The Lost Patrol (1934)

When a pre-Code movie is a remake, that can mean only one thing: The original was silent. Quite an understandable move when there's plenty of inaudible gunfire. This particular remake is more popular than the original and reportedly inspired many knockoffs, but it's had a pretty mixed reception over the decades.

If there's a moral to the story, it's "Share important information with your team before heading into danger." In the first scene, a British WWI lieutenant gets gunned down in the desert by an unseen Arabian sniper. Since he had refused to tell anyone else in his patrol where they were going or why, the remaining 11 wander. When they find an oasis with a curiously abandoned fortress, they can only hope another British patrol will reach them before the snipers get them all.

The Mouse That Roared (1959)

This is one of those eye-catching titles that I'd seen many times before bothering to find out what they meant. The combination of Peter Sellers and a middling IMDb rating didn't seem promising for my laughs, but at least it was sure to be lighthearted.

A fictitious, tiny, backward European nation, the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, has put all its eggs in one basket by selling pinot to the U.S. When sales drop calamitously and no one takes protest letters seriously, the prime minister (Sellers) advises the duchess (Sellers in drag) to "go to war" and "lose," because the U.S. is uniquely generous to former enemies. They send 20 "troops" led by game warden Tully (Sellers still) to New York City with instructions to surrender at the first opportunity. But they arrive at an unusual scenario: Most New Yorkers are underground for an air raid drill, and the few who aren't include General Snippet (MacDonald Parke), eccentric physicist Dr. Kokintz (David Kossoff), his beautiful daughter Helen (Jean Seberg)...and Dr. Kokintz's way-too-insecure prototype of the world's most powerful bomb. Tully decides to pursue victory after all, to the dismay of superiors....

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)

It's a pretty pathetic evening when the most promising showing at the multiplex is a video game adaptation sequel. I never even watched a whole video game movie before, because none had been reputedly better than mediocre. So why'd I go at all? Because my apartment building would have no power until at least 8 p.m., possibly 10, and I could think of no other way to fight boredom that long. Hmm, perhaps I'm pretty pathetic that way.

The teenage anthropomorphic hedgehog (Ben Schwartz) presently lives in a U.S. suburb with two quasi-parental humans, Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter). He wants to use his Flash-like speed for good but accidentally causes about as much trouble as he foils. Not feeling ready for heroic responsibility, he contents himself with partying while Tom and Maddie are attending a distant wedding. That's when his archnemesis, mad engineer Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik (Jim Carrey), returns from exile with the help of Knuckles the Echidna (Idris Elba), who considers Sonic a tribal enemy and the key to recovering the Master Emerald, an extremely powerful creation. Of course, Robotnik has his own priorities for the emerald. But lest you think that Sonic has to handle them both alone, in comes Miles "Tails" Prower (Colleen O'Shaughnessey), a two-tailed, aerodynamic fox wunderkind with engineering skills rivaling Robotnik's, who's admired Sonic from afar and knows a few things about Knuckles.

Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids (2004)

I had seen my previous dead serious documentary feature (as opposed to kiddie fluff) more than two years ago. These viewings may not be fun, but I think they're enriching enough to be worth my unhappiness now and then.

It sounds like Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman did not set out to document the children in particular, let alone to change their lives. Zana wanted to photograph the prostitutes, who were disinclined to agree, since they feared legal trouble. To get on their good side, she launched a junior photography class. Then she realized that she might be able to help the kids have more of a choice for what to do in the future, whether that meant professional camerawork or just learning and living in a better environment.

The Great Lie (1941)

Hmm, Bette Davis and George Brent. When did I last see them together? Oh yeah. And before that? Yup. I think they were in a rut, because there are definite similarities herein.

Aviator Peter (George Brent) learns on his "honeymoon" that his marriage is null and void, partly because he was drunk but mainly because Sandra (Mary Astor) was mistaken on when her divorce from her prior husband could be finalized. Since she would rather go back to work as a concert pianist than hold another wedding at the first opportunity, Peter returns to his ex-girlfriend, aristocrat Maggie (Bette Davis). Sandra hopes to win back Peter all the same by having his baby, but then he and his plane go unaccounted for in a dangerous region. The two women agree that Maggie will meet Sandra's fiscal needs and raise the baby as her own. But you know what usually happens when someone is missing and presumed dead on screen....

Allegro Non Troppo (1976)

It's rare for me to take a movie suggestion from an anonymous online stranger, especially when I'm sure I won't have the same opinion. In this case, someone claimed that ANT is even better than Fantasia, which it openly mimics. I discovered that it's not available on Netflix but can be watched in its entirety for free on YouTube. And it's only 85 minutes.

To be honest, I didn't even watch all 85 minutes, because I skipped most of the live-action sequences, which run longer than in F. These sequences, depicting the filmmakers before and after the animations, are typically comedic, but they're certainly not the main draw (no pun intended). Just try finding those clips separate from the rest. As for the musical parts, well, they vary in mood as well as value. I'll review each in order of presentation.

Only Yesterday (1991)

Netflix confused me by stating the year of release as 2016. Turns out it was never dubbed in English or distributed in the West until the 25th anniversary. I find this strange, because the story isn't half as foreign to us as in many animes that reached the U.S. faster.

The setting alternates between the mid-'60s and early '80s as 27-year-old Taeko (Daisy Ridley) reminisces about her fifth-grade self (Allison Fernandez). She presently takes a "vacation" doing farmwork with a sister's in-laws, hard-pressed to say what about it reminds her of that particular year of her life. It wasn't especially good or bad, but the various episodes get her dwelling on what could have been -- and what may yet be. Farmhand Toshio (Dev Patel) starts to look promising....

The Batman (2022)

Despite my friend (that one) saying he could watch this repeatedly, I was not in a great hurry to see it. He told me it resembled Se7en, which is not what I look for in my fare, especially when others had made it sound like the darkest live-action Batman feature yet. Under most circumstances, I would wait and watch it at home. But when my Net went down and I decided to kill a few hours at a local theater, this was the most promising offering.

At the start of this story, Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) has been donning the cowl for about two years, so many no-name crooks flee at the sight of the Bat Signal, but some are more confident. Gotham City Police Lieutenant Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) trusts the vigilante, but higher-ups are leerier. Regardless, it makes a certain sense to call him in when someone assassinates the mayor (Rupert Penry-Jones) and leaves an envelope labeled, "To the Batman." It becomes clear that the self-styled Riddler (Paul Dano) has several more high-profile targets in mind....