Pickup on South Street (1953)

Wow, not only had it been six months since my last arguable film noir; it had been nearly a year since my last black and white film noir. I thought I generally liked this genre, but perhaps I fear on some level that they can negatively affect my worldview if I don't space them.

A man nicknamed Skip (Richard Widmark) stealthily lifts a wallet from a woman named Candy (Jean Peters). This would not be an uncommon New York City occurrence, except that the wallet contains a special microfilm that Candy was supposed to deliver on behalf of ex-boyfriend Joey (Richard Kiley). Skip doesn't already know about the microfilm, and Candy has no clue what's on it, but Joey acts as though his life depends on it. He insists that Candy do whatever it takes to recover the microfilm, through legal or illegal channels, with the considerable cash he gives her. She finds his secret dirtier than she thought, and neither she nor Skip likes what they've gotten mixed up with....

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

My parents felt that Spike Lee's first non-honorary Oscar was a long time coming and thus were glad when he got one for Best Adapted Screenplay for this. It sounded like they wouldn't have been surprised if he'd gotten more for it. The film certainly has received a lot of awards at other ceremonies. So I had to check it out, albeit with a little trepidation.

In 1972 Colorado Springs, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington, son of Denzel) dares to take an invitation to become the first local Black policeman. When he sees an ad for the Ku Klux Klan, he calls on a whim and, sounding naturally "White" enough, arranges a meeting to join it. Not looking nearly as White as he sounds, he persuades vaguely similar-sounding co-worker Philip "Flip" Zimmerman (Adam Driver) to go in his stead. With a little help from others on the force, they monitor just how much of a threat this Klan chapter is.

Captain Marvel (2019)

Initial reactions by others were unpromising: The movie opened with a lower IMDb score than any other Marvel Cinematic Universe entry currently holds. Thankfully, this was a rare occasion that the score went up in the weeks afterward. Even if it hadn't, I'd probably have checked CM out, partly because I've never regretted an MCU viewing and partly to determine whether the naysayers were having a knee-jerk reaction to what they perceived as bad feminism.

As superhero flicks go, it gets off to a pretty confusing start. A woman (Brie Larson) initially known only as Vers (pronounced "Veers") can't remember anything from more than six years ago, when Starforce commander Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) found her, gave her a transfusion of his Kree alien blood to grant her superpowers, and began training her to use them in a space war against the shapeshifting Skrulls. Skrull commander Talos (Ben Mendelssohn) takes her prisoner and unearths, if you will, memories she didn't know she had, hinting at her hailing from Earth -- and the existence of a valuable experimental engine there. A damaged escape pod lands her in L.A. in what soon proves to be 1995. With help from S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury (a youngish-looking Samuel L. Jackson), she hopes to reach the engine before anyone can misuse it, but she also has a priority to learn more about herself, the Skrulls, and the Kree.

Five Deadly Venoms (1978)

I'm not sure why I added this cult hit, called merely Five Venoms on Netflix, to my streaming list. Maybe I wanted to ensure that even genres I rarely watch -- martial arts, in this case -- remain available. Maybe the slim lineup of 20th-century features had a hand in my decision. Most likely, it had come up in some discussion of influences on Quentin Tarantino or whatnot. In any event, I watched it recently for the sake of variety.

In what I presume to be several centuries ago in China, a kung fu master on his last legs asks his one remaining student, Yang Tieh, to seek out his long-gone five previous students and, if they've turned to violent crime, kill them. (No middle ground, eh?) He doesn't know what names they're using or even their faces, since they always wore masks, but Yang can meet a man likely to provide further hints and can then keep an eye out for anyone using distinctive fighting moves. Each of the five employs a different style, and Yang has been hastily trained as a jack of all styles and master of none. The master thinks Yang's only hope of defeating any of the five is to ally with one of them, so he'd better hope they're not all evil.

The Prophet (2014)

I read the Kahlil Gibran book long enough ago that I don't remember much of it, but I know I liked it. It presents some pretty unusual takes on philosophy, and even in the few places where I disagreed with title character Al Mustafa, I could enjoy the poetic presentation. Of course, there isn't much of a plot to the book, so any screen adaptation would have to add to it.

Indeed, Mustafa (Liam Neeson) isn't even the primary focal character in this movie. That honor goes to Almitra (Quvenzhané Wallis), a prepubescent girl who has said nothing in the two years since her father's death. Feeling unwelcome at school, she stubbornly follows her mother, Kamila (Salma Hayek, also a producer), whose job is to care for Mustafa during his house arrest. It's fortunate that Almitra didn't wait any longer to make his friendly acquaintance, because a surly sergeant (Alfred Molina, again with Hayek) shows up to usher him to a ship to his homeland, essentially changing the sentence to exile from his present environs. Many villagers slow their travel to the harbor, expressing gratitude to Mustafa and listening to any wisdom he has to offer. But Almitra overhears that the sergeant has a nastier plan for him....

Amazing Grace (2006)

What's this, another Black history movie centered on a White man already? (Not to be confused with last year's documentary.) Well, it wasn't my first choice. I was cat-sitting at my parents' house and discovered that they had rented the DVD. Their streaming connection is a bit shaky for a whole feature film, so I gave the disc a whirl.

Despite what the trailer (presented at the start of the DVD!) would have you believe, this story is not really about the titular song, tho poet John Newton (Albert Finney) appears in two scenes. It's more about William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd), an MP and one of England's most prominent abolitionists, starting in 1782 and continuing to 1807. In addition to the rigors of supporting legislative proposals of dubious viability, he faces severe colitis, subsequent laudanum addiction, a strain on his friendship with William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch) after the latter becomes prime minister, and obnoxious pressure to marry one Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai).

Green Book (2018)

Wow, the latest Best Picture didn't even make the upper half of my family's expectations. Sure, it ranks high on IMDb, but based on the sheer numbers of nominations, I had initially figured on The Favourite or Roma. My parents seemed to anticipate Black Panther or BlacKkKlansman in light of the Academy's newfound diversity kick. And after Bohemian Rhapsody netted quite a few awards, I hadn't ruled out a big slap in the face to the harsher critics. Only after GB's win did I feel a strong urge to check it out.

Future actor Frank Anthony Vallelonga, a.k.a. Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), is a nightclub bouncer in the Bronx in 1962. When the club closes for repairs, he hears of an opening for a driver for "a doctor," who turns out to be honorary doctor and star jazz pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali). Don seeks not just a chauffeur but an agent and bodyguard of sorts, because the Don Shirley Trio (the other two musicians being White) will be touring the Deep South in a racially inhospitable era. Despite pressures from family and friends not to associate closely with a Black man, Tony appears more concerned about spending eight weeks away from home and potentially missing Christmas Eve. He names a high wage, and Don matches it. You can guess the general shape of the story from there.

The Color of Paradise (1999)

Director Majid Majidi was not a complete unknown to me. I liked Children of Heaven pretty well. IMDb confirms that I saw Baran, but I don't remember what happens in it. TCoP was his one movie made in between those two.

Eight-year-old Mohammad is blind, as is his actor. His sisters and grandmother love him no less for that, but widowed father Hashem's love is less certain. Not knowing how to raise such a family in poverty, especially when hoping to win a new bride, Hashem keeps trying to make Mohammad someone else's problem, as by leaving him at a boarding school or apprenticing him to a carpenter. (Iran, or at least that area of it, must not have had great child support services at the time.) Only a crisis near the end affirms Hashem's positive feelings.

Apollo 11 (2019)

I have not seen First Man, partly because of how I feel about previous Damien Chazelle hits and partly because I don't trust its accuracy. But this year marks the 50th anniversary of the first human lunar landing, so I felt like honoring the event somehow. Besides, an esteemed documentary was bound to teach me something.

Unlike most docs, this one has no narrator, unless you count contemporary audio clips from Walter Cronkite among others. Nor do we have anyone speaking directly to the camera, as in a portion of an interview. It's all old, sometimes previously unpublicized footage. The only additions are periods of dramatic, often bass-heavy music, using only '60s instruments.