A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

The spectre of a dead child rapist haunts the children of the parents who murdered him, stalking and killing them in their dreams.

Superfluous remake is well-made and adds a few details to the original story, but the question remains why start the franchise all over again?

Maltin**1/2: "Surprisingly well-crafted remake...Haley does a possible job...and the scriptwriters a few genuinely clever touches while updating the plot."

American Sniper (2014)

Navy S.E.A.L. sniper Chris Kyle's pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and turns him into a legend.

Professionally directed, but quite unpolitical and cursory study of a war hero's life; the (many) conventional war scenes are staged as timeless and with hardly context to the actual conflict.