No Man's Land (2001)

Boy, I hadn't used the Eastern Europe tag since 2015. It's possible I've neglected to add it to some entries, but the fact remains that I just haven't seen many films set in that part of the world, let alone made there. This one required the cooperation of production companies in six nations.

In 1993, the Bosnian War is in full swing. The story, unfolding over the course of maybe half a day, begins with Bosniak soldiers attempting to cross the titular area; most of them evidently do not survive the first several minutes. Ciki winds up wounded in a trench and hides as two Serbian soldiers show up, the senior one planting a "bouncing" mine under a Bosniak body in order to kill anyone who moves him. Ciki then kills the senior and wounds the junior, Nino, but decides to let Nino live for now, if only because he might prove useful. They then discover that the man on the mine, Cera, was merely unconscious. Will the ceasefire last long enough for any of the three to get out alive?

Deadpool 2 (2018)

I had seen the first DP on DVD, but I had more incentive to go to a theater this time. First of all, the month was almost over and I hadn't used MoviePass to get my money's worth. Second, nothing else showing that I hadn't already seen grabbed me. Third, humor tends to be more enjoyable when a large audience laughs with you.

Wade "Deadpool" Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) actually manages to have a worse time of it than before. In the first act, his wife Vanessa dies (prompting a James Bond opening parody), he futilely attempts suicide, he finally takes up Colossus' (Stefan Kapičić) offer to join the X-Men, and his behavior on his first assignment lands him in a prison for mutants. But for the first time on the big screen, he sees a reason to care about someone other than himself and Vanessa: Russell "Firefist" Collins (Julian Dennison), a teen mutant lashing out at abusive orphanage personnel. Not only is Russell in trouble with the authorities, but time traveler Cable (Josh Brolin again?) channels the Terminator with a personal mission to kill him before he grows worse. Deadpool would rather give Russell a chance at redemption, partly because he relates and partly because Vanessa would want him to.

Jubal (1956)

Hmm, eight months. That seems long enough a wait between westerns that they won't run together. I've moved the next western further down my queue to be safe.

For reasons never explained, Jubal (Glenn Ford) first appears half-dead and unhorsed in an unidentified area of the Old West. He later indicates that he'd already been down on his luck, having had to find work as a shepherd, which apparently doesn't suit most cowboy sorts outside of Brokeback Mountain. Rancher Shep (Ernest Borgnine) provides shelter and offers a job more to his liking. For still unexplained reasons, Jubal is reluctant to plant roots, but he gives in. Two factors indicate that his luck hasn't entirely turned around. First, one of Shep's employees, "Pinky" (Rod Steiger), is unfriendly in general, biased against shepherds in particular, and jealous of anyone Shep becomes fond of so quickly. Second, Shep's wife, Mae (Valerie French), has adulterous feelings for Jubal. These factors can work together....

Headhunters (2011)

I had not heard of this until Dad rented it, and he couldn't remember where he heard of it. Neither of us knew before the opening credits that it was foreign—Norwegian, to be exact. The only other film from Norway I recall seeing is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and it figures that this one makes several shout-outs to the series. Yet Headhunters set a national record for widespread distribution.

There's a bit of wordplay in the directly translated title. The protagonist, Roger Brown (yes, he's Norwegian), is a corporate recruiter who does an esteemed job, but if his clients knew what he was up to, they wouldn't appreciate him: His interview questions make it easy for him to sneak into their homes and replace their valuable paintings with forgeries, with help from a corrupt employee of a security company, Ove, who takes a share of the sales. Their troubles begin in earnest after stealing from Clas Greve, executive, former soldier, and different kind of headhunter....

Tom Jones (1963)

This was easily the latest Academy Best Picture I hadn't seen. Partly I'd put it off because it's not so popular as Best Pictures go. It also took a long time to come to DVD. This edition, at least, was released within the last year.

No, it has nothing to do with the singer of the same name. Based on an 18th-century novel, the story follows a literal bastard of questionable heritage (played by Albert Finney in adulthood) nevertheless raised as a lord's son. He becomes quite the Don Juan, tho he does have an eye toward one woman in particular, Sophie (Susannah York), against her father's permission. The era of duels is not a relatively safe time for one such as Tom....

Shalom Bollywood: The Untold Story of Indian Cinema (2017)

This may be the most obscure film I've ever reviewed. It presently has no Wikipedia entry and only seven votes on IMDb. But since I usually like documentaries about the industry, I gave it higher priority than other entries in the local Jewish film festival that had my dad interested. (The few docs directed by Danny Ben-Moshe that don't have a Jewish focus are even more obscure.)

As you probably knew, Jews make up such a small percentage of the Indian population that most lists of religions in India lump them under "other." But in the second most populous nation, that still allows several thousand -- more than enough to leave a significant impact on Bollywood. In particular, they've had the advantage of a relatively permissive faith with regard to depictions on screen. Here's a hint: The poster shows dancing cartoon women.

Jacob's Ladder (1990)

Fifteen years ago, I did a project on films about mental disorders. That was when I first learned of this one. Despite its honorable rating on IMDb, I decided not to include it among the 20 I would watch, because it sounded too intense. Even this week, the thought of it gave me pause. But then I considered all the disturbing fare I'd seen since 2003. I could probably handle this and might just enjoy it.

The protagonist, aptly enough, is Jacob (Tim Robbins), whom we first see as a Vietnam War soldier in a scene that quickly goes from quiet to confusingly hectic. This then appears to be a flashback, with him now a New York City postal worker. He has his peaceful times thereafter, but by and by, he finds a lot of details not adding up. At worse moments, he perceives seemingly random malevolence from strangers or even the presence of monsters. The bulk of the plot involves him figuring out what to make of it all.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

It's finally happened: My dad has had his fill of superhero movies, for now at least. Black Panther was only two months ago, after all. I think it's just as well that he didn't come to this one, partly because it's hard to sit through 150+ minutes without a break (I barely made it myself -- good thing the credits ran long enough to let me catch the scene afterward) and partly because he doesn't retain as much memory of prior Marvel Cinematic Universe entries as I do. This one does hark back to several.

Previously lurking in the periphery of the series was brawny alien Thanos (Josh Brolin), now all the more powerful for having acquired one of the six artifacts known as Infinity Stones. Some Guardians of the Galaxy already had the misfortune of knowing him, but only when he defeats the Asgardians at the start of this movie do any of the (ex-)Avengers learn of him. He's out for more Stones, two of them on Earth, and plans to use them to kill half the universe, not counting the many people he and his army have already killed. Thus, Earth's mightiest heroes reluctantly put aside their Civil War rift to combat him, while the Guardians respond belatedly to Asgard's distress signal. I think the only living MCU action heroes who don't play a part this time are Hawkeye and Ant-Man, off on some other business and presumably out of contact.

Unfaithfully Yours (1948)

I have now seen 8 of the 13 movies directed by Preston Sturges -- and I'm not sure why. His humor hasn't aged that well, has it? The only one I've really liked is Sullivan's Travels, primarily for balancing with its serious side. And here I was checking out what Netflix described as a "pitch-black comedy" from him, starring Blithe Spirit's Rex Harrison and having had little commercial success in its day. Sounded like it would be still less my thing. But perhaps I was intrigued at what sounded significantly different from the norm for Sturges.

Celebrated orchestral conductor Alfred de Carter dotes on his wife, Daphne. Due to a miscommunication of his wishes, his brother-in-law has had her tailed during Alfred's absence. Alfred is too furious at this news to listen to the findings right away, but then he learns of evidence of her spending suspiciously much time with his secretary, Tony. During the three pieces of his concert that night, he entertains three vivid ideas of how to respond, each of them disregarding a detective's advice to give Daphne the benefit of the doubt. Two of them lethal. After the concert, however, he discovers quite a few differences between his fantasies and his reality.

The Jungle Book (2016)

Being between disc deliveries and aware that this movie would stop streaming soon, I gave it priority. I hadn't been sure I would ever see it, since I'm not keen on Disney (re-)remaking its own classics. But it does get online ratings to rival if not best the 1967 full animation, and it didn't look like a total retread in ads.

Not that it's much if any closer to the Rudyard Kipling story collection either. The focus remains on pre-adolescent "man cub" Mowgli (Neel Sethi) living among wolves until semi-guardian panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) compels him to leave for a village before misanthropic tiger Shere Khan (Disney favorite Idris Elba), thought to be a match for the entire pack, can hunt him down. After some trouble separates Mowgli from Bagheera, he meets sloth bear Baloo (Bill Murray), who wants him to stay in the jungle as a comrade, lest he become just like other humans. Further complicating the question of what to do is Shere Khan's threat to the wolf pack if Mowgli should escape for good.