Stronger

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Jeff Bauman, the man who got his legs blown off in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and whose description of one of the bombers narrowed down the search for the culprits. Directed by David Gordon Green and written by John Pollono (from the book by Bauman and Bret Witter), the movie covers familiar ground but is well done, and the basic story is invincibly compelling. Gyllenhaal proves once again that he’s one of the most adventurous actors in movies today, and once again (after Nightcrawler and Southpaw) earns an Oscar nomination he probably won’t get. The movie’s secret weapon is a possibly star-making performance by Tatiana Maslany as Bauman’s girlfriend and later wife. (Not to spoil the movie’s upbeat ending, but earlier this year the Baumans announced their pending divorce.) J.L.