Fury (2014)

I enjoy quite a few war movies, but recommending them is seldom easy. Battle-heavy ones in particular threaten to run together; if you don't crave mere violence in your viewings, they'd better offer something new. This goes double for depictions of WWII, since there are so many.

The most immediately distinctive feature of Fury is that the (anti)heroes ride a tank. You may welcome the inherent change of dynamics therein -- partly with a smaller, tight-knit group with more armor than usual -- tho if they spent any less time on the outside the tank, I'd get too claustrophobic. The next cinematic battle I see had better have more running around. As it is, I split my viewing over the course of two nights, which is not a good sign for a little more than two hours.

Begin Again (2014)

Movies about fictitious musicians are a pretty big gamble for me. While biopics offer some true info if nothing else, the fiction pics don't even guarantee a single hit song. Their plots don't have a lot of variety, and some have little in the way of progression. As popular as Once was, I found it dull; as popular as Inside Llewyn Davis was, I found it numbing (and not in the Pink Floyd comfortable way).

BA, from the same director as Once, gets off to an unpromising start. Gretta's (Keira Knightley) opening song has a fine tune and lyrics but a lackluster presentation. Then we have a couple time jumps for background, which I failed to recognize as such until they made their way to the first scene. Gretta lags behind her partner-boyfriend in success and then breaks up with him in both senses. Meanwhile, drunk, divorced, deadbeat studio exec Dan (Mark Ruffalo in perhaps his least attractive role) gives teen Violet (Hailee Steinfeld) far more reason than usual to feel embarrassed by her father.

Fortunately, this is not a story about people going nowhere except maybe downward.

Dil Chahta Hai/Do Your Thing (2001)

I didn't expect to see another Bollywood production so soon after the last, but it stops streaming on Netflix this Friday. Glad I discovered this deadline early in the evening, because it's another long 'un, just over 3 hours.

There seems to be a subgenre of comedy-drama in India, characterized by three young men who have fun together and seem close, but some unpleasant surprises put their friendship to the test -- sorta like the bromances of Judd Apatow, only more tasteful and somehow much better. DCH is the earliest example I know of, preceding 3 Idiots by 8 years and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara/You Don't Get Life a Second Time by 10. It is also probably the least fun of the three, but that's not saying much.

How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2

I was going to review only 2 here, since I saw 1 four years ago. But this sort of sequel seems hard to evaluate without making many references to the original.

DreamWorks continues to move up in my estimation. The HtTYD film series is not its most original effort, but both entries to date hold their own against at least half the output of Pixar. They are more likely than anything else to make viewers, young and old, male and female, want a pet dragon.

The Imitation Game (2014)

No other present Best Picture nominee had a higher priority for me or either of my parents. I suppose the basis on a true, important story had something to do with it. In my review of The Theory of Everything, I mentioned the lack of clarity regarding Stephen Hawking's contributions to the world; Alan Turing is much clearer, not just in his thoughts but in his impact on the lives of others -- even if you put aside the main focus of this film, his WWII tide-turning work to decode Enigma.

From his portrayal herein, I get the impression that Turing would've been diagnosed with Asperger's in this day and age. He has so much trouble picking up on subtext (rather comically early in the film) that when introduced to cryptography in childhood, he asks, "How is that different from talking?" His own speech is by turns too blunt and too slow to explain himself, making him only slightly more sufferable to fellow characters than Benedict Cumberbatch's other well-known genius role on "Sherlock." (I can't picture Cumberbatch ever playing a complete idiot.) As a result, much of the conflict has nothing to do with Enigma per se; it's his bosses and co-workers, including at times the one woman with a special interest in him, doubting that he has anything to offer but strife. Fortunately, we viewers can almost always appreciate him, between his adorkable flubs and our preexisting assurance that his efforts paid off.

A View to a Kill (1985)

I did not expect ever to bother with this James Bond flick. It's one of the least popular, even among the mere eight I hadn't seen at the time. But as extensive as the Red Cross DVD library is, most movies in it that I hadn't already seen didn't appeal to me, and I was not about to spend several hours in a chair just reading. (Yes, I donated platelets over the weekend. I'm explaining the circumstances, not bragging.)

Now that I've watched it, I'm not sure why other viewers don't like it better. It's all fun to me. My best guess is that people wanted a younger lead, more use of Q gadgetry, more exotic settings (it's mostly in the U.S.), fewer dopey antics, less predictable means of problem solving, better code names (James Stock, really?), and the approval of Roger Moore himself. For my part, I can hardly tell what positive elements Goldfinger has that AVtaK doesn't, besides iconicity.

King Solomon's Mines (1950)

I took a chance with this reputedly middling but still most popular adaptation of probably the most famous H. Rider Haggard novel. IMDb commentators all seem to love the adventure or find it boring. I figured that if nothing else, I'd get a cultural history lesson.

It is pretty dated. There's something to be said for the challenge and authenticity of filming in Africa with lots of native animals and humans, and I have yet to uncover any wrong information having been dispensed about them, but my sources are sure that someone shot an elephant for real on screen. Ironically, protagonist Allan Quatermain (careful not to use more than one R) was progressive for 1897, forbidding his comrades from killing more wantonly. If you keep the dates in perspective, the adventure gets more appreciable.

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)

I was a bit wary of watching an old Hollywood movie set in China. Fortunately, the serious subject matter and basis on a true story help keep it from being all that politically incorrect. Yes, Robert Donat has his last role as one of the most prominent "Chinese" characters, and Curd Jürgens looks no more half-Chinese than John Carradine from "Kung Fu," but they don't ham it up. I'm more offended at the casting of Ingrid Bergman, who, for all her good acting, has way too thick an accent to pass for a pure Englishwoman and reportedly looks nothing like the real Gladys Aylward.

Aylward's story itself threatens to offend viewers. I mean, this lone Brit with little preparation -- a missionary, no less -- makes a big, apparently highly positive difference for hundreds of Chinese in the '30s. It's not clear that she converts many, but she certainly sets an example with values not common to the area at the time. By gaining favor with, among others, the local official called the Mandarin (partly with her lack of allegiances before going native, like Lawrence of Arabia, and partly by inadvertently amusing with exoticism), she brings about a reduction in foot binding, an improvement of prisons, and other reforms. In the end, she saves many young lives in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Yeah, not a whole lot that concerns the quirkily named inn. If you can accept such a tale, as I did, you'll probably find it touching.

Adam (2009)

As soon as I heard "Asperger" in the trailer, I wanted to see this movie. That's right: I apparently have the syndrome and thus take interest in these things. This may sound strange to those who know how bored I've gotten with literary accounts by Aspergians, but movies rely more heavily on plot. In this case, it's a romantic drama that looks a bit like an indie.

Adam is a 29-year-old space-loving engineer whose widowed dad dies in the beginning, requiring him to grow up some more. Soon he bumps into a new apartment neighbor, Beth, who could use a little assistance while settling in. Despite his social ineptitude -- literal-mindedness, brutal honesty, self-absorption, introversion, emotional tone-deafness -- she finds him kind of sweet and attractive. The path from there is cute but very bumpy, with further complications as Beth's dad goes on trial for an offense that wasn't entirely clear to me.

All About My Mother (1999)

My sister prompted me to check out several Pedro Almodóvar films a while back. I always had mixed feelings. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown struck me funny, but I've largely forgotten it. Mom agreed that Volver was only fitfully good. Talk to Her, while unique, vulgarly seems to disregard Almodóvar's usual knack for dealing with women. And I don't dare check out the NC-17 Bad Education.

All About My Mother is no exception. I can tell that skills went into the making, and the results elicit emotions effectively. It has plenty of female interaction. But not everyone wants to dwell on the subjects, including teen son death, HIV/AIDS, prostitution, nun pregnancy, and the social travails of transvestites.

Swades: We, the People (2004)

Modern Indian movies that find fan bases in the west have a good track record with me. It doesn't hurt that they pretty much all, whether comedic or dramatic, have musical scenes and happy endings. My main caveat is that they tend to run long -- in this case, 3 hours and 15 minutes. But I had a lot of time on my hands, so I actually chose Swades in large part for this reason.

Oddly enough, the story begins in my vicinity: NASA HQ in DC, where protagonist Mohan is a project manager. He soon takes a vacation to India to try to persuade his former nanny, Kaveri, to come back to the U.S. with him, ostensibly for her benefit but also for his own. Unfamiliar with her present home village, he nevertheless makes several amiable acquaintances before long, including an eight-year-old boy in Kaveri's care, a postman who wrestles, a cook who wants a business partner in the U.S., and a female teacher big on female advancement. That last one, Gita, introduces some...emotional complications.