Arrival

When  mysterious spacecrafts touch down across the globe, an elite team-led by expert linguist Louise Banks- is brought together to investigate.  As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.  This is not your run of the mill sci-fi movie.  The flashbacks get you wondering if they are the past or the future.  I give it an 8.  Stars Amy Adams, Forest Whitaker and Jeremy Renner.

Loving

Loving celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of interracial couple Richard and Mildred Loving, who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their Virginia hometown.  Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry - and has gone down in history as an inspiration to couples everywhere.  Slow at times but a piece of history that needs to be told.  I give it a 7.  Stars Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga.

Moonlight

Set amid the height of Miami's War on Drugs,  this tender, heartbreaking story follows one man across three defining chapters in his life as he wrestles with the beauty and pain of falling in love, while grappling with his sexuality.  I expected violence and drug gore but there was none.  The story centers on character development and does a fantastic job.  I give it a 9.  Stars Mahershala Ali, Naomie  Harris,  Janelle Monae.

The Handmaiden

A gripping and sensual tale of two women-- a young Japanese Lady living on a secluded estate, and a Korean woman  who is hired to serve as her new handmaiden but is secretly plotting with a conman to defraud her of a large inheritance.  By sensual we mean soft porn.  Some of the scenes are very explicit.  My movie companion and I needed a drink after the movie.  Although the story line is good, it leaves nothing to the imagination.  I give it a 5.  Stars no one you have heard  about.