We're No Angels (1955)

Nuts. I try to save movies set on or near Christmas for December, or at least July, but I hadn't checked the full description. Oh well, at least it's in a tropical climate.

Joseph (Humphrey Bogart), Albert (Aldo Ray), and Jules (Peter Ustinov) are Devil's Island inmates, each reportedly guilty of many crimes. They and pet viper Adolphe break loose in time for Christmas Eve and, if I understand correctly, make it to Cayenne proper, with designs on taking the next ship to Paris. In the meantime, they enter a general store and tell the manager, Felix (Leo G. Carroll), that they can fix his roof. Of course, they actually plan to steal clothes and whatnot when the time is ripe. But after observing how deep in debt Felix's family is -- and how heartbroken his 18-year-old daughter, Isabelle (Gloria Talbott), is to learn that her crush is engaged to someone else -- the fugitives decide to do them a few good turns.

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

While this movie came seven years after Gone in 60 Seconds and seven before Gone Girl, I couldn't have told you which was which. It was high time I saw one of them. I ruled out Gi60S for not being popular enough. Both GBG and GG involve Ben Affleck, but only GBG has him as director, and he seems less of a gamble than David Fincher.

The heroes are a pair of mainstays in Dennis Lehane's novels: Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and, with less focus, Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan). When a little girl gets kidnapped, her aunt hires the two private eyes, against the recommendation of the police captain (Morgan Freeman). Their main advantage is that Patrick knows almost everybody in the Boston slum, allowing him connections the cops wouldn't have. They still do some work with police detectives (Ed Harris and John Ashton), but with too much disagreement.

Lacombe, Lucien (1974)

It's been a while, Louis Malle. Perhaps I needed that time to cleanse my palate and take another chance on you. A World War II setting brought to mind Au Revoir les Enfants, which I liked, so this seemed like a reasonable bet.

Lucien wants to make something of himself in occupied France. After a Resistance rep dismisses him for being only 17, he gets talked into joining the opposite side: the French arm of the Gestapo. Unaccompanied, he pays a visit to harass a suspected Jew, Albert. But Albert's daughter, the oddly and no doubt symbolically named France, charms Lucien into thinking it over.

In Between (2016)

I've seen a few movies set in Israel, invariably with a religiopolitical focus. But Omar had been the only one I'd seen with a Palestinian main character, until now. Thankfully, IB has nothing to do with conflict between Muslims and Jews.

OK, there's no single main character here: Three young Palestinian women in modern Tel Aviv split the screen time pretty evenly. Layla is a criminal defense lawyer of Islamic descent, clearly too rebellious to be devout. Roommate Salma, a deejay, wears a cross but also is not devout, and her more traditional parents would hate to learn which way she swings. Only the newcomer to the apartment, Nour, expresses piety, as evidenced by her hijab, which doesn't stop her from studying computer science. The others' casual ways put pressure on her to loosen up.

One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

Marlon Brando's in a western again, thankfully as an apparent Anglo-American this time. Of greater concern is the fact that he directed this movie -- and nothing else. Also, while it gets good ratings among IMDb and Google users, Rotten Tomatoes pronounces it rotten. I was not aware of these factors when I rented.

Bank robber "Rio"/"The Kid" (Brando) escapes from a Mexican prison and seeks out his former partner in crime, confusingly nicknamed "Dad" Longworth (repeat screen partner Karl Malden), who had taken the coward's route when Rio needed him most. Longworth has gone straight enough to become a California sheriff, which may just alienate Rio further. But instead of having the immediate showdown you might expect, they get off to what looks like a shakily amiable second start. That sense is put to the test, especially when Rio has eyes for Longworth's stepdaughter, Louisa (Pina Pellicer).

The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933)

Evidently, I have a weakness for movies that include English royals among the characters. Becket, The King's Speech, The Lion in Winter, The Madness of King George, The Queen.... It hardly matters whether the royals appear respectable or despicable; I enjoy them either way. The one slight exception that comes to mind is Elizabeth, which I might like better if I saw it again today.

As you've probably guessed, this one focuses on the many marital/romantic connections of the king (Charles Laughton, who won an Oscar for it). Not all of them, tho: It begins on the day of the execution of second wife Anne Boleyn (Merle Oberon), almost as if Anne of the Thousand Days were a prequel, and ends somewhere in his sixth marriage, to Catherine Parr (Evelyn Gregg), covering a period of 7 to 11 years. His only explicitly depicted extramarital love interest is lady-in-waiting Catherine Howard (Binnie Barnes), who becomes his fifth wife.

April and the Extraordinary World (2015)

You might call me a casual fan of steampunk, in that I tend to like what I see of it but don't know a whole lot of works within it. Seems to me they're usually set in an alternate 19th century. This movie starts then to establish where the timeline diverges from reality, but then it skips ahead to 1931 and, for the bulk of the story, 1941, with an epilogue chronicling up to 2000. The important premises are that the line of Napoleon Bonaparte has continued and prevented many scientific advances by pressing gifted scientists into service in other areas. Among other things, this means a budding war with North America for its supply of wood and coal for steam power.

The science-minded Franklin family has no intention of slaving away on weapons. Their rebellion leads to young April (voiced in English by Angela Galuppo) being left to fend for herself as a street thief, refusing to go to a state-run orphanage. Disgraced former inspector Pizoni (Paul Giamatti) thinks she's the key to finding her missing, talented grandfather, "Pops" (Tony Robinow). By her teen years, Pizoni has sent a young thief, Julius (Tod Fennell), to spy on her. It becomes apparent that there is yet another party interested in April and the rest of the Franklins, particularly for their progress on a serum for Deadpool-level rapid healing.

The American Friend (1977)

So much for my projection about not seeing more from Wim Wenders. Guess I was too interested in yet another European adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel. That Tom Ripley sure got some international popularity. It's also further honor for late cinematographer Robert Müller on my part.

Tom (Dennis Hopper) is the titular "friend" -- still not a real one by conventional standards. Indeed, protagonist Jonathan (Bruno Ganz), a Hamburg art framer, gives him a cold initial greeting due to his reputation preceding him. Not long after, on a secret recommendation from Tom, a French mobster (Gérard Blain) invites Jonathan to serve as a hit man, the idea being that his lack of criminal history makes him harder to trace and his terminal leukemia means he has little to lose. Since Jonathan hasn't saved much for his wife (Lisa Kreuzer) and young son, he agrees in desperation.