2017 SLEEPERS
                                                               Part 1

It’s time to start trotting out one of the most popular features of this blog- sleepers from last year you may have missed that I thought were good.
A United Kingdom was way up on my list. In fact, it was number 2, trailing only 
The Post. It stars David Oyelowo (MLK in Selma) as the soon-to-be king of Bechuanaland, a small African country that is now Botswana. Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency fans will recognize it. While studying in the UK he falls in love with a white English woman, Ruth Williams, played brilliantly by Rosamund Pike (the wife from Hell in Gone Girl). This pairing does not play well in either home country. But Ruth’s continuing desire to be of use and to fit in regardless of her skin color are quite winning. And all of this (okay, most of this) really happened!
Also based on a true story, Megan Leavey is the name of the main character and that doesn’t tell you much about the movie. She is played by Kate Mara (Rooney’s sister). She is a trainer of sniffer dogs in the Marine Corps. One of a group of dogs to be trained is adjudged to be too violent and hard to handle. But she thinks otherwise and a very tight bond develops between Megan and the German shepherd, Rex. When Rex’s K9 days are over, Megan tries to adopt him and encounters yards of red tape. 
Wonderstruck is a super good movie with an altogether incredible performance by young Millicent Simmonds. This kid can do more with her face than most actors can accomplish with their whole bodies.  The film is worth watching for her performance alone. But it’s an intriguing tale of two children seeking their parents. However, they are separated by 50 years! Somehow it all works and the ending is truly enchanting. 
Wind River is a rough and tumble mystery that begins with the discovery of a dead girl in the snow in the middle of nowhere. Jeremy Renner (from Hurt Locker) stars as a US Fish and Wildlife Service tracker and Elizabeth Olsen as an FBI agent.
They painstakingly peel away clues that lead to what actually happened, and why they found a young Native American girl dead of a pulmonary hemorrhage.
Most readers will remember the bombs set off during the Boston Marathon in 2013. In Stronger Jake Gyllenhaal stars as real person Jeff Bauman, from whose memoir the screenplay is taken. When his girlfriend signs up to run in the famous race he rushes to the finish line to be able to greet her when she crosses. But this puts him in the path of one of the bombs, and both his legs are lost. He is able to give the police a description of one of the bombers. Most of the movie deals with the search for the bombers and with Jeff’s painful and lengthy rehabilitation. 
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults.