Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

My second favorite medium is video games. This rarely has the slightest bearing on my choices for my favorite medium; I've never seen all of any movie adapted from a game (Wreck-It Ralph doesn't count). But when I learned the premise of this sci-fi feature, I thought, "Huh, so the hero has a save point and infinite lives. Intriguing." To put it in more cinematic terms, it sounded like Groundhog Day, only substituting action for comedy. Oh, and it's not a 24-hour cycle: Only death serves for a reset.

I had not realized just how much emphasis would be on the sci-fi in other regards. A montage in the beginning establishes a war on Earth against aliens, in which humans have won only one battle so far. A handful of humans know why the invaders are so effective: innate time travel properties, combined with a hive mind. Whenever an elite "Alpha" dies, the "Omega" turns back the clock to a set point, retaining memories that the humans don't -- unless the Alpha's blood covers a human, thereby granting him the sole power of automatic resets, along with occasional telepathic connections with the Omega, for as long as he has the right blood in his body. That's what happens to protagonist Major Bill Cage (Tom Cruise, still quite watchable), but even demonstrating "foreknowledge" doesn't reliably convince others of his ability, apart from Sgt. Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), who used to be like him. Together, they hope to minimize if not prevent a disastrous ambush and, if possible, kill the Omega.

Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)

In retrospect, the mid-'60s were kind of a strange time for films. Some still came in B&W and looked a lot like older ones except for more relaxed censorship and more modern music. Noir had declined, but experimental directors -- including old hands, this one being Otto Preminger -- created the forerunners of the dark, brooding Silver Age. And Cold War-induced paranoia was not restricted to spy stories.

The titular Bunny Lake is not a body of water but a four-year-old girl. Her immediate family consists of herself; her single mother, Ann (Carol Lynley, the true protagonist); and her uncle, Steven (Keir Dullea of 2001: A Space Odyssey semi-fame). Having just moved from the U.S. to London, Ann hastily entrusts a school cook to look after Bunny -- who is not in the scene and, in fact, has yet to appear on screen -- until class begins. At the end of the school day...well, you see the title. No one other than Ann and Steven can recall ever seeing Bunny. Superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) actually grows to suspect that Ann hallucinated her daughter's existence and Steven has steadfastly humored her all along. Both siblings mention that Ann used to have an imaginary friend named Bunny, after all.

Zootopia (2016)

Like with The Force Awakens, I had been cautiously optimistic for months. As a patron of the furry fandom (don't read too much into that), I was initially caught between tentative gratitude for Disney possibly pandering to us and/or seeding the next generation...and apprehension that that might be all they were doing. Remember Chicken Little (2005)? It too looked cute, well-rendered, and a bit different from usual, but it bombed due to bad writing. Of course, Pixar aside, that was a less successful era for Disney animations. Once I learned that the co-directors had done Bolt, Tangled, and Wreck-It Ralph between them, I worried less. When people who had seen it started talking, well, animatedly about it, I stopped worrying altogether and got both parents to come along.

For those wondering how the premise differs from other animal-centric Disney fare, consider this: Has Donald Duck ever flown south for the winter? Did Bambi get a job? No, most Disney animals either (a) are nonhuman only in physical appearance, for aesthetic reasons; or (b) go naked on all fours, whether or not we can hear them speak. The mammals of Zootopia have a modern-style civilization but exhibit enough behaviors in common with their real-world counterparts that the makers must have thought hard about who should be what. Contrary to a rumor I've read, they did not inherit the Earth from bygone humans but developed intellect and society on their own -- which, unlike in some fiction I know, means that traditional carnivores limit their primary protein sources to the non-anthropomorphic fish and bugs.

The story follows Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin, best known for Snow White on Once Upon a Time), a rural rabbit who doesn't let lifelong discouragement by others stop her from pursuing her dream job in law enforcement in the big city. Becoming easily the smallest member on the force, she gets a vote of no confidence from Chief Bogo (Idris Elba). Fortunately, the mayor's office promotes affirmative action, letting her push her way into detective work on an otherwise neglected missing-otter case. Her only lead: Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a conniving, street-smart, probably thirty-something red fox whose swindles are mostly within the bounds of the law, but not so legal that she can't manipulate him into helping. What they find is more alarming than they expected: numerous cases of predators behaving like their primitive ancestors.

The Enemy Below (1957)

I have discovered that despite my desire to mix old and new cinema, my streaming list is mostly new fare. Shall I blame Netflix's priorities? Anyway, I browsed the few 20th-century entries and picked one almost at random from a decade I hadn't tackled in a while.

Like some other war films I've reviewed here, it keeps the plot simple, even with its loose basis on a novel and its later inspiration of a couple TV episodes. In the South Atlantic, a U.S. destroyer under Captain Murrell (Robert Mitchum) battles a U-boat under Captain von Stolberg (Curd Jürgens). Each captain is impressed at the other's tactics and struggles to work around them.

Taro the Dragon Boy (1979)

I know of very few anime movies that predate Studio Ghibli's 1985 debut. This one may be the earliest I've seen, with the possible exception of the same year's Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro.

The setting is rural Japan before the Japanese discovered irrigation. Taro, around age nine, has a reputation for being lazy and gluttonous but good at sumo and popular with woodland critters, who can talk. An impressed tengu (Shinto spirit) grants him the strength of 100 men, activated only when he aims to help others. When Taro asks his grandmother about his long-gone mother, he learns that she had involuntarily turned into an aquatic dragon while pregnant, which explains the scales on part of his back. He makes it his quest to find her in whatever distant lake has become her home.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

To my surprise, I realized that I hadn't seen anything with Steve Martin in it since before I subscribed to Netflix nine years ago. Sure, he hasn't made any promising flicks in that time, but it's not like I'd seen all his older hits. And while Christopher Nolan casts Michael Caine too often, I usually like Caine otherwise, so his presence opposite Martin intrigued me.

The title is accurate: Both leads play con men. The key difference is that Lawrence (Caine) has made quite a niche for himself in the French Riviera, whereas Freddy is a new tourist who comes to want what Lawrence has. Not welcoming competition, Lawrence agrees to train Freddy as an accomplice; but before long, Freddy decides he doesn't like Lawrence's style. To settle the question of who leaves, they bet on who can first collect $50,000 from another American tourist, Janet (Glenne Headly, who does well enough that I wonder why I know so little of her work). When Lawrence, who does have ethical standards, hears that Janet isn't as rich as they thought, they change the bet to whether the rather smitten Freddy can romance her before she leaves.

Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)

After viewing lots of movies from the past year or so, I decided to go way back again, to one of the last years in which silents were not retro. This is actually the less advertised second half of a Lon Chaney collection disc featuring The Ace of Hearts, even though TAoH is significantly less popular. While both are short enough that I could have watched them together in one evening, I didn't feel like it.

I'm not sure whether LCL is set in the "present"; it feels even earlier to me. In it, Italian brothers Tito (Chaney) and Simon serve as a clown duo in a circus when they discover an abandoned girl toddler. Simon initially wants nothing to do with raising her, saying, "Women bring bad luck," but Tito sways him by calling her Simonetta. After a time skip, she is played by then-aptly named 15-year-old Loretta Young...and old enough to change both brothers' minds: Simon returns to his grumpy superstition, and Tito has gone from fatherly love to a crush. Also crushing on her is Count Luigi Ravelli. Both have nervous breakdowns -- Tito crying and Luigi laughing -- when they believe that Simonetta won't have them. They happen to meet at the same doctor's office and feel that a friendship will do them good...at least until the rivalry intensifies....

Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)

What does it take to get me to watch a documentary nowadays? Well, a focus on movies helps. I once watched the divisive David Lynch Dune flick (1984) and half-wished I hadn't. Sure, I got the gist of a space epic in which humans vie for control of a desert planet known for an enlightening drug called "the spice," but its unappealing presentation led me to postpone reading the first Frank Herbert book for many years -- after which I was impressed.

Alejandro Jodorowsky was a cult director in the 1970s and had his own ambitious designs on adapting Dune to the big screen, but no studio would take him up on it. This doc asserts that his storyboard, which later became a graphic novel, makes it the most influential movie never made. Scenes in many finished movies, including Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, echo it. Herein, the main focus lies on the work that went into the project.

Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

One of my most viewed posts on this blog compares Hotel Transylvania and its two rivals at the time. In the present review, I'm not inclined to compare HT2 to anything besides HT1, but feel free to skim the old post before continuing.

The sequel begins with the wedding of Dracula's daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) to human Jonathan (Andy Samberg), in the formerly all-monster hotel that has grown friendly to humans. In a matter of minutes on screen, they have a son about to turn five (funny I should watch this right after Room) named Dennis, or "Dennisovich" as Dracula likes to call him. It turns out that "Papa Drac" (Adam Sandler) has not entirely gotten over his bias against humans: He won't entertain the likelihood that his progeny doesn't take after him in powers. As a result, the formerly overprotective father has become an underprotective grandfather, dangerously hoping to summon Dennis's latent potential. Dennis and Jonathan may be easygoing about this fixation, but Mavis will move them away from the hotel if it seems necessary.

The Peanuts Movie (2015)

An Entertainment Weekly review gave this movie a C+, citing entirely graphical reasons. Not only is this an unprofessionally shallow approach to criticism; we already know enough about the visual style from trailers. Viewers can decide for themselves whether it deviates too uncomfortably much from the 2D animated specials on which Charles Schulz worked. For me, it doesn't, but there are far more important factors at work.

The main plot involves Charlie Brown beginning his famous crush on the rarely heard-from "little red-haired girl" when she enters his class. He hopes that her overall impression of him will not be the usual one. In a rare lucky break, he gets distinguished for the highest score on a test -- making him suddenly popular with the entire school. (Hey, Schulz wrote some equally unworldly scenarios.) But popularity has its price....

The Good Dinosaur (2015)

I'm not sure why Pixar decided to release two features in one year, after having finally taken a year off. It's as if they knew that only one would be particularly successful, so they wanted the greater to distract us from the lesser. In so doing, they could avoid talks of a not-so-hot year.

The title is a bit misleading, because several if not most of the semi-civilized dinosaurs are about as good as young protagonist Aldo. If there's one way he's better, it's in his refusal to kill the food supply-raiding human orphan he encounters -- tho he chalks it up to his usual failing, timidity. Dire straits force him to start relying on the nonverbal yet grateful boy, dubbed Spot, for help reuniting with his family.