The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

When this came out, I figured I'd see it on my 40th birthday. I jumped the gun by two days, because a friend and I were perusing HBO Max, which puts numbers first in otherwise alphabetical lists. I wasn't big on the world of Judd Apatow, but it seemed appropriate. Besides, I tend to find comedies more enjoyable with company.

In chatting about their sex lives, three electronics store clerks (Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, and Romany Malco) see through a weak lie by stock supervisor Andy (Steve Carell) and correctly infer that he's, well, the title character. They then throw everything they have into changing his status, whether he likes it or not. Fortunately, he develops an interest in nearby vendor Trish (Catherine Keener), who has her eye on him too. But she's no virgin, and he's having trouble mustering the nerve to tell her he is.

At the Circus (1939)/Room Service (1938)

These aren't among the most popular Marx Brothers movies, but it's hard for me to picture them ever completely failing to amuse me. Not sure I'd have time for both sides of the disc (165 minutes total), I gave priority to AtC, partly because it's a little more highly rated and partly because I had already seen the Flying Karamazov Brothers version of RS.

As befits the '30s, both comedies are about financial desperation. In AtC, a circus owner (Kenny Baker -- not that one) is secretly robbed by the guy he owes money (James Burke), who plans to use the "unpaid" debt as an excuse to take over the circus. Luckily, a circus employee (Chico) had already invited an attorney associate (Groucho), who could serve as a detective in a pinch. If they can't find the loot, they can try to make up the difference by selling entertainment to the owner's estranged rich aunt (Margaret Dumont). In RS, a struggling play producer (Groucho) and his troupe and friends have been freeloading at a hotel managed by his brother-in-law (Cliff Dunstan), but the irascible director (Donald MacBride) is about to kick them out. They persuade a newly arriving playwright (Frank Albertson) to feign illness, delaying the eviction until they hopefully make money from his play.

Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

An old French classic is already iffy for me; one that gets reviled in some circles is iffier still. I had planned to skip this one, until I got invited to a Meetup group to discuss it. Hey, if it was bad, at least we could harp on it together.

None of the characters have given names, and the setting is ambiguous apart from a fancy resort. What's important to know is that a man (Giorgio Albertazzi) insists that a woman (Delphine Seyrig) had had a romantic liaison with him at a Czech spa and agreed to meet him again around this time, but she denies ever meeting him before. The other man of note (Sacha Pitoëff) evidently disapproves of the first man's actions and challenges him to games of Nim.

Lone Survivor (2013)

I don't know what possessed me to deliberately put this at the top of my queue right after The Lost Patrol, another war movie with, well, only one survivor. At least this time, we get fair warning on that score.

In 2005, four Navy SEALs (Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, and Ben Foster) are assigned to capture warlord Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami) in a mountainous region of Afghanistan, where radio signals are unreliable. When civilians happen upon them, they abort their stealth mission and try to get back to safety before the Taliban shows up in force. You already know they fail that too, and things don't go well for the first rescuers.

Turning Red (2022)

After my previous viewing, I wanted something lighthearted, preferably with a bit more femininity. This was the first option to come to mind. I'd heard mixed things about it, but none of the downsides sounded like dealbreakers to me. Besides, I wanted an informed opinion of the controversies.

Mei (Rosalie Chiang), 13, likes to think she's her own woman despite consistently following her mother, Ming (Sandra Oh). Alas, Ming's protectiveness can get horribly embarrassing, which awakens a female-only family blessing/curse that turns Mei into an eight-foot red panda when her emotions get the better of her. Calming down restores her humanity and clothing in a puff of smoke. Her new shape doesn't affect her behavior or even her voice, but she still tries to hide if not get rid of it -- until her peers enlighten her to enough upsides. If only Ming and other relatives who have suppressed their pandas would respect Mei's feelings...