Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, 3.5 Stars

If you like the Star Wars (SW) franchise, you'll enjoy this movie. (I did.)

It fills in some background between Episodes III and IV about how the Rebellion got hold of the design plans of the Death Star.

Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) and Diego Luna (new to me) are good, 'one-off' additions to the SW series and give assertive performances. The strong supporting cast includes Mads Mikkelsen (see my Doctor Strange review) and Alan Tudyk (A Knight's Tale) as the voice of K-2SO.

The story is good and moves along, sometimes at a frenetic pace. I would see it again.

The Man Who Knew Infinity, 3.0 Stars

This is a somewhat obscure film that some friends introduced us to on Netflix. I'm not sure if it was in my local theatres and might have only had a short run elsewhere. It didn't get great reviews (according to Rotten Tomatoes).

The story is about a brilliant Indian mathematician around the time of the First World War who travels to Oxford, England (these facts may explain the lukewarm reception it received). I like math and I also liked this movie very much.

The cast is led by Jeremy Irons (The French Lieutenant's Woman, 1981) and Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), who dominate every scene they are in. It also introduces Devika Bhise, who displays a good range of emotions.

It is an interesting, engaging story and I recommend it.

The Jungle Book (2016), 2.5 Stars

I liked this movie. It's a good story and the Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) makes it very strong and believable.

Neel Sethi (new) is very good as, essentially, the only live human in the film. The rest of the CGI characters have strong voices, some of whom are recognizable (this is especially true of Bill Murray (Ghostbusters 1984), as a lovable bear).

A little long but well-paced, it would be a good rental and I recommend it. (Note: This is not for young children.)

Doctor Strange, 3 Stars

This is an entertaining movie from a comic book series (unknown to me, but that's not unusual...). It has good story, some great special effects, and a very strong cast.

Led by the great Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) and the enigmatic and talented Tilda Swinton (The Chronicles of Narnia series), it also has Rachel McAdams (About Time) who plays her usual role. as well as Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) whom I'm starting to admire more each time I see him.

The film is long but the story mostly moves along. If you like the latest rounds of comic adaptations, I think you'll like this. And Cumberbatch as usual makes it all worthwhile.

Queen of Katwe, 2.5 Stars

This is a nice little movie, with strong acting. The story is about a young woman learning chess in her African village and is fairly predictable.

The performances are very good: David Oyelowa (Selma); Lupita Nyong'o (SW: The Force Awakens) and Madina Nalwanga (new to me) all do well and there is a good supporting cast.

The story drags a bit in places and is long at 124 minutes. Still, it would make a good rental and I recommend it.