The Westerner (1940)

Bland title, ain't it? It came out the year after Stagecoach, so it's not like there hadn't been many westerns yet. Nevertheless, with William Wyler at the helm, I got curious. Thankfully, it's not what I'd call a generic western. The dynamic is too unusual for that.

From what I'd vaguely heard before about "Judge" Roy Bean, he was about as controversial as Wyatt Earp. This highly fictional telling casts him pretty clearly as a villain, however well-intentioned with regard to cattlemen. One man, Cole (Gary Cooper), gets mistakenly accused of running afoul of his "law" but curries favor by pretending to know personally Bean's celebrity crush, actress Lillie Langtry, the only other historically real character. In the grand western cinematic tradition of figuring out the morally right thing to do, Cole may jeopardize his fair-weather friendship by pressing for the rights of Texan homesteaders.

The Boxtrolls (2014)

This must be the first time I've taken Netflix's up-front suggestion for movie streaming. Now I've finally seen all the most recent Best Animated Feature nominees, ending with the one least widely welcome on the list. Personally, I can't blame the Academy for passing over the commercialism of The Lego Movie, but I'll have to check out The Book of Life for another possible replacement.

The Boxtrolls wastes no time (which there's never much of in stop-action) establishing a conflict: In a British town circa 1900, few humans have any love for the trolls who live underground, wear old cardboard boxes, and steal various objects off the street at night -- mostly inexpensive or even trashed. When loutish Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley gone Cockney) reports that the Boxtrolls have abducted a baby, supposedly for food, he persuades the mayor to authorize him and his three assistants to annihilate the menace by any means necessary. Ten years later, the former baby, dubbed "Eggs" due to his box, makes contact with a curfew-defying girl around the same age -- the mayor's daughter. Together they strive to dispel the false rumors about Boxtrolls, but Snatcher has his lordly ambitions as well as his influence....

The Women (1939)

Possibly the most popular '39 film I hadn't seen yet, it stands out for having an all-female cast of more than 130. This includes the servants, the children, and even allegedly the animals (except for the roaring logo lion). Every contemporary major MGM actress except Myrna Loy and Greta Garbo participated. No wonder it's been remade a couple times, albeit less successfully and once with men.

If you want something that passes the Bechdel test with flying colors, however, keep looking: The trailer's parenthetical subtitle aptly notes, "...and it's all about men!" Must've been the best way to sell tickets. Oh, the ladies talk about other things once in a while, especially each other, but the plot mainly concerns a mother (Norma Shearer) learning about a shameless gold digger (perhaps Joan Crawford's nastiest role) wrecking her home, so to speak. Everyone else will eagerly share an opinion on it, leaving us to wonder what they'd do without men in their lives.

The Ipcress File (1965)

Another golden anniversary airing, this time with a group invitation. Someone asked why we'd all come. Apart from the two above reasons, I thought of young Michael Caine and the Cold War spy subgenre, which I hadn't seen in a while. (Alphaville doesn't really count.) This entry even has producer Harry Saltzman of James Bond fame, tho the group leader had told us that it felt more like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

It actually brought several movies to mind, including Papillon and especially The Manchurian Candidate. Caine plays Harry Palmer (a name you couldn't use in seriousness today), a rather insubordinate secret agent assigned to investigate a curious "brain drain" of prize scientists that involves abduction -- and, as it turns out, nasty conditioning. As in many relatively heady spy stories, it's hard to know whom to trust even within the agency, including a female tail who seems interested in another kind of "tail." Things don't get easier with the CIA's ill-communicated involvement....

The Remains of the Day (1993)

I have to reach pretty far back these days for an Academy Best Picture nominee that I haven't seen yet and might want to see, apart from some of the most recent. In truth, I didn't know much more than that about TRotD going in -- only that it was a rather esteemed drama starring Anthony Hopkins two years after his first turn as Hannibal Lecter. And Emma Thompson, accidentally in back-to-back reviews on this blog.

Had I noticed in advance that they play a butler and a maid in a mid-20th-century lord's manor, I would have thought hard before adding the DVD to my Netflix queue. Stories of old-time aristocrats, perhaps especially in Britain, threaten to bore me. A focus on their staff doesn't help much. Yeah, count me among the few non-fans of Downton Abbey. At least its predecessor Gosford Park has amusing moments, which I cannot say for TRotD.

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Right from the first minute of the preview -- establishing that one Harold Crick suddenly hears his life narrated by a novelist -- I got the impression that Will Ferrell was attempting what Jim Carrey did with The Truman Show and Bill Murray did with Groundhog Day: a sci-fi/fantasy comedy-drama just philosophically serious enough that we may finally consider the star something other than a full-time clown. I welcomed this prospect, as Ferrell's humor has always struck me as about half decent and half obnoxious. (Like some other comedians I could name, he fares better in voice roles.)

It turns out that STF doesn't spend much time trying to be funny. As absurd as the above, unexplained premise is -- not to mention the addition of an apparently sapient watch that goes on the fritz to affect Harold's actions -- the story quickly introduces some dark ways for his setup to suck. In particular, the narrator indicates that Harold is going to die very soon. From there, it's a question of whether to go quietly into that good night or struggle to find an escape. Yeah, he spends more time doing the latter.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Some of the biggest weaknesses from the mostly great The Avengers have been reduced this time around. For example, with more screen time, more character importance, and an actual use of his code name, Hawkeye doesn't get nearly so shafted (no pun intended). The climactic battle doesn't feel quite so lacking in practical progress, nor does victory come at so little cost to the heroes. I think there's more cause for tender emotions.

But I must stop a little short of calling the latest sequel equal, let alone better. In particular, it has issues of pacing. A good chunk is either too fast or too slow, as evidenced by my dad sighing next to me. I suspect that the DVD will be loaded with deleted scenes or at least descriptions of planned moments. I almost wish director Joss Whedon threw in as much as he'd wanted, but 2.5 hours makes for a pretty uncomfortable sitting already. And you probably will prefer to see it in a theater.

Pickpocket (1959)

I had seen two Robert Bresson movies before: A Man Escaped and Diary of a Country Priest. Had I remembered, I would have approached this one with more trepidation. Bresson is...artsy, somewhat like Carl Theodor Dreyer. (Come to think of it, they both made films about the trial and execution of Joan of Arc.)

I wouldn't call this piece brooding exactly, but it's hard to enjoy on a surface level. For the plot, you need hardly look further than the title: Michel spends a lot of time picking pockets. (I'm not surprised that the depiction of his authentic methods caused some international consternation in those days, but hey, nice to warn people what could happen to them.) He has reasons to want to quit, including a girlfriend who doesn't know what he does and a police force waiting to pounce on proof; but between his existing criminal network and some depressed desperation, it's not easy. Does this sound like enough to carry even 75 minutes?