Greyhound (2020)

Director: Aaron Schneider
Stars: Tom Hanks, Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan, Elisabeth Shue
Runtime: 91 minutes
Apple TV+ Original

It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but Schneider’s quick direction and Hanks’ punchy script and commanding lead performance make for a fun WWII action thriller. Hanks’ Captain Krause commands a Navy destroyer, the Greyhound, defending a merchant ship convoy from fierce U-boats. And that’s it. Like the dog breed, Greyhound emphasizes efficiency first and foremost – more plot would be nice, but it wouldn’t add anything to the thrills and spills at sea. Sometimes, all you need for entertainment is Hanks barking orders and torpedoes, well, torpedoing. (85 words/B)

Hamilton (2020)

Director: Thomas Kail
Stars: Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Christopher Jackson, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Okieriete Onaodowan, Anthony Ramos, Phillipa Soo
Runtime: 160 minutes
Disney+ streaming exclusive

Somehow, this filmic treatment of Miranda’s phenomenal stage show creates cinematic lightning in a bottle. This show’s beauty lies in how deeply Miranda and company explore the inherent contradictions in America and the fallibility of its founders, through both old and new musical conventions. That depth, those incredible songs, those performances, the revolving stage, essentially the room where it happens – all under the intimate eye of Kail (the Broadway show’s director!) and professional cinematographer Declan Quinn – capture this truly American phenomenon for all time. Look around, look around – how lucky we are to experience Hamilton right here, right now. (99 words/A PLUS PLUS PLUS)