In 1965, a Black woman in Selma, Alabama, named Annie Lee Cooper (Oprah Winfrey) went to register to vote. She was asked ridiculous questions by the clerk, including the names of all the county judges in the state. When she could not answer, she turned away and walked out. “Selma” opens with a dramatization of this event. In one brief scene, director Ava DuVerney and writer Paul Webb make the case for a Voting Rights Act.

The frustration of Ms. Cooper and many others brought Martin Luther King (David Oyelowo) to Selma in the spring of 1965 to organize a march from Selma to Montgomery to raise awareness for the need for the Voting Rights Act. As Stephen Spielberg did two years ago with his film “Lincoln,” DuVerney and Webb decided to focus on a particular episode in King’s life, rather than do a standard biography. “Selma” brings out King’s many gifts: his political savvy, his theological mind, his brilliant oratory, along with his compassion for the suffering of others, and his devotion to his wife and family.
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“The Theory of Everything” tells the story of the marriage between the brilliant British physicist Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne), and his wife, Jane (Felicity Jones). Stephen became a world-famous figure. Even though he is disabled by ALS, he is known for his perseverance and great mind. He is only able to speak with the assistance of an electronic device.

“Theory of Everything” begins with Stephen as an undergraduate at Cambridge. He is an excellent student, but awkward and shy. Stephen meets Jane, and they begin to see one another. Over a period of time, Stephen begins to have serious physical symptoms, which impair his movement and walking. While in graduate school, Stephen is diagnosed with ALS and given a maximum of two years to live. He distances himself from Jane, thinking it would be unfair for her to stay with him after his grim diagnosis. However, Jane professes her love for Stephen, as well as her desire to stay with him for as long as he will live. If it’s only two years, so be it.
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David Fincher is a talented director who has made good movies about unlikable people (“The Social Network”). He also directed some episodes of a good TV series about unlikable people (“House of Cards”). Now Fincher directs another story about unlikable people, “Gone Girl.” These may be the worst yet. You wouldn’t want this couple moving into your neighborhood!

Gillian Flynn adapts her best-selling novel for the screen. It is set in a small Missouri city on the fifth anniversary of Nick and Amy Dunn. Nick goes to work on an ordinary summer morning at the bar he manages with his twin sister, Margo. A neighbor alerts Nick that something seems amiss at home. Nick returns home to find a smashed glass-top table and a speck of blood on the cabinet. Amy is gone. The police begin to investigate, and Nick becomes the prime suspect in the disappearance and perhaps murder of his wife.
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After seeing a couple of serious dramatic movies, I decided that Labor Day Weekend would be a good time to catch up on the summer’s biggest hit, “Guardians of the Galaxy.” It’s a comic book adventure movie that has received good reviews and word of mouth.

I can understand the appeal of “Guardians.” Many “comic book” movies are long and dark (e.g. the recent Batman movies). “Guardians of the Galaxy” is relatively short at only two hours and does not take itself seriously. In the movie, our hero, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), was mysteriously taken from his mother’s death bed on Earth in 1988 as a boy. He travels to a far away galaxy where he becomes an adventurer.
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