How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

After how much I enjoyed HtTYD2, I decided that if the threequel was any good, I would not wait long to see it -- this time in a theater. This being an evening show, I avoided the noisy brats who detract from some family features while still getting reinforcement of positive reactions from older viewers.

There's less of a time jump from the second movie than there had been from the first. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), now 21 and chief of Berk, leads successful viking raids on dragon captors' ships. This presents two problems: Their isle is running out of room for newcomers, and they've gained the attention of powerful enemies. When the most accomplished dragon hunter, Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham), demonstrates how dangerous he is, the Berkians pull up stakes. They want to make their next camp their new permanent home, but Hiccup has designs on reaching the fabled hidden world his late father (Gerard Butler in flashbacks) spoke of, where dragons should be safest. Unfortunately, his personal alpha mount, Toothless, gets distracted by the first female of his species to appear in ages, which is what Grimmel has in mind.

Murder by Death (1976)

I swear I didn't mean to rent two Peter Falk flicks in a row. Ironically, the point was to see something rather unlike the first. Certainly the genre is different, and Falk is no worse suited to comedy. I still knew this to be a gamble, partly because Neil Simon wrote it.

Eccentric millionaire Lionel Twain (Truman Capote, the only time he acted without narrating or playing himself) summons ten humans and a terrier, all famous detectives or their companions, to his secluded mansion for "dinner and a murder." There is no dead body when they arrive, but the atmosphere is deliberately creepy, and they narrowly evade several traps. The blind butler (Alec Guinness) notes his employer's macabre sense of humor but appears unaware of any actual danger. At dinner, Twain announces that someone will be murdered in an hour and that the victim and culprit are both at the table; whoever correctly solves the mystery gets a million bucks. He leaves the room, and the guests are reluctant to split up....

A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

Gena Rowlands has been one of those actors I've heard of repeatedly but couldn't place. It made sense to remedy this by seeing the first role for which she got an Academy Award nomination, in a movie significantly more popular than the one for her second, Gloria. Incidentally, both were directed by her husband, John Cassavetes, who got an Oscar nod only for AWUtI.

In what might be a New York suburb, Mabel (Rowlands) lives with husband Nick (Peter Falk), their three prepubescent kids, and Nick's fairly active mom (Katherine Cassavetes, John's mom). Despite this crowd, she spends more time alone than she's comfortable with, leading her to bad behavior -- not that she's such a winner around others either. In fact, midway through the movie, after some inappropriate child supervision, she gets involuntarily committed. We don't see her at the institution; the third act skips ahead six months to her release, which might just be premature.

Cold War (2018)

It's been a while, Paweł Pawlikowski. I see you're still writing and directing B&W tragedies set in post-WWII Poland and running less than 90 minutes. Well, I respected the last one well enough....

OK, this story takes place only partly in Poland and across more than a decade. Wiktor is a music director rapidly smitten with a vigorous younger singer, Zula. The main hangup between them comes in the form of politics: While neither is fond of the communist regime, Zula prefers her homeland to France, Germany, or Yugoslavia. She marries another man and Wiktor takes up with another singer, but Zula and Wiktor still have feelings for each other. Both their lives get messy.

The Constant Gardener (2005)

Someone's been dropping DVDs on the giveaway shelves at my apartment building. This was the only one to interest me so far. I didn't know any more than the gawky title when it was new, but once I read that it was a political thriller from John le Carré, I figured on checking it out. His work had been hit (The Spy Who Came In from the Cold) and miss (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) to me, but at least I'd get a better feel for him.

English diplomat and, yes, gardener Justin (Ralph Fiennes) falls for Amnesty International activist Tessa (Rachel Weisz) and agrees to take her to Kenya, where he's headed for work. They marry, but much of her present activity remains unknown to him. When she dies in a remote area, it's clearly murder, but by whom and why? He soon learns that she was on the verge of blowing the whistle on a shady, powerful drug company, which now threatens to off him too if he keeps sniffing around.

In Harm's Way (1965)

This picture must have felt familiar to John Wayne. Twenty years earlier, he had played a major role in They Were Expendable, another naval story that pretty much begins with the Pearl Harbor attack. Only this time, however, does he get the very top billing, which is saying something when second goes to Kirk Douglas.

Both Rockwell Torrey (Wayne) and Paul Eddington (Douglas) have trouble staying in the military's good graces, Rock for using non-textbook maneuvers to ill effect and Paul for being generally unruly after learning of his wife's unfaithful debauchery. Still, at times like these, the Navy can't be too choosy in whom it retains if not promotes. While on shore, Rock meets his ensign son, Jeremiah, for the first time since Jere was four; their interactions are awkward, of course. All three of these men take special interest in at least one nurse (Rock's nurse being played by Patricia Neal), but war makes having a girlfriend hard even when she's within the same armed force.

Duck, You Sucker (1971)

Another movie set in Mexico, but this one's pretty darn different. As a '70s western with an odd title, it seemed likely to be offbeat. As a Sergio Leone spaghetti western also known as A Fistful of Dynamite, it seemed more than likely to appeal to me, even if it's not put on the same tier as the Man with No Name trilogy or Once upon a Time in the West.

A family of armed robbers led by Juan (Rod Steiger) comes across a wanted former IRA terrorist, John (James Coburn), who carries far more than a fistful of dynamite wherever he goes. Juan wants to convince, if not coerce, John to join him in an extra large bank heist. But there are bigger things going on in the midst of the Mexican Revolution, and everyone's bound to get involved whether they want to or not.

Roma (2018)

A friend of my family warned that he found this deathly boring. This is someone who usually favors movies about ordinary people in ordinary situations. Then again, he also really liked The Favourite, which I didn't. I figured I'd tune in to Roma if only because it's one of the top contenders for Best Picture. If it bored me too, at least I was streaming at home, so I wouldn't feel bad about discontinuing the viewing.

The title refers to a Mexico City neighborhood. Set there in the early '70s, the story, despite an R rating, is based mostly on writer-director's Alfonso Cuarón's personal childhood memories. It follows Cleo, a maid at a house that includes four children, their parents (albeit on the verge of a breakup), their grandma, second maid Adela, and a dog. Things start happening for Cleo when she gets pregnant -- and her boyfriend disappears right after hearing so.