The wildfires in the Western part of the United States are a tragedy that has claimed lives and destroyed homes. The firefighters on the front lines of those fires are heroes who are called to protect towns from destruction. They deserve to be honored and the world needs to hear the stories of their bravery.
Only the Brave is based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. A local unit of firefighters that became one of the most elite firefighting teams in the country. The movie centers on two of the firefighters, Eric Marsh, the Superintendent of the team, and Brendan McDonough, a drug addict trying to turn his life around. In the beginning, Crew 7 is a municipal wildfire team, meaning they were started and funded by the small town of Prescott, AZ. The goal for them is earn their certification as a Type 1 Interagency Hotshot crew, meaning they’ll be able to work a fire line head on instead of working clean up or prep miles away. Marsh, as the crew’s superintendent pushes his team to the limits including the newest member of the team, McDonough. McDonough has led a life of drug addiction and misdemeanor crime. When he learns that he’s the father of a child, he decided to turn his life around and joins Crew 7. He endures the brutal training and the hazing of his fellow firefighters to become and accepted member of the team. Of course, Crew 7 gets their certification and dub themselves the Granite Mountain Hotshots. It doesn’t take long for them to see action and their unique brotherhood comes into focus as they stare down one fateful fire.
Joseph Kosinki’s film is exactly what you’d expect. It sets up the background of the firefighters, focuses on two of them to give you a sense of their humanity and to make you feel inspired by them. He throws in enough about the rest of the firefighters to give you a sense of the closeness to each other. If you know a firefighter or a police officer, you know they are a family. They look out for each other. There’s a bond there and Kosinski puts it on full display. The men he depicts are they type of guys to sit back, drink a beer, and shout “hell yeah” when they show up at a fellow fireman’s house in the middle of the night to help because his baby has a fever (that happens in the movie).
Only the Brave is a based on a true story and it’s a tragic story but it’s also a very brave story. There are people who say, “Someone should do something” and there are those that say, “I’m on the way”. The 20 Granite Mountain Hotshots are the latter and this film is a fine service to their memory and their courage.
Also in theaters this week, based on the novel by Jo Nesbo, The Snowman stars Michael Fassbender as the lead detective of an elite crime squad investigating the disappearance of a victim on the first snow of winter. He fears an elusive killer may be active again. With the help of a brilliant recruit, he works to connect decades-old cold cases to the brutal new one with the hope of outwitting this unthinkable evil before the next snowfall. I'm really interested in this movie because it looks like a good crime thriller but it's getting terrible reviews. The common thing I here is how bad can this movie be with a cast this good. In addition to Fassbender, The Snowman also stars Rebecca Ferguson, J.K. Simms, Val Kilmer, and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Even the director of the movie admits it's a mess because he didn't shoot all the script.
On a lighter side, Madea is back for another Halloween Spooktacular! Tyler Perry’s Boo2! A Madea Halloween which finds Madea, Bam, and Hattie venturing to a haunted campground and the group must literally run for their lives when monsters, goblins, and the boogeyman are unleashed. This movie’s predecessor lead the box office in its’ opening weekend. Look for it to do the same this time.
Probably staying on the lighter side (because there's no way I can take this movie seriously), Geostorm stars Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Daniel Wu, Eugenio Derbez, Andy Garcia, and Ed Harris. Here's the plot: After an unprecedented series of natural disasters threatened the planet, the world's leaders came together to create an intricate network of satellites to control the global climate and keep everyone safe. But now, something has gone wrong—the system built to protect the Earth is attacking it, and it's a race against the clock to uncover the real threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything...and everyone along with it. This is a movie I feel like I'm going to need to see at some point.