good musical score to help with the tension.

I really enjoyed this movie, it was a lot darker than what I was expecting and Remmy tells me that this was closer to what Kipling wrote in his book. I am glad someone decided to write and release something other than the Disney version (which I also liked!). I hope it becomes available to buy on disc as I want it in my collection. An easy 5/5 from me.

On November 2, 2018 the biographic film of one of rock’s greatest bands Queen, was released. Bohemian Rhapsody covers the time when Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek) introduced himself to his favorite band Smile and ended up leading them to be one of the greatest bands of the 1970s. The other members were Brian May (Gwilym Lee), Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy), and John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello).

Most biographic films tend to ignore some parts of history, while expanding other parts. Bohemian Rhapsody may be guilty of this aspect, but it is somewhat tempered by Brian May and Roger Taylor’s remembrance of this time and of Freddie. All of the actors did a great job of portraying their characters and the story line was handled very well. The director was also very good. I especially enjoyed the soundtrack. He made a great decision to recreate Queen’s complete concert for Live Aid which revived Queen’s popularity after Freddie Mercury had tried to go solo.

I can hardly imagine anyone who has never heard of Queen or never heard any of their music. Freddie Mercury had a great vocal range and he and the band are experiencing a resurgence. I highly recommend this movie to everyone. By the end of the film, I was starting to tear up and this was the second film I’ve seen where the theater audience stood up and applauded. I give this a 5 stars out of 5 for the emotional experience alone.