"Joyful Noise" with Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Jeremy Jordan, Dexter Darden, Courtney B. Vance, Jesse L. Martin, Kirk Franklin,
and Kris Kristofferson
A choir in a small church enters the "Joyful Noise" competition each year, but always washes out in the semi-finals until they get a new choir director who makes some
improvements. This was a good story with plenty of great singing and music, and worth watching, but it was too formulaic to rate higher than ★★★.
"Safe House" with Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Rubén Blades, Joel Kinnaman, Nora Arnezeder,
Robert Patrick, Liam Cunningham, Tanit Phoenix, Jake McLaughlin, Fares Fares
This one is a really good spy story with lots of action and gun fights. Ryan Reynolds is a safe-house "host" in a very quiet area, and he has never had a "guest." Denzel
Washington, a traitorous leaker of CIA information, becomes his guest and promptly manages to escape custody when a gang of thugs breaks in to kill him. Chase
scenes, perfidy, intrigue, and more car chases and shooting ensue. It was absolutely wonderful (I love Denzel -- he's one of my very favorite actors) and we gave it ★★★★.
Perfidy. That reminds me the clothes have to go into the dryer at 11:30.