George Lucas has been obsessed for decades with telling the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, African-American aviators who fought with distinction for the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II, despite racial discrimination that often reduced their roles to bomber escorts. It's a hell of a tale, a Star Wars based in historical fact. But executive producer Lucas, in tandem with director Anthony Hemineway (The Wire, Treme), half botches the job. The flying sequences are electric – the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group painted the tails of their planes red, hence the nickname "Red Tails" – though relying too heavily on computer technology and musical rah-rah. It's the plot that sends the film hurtling to earth where officers, played by Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr., bark orders and plot points, Among the actors Nate Parker is a standout as a squad leader. But you leave Red Tails thinking of what might have been instead of what is – a missed opportunity.

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“He Will Break Your Heart”

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."