Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004)

I seem to be watching more movies involving soldiers lately, including a few rewatches I didn't write about on this blog. It's not that my interest has grown. In this case, I noted that the anniversary of D-Day is coming up. And the TV movie runs less than 90 minutes without commercial breaks.

The story begins in December 1943, but the exact number of days remaining is first shown after one of several time jumps, to March 1944. It ends, of course, shortly after the Normandy landings. General Dwight Eisenhower (Tom Selleck without a mustache) spends the interim mostly hashing out details with other important figures, including Omar Bradley (James Remar), George S. Patton (Gerald McRaney), Walter Bedell Smith (Timothy Bottoms), Winston Churchill (Ian Mune), and Charles de Gaulle (George Shevtsov).

Father Goose (1964)

I hadn't heard of this movie before YouTube suggested it. It turns out to have been Cary Grant's second-to-last work and one of his favorites, not least because he acts more like himself than ever before. (No, the protagonist doesn't do any drugs besides whiskey.)

American civilian sailor Walter Eckland (Grant) swipes Australian naval supplies and openly cares only about himself, so we don't feel too scandalized when Commander Frank Houghton (Trevor Howard) strong-arms him into staying at a Papua New Guinea hut and watching for Japanese planes during World War II. He hears about an eligible replacement he can fetch, but by the time he arrives, the replacement has been killed. All he finds are teacher Catherine Freneau (Leslie Caron) and seven female students of various ages, two of whom speak only French. Reluctantly, Walter takes them to the relative safety of his hut, where Catherine disapproves of his slovenly lifestyle. The navy can't rescue them any time soon, so they'll have to get used to each other.

Number 24 (2024)

I picked the first war epic I could find for Veterans Day. Not much has been written about it yet, because it's a Norwegian indie with limited screening, but it gets a warm reception among viewers.

In old age, Gunnar Sønsteby guest-lectures a class about his life from shortly before World War II to the end of it, during part of which he was Agent #24 of Britain's Special Operations Executive. In particular, he coordinated the Oslo Gang, which specialized in sabotaging German occupation projects, usually with explosives, but expanded to assassinations.

Midway (1976)

I considered saving the last U.S. war movie left on my list for a patriotic holiday, much as I like to save horrors for October. But in all likelihood, I wouldn't remember on time. Besides, I was already in the mood for something very different from what else I'd seen lately.

The story begins with the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in April '42. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Tohiro Mifune overdubbed by Paul Frees) sees it as a blessing in disguise, because now his superiors will give him carte blanche for his next move. Soon after, U.S. intelligence staff supervised by Commander Joseph Rochefort (Hal Holbrook) and monitored by composite character Captain Matthew Garth (Charlton Heston) find inconclusive evidence that Japan's next target is Midway Atoll. By the time of the eponymous battle in June, U.S. naval forces are not fully prepared and consider themselves the underdog.

Unbroken (2014)

For Veterans Day, I picked the first new-to-me war movie I found on Netflix. I did not know that it was directed by Angelina Jolie and co-written by the Coen Brothers, but those facts would have increased my curiosity.

In 1943, Olympic runner Louie Zamperini (Jack O'Connell) is serving as a U.S. Air Force captain when his plane gives out over the Pacific. For nearly half the movie, he and the other two crash survivors, Phil (Domnhall Gleeson) and Mac (Finn Witrock), are holding out on rafts. Then they get taken as POWs, which is a worse situation in some ways, particularly under the war crime-level command of "the Bird" (Miyavi).

The Zone of Interest (2023)

To avoid my prior mistake, I watched this at the start of my flight home, when my attention wouldn't be flagging yet. I also had a strong feeling that I would need a palate cleanser afterward.

We might call this a slice of life, but that kind of implies an ordinary setting. The focus is on the large family of Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), commandant at Auschwitz, living very close to it. The most notable plot developments concern changes in his job, whether he likes them or not. His five kids seem not to know or care what he's up to.

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

The only Godzilla movie I'd seen before was the 1954 original, which my dad and I found surprisingly serious. Most of the rest sounded schlocky, and Pacific Rim confirmed that I had little interest in kaiju. But GMO (heh, appropriate initials) got such a warm reception that I had planned to see it in a theater, only to discover that I'd waited too long. Once I saw that it was on Netflix, I pounced.

The story is really about Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a World War II pilot who first cheats his way out of a kamikaze mission and then is too scared to shoot the titular mutant dinosaur during an island rampage. He goes home to face poverty in a bombed Tokyo neighborhood where neighbors tend to blame his cowardice, tho one Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe) and an orphan in her care, Akiko (Sae Nagatani), shack up with him to improve their chances. He gets a job sweeping for naval mines -- and then sees that Godzilla has gotten even larger in the wake of Bikini Atoll experiments. As further devastation ensues, Shikishima and his compatriots (among them Hidetaka Yoshioka, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Yuki Yamada, and Munetaka Aoki) can see that the world's governments aren't helping, so they take it upon themselves to try to kill the beast.

Maestro (2023)

My parents recommended this to me. I obliged partly because it was easy to find streaming. It actually has the lowest IMDb score of all current Best Picture nominees, but it still looked more promising for me personally than some of the others.

The story follows Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) from his big break conducting the New York Philharmonic in the 1940s to a retrospective interview in the 1980s, with a bit of skipping. The emphasis lies on his relationship with Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), whom he marries and has three kids with despite his preference for men. She's not just a "beard" to him; he does love her, at least sometimes. But his extramarital affairs aren't discreet enough to prevent rumors, and they and his heavy smoking and drinking start to drive a wedge between him and Felicia.

The Boy and the Heron (2023)

I wanted to see this the moment I learned that it was the first feature directed by Hayao Miyazaki since he semi-retired a decade ago. I didn't bother to look up much else about it. The reputed semi-autobiographical nature led me to suspect another realistic story like The Wind Rises, but only the first act could pass for realistic.

In World War II, when Mahito is a preteen or early teen, his mother dies in a fire. Following Japanese tradition, his father marries her pregnant sister, Natsuko, and moves from Tokyo to her country home, where a bunch of seniors also live. Traumatized Mahito isn't keen on his new classmates or his new maternal figure, but he does take interest in a ruined building in the nearby woods. Moreover, a mysterious gray heron seeks his attention with increasingly abnormal behaviors, provoking curiosity and spite. When Natsuko disappears into the woods and no one can find her for hours, Mahito decides to follow the heron, fully expecting a demonic trap.

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Here it is, folks: my final DVD from Netflix. I made a point to pick a reputed classic and also to wait until after October, but perhaps I should have waited for late December, because my hunch that the story would take place around Christmas was correct. Perhaps I dimly remembered something similar from She Loves Me, a musical adapted from it. I know it wasn't the case in the modernized remake, You've Got Mail.

In keeping with the source material, Miklós László's play Parfumerie, the setting is Budapest, albeit with mostly American-accented English. Despite long being the best salesman at a gift shop, Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) has begun to lock horns with boss Hugo Matuschek (Frank Morgan), for reasons not immediately clear. He locks horns considerably more with new hire Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan). But he and a pseudonymous pen pal he discovered through a newspaper ad have become smitten with each other. Less than halfway through the picture, he realizes that Klara is that pen pal. Of course, this wouldn't be much of a comedy if he told her right away....

The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)

The fact that most if not all of the major characters in this picture use the actors' real names led me to assume that it was an indie. IMDb tells me that it was just to avoid confusion for six-year-old lead actress Ana Torrent. But independent or not, this art film doesn't exactly look expensive.

In Spain circa 1940, Ana and her slightly older sister, Isabel (Isabel Tellería), watch a dubbed airing of the 1931 Frankenstein. Ana takes special interest in the scene where the monster befriends a little girl. Meaning to poke fun at her, Isabel says that the monster is a spirit who can be summoned in real life. Ana fully believes it, or at least wants to, and goes looking in a vacant sheepfold. Outside of her imagination, the closest thing she finds to that spirit is an injured fugitive (Juan Margallo).

The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)

I don't remember hearing about this story before, but I can guess why I added it to my queue. Family-friendly Irish fantasies have a good track record with me. Anyway, it was rather different from my most recent viewings, despite being set in the aftermath of World War II.

In '46, possibly nine-year-old Fiona has lost her mother, and her father's in a poor state to take care of her, so she moves to her grandparents' seaside village. She comes to learn of nearby Roan Inish, which means "Island of Seals," but rumor has it they're really selkies. In fact, she's said to have descended from one, tho evidence lies only in the occasional dark-haired family member with a strong marine inclination. Fiona learns that she had one such baby brother, who disappeared with his cradle at sea. Intrigued, she starts repeatedly visiting Roan Inish with slightly older cousin Eamon -- and makes a discovery that few even among the locals would believe....

Oppenheimer (2023)

I knew my dad and I would have to see this while it was still in theaters. Not only is it popular, but it loses something on a smaller screen. Not that nuclear explosions, "real" or imagined, make up much of the three hours.

The story covers the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) from his doctoral student days in 1926 to his receipt of the Enrico Fermi Award in '63. His key work on the Manhattan Project and reactions to its aftermath tend to dominate the focus, but there's more to it than that. He hangs out with communists too much for the comfort of authorities, and two party members, eventual wife Kitty Puening (Emily Blunt) and codependent Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), become his love interests.

Remember the Night (1940)

I may not see any more movies directed by Preston Sturges, but writing is another matter. I had seen this title many times, perhaps especially in connection with some of its actors, so it seemed time to look further. Yes, I usually save holiday pictures for when they're timely, but Netflix disc service won't last that long.

Shortly before Christmas, an inveterate New York City thief who goes by Lee Leander (Barbara Stanwyck), among other names, gets caught. Her preacher-like attorney (Francis X. O'Leary) posits a form of temporary insanity, but prosecutor Jack Sargent (Fred MacMurray) demands the testimony of an expert psychologist who won't be available until January 3, so the court will adjourn until then. Out of pity, he bails her out. The depraved bondsman (Tom Kennedy) misreads his intentions and sends her to Jack's apartment. Jack tells Lee to leave, but upon learning she's homeless, he takes her on his vacation to Indiana.

Ride the Pink Horse (1947)

For a moment, I expected a quirky western. As it is, I barely understand where the title came from. A character does ride an allegedly pink carousel horse (we can't tell in black and white), but that's not important to the plot, and any symbolism in it is lost on me. Maybe the filmmakers just wanted something that didn't sound like a cookie-cutter noir.

Ex-soldier "Lucky" Gagin (Robert Montgomery, also directing) comes to the New Mexican border town of San Pablo to confront Frank Hugo (Fred Clark), a mob boss who ordered the killing of Gagin's friend "Shorty" over a blackmailing. Gagin's lucky charm is his pistol, but he wants to try his own hand at blackmail rather than vengeful murder. FBI Agent Retz (Art Smith), who's kept tabs on both Gagin and Hugo, advises against this, but given Hugo's historical pull with the government, Gagin doesn't readily trust Retz. Hugo's moll, Marjorie (Andrea King), asks Gagin to raise the ransom and cut her in, but he's not sure what to make of her either.

Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)

OK, so I got a head start on my war movie viewing for Memorial Day. This one may have caught my attention because of John Wayne getting an Oscar nod for it when he thought his She Wore a Yellow Ribbon performance worthier. As it is, some viewers think SoIJ is great, and some think Wayne is the only great thing about it. I'm sure four years after World War II wasn't great timing for public interest either.

The story begins with some U.S. Marines arriving in New Zealand in 1943. Sgt. John Stryker (Wayne) strikes me as a typical harsh sarge, but his men deem him unusually so. Most personally hostile to him are PFC Pete Conway (John Agar), son of a colonel whom Stryker liked but who wasn't a kind father, so Conway tars Stryker by association; and PFC Al Thomas (Forrest Tucker), on whom Stryker had snitched in the past. As a former sergeant major with a drinking problem, Stryker doesn't have the cleanest record himself. Nevertheless, his overall approach gradually wins the men's admiration, starting with the Battle of Tarawa. And you can guess the climactic setting.

Nightmare Alley (2021)

I had already heard of a 1947 film noir of the same title. This Guillermo del Toro project isn't a remake so much as a second adaptation of the novel. Alas, the original is more highly rated across sites yet much harder to find. Anyway, this is the only version that was nominated for Best Picture.

In 1939, shortly after covering up a murder, Stan (Bradley Cooper) finds work that will have no one inquiring into his background: a traveling carnival's barker. There he learns how to fake being a psychic, and he and stunt-performing girlfriend Molly (Rooney Mara) eventually leave for a classier venue. He then takes an unfaithful interest in a distinguished audience member, psychologist Lilith (Cate Blanchett), and asks her for confidential information that can help him fool a rich, widowed, somewhat unhinged ex-client of hers, Ezra (Richard Jenkins). Stan does not care about Molly's discomfort with his endeavors, nor does he heed the warning of his mentors (Toni Collette and David Strathairn) that moving from mind reading to seances is dangerous -- or Lilith's warning that Ezra is.

Elvis (2022)

Making a bio about anyone this prominent is practically asking for trouble. It might tell us nothing new or fudge well-known facts. Considering Baz Luhrman's penchant for anachronisms, I fully expected the latter. Still, he must have done something right -- if only not getting in the way too much -- for his flick to garner eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

If there's one way this stands out from most musician biopics, it's the first-person narration by the musician's manager, honorary Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). He discovers Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) when the latter has become a local sensation, young enough to require contract signatures from his parents (Helen Thomson and Richard Roxburgh). The partnership spells a lot of fame and income, but the two lock horns a lot. Tom seems to mean well when he demands that Elvis dial back the popular yet controversial elements, not so much when he won't let Elvis tour overseas because Tom immigrated illegally and has to make up gambling debts with Vegas performances.

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

Yes, it was necessary to provide the director's name in the title. This same year saw a mostly live-action Disney remake. There's also Pinocchio: A True Story, which is officially dated 2021 but keeps getting counted with the others. Since del Toro's version is easily the most popular, I invited a friend to watch it with me.

The first distinctive thing about this retelling of the Carlo Collodi story is that it's set in World War II, with a brief appearance by Benito Mussolini (Tom Kenny, who also voiced Gepetto in P:ATS). Here, carpenter Gepetto (David Bradley) drunkenly creates a rather crude, asymmetrical pinewood puppet to replace his war casualty son, Carlo (Gregory Mann, whose voice had to be digitally altered as it changed during production). The fervency of Gepetto's desire persuades a wood sprite (Tilda Swinton) to infuse life in the puppet. Gepetto is initially scared and then frustrated that Pinocchio is nowhere near as ruly or considerate as Carlo (despite the same voice), but his care for Pinocchio is clear when cold-hearted men, namely Count Volpe the ringmaster (Christoph Waltz) and a fascist official (Ron Perlman), want to employ the puppet's unique advantages.

The Tin Drum (1979)

I picked a war flick for Veterans Day, but it wasn't the best choice. The protagonist isn't a soldier, and the soldiers we see don't exactly look good to us. You'll understand why in a moment.

On his third birthday, Oskar (David Bennent, actual age 11 at the time) deliberately injures himself in a way that prevents him from growing physically anymore, which ensures that people never treat him as fully adult. That premise alone can be pretty disturbing, but it's also set in Nazi-occupied Poland. His own family sometimes supports the invaders, tho they learn better eventually.