Astronaut

A 75-year-old man with a heart condition, mourning the recent loss of his wife, ends up the first space tourist? Sounds like a cinematic essay question for a test on willing suspension of belief. Give Richard Dreyfuss an A. For “Astronaut” (2019). This elegant little film takes every implausibility (and don’t worry, there’s more than I’m mentioning here) and twists them back around until they’re art, like extraterrestrial origami. And bless Dreyfuss for saving his typical blowhard, scenery-chewing arrogance until the one moment where it actually works. It’s not the best movie this year, but it’s a most pleasant surprise.

Wind River

Justice comes cold, but surely, in “Wind River” (2017), a murder mystery that takes place on an Indian reservation in Wyoming. Jeremy Renner works for the fish and game department and stumbles on a crime scene that hits close to home. An FBI agent keeps him around for his tracking skills, but the real co-star is the weather. It’s beautiful and dismal all at once. It impacts every second of every day. One character bemoans the “snow and the quiet.” I chose to view it on one of the coldest nights of the year in my town. A wise move.