Horror of Dracula (1958)

Originally just called Dracula in its native UK, because Hammer Films was big on remaking Warner Bros. classics from a generation earlier. Normally I don't watch horror movies outside of October or November unless they're about to stop streaming on Netflix, but people keep associating the late Christopher Lee with this role (as opposed to a different Count D.), so I thought it my best choice for paying respect.

Unsurprisingly, Lee is the best thing about it. Sure, he doesn't have a non-British accent, but maybe he didn't want anyone to accuse him of trying and failing to imitate Bela Lugosi. Too bad he gets only 13 lines and not a whole lot of screen time -- and while not seeing a monster can ratchet up the fright factor, it doesn't work so well when we've already seen him at his nastiest.

Inside Out (2015)

From an early trailer, as glad as I was to see that Pixar had skipped a year in order to return to creativity, I had my doubts. Main characters based on emotions? I mean, Happy the dwarf wasn't happy at Snow White's funeral, but wouldn't Joy have to be joyful at all times? How can you build a plot around anyone so static and one-dimensional?

Well, they're not exactly like that, but I did surmise one thing correctly: how I would feel about each, um, feeling. Joy (Amy Poehler) makes an easy choice for a favorite, yet Sadness (Phyllis Smith) is about equally cute in a different way. Likable jerk Anger (Lewis Black) is probably the funniest, tho Fear (Bill Hader) might gain more traction with children. In fairness to Mindy Kaling, it's almost impossible to make much to enjoy out of Disgust, but at least she doesn't drag down the movie.

American Sniper (2014)

This is probably the most polarizing movie on my blog yet, if only for political reasons. Clint Eastwood has not endeared himself with the left wing lately, and some have bemoaned the implications of his latest runaway box office success. (I take it as a sign that few modern movies speak to conservatives at all, so they come out in droves for the outlier. That and they wanted to honor the recently deceased, a factor that played no small part in The Dark Knight's success.)

Personally, I was more concerned about Eastwood's record as a director. His films are consistently esteemed, but about a third of them almost make me wish I hadn't bothered to watch. They tend toward depressing themes and don't always offer enough to make up for that. But if I found Letters from Iwo Jima OK, how much worse would a biography of Chris Kyle be? My answer: not at all.

The Beloved Rogue (1927)

It had been a while since my last viewing of a silent film, and I wanted something on the short side. Since John Barrymore seems best remembered for his voice (in addition to being part of an acting dynasty), the thought of his pre-vocal work intrigued me. OK, I had seen Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but it didn't stay with me.

TBR is set in 15th-century Paris under Louis XI, with an All Fools Day parade early on. Sound familiar? There's a reason the studio reused much of the set of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Incidentally, the cast includes three actors who would go on to feature in Freaks, but none is a hunchback.

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

I was planning to watch the first Pitch Perfect first, but my folks invited me to come to the theater with them. They adore a cappella and were already fans of at least one group who would appear briefly on screen. I like such singing almost as much, even when the singers cover a song I normally dislike.

My sister warned us that the writing was very stupid. Well, from what I hear of "Glee," that shouldn't stop anyone. In truth, I'd call it about par for intelligence among modern Hollywood comedies. And it is oh so much one of those.

JCVD (2008)

Does it make sense to see this film if you know very little about Jean-Claude Van Damme yet? His only other movies that I've seen are Last Action Hero, in which he cameos as himself; and Kung Fu Panda 2, in which he voices a minor character. Beyond that, I'd heard that he could do quite a split kick and his accent makes Street Fighter unintentionally funny. Oh, and he made an over-the-top Volvo ad.

Nor did I know much about JCVD going in. It sounded semi-comically self-deprecating for the 47-year-old martial artist, possibly like Birdman with the star's real name. But it's not all that strange. It's not even primarily about the travails expected of a has-been, tho it repeatedly touches on his issues of child custody and fewer role offerings. It's a would-be action flick in which the "real" Van Damme (or Van Varenberg, his non-stage name) gets into a scenario that he can't easily fight his way out of like one of his alter egos.

Heathers (1988)

I considered streaming Mean Girls, but then I thought I'd better check out one of its predecessors first, particularly one that just became a musical. Almost all I knew about Heathers was the theme of mean teens. From that, I inferred that it wasn't for me exactly. High school movies rarely did much for me even in high school, and the '80s had a thing for bullies much worse than any I ever encountered (and I was an easy target).

Indeed, the alpha Heather has all the villainous subtlety of Snidely Whiplash, cold even to her "friends." How do people like that get so much social pull? She and the other two Heathers don't seem especially rich or anything. Protagonist Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) is sort of a Heather-in-training and still resents them as much as anyone else does. Then she gets acquainted and enamored with J.D. (Christian Slater), who first comes across as a somewhat likable jerk, a la Patrick in Ten Things I Hate About You, but has a more rebellious streak than she realized -- and will help her make her basest wishes come true....

The Scarlet and the Black (1983)

I had to think a bit about whether to review a TV movie on this blog. After all, I leave off the TV series I watch. But apart from the occasional fade to black, presumably for commercial breaks, it feels much like a film that debuted on the silver screen. Why make the distinction on DVD? Netflix doesn't.

Be careful not to mix this up with other works by the same or similar titles; they have completely different stories and origins. This TSatB, based on J.P. Gallagher's book The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, concerns the real-life Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty (Gregory Peck post-The Omen), who not so secretly defied the Vatican's official neutrality during World War II to help people hide where they could in the vicinity of Rome. Colonel Herbert Kappler (Christopher Plummer post-The Sound of Music), who all but runs occupied Rome, finds O'Flaherty a thorn in his side.

A Wednesday (2008)

Another interestingly uninteresting title, this time with the partial excuse of coming from India, where the narrator pronounces "Wednesday" the way it's spelled (the dialog is about 20% English). I guess the idea is, in clickbaity terms, "It was just another typical Wednesday...or was it? You'll be surprised how much happened in one day!" The depicted events take place over a mere four hours, in fact, with a runtime of 104 minutes, counting the credits.

The relative brevity isn't the only factor to separate AW from other Bollywood works I've seen. It's a thriller with little comic relief and no musical numbers. Netflix describes it as "action-packed," but by modern American standards, that's misleading. We get a few acts of violence, especially consisting of a cop beating the daylights out of suspects until they spill the beans, but most of the thrill comes from bomb threats. Specifically, after about 20 minutes of four seemingly unrelated plotlines, a man tells police he'll blow up Mumbai if they don't deliver four al-Qaeda-linked prisoners.