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Bob Marley was a musical icon, husband, father, rebel, Jamaican political peacemaker, and follower of the Rastafarian religion. One Love focuses mainly on Marley's family relations, two years of his life (1976-1978), and the making of the album Exodus. Other aspects of his life are touched on, with brief flashbacks used to show some of his back story. Although Marley's family was heavily involved in production of the movie, his infidelity and other flaws are not sugarcoated.

The usual biopic limitations are present, with 107 minutes not being enough to cover in depth all aspects of Marley's complicated life and character. Some of the flashbacks seemed unnecessary and the Jamaican accents were sometimes hard to understand.

Despite the limitations, One Love is an engaging portrait of a multi-faceted artist. The movie is a good introduction for people who know little about Bob Marley and there's also enough to keep his devotees interested.

The movie is a fictionalized account of Diana Nyad's multiple attempts to swim 100+ miles from Cuba to Key West in her 60s, after failing to do so at age 28. Film footage of the real events is included, along with flashback scenes based on Nyad's childhood. The swim scenes became a little tedious, but the movie held my interest because I didn't remember all the historical details.

Compelling performances are given by Annette Bening as the elderly Nyad and Jodie Foster as Bonnie, Diana's best friend and coach. Bening plays Diana as a driven, obsessed narcissist, who inspires people but is prone to making grandiose speeches about herself. She is condescending towards many of the boat crew who try to help on her journeys. Bening looks like she endured plenty of suffering to show the pain of marathon swimming. Foster plays Bonnie as a cheerful, practical, and patient women who maintains rapport with the boat crew and interrupts Diana's grandiose speeches.

Rhys Ifan also shines as the crew's grizzled navigator, who tolerates Diana and keeps her on course. Eric T. Miller is convincingly creepy as Diana's smarmy youth swim coach.

The movie has enough action and great performances to overcome the presence of an unlikeable main character.

American Fiction tells the story of a Black professor and writer nicknamed "Monk" (Jeffrey Wright), whose fiction about all kinds of people earns praise but not a lot of money. Monk is angered when another Black intellectual writes a best seller that exploits every bad stereotype about Blacks in the ghetto. Monk writes a similarly crude blacksploitation novel under a pseudonym and tells his agent (John Ortiz) to shop the book to publishers, in order to "push it in their faces." Not only is the book published but, to Monk's chagrin, becomes a hit and helps him get a movie offer. Monk is forced to reckon with the monster the book created and the charade of his double life.

Wright is superb as a complex man who struggles with his writing, his family relations, and his romance with lawyer Coraline (well played by Erika Alexander, with the the perfect combination of smart and sweet). Based on the movie's trailer, I expected the turmoil over Monk's novel to be the core of the story. The movie delivers with hilarious interchanges between Monk, his agent, and earnest publishers and critics who believe he has written an authentic Black novel.

However, way too much of the movie's time was wasted on Monk's tense relations with his sister (big-eyed Tracee Ross) and his brother (Sterling K. Brown), and the siblings' issues with their late father. Family dramas are way too common, but great comedies are hard to find these days. At times, I thought I was watching two movies at once, only one of which was entertaining.

Based on real events in 1957 and a book by automotive writer Brock Yates, the movie follows ambitious auto making and racing executive Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver), his femme-fatale wife/business partner Laura (Penelope Cruz), and his long-time mistress Lina (Shailene Woodley). Everything is coming to a head for Ferrari as he struggles to raise financing for his company and keep secret his mistress and their out-of-wedlock son. Much is riding on the performance of Ferrari's team in a 1,000-mile race through the hills and cities of Italy.

The actors do a good job of portraying the characters as complex flawed people, not heroes. The cinematography and stunt driving are outstanding, and the accident scenes are frightening. Like many movies over two hours, this one could have been cut down, with too many long lingering shots of characters' faces.

Although the movie drags in places, the action revs up when Enzo and Laura are clashing, and the race cars are zooming.

The river scenery is awesome. The boat racing scenes are thrilling. The look inside the techniques and culture of rowing is fascinating. The characters make you cheer for an underdog rookie rowing team as they battle experienced rowers, overbearing athletic boosters, corrupt sports officials, and numerous skeptics.

What then is Boys in the Boat missing? Drama. Suspense. Like many underdog sports movies, the ending (and many events along the way) is totally predictable. Not to worry though. The movie is also missing the grim gloom and violence of many modern flicks. If you watch Boys in the Boat, you can just sit back and enjoy the ride!

A U. S. mainlander is hired to coach a soccer team in a far-off land. The coach is separated from his wife, but still loves her. He's a total misfit in a foreign culture and everybody thinks he's going to fail.

No, this isn't the Ted Lasso movie, it's Next Goal Wins, which is based on a true story. A hotheaded mainlander is hired to coach the pathetic American Samoa national soccer team that has never even scored a goal in international competition. Culture clashes ensue as the coach tries to whip the team into shape for a match three weeks away. The humor is goofy and the ending is totally predictable, but that's okay. If you need a feel-good break from today's dark and dreary movies, go see Next Goal Wins.

I Am a Noise is an in-depth portrait of Joan Baez's music career, political activism, and personal life. The strange title comes from what she wrote about herself as a young girl. Baez is remarkably insightful and honest about herself and her struggles with mental illness. Especially intense is her description of the family therapy she underwent, including excerpts from therapy tapes. I didn't give this excellent documentary a 10 because the therapy description went on too long for me.

This documentary is a must watch for serious and casual Joan Baez fans and I'd recommend it for anyone who wants to hear a beautiful voice and learn about a significant American artist and political activist.

Dumb Money tells the story of a group of Internet investors who bid up the stock price of GameStop while Wall Street titans are betting on the price crashing. Although it's a movie cliche, the David v. Goliath story was interesting and somewhat suspenseful, especially since I didn't remember how the real events turned out. However, the movie is marred by a constant barrage of loud and obscene hip-hop that served no obvious purpose. The other major flaw is crude dialogue littered with f-words and s-words. Did the people the movie is based on really curse that much? I hope all the lazy writers for this movie went broke during the strike and left the industry.

BlackBerry is based on real events and recounts the creation and marketing of a device that revolutionized (for a time) personal computing and communications. I suppose that it would fall under the nebulous category of dramedy, and it is somewhat effective as a drama and a comedy. The drama involves a struggling technology firm attempting to find partners and bring its device to market before larger competitors squeeze them out. Later drama commences when the federal government begins an investigation into the company's practices. The comedic aspects of the movie feature a culture clash between the creative geeks and the suit they hire to help them navigate the cutthroat business world.