Thieves' Highway (1949)

Why do I keep forgetting that I've seen so many Jules Dassin movies? Did I just assume I'd know more in French than in English, because I started with Rififi? (The man was born in Connecticut, for crying out loud.) Or is it just that none of them live up to that one in my mind? Anyway, this one came out the year between The Naked City and Night and the City, so you could bet it's urban and noir.

Nick (Richard Conte) returns from war to find his produce-farming father legless from a vehicle accident and almost certainly swindled by San Francisco-based dealer Figlia (Lee J. Cobb). Nick decides with neighbor Ed (Millard Mitchell) to take two truckloads of in-demand apples to Figlia and drive a harder bargain than Nick's dad did. AFAICT, that's the extent of the justice Nick has in mind. But he underestimates what depths Figlia will go to for extra profit.

Badlands (1973)

My previous exposure to Terrence Malick consisted of his co-writing of Dirty Harry, which I liked; and his solo writing and direction of Days of Heaven, which I found dull and forgettable. With his 20-year career hiatus, he doesn't have an extensive filmography, and the few other titles I recognized seemed pretty unpromising. So why'd I see this, his debut as a director and as a producer? Partly for its reception and partly for my first Meetup in a while.

Only afterward did I learn that the story is inspired by true events, albeit under different names and with a lot of details changed. Kit (Martin Sheen, younger than I'd ever seen before), a 25-year-old newly fired garbageman, takes a shine to 15-year-old Holly (Sissy Spacek, also younger than I'd ever seen before). Her father (Warren Oates) disapproves, of course, but Kit is undeterred. Things escalate quickly, and Kit shoots the old man dead. Kit and Holly take to living in the wilderness, but they can't stay put for long, and Kit perceives little choice but to kill again....

Baby Driver (2017)

Sometimes I drag my heels about checking out something popular simply because I don't like the title. I was OK with Baby Doll, but this title is stranger (I didn't know of the Simon and Garfunkel song), and an R rating means no place for a literal baby. Turns out "Baby" is the nickname of Miles (Ansel Elgort), a youthful-looking driver in his early 20s.

In particular, a getaway driver for a network of armed robbers. Years ago, he stole a car from crime boss "Doc" (Kevin Spacey, eheh), who was impressed and let Baby work off his debt. Alas, he's done such a good job that Doc may never let him retire. Between his burgeoning relationship with waitress Debora (Lily James) and the increasingly troubling jobs, it won't be long before Baby takes the big risk of rebelling....

Blow-Up (1966)

My only previous sample of director Michelangelo Antonioni was L'Avventura, which was by no means an adventure movie. That may explain why I had told Netflix I was not interested in his first English-language feature. But sometimes I open my mind further and add previously nixed entries to my queue. And after all, this one inspired The Conversation, which I liked.

Thomas (David Hemmings), a London fashion photographer, takes some shots of an affectionate couple at the park. The woman (Vanessa Redgrave) doesn't want anyone else to see those pictures, but Thomas feels no obligation to surrender them. Later, after, y'know, blowing them up, he discovers the probable reason for her objection: There's a gunman hiding in the trees....

The Great Gatsby (2013)

Well, how do you like that: I said before, "I doubt I'll take a chance on Australia or The Great Gatsby." What changed my mind? My dad's invitation to watch the DVD with him. By this time, I had forgotten Baz Luhrmann's involvement and started wondering whether I would find the story more engaging than I had in the F. Scott Fitzgerald book.

Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) narrates from a mental hospital how he knew his most captivating New York State neighbor, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio, perhaps practicing for the same year's The Wolf of Wall Street). Gatsby is an obscenely rich man of mystery, throwing lavish parties attended by just about everybody for miles around. But he confides in Nick that it's all an effort to draw the attention of the woman he loves, who happens to be Nick's cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan). She married man's man Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) back when Gatsby felt too poor to marry. With Nick's help, Daisy does come back into Gatsby's life, but of course this means inviting trouble....

Europa (1991)

Not to be confused with the previous year's Europa Europa, this film went by Zentropa (the name of a fictitious railroad company) in the U.S. Director Lars von Trier must have been arrogant even back then, because he flipped off the Palme d'Or judges for not awarding it. Still, it is far more popular today than the winner, Wild at Heart. I decided to see why.

Leopold (Jean-Marc Barr), a young American of German descent, decides to show some mercy to Germany in the months after World War II by taking a job there as a sleeping car conductor for Zentropa, where his uncle (Ernst-Hugo Järegård) works. From the train windows, he sees that the nation is hardly in peacetime as the U.S. military clashes with the "Werewolf" resistance. It turns out that the inside of a train isn't much better for neutrality, as friendly folks, including a love interest (Barbara Sukowa), seek to involve him in their sordid plans with or without his knowledge or consent.

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)

I enjoyed the first two entries in this trilogy more than most viewers, but I couldn't be sure that I'd like the threequel. Some posters show the vampires at the beach by day, suggesting excessive deviation from the previous setup. Interestingly, while IMDb votes reflect diminishing returns for the series, Rotten Tomatoes reports a gradual climb. I didn't dare check it out in a theater and might never have gotten around to streaming it, but after my dissatisfaction with an art film, I needed...well, a vacation.

Dracula (Adam Sandler) appreciates the many happily married couples at his hotel, not least his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and son-in-law Johnny (Andy Samberg), but they make him miss his long-gone wife. Mavis thinks his stress comes from being too busy for family time, so she arranges a vacation on a cruise ship that caters to monsters but still has a place for humans like Johnny. Indeed, Captain Ericka (Kathryn Hahn) is human -- and immediately sparks the romantic interest of Drac, of all monsters. He's concerned that this is not what Mavis had in mind for their trip. He should be more concerned with how Ericka really feels....

Chloe in the Afternoon (1972)

This is also known, more faithfully to the original French, as Love in the Afternoon, but I prefer the title not taken by an unrelated Billy Wilder movie. I hadn't set out to start at the end of Éric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales series; it's just the one I'd most heard about, even more than My Night at Maud's. And if Chris Rock remade it in 2007, it must have some enduring value.

Frédéric seems like a fine husband and father, but he rather misses the thrills of being unattached. Enter Chloé, homeless ex-girlfriend of a friend of Frédéric. The two of them start meeting in secret with an emotional intimacy that Frédéric doesn't share even with his wife, Hélène, but he still loves Hélène too much to pursue a ménage à trois. Unfortunately, Chloé is less satisfied with the arrangement. She has more new-wave ideas, if you will, about what their relationship can be....