Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

It's hard to get all five local members of my family to agree on a movie, as we do for Christmas. This was a bit of a compromise, with my mom expecting to be bored some of the time despite a female protagonist. (Hey, modern action scenes do go on rather long by older viewers' standards.) Afterward, she said at least she stayed awake and enjoyed some humor. So how does it stand up for a moderate SW fan?

Well, first, let me assure you that it's not the fanfic-esque retread that many viewers perceived Episode VII to be, for better or worse. Ending possibly mere minutes before the start of Episode IV (you know, the first SW film ever made), it tells the story of how the Empire began its Death Star and how the Rebel Alliance learned its key weakness. The title refers to an eventual call sign for a ship containing a handful of rebels on a secret mission. Chief among them is Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), who has a bone to pick with Imperial Commander Krennic (Ben Mendelssohn) for killing her mother and coercing her father, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen), to design the space battle station, starting when she was little.

The Prince and the Pauper (1937)

After a few unhappy movies, I decided that my best bet was to pick a story I already knew to have a happy ending. At the same time, it had to be a story I didn't know too terribly well -- no more A Christmas Carol versions for me. Not having read the Mark Twain book, I relied on vague memories of capsulized kiddie adaptations and parodies. The gist was that the strangely identical young title characters who happened to meet were tired of their lots in life, traded places on purpose, and learned the hard way that they preferred their previous stations (a questionable lesson indeed if it equates the travails of monarchy with those of poverty), right?

Well, not exactly. In this telling, the boys don't even realize how alike they look until they've swapped outfits for fun, and they have no intention of fooling anyone; but the prince (Bobby Mauch) injudiciously exits the room alone, and you can guess what happens next. Both boys insist on their true identities, even as their insistence mostly makes matters worse for them. Sure, pauper Tom Canty (Billy Mauch) enjoys some luxuries and a lack of beatings by guards or his irredeemable father (Barton MacLane), but he can't help worrying, not least as the Earl of Hertford (Claude Rains), the prime courtier who knows Tom's not mad, plots to manipulate him -- and end the threat of the real prince returning -- when the old king (Montagu Love) dies. The moral has more to do with recognizing how little separates the highest from the lowest, with a hint that this could duly increase the elite's sympathy for common folk.

Jackie (2016)

As a Xennial, I knew only so much about Jacqueline Kennedy. I had no mental picture of her and probably never watched any footage of her. Thus, Jackie could never mean the same thing for me that it does for my parents or many of the Meetup members who watched with us. But I'll remember her for sure now.

The movie begins with an oddly unnamed journalist (Billy Crudup, reportedly playing Theodore H. White) meeting the ex-First Lady (Natalie Portman) at her new house about a week after her husband's assassination. Having been a journalist herself, she takes a rather bitter approach to the interview, often accusing him of lurid motives and saying her most interesting things off the record. We may view their scenes as glue for the rest, as the flashbacks that make up about 90% of the runtime -- ranging from happy memories of the last year or so to the funeral -- do not follow chronologically.

Never Let Me Go (2010)

I need to get in the habit of doing more preliminary research before picking a film, seeing as I had written off Kazuo Ishiguro. Furthermore, the Netflix blurb made it sound like just a romantic drama, not an alternate-history sci-fi. Granted, the sci-fi elements are pretty mild -- we don't get any special effects; it's mostly social -- but they are crucial to the plot. I don't think I'm spoiling anything by elaborating.

Thanks to a fictitious breakthrough in the '50s, life expectancy has vastly increased for most humans; but like in Metropolis, the luxury comes at a price to others. The story focuses on a love triangle among those others, starting in their tweens in an English coed boarding school that emphasizes staying healthy. A conflicted teacher breaks the rules and spills the beans: All the students exist solely to donate their organs in adulthood, eventually dying from it. Only in act 2, after graduation, do they learn why they're treated so differently: They're clones. Nevertheless, they try to fulfill their short lives with love, especially in light of a rumor that if two clones can prove their true love, they get a three-year deferral on donations. First-person narrator Kathy (Carey Mulligan) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) like each other first, but Kathy's frenemy, Ruth (Keira Knightley), schemes to interpose herself for reasons beyond love.

Handsome Devil (2016)

Wow, only 31 IMDb votes before mine and no comments. Leave it to AFI to dig up obscure foreign titles. Still, an 8.7 is nothing to sneeze at, so my parents and I went for it.

Narrator Ned, at 16, wishes he'd be allowed to drop out. Anyone at his boarding school who doesn't love rugby, such as himself, is an outcast subject to anti-gay slurs, and administrators do nothing to make outcasts' lives easier. He prefers to keep to himself, cheating on assignments to retain plenty of time to do basically nothing. When he gets a roommate, Conor, who has been a rugby star elsewhere and promises to be one here, Ned thinks his luck just got even worse. But Conor isn't all he pretends to be, and they do bond over music. Furthermore, Dan Sherry, a new teacher who combines strict discipline with relative coolness, encourages his students to be their best. If only the rugby coach saw things his way...

The Vanishing (1988)

Not to be confused with its 1993 U.S. remake. I believe I had been planning to watch this during October, filled up on Halloween-y other films, and neglected to push it further down my queue. But it's just as well that I didn't save it for next October. Despite its designation as a thriller (and a title format typical thereof), it strikes me as more of a tragedy, with very little violence. European cinema does tend to blur the lines of genres as Americans know them.

Dutch lovers Rex and Saskia go on vacation in France. They get separated too long at a service station, and Rex becomes convinced that someone abducted Saskia. For the next three years, he mounts an expensive and generally fruitless campaign to gather information. At this point, he doesn't really hope to find her alive, nor does he claim a desire for vengeance; he just wants to know what happened. That's when the kidnapper, Raymond (no spoiler there; we see him preparing a fake injury Jame Gumb-style), reaches out to him with a worrisome proposal to grant his wish, betting that Rex, like the protagonist of Oldboy, will not punish if it means no answers.

I, Daniel Blake (2016)

Did I really feel up to another Ken Loach drama? Well, yes, when it's more esteemed than the others I've seen. And recent enough that I figured (correctly) that it wouldn't be too hard to understand the accents.

At 59, Daniel has a heart attack that prevents him from being allowed to continue his work in carpentry. He then finds the modern British system for benefits claims horribly tricky, leaving him quite worried about finances, with no family left to call on for help. But he does meet someone similarly desperate: Katie, a single mother of two young children. They come to support each other in non-economic ways, to mutual appreciation when not at their wits' ends.

Like Crazy (2016)

AFI’s European Union Film Showcase kicked off with this movie, so my parents figured it was one of the most promising entries and came with me. The Italian title literally translates to “The Crazy Joy,” which we all liked better.

It begins and ends at a mansion converted into a Catholic women’s mental institution, where Beatrice, an aristocrat who used to live there with dignity, is now an involuntarily committed patient. The story gets underway when she takes interest in newly arrived younger mess Donatella, who becomes her roommate. Donatella doesn’t welcome the attention at first, but Beatrice seems to awaken something in her. For pretty much the second half, the two of them run away and attempt to enjoy themselves as long as they can, whether by spending like millionaires despite low funds or by reconnecting with family members and former lovers on the outside.

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

I've been putting this off a long time, because unlike most viewers, I got very little out of the first two Bourne entries. The Bourne Identity struck me as an odd combination of stark and semi-comically unrealistic; despite my viewing in a theater, even the car chase failed to excite me. The Bourne Supremacy, which introduced more popular director Paul Greengrass to the franchise, was too bleak to provide much fun, and I kept getting déjà vu. Fans of the third have described it as almost too intense, and less generous critics have said it is too intense (and has no actual ultimatum). Nevertheless, between its Academy Awards and its continual placement on the IMDb top 250, the threequel seemed necessary for my cinematic education.

The Netflix jacket would have you believe that the only new elements are a few moderately famous actors and several major cities on three continents, but I can do a little better at summarizing. The titular rogue secret government assassin (Matt Damon) has apparently kept a low profile for weeks following the Moscow events in TBS. Then a Guardian journalist writing about him reveals insider knowledge of one Operation Blackbriar, getting his attention -- and, less welcomely, that of the CIA. With fresh clues and the cooperation of a disenchanted operative (Julia Stiles), Jason Bourne resumes his search to fill the sizable holes in his memory, all the while evading or fighting the agency led by Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) and, more sympathetically, Pamela Landy (Joan Allen).

Call Northside 777 (1948)

It had been a month and a half since my last B&W film, so I decided to watch one of the few such entries on my Netflix streaming list. All I could recall about this one offhand was that it starred James Stewart and had a noirish look to it. The next big thing I learned, after the opening credits, was that it's a true story (albeit with a few identifying details changed for legal reasons) shot in the actual locations whenever possible. Reportedly, it's the first Hollywood movie shot entirely in Chicago.

P.J. McNeal (Stewart) of the Chicago Times is assigned to interview an old woman who advertises a $5,000 reward for any information that could exonerate her son, Frank Wiecek (Richard Conte), convicted of murdering a policeman back in the Prohibition Era. The resulting article makes waves. At first McNeal is rather sour about it, because he still believes Wiecek to be guilty, but his attempt to acquire info that would put an end to the media love affair only casts doubt on the verdict. Soon he's digging up anything he can to get a definite answer, which he hopes is innocence. But since it took 11 years for Mrs. Wiecek to save up the 5K, it's not easy to find what he wants.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Dr. Strange is a tough act to follow, and here I am following it with another major studio's massive spectacle about sorcery. But as a fan of both the Harry Potter books and the accompanying booklet of the same title, I eagerly accepted my parents' invitation to see it with them on Thanksgiving.

Given the booklet's existence as a mere fictional bestiary, this could not really be an adaptation in the same sense as the HP movies. Instead, it's about a brief adventure of wizard Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) in 1926, the year before his bestiary is said to be published. Since Harry's main set of adventures takes place in the '90s, we get none of the same actors and very few familiar names -- apart from Newt, just occasional mentions of headmaster Albus Dumbledore and his fugitive former friend Gellert Grindelwald. Author J.K. Rowling did write the story, so we can still count on it for fidelity -- and indeed, it still feels like the same realm.

At this point, Newt's not doing any biology research exactly. He comes to New York City in order to look for a rare beast to acquire. Unfortunately, he brings several other magical beasts in a magical suitcase that is not as secure as needed. This garners the undesired attention of random non-wizard Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) and disgraced policewitch Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), the latter of whom would have Newt punished and Jacob's memory wiped immediately if not for compromising circumstances. The bigger problem comes when something publicly kills in a way that no normal animal could. Newt insists it's none of his pets, but he takes it upon himself to determine what it is and how they can stop it before the whole city knows that magic exists.

Doctor Strange (2016)

Due to participation in NaNoWriMo, my viewing has dropped sharply, hence the scarcity of my reviews this month. But as some of you know, I'm a sucker for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There seemed no better way to take a break from writing a novel.

I was not previously familiar with the character of Dr. Stephen Strange (yes, that's his "real" last name -- not to be confused with Dr. Hugo Strange of DC Comics). He starts out as an arrogant surgeon, not far off from Dr. House. Leave it to Benedict Cumberbatch, actor of Sherlock Holmes and Alan Turing, to play yet another insufferable genius, even with an American accent for a change. You thought Tony Stark obnoxious at the start of Iron Man? You'd seen nothing yet. It's kind of painful to watch his interactions with co-worker and ex-girlfriend Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams, who incidentally played a love interest for a different Sherlock Holmes).

Then an accident damages the nerves in his fingers, killing his career. His search for a cure leads him to a secret location in Nepal, where the self-described Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) teaches people to unlock the powers of their own bodies -- and the multiverse. She is reluctant to teach him because of his similar character to a former student who went dangerously rogue, Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen), but student Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) talks her into it. Strange learns that the true purpose of the sorcerer training is to combat enemies, including, yes, Kaecilius, on a plane the Avengers don't frequent.

Solaris (1972)

After Andrei Rublev and Stalker, I thought I might never take another chance on director Andrei Tarkovsky, especially with one of his long works (167 minutes). But since this piece was remade in the U.S. in 2002, it seemed to have more potential to appeal to my tastes. Besides, I was running low on Halloween-type options, and a sci-fi with someone appearing to come back from the dead, however unscarily, could fill the void.

Based on a Polish book, the film takes place mostly on a space station orbiting the titular planet. When some scientists go missing and another reports seeing a person whom their instruments do not detect, psychologist Kris Kelvin accepts an invitation to investigate. He finds the remaining researchers negligent, unhelpful, and bleak if not self-destructive. More importantly, he too sees people who shouldn't be there -- including his departed wife, Hari, who doesn't just appear but behaves lovingly toward him. Clearly, something external is causing the insanity, if that's the right word.

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

I wasn't sure I could still enjoy mockumentaries, as the last one I did was A Mighty Wind in 2003. Sacha Baron Cohen struck me as largely tasteless, and shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation turned me off in no time -- something about the combination of social awkwardness and shaky cameras, I guess. Was it them, or had I changed? Regardless, a focus on vampires promised something different.

Netflix describes the theme as three vampire housemates, but for most of the movie, four or five share the house. These five are all men who somehow wound up in Wellington, New Zealand. Don't ask me why they agreed to be filmed when they otherwise try to keep their vampirism a secret. By agreement, the cameramen carry crosses just in case, but vampires aren't the only supernatural danger to turn up....

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

This tends to get classified as sci-fi rather than horror, as befits what we think of '50s flicks, but the premise sounded pretty scary to me. Unlike Ant-Man or the Atom, the protagonist herein does not shrink voluntarily, nor does he regrow. And as the poster shows (although that exact moment never happens), his experience should not be watched by arachnophobes. I'm not one, but even knowing about the spider, I gasped when it appeared.

What I didn't know going in was how gradual and accidental the whole affair was. Scott just happens to be the only person exposed to a radioactive mist at sea. Neither he nor his wife Louise notices anything wrong for six months. You might call the slowness merciful -- it's not like he suddenly finds himself naked -- but it does no favor for his attitude. For the first maybe half of the movie, he is feasibly short, if infeasibly proportioned for that height (as is the alleged circus midget he meets), garnering unwelcome fame. By the time he can live in a dollhouse, he has to worry about forces of nature such as the household cat and...well, see above.

Hocus Pocus (1993)

A few years ago, I was surprised to see an article listing many reasons that this was the #1 Halloween flick. I hadn't even heard about it since I saw the trailer in a theater. Besides, it had a middling rating on IMDb and a green splat on Rotten Tomatoes. But after encountering multiple citations of the haunting pseudo-lullaby "Come, Little Children," and simply not having a lot of Halloween-type movies on my Netflix queue, I decided to give it a try.

After a setup conveniently set exactly 300 years before the rest of the movie, we see teen Max (Omri Katz) missing L.A. now that he's moved to bully-infested Salem. His bratty but ultimately likable sister, Dani (Thora Birch), strong-arms him into accompanying her for trick-or-treating. When he sees an opportunity to get closer to his crush, Allison (Vinessa Shaw), the three of them break into an abandoned museum that had been the home of the Sanderson sisters -- Winnifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy) -- before they were hanged for murderous witchcraft. Max doubts the folklore until after he follows instructions to revive the weird trio. The young heroes must prevent them from draining the life force from any kids before the resurrection spell wears off at dawn. Their only ally is Thackery, a former teen interloper cursed to eternal life as a black cat.

Kwaidan (1964)

Yup, another 1960s horror set in feudal Japan already. But there are key differences, starting with the fact that this piece is a compilation of four stories, with no recurring characters between them. I hadn't seen a film like that since before I started this blog.

Might as well summarize them in order of presentation. In "Black Hair," a samurai gets a divorce against his wife's pleas, not because there's anything wrong with their relationship, but because he's seen an opportunity to marry into wealth; as you can imagine, he lives to regret it. In "The Woman in the Snow," a frosty demoness spares a man's life on the condition that he never tell anyone about her, which gets tempting when he falls for a reminiscent beauty. In "Hoichi the Earless," a blind shamisen player gets unknowingly solicited by ghosts to play a ballad about the battle that killed them, prompting his caretakers to fear for his place in the land of the living. In "In a Cup of Tea," a samurai sees a face clearly not his own reflection in (wait for it) a cup of tea, and his reaction does not please the owner of that face....

The Lodger (1944)

The earliest movie by this title, from 1927, was the only Hitchcock silent I've seen. That had been a modernized (for the time) take on a Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes novel based on Jack the Ripper. The 1944 film must be more faithful to the source material, as it takes place in the Whitechapel district of London in the late 19th century.

The presumably titular lodger (Laird Cregar) goes by Mr. Slade. While the infamous murder spree is in full swing, he manages to find on short notice an available flat owned by the Bontings (Cedric Hardwicke and Sara Allgood). Another lodger, incidentally, is Kitty Langley (Merle Oberon), an up-and-coming musical actress. In the course of investigation, John Warwick (George Sanders) of Scotland Yard meets and develops mutual feelings for Kitty, hoping especially to protect her from the Ripper.

Day of Wrath (1943)

Ah, Carl Theodor Dreyer, it's been a while. When you're not dabbling in artistic horror, I can count on you for some sort of religious message. This film, based on a play, is more drama than horror, but it seemed appropriate for my October lineup due to a focus on witches.

It's set in 1623 small-town Denmark, which apparently had the same problem as 1692 Salem. Early on, a woman begs Rev. Absalon to get her off the hook for alleged witchcraft, as he did for his eventual mother-in-law. He shows concern only for her soul, not her life, even when she threatens blackmail if not a posthumous curse. The thought weighs heavily on him after her execution, but it's rather incidental to his most immediate problem: His young wife, Anne, who apparently married him for convenience and not love, falls for his son from a previous marriage. What's more, Absalon's mother has suspected from the get-go that Anne takes after her mother in wickedness.

Army of Darkness (1992)

It's unusual for me to watch a threequel (well, third entry, anyway) before either of its predecessors. Perhaps I was tempted by the title, which suggests a big departure from the unappealingly named The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II. I've mentioned my concerns that director Sam Raimi tends toward more grotesque violence than I like, but I heard that this outing was relatively comedic.

What I had missed was the setting. Apparently, tampering with the mysterious forces associated with the Necronomicon tome not only arouses the wrath of the undead; it can open a time portal. Protagonist Ash (Bruce Campbell) gives us a brief synopsis of his past troubles to explain how he came to be chained up in the Middle Ages. Fortunately, his modern technology, knowledge, and general badassery get him out of immediate trouble and into good graces. Unfortunately, he's not quite sharp enough to reuse the tome properly. Soon he brings danger to the castle of one Lord Arthur (not necessarily the king; Ash estimates the year 1300) and must decide whether he cares enough, particularly for one Lady Sheila (Embeth Davidtz), to help rather than flee.

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

I confess I did not really watch the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, let alone the movie. Only with Firefly did I become a mild fan of Joss Whedon. It made sense for him to return to writing horror, with past comrade Drew Goddard, for a bit; in other genres, he loves to kill at least one of the heroes eventually.

If the title sounds awfully generic for horror, that's deliberate. It's no spoiler to say that this movie combines dozens of classics and not-so-classics of the genre...with The Truman Show. A secret, possibly government agency is basically making a scare-by-number horror flick featuring five young adults (the only actor among them you're likely to know is Chris Hemsworth), who thought it'd be fun to camp off the grid, unaware that they're being manipulated to engineer their deaths...at first. We see plenty of scenes at HQ, where the humans (among them Bradley Whitford and Sigourney Weaver) seem like ordinary people aside from their lack of sympathy for the victims. How could they do this? Well...

Onibaba (1964)

After enjoying Kuroneko last year, this seemed like a good follow-up: another Japanese horror in which a rural young woman and her mother-in-law, in the absence of their husband/son in wartime, kill numerous samurai. Judging from the Netflix jacket, the key differences were that (1) the women in Onibaba aren't ghosts and (2) they kill not for revenge but for provisions from selling the samurai equipment. (They make it look easy, thanks largely to their high-grassed home turf.)

It turns out that this summary tells us nothing we couldn't get from the first couple scenes. The plot really begins when neighbor Hachi (not that one) returns AWOL, reporting that he barely escaped from a battle that claimed their husband/son's life. Hachi courts the nameless young woman, against the express wishes of the elder. I had correctly surmised that the title translates to "Demonic Old Woman"....

The Road (2009)

As long-time readers of my blog may recall, I like to set October aside for movies that befit Halloween one way or another. Unfortunately, the first disc I received this month was unplayable, so I searched my streaming list and found it sparse on anything like horror. This looked like my best bet.

You'd guess from the bland title that it was a road trip feature, but it seems to me that no actual road gets much screen time. It's a post-apocalyptic drama, which can't help taking on facets of a thriller at times. Neither the movie nor the Cormac McCarthy book on which it's based specify the cause, but we see plenty of dead trees, few nonhuman animals, and no signs of future tech. The protagonists, an unnamed man (Viggo Mortensen) and his unnamed son (Kodi Smit-McPhee, who later starred in ParaNorman), make a trek southward to survive a winter without fuel. Along the way, they must beware other people, who are likely to rob them or do much, much worse....

The Verdict (1982)

On the rare occasions that I watch a movie again, I usually don't bother to review it here. But this was a still rarer occasion: I had basically no memory of it. Only the ending even remotely rang a bell. Good thing I remembered enjoying it years ago.

Frank Galvin (late-middle-aged Paul Newman), a discredited lawyer who spends more time on drinking and pinball than cases, finally gets a good opportunity via a friend (Jack Warden). A hospital has left a woman comatose, allegedly through an anesthetic procedure botched by negligence. Everyone, including Frank, expects him to accept on the family's behalf a pretty generous settlement; but after seeing the patient himself, he decides he'd rather try to expose their malpractice. This is not easy, because the doctors and their lawyers are far more renowned -- and can fight dirty.

Desk Set (1957)

I usually wait longer between comedies, partly because there aren't a whole lot that I want to see. But it's good to have one on hand on a day when you receive sad news, as I had (details not to be described here). This color comedy sat near the front of my streaming list.

A group of library reference clerks takes notice when an eccentric stranger with few people skills, Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy), starts measuring their work space. Their boss told Sumner not to explain his purpose, but they can guess: The company plans to buy an "electronic brain," which usually means layoffs. Head clerk Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn) gradually, accidentally develops some sort of closeness with Sumner, despite her hopes to marry the exec (Gig Young) she's been seeing for years.

The Best Offer (2013)

You may have seen this described as an Italian film. That's a little misleading: None of the major actors are Italian, all the original dialog is in English, and it wasn't obvious to me that most of the story took place in Italy. But in a subtle way, the Italianness still matters.

Virgil (Geoffrey Rush), a world-class auctioneer specializing in paintings and antiques, is prone to superstition and unfriendliness. This may explain why he takes interest in one client, Claire (Sylvia Hoeks), who begs him to break from his routine and pay house calls -- er, mansion calls -- to assess her inherited property, on the grounds that she hasn't allowed anyone to see her in 12 years. She's not deformed; she just stopped wanting to be seen, even by a doctor in an emergency. Virgil turns to his craftsman associate, Robert (Jim Sturgess), for advice on how to get her to open up to him.

Nine Queens (2000)

Offhand, I think I've seen only one other Argentine movie in my lifetime, and it was about 20 years ago. I don't recall what first got me interested in this one, but I felt in the mood for a modern crime caper story.

Veteran con artist Marcos meets young con artist Juan and offers to take him under his wing to replace an accomplice. The next big job: selling a counterfeit of nine famously misprinted stamps with a queen's face on them. The collector in question, Gandolfo, is rich but about to be deported, so he doesn't have much time to authenticate them, nor could he do much if he found out later. It gets more complicated than Marcos anticipated, not least because Gandolfo is staying at a hotel where Marcos's sister works, and the siblings do not get along well.

Nosotros los pobres (1947)

This may be the most foreign DVD I have ever used. The menu is in Spanish; you have to either know some already or recognize cognates to find the subtitles, which contain a handful of errors. The extras offer no subtitles at all. But I'm something of a Hispanophile, so I felt a bit drawn to the movie.

Set in a Mexico City slum (the title means "We the poor," after all), the story follows quite a few characters, but mostly a lady's-man carpenter nicknamed Pepe el Toro and his family. They include a preteen called Chachita, who has to adopt an unusual amount of responsibility in her mother's longtime absence; Pepe's quadruplegic mother; and Yolanda, diagnosed with consumption, who doesn't live with Pepe but shows up pretty often. Things get much worse for the already poor heroes before they get better, usually thanks to scumbags rich or poor. Don't expect much in the way of justice.

Gold Diggers of 1933

Yeah, I don't even have to add the date in parentheses. Back then, musicals about stage productions were sickeningly common, and some titles had dates as the only way to distinguish them from others. This one, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, could be taken as a companion piece to Footlight Parade and/or 42nd Street, involving many of the same names in the same year.

What makes GDo1933 stand out, not just among musicals but among non-dramas at the time, is that it does not try to make the audience forget the Depression. Opening number "We're in the Money" gets interrupted due to the inability of the stage director (Ned Sparks) to pay bills. Soon after, three dancers -- amusingly named Carol King (Joan Blondell), Trixie (Aline McMahon), and Polly (Ruby Keeler) -- are sharing an apartment, hunger, and sporadic contact with frenemy Fay (Ginger Rogers). Fortunately, Polly's neighboring crush, undiscovered composer/pianist/singer Brad (Dick Powell), agrees to give not just his talent but considerable startup funds to the next show. Where did he get this money, and why does he insist on remaining a mystery? You can probably guess....

Breaking the Waves (1996)

I had been content to let Dancer in the Dark (2000) be my only exposure to Lars von Trier. Oh, I liked it well, but he has a reputation for further darkness. More importantly, he has claimed to direct under God's direction and thus be the greatest director in the world. That level of arrogance deserves scorn. Nevertheless, a Meetup group invited me to this installment of a '90s film festival, and I got curious. Now I know it to be part of a loosely defined series with DitD, called the Golden Heart Trilogy. (The Idiots [1998] gets a middling reception.)

In rural '70s Scotland, young Bess (Emily Watson) marries foreign atheist Jan (Stellan Skarsgård) despite the protests of her church elders and family, which stem in part from her past breakdowns -- possibly bipolar. She clearly didn't put much thought into it, because she feels horrible as soon as he returns to his job on an oil rig. She appears to converse with God (hmm, see the previous paragraph), closing her eyes to speak His words to herself. When a rig accident leaves Jan paralyzed and in otherwise critical condition, Bess blames her selfish wish to have him back. To make him not just feel better but recover, she indulges his wishes that she commit adultery and tell him the dirty details.

Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)

A film based loosely on a real-life dog famous for waiting years for a dead master does not sound like a good time. Do you even have a reason to watch, or is knowing that it exists enough? Well, its continued presence on IMDb's top 250 told me to check it out.

The most obvious departure from the truth lies in the setting: The real Hachiko lived in Japan in the 1920s and '30s, not some unidentified corner of the U.S. in the '90s and 2000s. In this telling, an Akita puppy gets shipped from Japan and breaks loose in a train station. The next human he meets, dance instructor Parker Wilson (Richard Gere), decides to take care of him temporarily, but the rightful owner never calls and Parker learns to love Hachi enough that Mrs. Wilson (Joan Allen) gives up on finding a substitute. The occasional narrator is Parker's grandson (Kevin DeCoste), now a preteen, who doesn't remember Hachi personally but deems the dog his hero.

The Robe (1953)

Having declined in religiosity, I don't watch film adaptations of Christian legends/books as much as I used to. But a good swords-and-sandals epic doesn't require devout Christianity for entertainment. Heck, Quo Vadis? (1951) had a Jewish director. Perhaps the panned re-remake of Ben-Hur helped inspire me to try another one (along with the streaming deadline).

The protagonist is Marcellus Gallio (Richard Burton), the tribune who oversees the crucifixion of Jesus, despite pleas from slave Demetrius (Victor Mature). As soon as Marcellus puts on Jesus' robe in the rain, he is beset with mental and physical symptoms. The illness remains in some measure long after Demetrius runs off with the robe. Marcellus hopes to find and destroy the robe for a cure, but his journey exposes him to more and more Christian love and piety, including that of Peter (Michael "Klaatu" Rennie). It's no spoiler to say that he converts -- leaving plenty of time for conflict with other Romans, including mutual crush Diana (Jean Simmons) and Emperor Caligula (Jay Robinson).

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Oh look, LAIKA again. For once, I felt like seeing their work in a theater, and so did my dad. Maybe that's because the stop-motion animation studio is trying something different this time: a setting in feudal Japan. You can't really tell from my past reviews, but I'm kind of a sucker for entertainment set thereabout.

A woman, Sariatu (uh, Charlize somebody), and her eye patch-wearing baby barely survive a stormy sea voyage and then make a home in a cave. There is a village nearby, but they have no money for better lodging. About a decade later, Sariatu spends most of the day catatonic, but son Kubo (Art Parkinson) has grown precocious, making a name for himself by telling stories of his samurai dad Hanzo fighting the Moon King's forces -- while illustrating them with moving origami controlled by his magic string instrument, which nobody identifies by name, but I determined it to be a shamisen.

Little does he know how much truth there is to his stories, until the day he neglects his mom's rule to come home by nightfall. The Moon King (Ralph Fiennes, once again playing a main villain in a family feature) is Sariatu's father and can now detect Kubo. The king and his identical other two daughters (both Rooney Mara) will stop at nothing to bring Kubo into their celestial kingdom, which pretty much requires that they blind him and make him learn to enjoy killing Earth mortals.

Romeo and Juliet (1968)

Consider this a last hurrah for my Shakespeare viewings in the year of his 400th deathday. It didn't seem right to go without a more straightforward screen adaptation, as opposed to a cultural translation or a story about putting on a play. I would have seen R&J much sooner, but it took a while to finish the Netflix wait, and then I forgot it until this week.

You know the plot, right? Teens from feuding families fall in puppy love, which raises tensions even further. After a couple fatalities, they make, shall we say, desperate escapes, with the bittersweet effect of ending the feud. This all takes place in the original setting, late Renaissance Italy, as opposed to the New York of West Side Story or the bizarre California of the Baz Luhrman update.

Frida (2002)

Frida Kahlo was one of those names I'd heard on many occasions without giving much thought. Aside from her being a Hispanic artist, I couldn't have told you anything about her. So I figured if I got nothing else out of this movie, it would give me a rough idea of who she really was.

It begins in 1922 Mexico, when the first major event of her life happened. A reckless bus driver puts 15-year-old Frida (Salma Hayek, then in her mid-30s) in critical condition. She never fully recovers, possibly due in part to similarly incompetent surgeons. Her first love (Antonio Banderas) does not stay by her side. Fortunately, between little else to do and a newfound interest in Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), she hones her own painting skill -- to the point that he has no constructive criticism. They go on to marry, despite her knowing that Diego cheated on his first wife a lot. She later calls that a far worse accident than the bus crash.

Deadpool (2016)

While I dig comic book movies, especially Marvel's lately, I've hardly read any action comics in my life. My exposure to Deadpool started with his appearance as both an enemy and a player character in X-Men Legends II; since then, I'd mostly heard about him from gushing fans. The mutant who started as a ripoff of DC Comics villain Deathstroke became a parody and then a better-known antihero, appreciated for his humor as much as his fighting prowess. The one thing that gave me pause about seeing this movie was the edginess, bound to outdo that T-rated game's version.

Like many real-life funny people, "Merc with a Mouth" Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds, who ironically keeps his mouth covered in costume) turns out not to be especially happy. Oh, he enjoyed being a rather amoral wiseacre long before he assumed the costume and alias. Having retired from Special Forces operations, he now made money by harming or intimidating petty miscreants and spent that money in seedy dives. Then terminal cancer drove him to accept a shady proposal to grant him Wolverine-like rapid healing. It worked, but the torturous process, the resulting disfigured skin (why doesn't that heal?), and the revelation that they were making super slaves (how counterintuitive) made him question the wisdom of his decision. He escaped, but so did sadistic project overseer Francis, who much prefers to go by Ajax. Now, no longer willing to show his face to fiancee Vanessa (Morena Baccarin, once again playing a prostitute), he dons a new identity and goes on a long-term hunt for Ajax, hoping for a cure as well as justice.

Kid Galahad (1937)

As you see from the year, it's not the Elvis Presley vehicle of the same title. (I doubt I'll ever watch a movie starring Elvis from start to finish.) This is one of the two earliest directorial efforts of Michael Curtiz that I've seen, as well as one of the two earliest acting efforts of Humphrey Bogart that I've seen. A precursor to Casablanca? Not really.

The headliners are Edward G. Robinson as boxing promoter/gangster (of course) Nick Donati and Bette Davis as his moll, "Fluff." Nick needs a new champion and discovers surprise potential in a clean-cut bellhop with a mocked name, Ward Guisenberry (Wayne Morris, possibly best known for Lt. Roget in Paths of Glory). Due to issues of jealousy, Nick sometimes plots against Ward's ring success, tho trainer Silver Jackson (Harry Carey) doesn't have the heart to let it work for long. But everyone's biggest concern is how "Turkey" Morgan (Bogart) and his hoods will react to Ward not fighting on his side.

Ilo Ilo (2013)

I'm quite certain that I'd never seen a Singaporean feature before. I'm less certain how I came to put it on my list. But when my DVD player stopped working and I saw fit to pick something of a modest length to stream, this looked different enough to try.

In 1997, Filipina migrant Terry starts work as a maid for a family of four (if you count the unborn). She must be quite desperate for money, because she has left behind a baby son whom she misses dearly, and she'll take a lousy second job. The recession clearly goes farther than the Philippines; neither parent has much job security or satisfaction, and they take gambles like the lottery seriously. Ten-year-old boy Jiale is troubled less by finances and more by a highly contrary demeanor. Nevertheless, his initial coldness to Terry gives way to an affection that makes his mom jealous.

Contact (1997)

Having quickly lost interest in Cosmos, I'm sure I didn't put this movie on my list for Carl Sagan's writing. Instead, I must have noticed how frequently it came up in discussions -- not to mention IMDb searches. Robert Zemeckis directs, and the cast includes Jodie Foster, Tom Skerritt, Matthew McConaughey (who would go on to the similar Interstellar), David Morse, Angela Bassett, John Hurt, James Woods, and Rob Lowe. We also get a lot of public figures as themselves, including controversially altered footage of Bill Clinton. So I went in, knowing little else of what it would offer.

Ellie (Foster) works for the SETI Institute with unstable funding, because too few people have confidence that we'll connect with aliens. Fortunately, a creepily influential yet reclusive billionaire (Hurt) sponsors her. Finally, she discovers a suspicious space noise. You can imagine many of the various reactions, including legitimate fears of a new Heaven's Gate cult. The next hard part is decoding the message, followed by deciding how much trust to put in it. Just about every step of the way is a struggle for our heroine.

The Little Prince (2015)

I never read the novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, tho a friend of mine loves it. All I had gleaned was the prince's appearance, his habitation of a tiny planetoid, and his sad parting from a talking fox. Further study confirms that it's quite solemn in spite of a whimsical, seemingly kid-friendly setup. But this animation isn't a direct adaptation; rather, it's a story about the story.

As in the novella, nobody has a stated name. The protagonist is an eight-year-old girl (Mackenzie Foy, who already starred in an animation connected to France) whose mother (Rachel McAdams), while affectionate, has way too strict a plan for her life. They move next door to an eccentric old pariah (Jeff Bridges) who turns out to be the novella's narrator and illustrator, eager to share his story with whoever will listen. The girl rebels against Mom's schedule to learn about the spacefaring boy (who doesn't seem to be a literal prince) whom the man claims to have met in a desert. What we get must be a highly capsulized version of the story -- leaving room for much more....

Atlantic City (1980)

Uh-oh, Louis Malle at the helm again. I calculated about a 50% chance of liking his work. On the plus side, it guaranteed Susan Sarandon in her hotter years and Burt Lancaster in his, well, later years. Also, funnily enough, Wallace Shawn as a waiter.

Sally (Sarandon), a waitress training as a casino dealer, seems to have her life sufficiently together until her wayward husband, the serendipitously named Dave Matthews (Robert Joy), unexpectedly shows up. He doesn't tell her that he stole dope from a Philadelphia mob, but he gets some help in selling it from her neighbor and secret admirer, minor thief Lou (Lancaster). When trouble catches up with Dave and then comes to Sally's door, Lou finds himself caught between his usual self-serving outlook and a desire to help her, if only out of lust.

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

AFI's celebration of Dalton Trumbo prompted me to give this some priority, a few months after my last war film viewing. The casting of Robert Mitchum and the direction of Mervyn LeRoy helped intrigue me.

The reportedly mostly true story follows Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle (Spencer Tracy) and his men on the first U.S. Air Force mission of retaliation for Pearl Harbor. The titular period of bombing comes in the middle of the piece, after much preparation. What follows is an effort to stay alive after crashing in China, in an area pretty well hemmed in by the Japanese.

Infamous (2006)

This movie was, if you will, infamously unfortunate in its timing: It came out months after Capote and had a very similar focus, so many dismissed it. It doesn't enjoy quite as high ratings from IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes. But maybe a decade of distance will help me evaluate it on its own terms.

As in Capote, Truman Capote (Toby Jones herein), already a bestselling author, gets engrossed in researching two men on death row who murdered a family after an unsuccessful burglary. Here, however, we get to see him express deeper feelings about one murderer, Perry Smith (Daniel Craig with an American accent). While partner in crime Dick Hickock (Lee Pace) is a mostly amoral motormouth, Perry is both morally and intellectually complicated -- and slow to trust anyone with his life story, tho Truman threatens to make stuff up for his new quasi-reporting style. In time, they almost develop a romance.

Boy & the World (2013)

Boy, I knew that foreign films often had to wait a year for Academy consideration, but this one ran against 2015 animations. Maybe it can take longer for nations that rarely get Hollywood's attention. I think the only other Brazilian movies I've seen are Black Narcissus, City of God, and Central Station, none animated, so this was a new experience for me.

Some outside sources identify the boy as Cuca, but both the film and IMDb call him only Menino, which means "boy." Actually, that may be the only comprehensible dialog; the rest -- what little there is -- turns out to be Portuguese played backwards, in keeping with the occasional flipped writing. Subtitles exist on the DVD only for the deaf and hard of hearing, not translating or transcribing more than "Menino." In a way, it's fitting that this movie vied with Shaun the Sheep for the Oscar. Even the plot is similar in its simplicity, to a point.

The Outsiders (1983)

Nothing to do with Band of Outsiders, except that both feature young criminals. I chose to see this one mainly because Francis Ford Coppola directed, but its claim to semi-fame is the casting of a bunch of guys who became household names only later: Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, even pre-Risky Business Tom Cruise. (Among the ladies, I'm afraid Diane Lane's about it.) There's also an early acting role for Tom Waits.

Based on an S.E. Hinton book set in mid-'60s Oklahoma, it focuses on the creatively real-named Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell) and Johnny (Macchio, one of the oldest but seeming youngest), members of a gang not so creatively named the Greasers. After an especially harmful clash with the Socs (pronounced "Soashes" because they're socialites), they take the advice of more experienced Dallas (Dillon) and leave town for a while. This seems to have a salubrious effect on their souls, as they discover classic literature and their capacity for heroism, but it doesn't mean the worst has come and gone for them or the people they care about.

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Thankfully, I did not let Nemesis be the last Trek film I ever watched. But I did approach STB with a little trepidation. Reports of it being more like the original series than the previous two installments clashed with the trailer playing the Beastie Boys, which George Takei himself thought made it look generic apart from the fleet uniforms. And how long would the hyped new same-sex match for Sulu (John Cho) demand our attention?

The answer: about three literal seconds. More important is the touching notice that First Officer Spock's (Zachary Quinto) alternate-timeline counterpart (the late Leonard Nimoy) has passed away. It distracts the present Spock from his personally chosen mission to do his part for the few remaining Vulcans, which yielded a peaceable breakup with Lt. Uhura (Zoe Saldana).

But this, too, does not concern the main conflict. Before long, the heroes are attacked by unfamiliar aliens, who capture many crew members and a portion of a powerful weapon. The disabled Enterprise crashes on the enemy's mountainous planet, where Krall (the ubiquitous Idris Elba) is a Federation-hating life energy vampire out to annihilate the new space city of Yorktown. As the key crew come back together from their separate pods, they enlist the aid of badass alien woman Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), who has a bone to pick with Krall.

Bound for Glory (1976)

I knew very little about Woody Guthrie going in. I'm more familiar with his son Arlo, whose songs are less serious (and probably less talented). If you're going to watch another musician biopic, best let it be of a musician you ought to learn about.

Actually, this adaptation from an autobiography is somewhat loose and takes a while to feel like a biopic. It starts with Woody (David Carradine, after many bigger names were considered) at his Texas home with a wife and two daughters, a decade before the birth of Arlo. Between the Dust Bowl and his low fortune as a sign painter, Woody decides to head for California and send for his family afterward. The first hour out of 2:25 largely consists of him traveling broke and looking for a job. When he finally starts getting paid to sing, he must choose whether to do as his sponsors ask or stick to pro-labor union songs about the troubles of migrant farmworkers. The film ends with him heading for New York, not yet having written his most famous number.

Prisoners (2013)

At one time, I would have refused to see this. It seemed to me that revenge flicks were largely just an excuse to have a "hero" behaving more nastily than usual. But I have discovered my taste for them, whether we're supposed to root for the protagonist or recognize that he's in the wrong. In this case, I knew it was bigger on drama than action.

Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and Frank Birch (Terrence Howard) are friends through their first-grade daughters -- who go missing at the same time. Laconic, low-IQ Alex Jones (Paul Dano) is soon apprehended as a suspected kidnapper, but the evidence is too circumstantial to hold him for long; and despite the request of Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), the chief lets him go totally free. Having slightly more evidence to convince him, however inadmissible in court, Keller kidnaps Alex and enlists Frank's reluctant help in trying to torture their daughters' whereabouts out of him, keeping this secret from their respective wives, Grace (Maria Bello) and Nancy (Viola Davis). Meanwhile, Loki continues to look for the girls and Alex -- sometimes following Keller.

The Night of the Iguana (1964)

What sounds like a cheesy horror is actually based on a Tennessee Williams drama. His plays have a good track record on screen, if not even better than on stage (see A Streetcar Named Desire; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; and Suddenly, Last Summer). This appears to be the last silver-screen feature in his lifetime, affording more suggestiveness than the '50s would allow. Having John Huston at the helm couldn't hurt either.

Disgraced Rev. Shannon (Richard Burton) finds work as a tour guide in Mexico. He regards his present company as mostly annoying biddies, one of whom, Miss Fellowes (Grayson Hall), accuses him of molesting teen Charlotte (Sue Lyon), who actually put the moves on him to no avail. In order to postpone his firing until he can regain the tourists' support, he abandons the itinerary and drives to a remote, inexpensive hotel that belonged to a late friend of his, sabotaging the bus to prevent an escape. The widow and current owner, Maxine (Ava Gardner), likes him just enough to reopen off season. Soon after, Hannah (Deborah Kerr) and her nearly gone grandfather "Nonno" (Cyril Delevanti) show up, hoping to buy room and board with art and poetry; Shannon talks Maxine into a tentative agreement. From there, Shannon, Maxine, and Hannah share the main focus.

The Naked Spur (1953)

My first western viewing in half a year seems to have one of the most generic titles, but I assure you that the spur does serve an unusually important purpose eventually. I'll spare you that spoiler, even if it's hardly the biggest surprise.

For me, the biggest surprise (but not really a spoiler) came about 15 minutes in, as the Netflix description didn't do the plot much justice. We're told that Howard (James Stewart), on a long manhunt for Ben (Robert Ryan), meets and receives help from old prospector Jesse (Millard Mitchell) and Yankee ex-soldier Roy (Ralph Meeker). What Netflix omits is how quickly they round up Ben, accompanied by his not-girlfriend Lina (Janet Leigh). The rest of the movie is about their journey from Colorado toward Kansas to collect a reward. Ben has his hands tied, but he's not gagged and knows well how to sow discord among the party while hatching a plan with Lina. No wonder he frequently wears a charismatic little smile.

Dersu Uzala (1975)

This Akira Kurosawa film easily stands out from all the rest that I've seen. Not only is it based on a true story; it's set in Siberia, with USSR actors speaking what I can only assume to be Russian. No Toshirō Mifune this time -- or anyone else you're likely to recognize. I figured the director had some interest in that country after adapting The Idiot, but this is still a great departure.

The story follows Army Captain Arsenev, leader of a topographic expedition troop starting in 1902. They run into several episodes of trouble, mostly in the form of nature, but an aged Nanai trapper by the title name has the woodland smarts to help them out. Arsenev and Uzala become friends. Too bad Uzala is too much of a country mouse to visit comfortably....

Finding Dory (2016)

Normally, I agree with the majority of viewers on which Pixar features are among the best and which are merely OK. Finding Nemo has been the glaring exception: I found it uncreative, overly simple, immature, and unwholesomely preachy. The humor, especially surrounding Dory's anterograde amnesia, is both predictable and politically incorrect. I almost declined my parents' invitation to see Finding Dory in a theater. But maybe my tastes had changed in 13 years. Besides, one reviewer intrigued me by talking about its special positive meaning for people with mental disorders and their families. Being such a person, I had to give it a shot.

Indeed, Dory's not so happy-go-lucky as a main character, nor is her problem played nearly so much for laughs. The movie begins with a look back at her early childhood, with parents lovingly compensating for her "short-term remembery loss." (Many in the theater awwed at the adoryble, strangely rotund, bug-eyed little blue tang voiced by a 7-year-old.) At some point, she got lost, which is 10 times worse with her condition. Fortunately, a young fish is much more self-suffishent than a young human, so she reached adulthood on her own, albeit still searching for her parents -- right up to the moment she met Marlon, whose more pressing search made her forget her own problems altogether. One year later, she suddenly remembers a big clue and heads off on her adventure anew. As more flashbacks come to her, the mystery unfolds.

Band of Outsiders (1964)

Also known as Bande à part (inspiring Quentin Tarantino's A Band Apart production company), this was Jean-Luc Godard's next film after Contempt. I had said in that review that I wouldn't bother with this film, but that was before a Meetup group invited me. If I didn't like it, I could still appreciate the talk before and after.

The titular band is not as big as I'd thought: just three young adults who meet via an ESL class. Arthur and Franz like to imagine themselves in a crime flick (unaware that they are) and have something of a love triangle with Odile (Godard staple Anna Karina), albeit not strongly enough to be genteel toward her. For the first hour or so, they mainly just goof around. Then they commit a crime for real: burglarizing a house that Odile shares with a non-relative who keeps a suspicious amount of cash in a stash. But someone besides Odile is home....

The Science of Sleep (2006)

For all its peculiarity, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favorite celluloid romances. When I learned that writer Michel Gondry had another cerebral sci-fi about a man in love -- with a focus on dreams, no less -- I decided to check it out someday, even if it was reputedly not the next ESotSM.

Stéphane (Gael Garcia Bernal) is tricked by his newly widowed mother into taking a lame job so he'll have a reason to move back into her apartment building. This annoys him, but he does discover something promising about the arrangement: attractive neighbor Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who shares his interest in quirky artistry. If only they weren't both introverts and had the social skills to make it work easily. Stéphane tends to let his imagination run away with him, with difficulty separating dreams, daydreams, and reality....

Fruitvale Station (2013)

Another movie based on a true story that made many think the Academy racist for a lack of nominations. I'd had it on my streaming list for quite a while, but only when looking with my dad did I muster the courage to give it a try.

If you don't remember the headline event, the opening RL footage (with a mercifully timed blackout) will remind you: Oscar Grant III, age 22, was unduly shot by Oakland-area subway police. Most of what follows the footage apparently takes place in the 24 hours before the shooting, preparing to celebrate not New Year's Eve 2008 so much as his mother's birthday. It ends with his death the next day and an epilogue regarding the high-profile aftermath.

Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

When I think of Ingmar Bergman, I think of bleak brooding. Sometimes his artistry makes it worth my while, and sometimes I wish I hadn't bothered. I chose this viewing at the time for the word "summer," but I put it on my queue in the first place because I had to see what a Bergman romantic comedy would be like. Especially one that inspired a Woody Allen comedy.

Circa 1900, a group of adults gets together for a typical Swedish solstice celebration. What makes it unusual is that the hostess, Desiree, invited them specifically to sort out their relationship troubles. They include Fredrik, who used to have an affair with her; his much younger virgin wife, Anne; his adult son, Henrik, who wants to be a minister but has mutual feelings for Anne; servant Petra, who wants Henrik; Count Carl-Magnus, who currently has an affair with Desiree and the military might to intimidate romantic rivals; and Countess Charlotte, who loves Carl-Magnus regardless.

Summer Wars (2009)

Thought I'd kick off the summer with a movie that has "summer" in the title. Alas, TV anime isn't the only anime that doesn't always live up to its titles. This flick has a war of sorts and could easily have taken place in another season.

Set in either the near future or an alternate present, it introduces us up front to an online network called OZ that's even more pervasive than Google. Protagonist Kenji is an OZ programmer in high school who deems math his only strong suit. When he gets an anonymous email full of numbers, he injudiciously accepts the implicit invitation to decode them. The sender turns out to be Love Machine, a rogue hacker bot that swipes his avatar and wreaks havoc on OZ. Indignation at this frame-up is by no means Kenji's biggest motivation to fight back: Japan really has put all its eggs in one basket, and Love Machine's actions can be deadly.

A Double Life (1947)

Could it really be the first time in 10 months that I accepted a Meetup invitation to a film? At any rate, I finally took advantage of AFI's Shakespeare festival, even if it meant yet another Othello adaptation.

OK, that's not a fair summary; it's more of an adaptation of the little-remembered Men Are Not Gods. Tony (Ronald Colman) is a stage actor admired for his talent but notoriously hard to get along with, not least because his method acting runs away with him. This is especially problematic when he plays Othello for an improbable 300+ nights, opposite his ex-wife (Signe Hasso), and develops auditory hallucinations. I won't say precisely what crimes he commits, but his temporary insanity does not prevent him from making the trail a bit difficult for the police to follow correctly. Then an acquaintance grows suspicious....

All This, and Heaven Too (1940)

Since my last Bette Davis viewing, I've received several IMDb suggestions for more. I gave priority to one with Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture.

Based on a Rachel Field novel based on a true story, it takes a more personal look at the scandal that eventually led to the French Revolution of 1848. Henriette Deluzy-Desportes (Davis), a former governess to the four children of the Duc de Praslin (Charles Boyer, the only actor with a French accent), finds that ugly rumors have followed her across the English Channel, so she tells her disrespecting French class her side of the story. As we see in extensive flashback, Duchesse Frances (Barbara O'Neil) had lost her husband's love as well as her children's before Henriette showed up, yet she accuses Henriette of stealing them. While Henriette and "Theo" never even kiss, they do indeed develop feelings and must decide how best to minimize negative publicity. Theo...does not choose well....

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

Ah, Sam Peckinpah, arthouse predecessor to Quentin Tarantino. I wondered whether this flick would be along the lines of The Wild Bunch, but it's not strictly a western: It takes place in the then-present of Mexico City.

It's a story of revenge, but not quite what the title suggests. Protagonist Bennie (Peckinpah staple Warren Oates) is only vaguely familiar with Alfredo as a past patron of his favorite prostitute, Elita. He's jealous, but his real motivation to hunt down "Al" is a bounty. Elita truthfully informs him that Al recently died already, so Bennie's task is to drive to the cemetery, dig up the head, and present it while it's still recognizable. (Don't worry; we never really see it.) This is not as easy as it sounds, what with other violent criminals either wanting the bounty for themselves or bent on retaining Al's dignity. By the end, Bennie has suffered enough that his real bone to pick is with his employers.

Contempt (1963)

I'm a bit wary of entries from the British Film Institute's "Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time." More than half the time, I find them OK at best. But Jean-Luc Godard hadn't let me down with Breathless and Alphaville, so this seemed a sufficiently safe bet. Besides, I had never seen the legendary Brigitte Bardot on film before.

It's one of the most international films I've seen, set in Italy but having more lines in French, English, and maybe German. Philandering Jeremy Prokosch (Jack Palance) wants to produce The Odyssey on the big screen, with the one and only Fritz Lang directing. The main focus is on reluctant screenwriter Paul (Michel Piccoli) and his wife, Camille (Bardot), who find something coming between them -- and it may make the difference in whether Paul stays with the project. The other major character is Giorgia Moll as talented translator Francesca.

On the Beach (1959)

Another entry in the Gregory Peck festival, this one seemingly less remembered but important for showcasing Peck's anti-nuke stance. It is not a "beach movie," one lighthearted beach scene notwithstanding. Novelist Nevil Shute evidently chose the title for a touch of irony. It's set mostly in post-apocalyptic Australia and features a dangerous auto race, but that's about where its similarity to the Mad Max franchise ends.

In 1964 (incidentally when Dr. Strangelove and Fail-Safe debuted), bombs have rendered Australia the only reportedly habitable place left in the world -- and not for much longer, as radiation sickness spreads. Naval officers Dwight (Peck) and Peter (pre-Psycho Anthony Perkins) must leave their loves -- new girlfriend Moira (Ava Gardner) and wife Mary (Donna Anderson), respectively -- in order to investigate the first sign of outside life in a while: incessant, indecipherable telegraphy from the ruins of California. Tip: Don't get your hopes up for a Children of Men-like ending.

The Terminal (2004)

I had said not to expect many more reviews of Steven Spielberg-directed features. It's something of a surprise to myself that I took only about seven months to get to another. Now I've seen all that he's directed since The Last Crusade.

Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, a present-day airline customer from a fictitious nation apparently near Russia. During his flight, his homeland experiences a coup d'etat, resulting in a most extraordinary situation for himself: The U.S. neither recognizes his passport nor can send him back any time soon, so his only legal option is to stay at this NYC airport indefinitely. (If this sounds implausible, know that a real-life Iranian had to wait 18 years in a Parisian airport after the 1979 revolution.) Note that this comes in the first few minutes, so the running theme of the whole story is waiting, but I assure you that things do happen before Viktor's freedom....

The Big Short (2015)

Ah, now I've seen all the Best Picture nominees from last year! I would've waited a while longer, but once again, my dad had made the rental and I decided to seize the opportunity.

Based on a mostly nonfiction Michael Lewis book, the story focuses on a few men in three basic groups that never come together. In 2005, number-minded hedge fund manager Michael Burry (Christian Bale) discovers what a racket the allegedly stable U.S. housing market has going and then does what no one ever did before: a credit default swap that essentially makes a bet with several banks that the housing bubble will burst soon enough for him to profit overall. People who catch wind of the arrangement and decide to get in on the action include trader Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling); his associate, hedge fun manager Mark Baum (Steve Carrell); and relatively new investing partners Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jaime Shipley (Finn Whitrock), with help from trader Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt). It's no spoiler to say that they win in 2007. For the record, only Burry goes by a real person's name.

Omkara (2006)

Has it really been more than a year since my last Bollywood viewing? Well, the realization wasn't my reason for breaking the streak. I had hoped to see a Shakespeare-based movie around the 400th anniversary of his death, but Netflix had waits on the ones that interested me. This retelling of Othello just happened to become available last week.

For those who don't remember the gist of Othello, it starts with the Moorish general's interracial elopement to Desdemona against her father's will. When he passes over Iago for an appointed lieutenant of sorts, Iago schemes a vengeful manipulation. Not content to dishonor his replacement, he convinces Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful. It does not end well for any major character.

Of course, in a movie set in India, even modern India, a black citizen would look rather out of place. Omkara, a.k.a. Omi, is instead a half-caste, which puts him beneath the marital dignity of most devout Hindus. Also, his elopement to Dolly initially came across as an abduction from her intended wedding. But these are not the most important changes....

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965)

Already another European drama from the same period? But this one has to be the first Ukrainian film I've ever seen. OK, technically it's from the USSR, but a different area than Battleship Potemkin or Stalker. And director Sergei Parajanov got blacklisted for not conforming it to socialist realism, let alone a Russian focus.

Judging from book author Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky's lifetime, I'm guessing the story's set around 1900. It is difficult to summarize without giving a lot away, as the Netflix jacket did. Suffice it to say that there is substantial tragedy and alleged sorcery (despite the characters' surface Christianity). In the first scene, young boy Ivan gets pushed out of the way of a cut-down tree by his older brother, who dies instead; right after the brother's funeral, their father dies in a feud. Neither of these events has much bearing on the rest of the tale, mostly set in Ivan's adulthood, when his romantic heart brings him trouble repeatedly.

The Bridge (1959)

If I had realized that I was already seeing another movie set in the 1945 European Theater, I would have put this further down my queue. But it should be altogether fitting to watch some manner of war -- or antiwar -- film on Memorial Day, especially when it has an Oscar nomination and a high body count. Even if the focus is on a nation fighting against the United States.

Based on a novel by Hitler Youth veteran turned pacifist Gregor Dorfmeister (pen name Manfred Gregor) and directed by concentration camp survivor Bernhard Wicki, TB follows several teen boys in a small German town who get excited to be drafted. None of the older citizens share their joy. By this time, the military is desperate enough to put them on the front lines after one day of training. Their assignment is to guard (what else?) a bridge in town, despite rumors that it's slated for bombing by their own side.

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

The comic book adaptations have been coming fast and furious, but this is the first 2016 entry I've seen. What can I say? My dad didn't feel like joining me for Deadpool, and the reviews for Batman v. Superman and X-Men: Apocalypse have been worryingly mixed. For this reason, I'm in no good position to compare CA:CW to BvS, and maybe that's just as well.

I had heard before that the theme of the infighting concerned new legislation that would put the Avengers under UN oversight, with Captain America leading the antis and Iron Man leading the pros. (Only Thor and the Hulk are sitting this one out.) But that conflict is rather incidental to the real reason: Bucky Barnes, a.k.a. the Winter Soldier, formerly Hydra's greatest brainwashed assassin, is the #1 suspect in a subsequent UN bombing. Cap wants to give his old friend Bucky more of a chance than the conventional authorities would. There's actually a third side: Newly minted hero Black Panther, wishing to avenge his father, would rather kill Bucky than let him get arrested. As it turns out, vengeance is a bit of a running theme....

Stripped (2014)

Another of my favorite media is comic strips, whether in print or online only. So I pretty much had to add this documentary to my queue on principle. While I chose to watch it last night for its 84 minutes, the timing was also appropriate in that one of the interviewed cartoonists, Mell Lazarus, just passed away.

As the Bill Watterson-drawn poster implies, one of the points is to lament how newspaper cartoonists don't have it as good as they used to (e.g., lower pay, less page space, more syndicate demand for sameness). Watterson had complained about it in the '80s, but it got a lot worse when the Web started putting newspapers out of business. Fortunately, the film doesn't keep an unhappy tone much of the time. It's really about pretty much every subject pertinent to comics in general. And it ends with a hopeful note on the future, particularly of webcomics.

The Age of Adaline (2015)

There's something to be said for taking a single sci-fi/fantasy concept and running with it. Unlike world building, it doesn't require a lot of fine details; the audience can concentrate where it matters. The premise doesn't even have to be totally fresh if you know what you're doing.

In 1937, a highly improbable accident yields even more improbable results: Adaline (Blake Lively) stops physically aging at 29. A narrator gives pseudo-scientific justification and alludes to a future theory, but it's not important, especially since Adaline herself never learns it. Like some other ageless characters I've known, she makes a point not to stay in one place with the same identity for long, lest she garner unwelcome attention from unethical researchers. This means limited contact with her daughter (Ellen Burstyn), who looks much older than her by the present, when the bulk of the movie takes place. Despite Adaline's understandable aloofness as "Jenny," young man Ellis (Michiel Huisman) persistently courts her. She starts to warm up to him but is not prepared for another unlikely accident: His dad (Harrison Ford) was her boyfriend four decades ago....

A River Runs Through It (1992)

This has to be the first movie I've seen because of its poster. Specifically, I learned of its existence from a large poster on a classroom door. While I haven't been in school since 2004 and I had no reason to value that one professor's cinematic taste, it just looked so pleasantly...peaceful. And that's what I was in the mood for.

Based on a semi-autobiography, it takes place in Missoula, Montana, for a good stretch of the first half of the 20th century. Minister John Maclean (Tom Skerritt) rather strictly home-schools sons Norman (Craig Sheffer) and slightly younger Paul (early Brad Pitt) with special emphasis on Presbyterian values and, almost equally, fly fishing. By adulthood, Norman comes a bit closer to the former of his father's ideals, taking a university position in Chicago. Paul, refusing to leave his hometown, boasts some important connections as a newspaperman but seems less respectable to polite society, with such habits as drinking and gambling into debt. When Norman returns, the brotherly love is a little shaky, tho shared fishing experience doesn't hurt.

Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)

Rififi is my overall favorite film noir. Thus, when a popular Italian movie is advertised as a satire of it, I pay attention. Bonus points for inspiring a Bob Fosse production.

If you've seen one, you can guess what the other's about: a team of safecrackers. Oh, we don't get a half hour without dialog this time; that's even harder to pull off in a comedy. What we do get is one act of incompetence after another, generally by the crooks. Familiar actors include Vittorio Gassman (Bruno in Il Sorpasso) and Claudia Cardinale as a subplot love interest.

The Train (1964)

I'm a little surprised at myself for having associated John Frankenheimer only with The Manchurian Candidate when I had also seen Birdman of Alcatraz and Seven Days in May. These three movies came consecutively, followed by The Train. Quite a streak early in his directorial career. It probably helped to have Burt Lancaster in most of them.

Based loosely on a true story from near the end of World War II, TT begins with Colonel Franz von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) seizing dozens of classic paintings from a Parisian museum. The curator appeals to railroad-affiliated members of the Resistance to stop their train -- without damaging the cargo -- before it reaches Germany. Since Allied forces are expected soon, the cell of railway inspector Paul Labiche (Lancaster) decides that it only has to slow things down. But that's not as easy as it sounds when the German soldiers get increasingly suspicious that their "bad luck" is sabotage.

Gun Crazy (1950)

In light of last year's Trumbo, AFI is playing a bunch of movies with screenplays written by Dalton Trumbo. Thanks to the blacklist, GC and some others did not put him in the credits at the time. (I wonder how Millard Kaufman felt about being Trumbo's front.)

From early childhood, Bart (played by John Dall in adulthood and up-and-comer Russ Tamblyn at 14) loves guns but not violence against living things. His obsession still gets him in trouble, particularly when he burglarizes a closed gun shop. After special education and service in the U.S. Army, presumably without seeing battle, he meets a female sharpshooter in a traveling show, Annie (Peggy Cummins). He matches her skill and joins the show until they both have a falling-out with the manager. Despite multiple warnings against it, Bart marries Annie, unaware that she has a history of armed robbery and will pressure him into it to support her greed.

Cloud Atlas (2012)

The Wachowskis have not done a great job of sustaining their directorial popularity in the wake of The Matrix, with V for Vendetta being their one other major hit as writers and producers. This may explain why they decided to try something different, adapting a David Mitchell bestseller into one of the most expensive indies yet, sharing credit with German cult director Tom Twyker (Run Lola Run).

Specifically, we get six alternating subplots across different settings and even genres. In 1849, an American aristocrat visiting a Pacific island contends with illness, envy of his wealth, and a burgeoning sympathy toward slaves. In 1936, an aspiring British composer works on "The Cloud Atlas Sextet," but his history of gay sex limits his options for exposure. In 1973, an investigative journalist follows a murder trail toward a horrible San Francisco corporate conspiracy. In the present, an elderly British publisher learns the ups and downs of working with a thuggish author, followed by the untrustworthiness of his own brother. In 2144, South Korea has been manufacturing female clones for servitude, and one with the telltale serial number 451 rebels. In 2321, an unspecified disaster has led to Hawaii being divided into primitive tribes and a handful of elite technocrats, and one of the latter needs assistance from the former.

What draws these subplots together? Lots of little things: a recurring birthmark on focal characters, parallel moments in their lives, actual references to the past. Oh, and more than a dozen actors play multiple roles, among them Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, and Wachowski staple Hugo Weaving, hinting at reincarnations. If there's a single overarching theme to the whole thing, it's championing resistance against tyranny -- which, come to think of it, describes the other Wachowski movies I know.

Force of Evil (1948)

There's something fun about watching fare by blacklisted directors. I feel like I'm sticking it to the McCarthyists whenever I do. And heck, Jules Dassin's Rififi is a contender for my favorite film noir. Why not try Abraham Polonsky's best-known work in the same genre, favored by Martin Scorsese?

Attorney Joe Morse (John Garfield) plays a key role in maintaining a numbers racket. If that doesn't sound like a major crime to you, then you miss the bigger picture. When he gets involved in his client's plan to force all the rackets in New York City to unite under one head or simply fold, it means strong-arming his estranged brother Leo (Thomas Gomez), among others, by any means at his disposal. Joe falls for Leo's secretary, who finds herself drawn to Joe in turn despite not approving his style. But for all the money he stands to make, Joe retains enough humanity to stop feeling comfortable with the arrangements....

Le Notti Bianche (1957)

This is the second foreign romantic drama based on a Dostoevsky novel that I've seen, in this case White Nights. It reportedly takes a number of key liberties with the source material, but that doesn't stop fans of the book from enjoying the movie.

In an unspecified city in winter, lonesome outsider Mario (Marcello Mastroiani) takes interest in stranger Natalia (Maria Schell, impressively shedding her Austrian accent) after seeing her stand on a bridge crying. She gives him highly mixed signals. At first I thought she was just painfully shy, but it turns out that she's been waiting night after night for an unnamed love interest (Jean Marais) whom she half-believes will never return. That rather complicates the decision of how much of a chance to give Mario, who turns down other suitors for her.

The Yearling (1946)

The AFI Silver Theater is celebrating Gregory Peck's 100th birthday with a festival. I had already seen most of his promising features, but this one seemed worth an 11:30 AM Saturday viewing, even if my dad had better things to do.

The titular animal does not actually show up until an hour in -- unless you interpret the title to refer to main boy Jody. In late 19th-century Florida, he badly wants a pet woodland critter of some kind, but his subsistence-farming parents, especially mother Orry (Jane Wyman), forbid it. After a series of what you might call minor adventures, father Ezra, a.k.a. Penny(?!), finds it necessary to kill a doe, and Jody talks his parents into letting him adopt the fawn left behind, partly as a sort of returned favor. He dubs the fawn Flag, without appearing to realize how appropriate "Flag the Stag" would become. This being a cinematic adaptation from a book, you can guess that Jody will not get to keep Flag as long as he likes....

The Champ (1931)

This seems to be a must among fans of '30s dramas. I had seen only one other King Vidor film and did not have a good mental picture of Wallace Beery yet. Why not see what garnered an Oscar for the latter and a nomination for the former?

In the area of Tijuana, Andy "Champ" Purcell talks the talk about getting back into prizefighting, but his habits of gambling and especially drinking get in the way of opportunities (think of druggie Dicky in The Fighter). He probably wasn't like this back when the divorce court granted him custody of his son, Dink (Jackie Cooper), who's about nine. Dink and Champ love each other in spite of frustration, but after Dink's mother Linda happens to catch sight of him, she and her husband put pressure on Champ to cede custody to her. They'd have a good case, seeing as, beyond financial issues, Champ places Dink in rather kid-unfriendly environments and leaves something wanting in the discipline department.

Spotlight (2015)

Not since No Country for Old Men (2007) had I been so reluctant to watch an Academy Best Picture. It's a rather disturbing subject, especially to a member of the Roman Catholic Church congregation (I've lost faith but still sing in the choir). Besides, with only one other Oscar, how deserving could it be?

Set mainly in 2001, when allegations of child sexual abuse by priests were nothing new, this drama puts the, y'know, spotlight on The Boston Globe, particularly its four "Spotlight" section team members. New editor-in-chief Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) thinks they've given too short shrift to such scandals, not least because local Cardinal Law (whose name confused me for a while) has been implicated in trying to hide a recent one. Remember, cardinals rank higher than archbishops, just short of the Pope. If the Globe finds compelling evidence of systematic cover-ups, it'll be big news indeed. But this endeavor faces a lot of obstacles, and not just in the form of direct Church power -- which, surprisingly enough, never really issues a threat.

Princes and Princesses (2000)

France does a pretty good job on the animated feature front, albeit with a rather quirky focus. I had previously known director Michel Ocelot only for Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest, which, while not my idea of impressive (the graphics evoke The Sims 2), at least expresses a whimsy that I value in my viewings. This other Princes movie offers more interesting visuals -- namely silhouettes, almost like a smoother version of The Adventures of Prince Achmed.

In just 62 minutes before the end credits, we see six fairy tales of a sort, mostly including at least one royal character. The unifying structure consists of two adolescents and a middle-aged man rapidly deciding what kind of stories they want to tell, assembling their costumes via retro-futuristic technology, and putting on plays on a peculiar stage.

Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Ordinarily, I would skip this. I can enjoy movies set in African-American ghettos (Boyz n the Hood, Do the Right Thing) and biopics about musicians whose music doesn't do much for me (Coal Miner's Daughter, Walk the Line), but the godfathers of gangsta rap really didn't interest me. Only claims that it was unfairly passed over at the Oscars sparked my interest, followed by the high praise from the big three rating sites.

About all I knew going in was that N.W.A (that's the correct punctuation), an offensively named group that included later successful solo artists Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, made an early-'90s album with the same title as the movie, its cover showing four guys standing over the camera on the ground, Eazy-E about to shoot it (or having just shot it). Little did I know that they had brought more of a thuggish image to the music scene than ever before, drawing even the FBI's attention. The story documents their rise and, before long, heated breakup.

After the Thin Man (1936)

I remember very little from my viewing of The Thin Man (1934) years ago. I'm pretty sure it didn't do much for me. So why watch the immediate sequel? Partly as a refresher course for the iconic characters of Nick Charles (William Powell) and his wife Nora (Myrna Loy). Besides, perhaps they're an acquired taste like the alcohol Nick constantly consumes. Or for another drink analogy, perhaps my taste gets better with age.

From the looks of it, this story begins almost immediately after the events of the previous. The detective duo is receiving lots of positive attention from the media, tho Nick finds himself getting more from the riffraff types on the street. It serves to highlight the difference in background between him and aristocratic Nora. Nick would like never to take another case, but this time it's a family matter, and Nora's haughty aunt would rather call on a despised in-law than let the police handle it.

Mr. Skeffington (1944)

I immediately found this title a little odd, because Bette Davis's face takes up the poster. Indeed, her character of Fanny Trellis/Skeffington gets the bulk of the screen time and is no less interesting than Claude Rains as Job Skeffington. Why not Mrs. Skeffington? Surely her marriage in the first act comes as no surprise to any viewer, especially those who read even the briefest summaries.

Fanny starts out as the most sought-after bachelorette in New York in 1914. Little do her suitors know that her aristocratic parties hide the truth: Her good-for-nothing brother Trippy has spent the bulk of their fortune, and his crimes to acquire more only dig them deeper. But Trippy's titular boss already takes an interest in Fanny and offers himself as a rich and forgiving husband -- even letting her continue to entertain suitors. Of course, marriages of "convenience" have a habit of being inconvenient in other ways.

When Marnie Was There (2014)

I make a point to watch more than half the Academy Best Animated Feature nominees in any given year. I had seen two from 2015 already and may add Boy & the World, but Anomalisa sounds disturbing. Coming on the heels of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and The Wind Rises, WMWT marks the first time that Studio Ghibli got three back-to-back nominations, tho still no Oscar since Spirited Away.

The setting appears to be '60s Japan. Twelve-year-old Anna starts the movie as a self-loathing loner, stressed enough to compound her asthma. Her foster parents send her on a wellness trip to the country home of...let's call them her aunt and uncle. At first she's still depressed, but she takes interest in a reportedly abandoned mansion that somehow seems familiar -- and meets a same-age girl living there, eager to take a break from an oppressive home life. The two form a strong if secret bond in no time, but something seems off about Marnie's appearances and disappearances, as well as Anna's tendency to wake up a ways from where she thought she was. Anna starts to question Marnie's reality, and the plot gets a little more complicated....

Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)

I was starting to think that I shouldn't bother seeing any more films about inspirational teachers. They're usually enjoyable, but they threaten to run together after a while. MHO triggered a further alarm by having a pretty long runtime: 2:23. I did note that Glenn Holland was a music teacher, but would school band music soothe me enough to sustain my interest? Then I remembered how much fun it was to watch Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl and made up my mind.

The film begins in the early '60s, when Holland joins the faculty of a high school newly renamed after JFK. He just wants to pay the bills while hoping for his big break as an orchestral composer, but teaching is not for the half-hearted. The students seem even less-hearted, if you will, until he figures out how to speak their musical language -- to the dismay of the principal (Olympia Dukakis) and especially the vice principal (William H. Macy), who fear backlash from rock 'n' roll-hating parents. After that, Holland nearly forgets his ambitions, continuing to teach for the next three decades.

Hard Times (1975)

I think I chose this movie because I enjoyed Charles Bronson and James Coburn for their roles in westerns, including as two of The Magnificent Seven. In a supporting role is Strother Martin, another western staple. It seemed a little odd to see them all together in a non-western, but they're still recognizable in character.

As befits the title, it's set in the Depression Era. The dour, laconic, brawny Chaney (Bronson) drifts into New Orleans and soon forms a partnership with the curiously nicknamed Speed (Coburn), wherein Chaney street-fights and Speed promotes and takes bets on him. This is not the most reliable way to make money, nor does Speed handle his share wisely. He owes a debt to a dangerous sort, but Chaney seems not to care about his partner beyond the terms of their spoken contract...at first.