Captain Phillips

Have you ever heard of Barkad Abdi, Barkad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, and Mahat M. Ali?  Neither have I, but I hope they get the chance to branch out from pirate roles because these four guys did a lot of the heavy lifting that made Captain Phillips one of the most engaging suspense-drama-thriller-type-movies I've seen in a long time.

Hey, Somali pirates, don't hurt Tom Hanks!  He's like the most affable man who has ever lived.  Also, don't try to outrun the US Navy in a shitty little lifeboat.  Ooh, this isn't going to end well.

Captain Phillips was good.  It was constantly suspenseful (although there was a little too much shaky-cam), it had scenes with lots of big boats and helicopters and things that at least appeared not to be CGI, there were surprisingly great performances from totally unknown actors, and it was all Based on a True Story.  It's the only movie I've ever seen that has pirates in it but does not absurdly romanticize the idea of what it means to be a pirate.

Its rating of PG-13 is a measure of how miscalibrated the MPAA rating system is.  The terror and violence and blood in this movie make it way more inappropriate for children than boobs or the f-word ever could.  So don't bring a kid to it.  But go, if you want to see a well-put-together thriller that will leave you a bit shaken and a bit thoughtful.