Miracle (2004)

I had started watching Happy as Lazzaro, but the first maybe half hour didn't grab me. When I learned that it had a strange setup and an anticapitalist message, I lost interest further. Giving up, I chose this replacement in a bit of a rush.

In 1979, former Olympic hockey player Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) gets to coach the U.S. Olympic hockey team. There is little time before the 1980 winter games, so he sees fit to take a hard approach, which doesn't make him popular in the short term. He also doesn't favor the same player picks as others, believing that individual athletic skill matters less than who will work well together.

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).

Sniper: Inside the Crosshairs (2009)

Had I given this choice a little more thought, I would have saved it for Memorial Day weekend. At the time, I just picked it for the 90-minute runtime and the change in genre from what I'd seen lately.

Specifically, it's a documentary about some of the most accomplished living snipers in the U.S. Army. Some may have been the MVPs of their platoons, key to winning battles that were otherwise not in their favor. Others were impressive in breaking records. Personally, I didn't bother remembering their names, because I took more interest in the technical side: physics and other factors to consider for efficacy.

The Disciple (2020)

I don't think I've ever seen another movie in which the main language is Marathi. Nor am I aware of another Indian movie executive-produced by Alfonso Cuarón. Neither of those facts are why I checked this out; I just wanted a drama, and this one is short by Indian standards, at 127 minutes.

The story follows Sharad Nerulkar from young adulthood (with a childhood flashback or two) to...well, I'm not sure; the mustache might make him look older than he's supposed to be. The important thing, he goes from an amateur classical vocalist to enough of a pro to get many YouTube reactions in English. Nonetheless, he remains plagued by doubts, or perhaps certainty that he'll never equal his celebrated elderly tutor, Guruji. Maybe not even his strict father.

Chak De! India (2007)

Never before had I watched field hockey (called just "hockey" throughout the picture), but getting the gist looked easy enough. At any rate, I chose to watch this partly because I had plenty of time to kill and partly because I can count on a sports flick to end happily. Or at worst, it's not a very important defeat.

In a Men's FIH Hockey World Cup match, Indian team captain Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) makes a shot so bad that, in conjunction with his Islamic faith, people widely assume he took a dive in Pakistan's favor. Under pressure, he resigns and even moves out of town. Seven years later, he sees the opportunity for redemption when invited to coach the women's team. Of course, he wouldn't get that chance if officials had a high opinion of the female players....

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000)

I ignore most direct-to-video movies, but this one caught my attention via YouTube ads, and it turns out to be pretty popular. Having watched just a little of the Batman Beyond TV series, I had some idea of what to expect. And this wouldn't be the first time I counted a Batman animation among my Halloween season viewings.

In an unspecified future, when a cane-needing Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy) publicly resumes his leadership at Wayne Enterprises, he could swear he helped bury a dead Joker (Mark Hamill) about 40 years ago. Yet the party crasher before him looks and sounds exactly the same -- not even any older. Unable to explain this, Bruce wants to dissuade his successor, Terry McGinnis (Will Friedle), from continuing to be Batman. But somehow the Clown Prince of Crime must know both secret identities, because he heads for Bruce while his minions (including one with a Halloween theme, incidentally) go after an uncostumed Terry....

28 Days Later (2002)

The series got a threequel this year, so I thought I'd finally give the original a go. Had I known that Danny Boyle was directing, I'd've braced for more grossness, but whew, there's no excrement scene herein.

Animal rights zealots release a chimp from a lab, ignoring a warning that it's "infected with rage." After the titular period, courier Jim (Cillian Murphy, younger than I'd ever seen before) awakens from a coma induced by a bicycle accident to find that the hospital and, indeed, London are almost completely abandoned. The first people he meets have the rage plague, but holdouts Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley) rescue him. Later connections include Frank (Brendan Gleeson) and his teen daughter, Hannah (Megan Burns), who relay a report of a military outpost. It exists, but whether it's the salvation they need is another question.

I Am Legend (2007)

Warner Bros. packaged this DVD with The Book of Eli as a "double feature." I had never seen such a set before; the two movies are unrelated, not involving any of the same actors, the same director, or even the same production companies. They just came out a few years apart and center on a lone Black man in a post-apocalyptic America, each with someone claiming to have been guided by a mysterious, potentially divine voice toward a cause for hope. That's about where the similarity ends. IAL actually merits a horror classification.

A scientist (Emma Thompson) reengineers a virus to cure cancer. It appears to work beautifully at first but quickly mutates, killing 90% of the world's populations and turning 9% into "Darkseekers," who are like fast zombies with the appearance and light allergy of vampires. Colonel Robert Neville (Will Smith) volunteers to remain in a cut-off Manhattan as the only known uninfected human survivor, accompanied by his dog, Sam, as he hopes to find a way to give the Darkseekers his immunity before he succumbs to either them or insanity from isolation.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

For ages, I felt like I knew enough about this movie already. I even described an outside character as "a Devil Wears Prada type," by which I meant a harsh female boss. But when the title came up on a Disney+ list, I opted for a more informed opinion. Hey, a sequel's slated for next year.

Recent college grad Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) applies for a New York City job as second assistant to Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep) before ever learning that the latter runs the Runway fashion magazine. Andy stands out with her relative disregard for fashion -- and that's why Miranda hires her: to try something new after a string of failures. It's a tough job, but Andy sticks with it and becomes more like others in the industry, which drives a wedge between her and her old friends, not least her boyfriend (Adrian Grenier).

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019)

I wanted something different from my usual viewings, and I found it. It's rare enough to have movies set in Africa; it's rarer still that their protagonist is a Black African. This one doesn't even have any White characters to my recollection.

In the early 2000s, Wimbe, a Malawi village, is devastated by flood and then drought. The Kamkwamba family, headed by father Trywell (Chiwetel Ejiofor, who also wrote and directed for the first time), will have trouble farming enough food to get by, especially when neighbors resort to theft. They also can't afford the fee to keep 13-year-old William (Maxwell Simba) in school. But by sneaking into the school library, William learns enough to assemble a wind turbine, using a bicycle part among others, to meet both water and energy needs -- if only he can persuade Trywell and others to have faith and help him.

Flushed Away (2006)

The very starting premise of a rat going down a toilet turned me off, but an acquaintance assured me the excremental gags are very few and relatively tasteful. He also found the movie moderately funny, especially for the running(?) gag of a cappella slugs. I still didn't get the gumption to watch until Netflix said it would stop streaming at the end of the month.

In modern Kensington, ratty Roddy (Hugh Jackman, playing at least two Brits that year) seems to enjoy life as a pet who gets the ritzy apartment to himself for most of the day. Then a slovenly sewer rat (Shane Richie) moves in, and Roddy's attempt to return him to the sewer backfires. Roddy ends up in a bustling underground town with a mostly rodent population. He takes advice to seek the assistance of sailor Rita (Kate Winslet) in getting home, but first they must contend with having run afoul of The Toad (Ian McKellen), a mob boss with a chronic hate-on for rats despite some of them (Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, and Christopher Fairbank) being his underlings.

Man on Fire (2004)

Not to be confused with Man on Wire, this title had turned me off for a long time. When I saw that I could watch it free on Hulu, I looked it up and found that it was much better received by the general audience than by critics. That gets me curious.

Since holding rich kids for ransom is rampant in Mexico, troubled ex-Marine John Creasy (Denzel Washington), at the advice of a buddy (Christopher Walken), becomes a bodyguard to Lupita or "Pita" (Dakota Fanning), preteen daughter of automaker Samuel Ramos (Marc Anthony). At first he is highly standoffish, but as she urges him to be as sociable as others, he learns to like her. Of course, this wouldn't be much of a story if he never failed at his job....

Brothers After War (2025)

This is the first documentary sequel I've ever seen. Brothers at War (2009) escaped my notice, but this one has a much higher IMDb rating, albeit with few votes yet. When I happened to be very close to the theater, I picked this viewing partly for a convenient start time and partly because someone I trust had endorsed it.

Director Jake Rademacher has surprisingly many literal brothers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here he pays visits to them and some veteran friends, including women, to see how they're doing. (None of my sources name them all.) Some are doing quite well; others are struggling on at least one front. They all know soldiers who died either in battle or later by suicide.

Zombieland (2009)

Squeezing in one last Halloween review for the year! I opted for something under 90 minutes, clearly appropriate in theme but not seriously scary. Seemed like a partial palate cleanser.

We never learn the real name of the narrator-protagonist (Jesse Eisenberg), because the few survivors of the zombie apocalypse don't want to feel too emotionally attached to each other. He goes by "Columbus," because he grew up in the Ohio capital. His long-time habits as a timid loner have prepared him for this new world, and he shares many tips with the viewers. While looking for a safe haven, he teams up with "Tallahassee" (Woody Harrelson), an older badass who loves hurting or killing zombies almost as much as eating the now-scarce Twinkies. Then they meet "Wichita" (Emma Stone) and her kid sister, "Little Rock" (Abigail Breslin). Columbus soon crushes on Wichita, but she's neither trusting nor trustworthy. Perhaps a shared crisis will change that....

American Psycho (2000)

Of all the horrors on Netflix I hadn't seen, this was the one I'd heard about the most. Partly, I suppose, because it's relatively old. My visiting friend hadn't seen it either, so we chose our viewing quickly.

In 1987, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale, five years before he dropped the E from "Bateman") is a Wall Street investment banker with a luxurious lifestyle, often going to upscale restaurants with co-workers. That doesn't mean he enjoys it; as his first-person narration indicates, he can feel only greed and disgust, even toward ostensible fiancée Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon). At first, the only clear sign of something wrong with him is that he needs little provocation to make gory threats. Then his bloodlust grows beyond his full control, no longer reserved for envied colleagues and homeless people. How long can he hope to get away with murder?

Molly's Game (2017)

For me, stories that focus on poker are, well, gambles. I liked the 2006 Casino Royale overall, but I thought scenes at the namesake were the weak points. Maverick couldn't get me excited about the climax. Rounders dizzied me a little. Maybe that's why I put off seeing this recommendation. Nevertheless, it was one of the most familiar titles left on my Netflix list, and I was in the mood for a change of pace.

This is based on a true story, but only the protagonist is identified by her real name. In the 2000s, Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain) becomes a secretary for "Dean" (Jeremy Strong), a real estate developer who also runs high-stakes underground poker games, where she collects huge tips. Since Dean is almost impossible to work with, Molly starts her own classy casino in a hotel room. She tries to keep everything strictly legal at first, but one desperate slip is enough to get unwelcome attention. Oddly enough, her worst legal trouble comes years after she discontinues her practice, when the FBI wants to strong-arm her into telling on criminal customers. Despite her lack of accessible funds, she persuades expensive attorney "Charlie" (Idris Elba) to defend her.

Kill Bill: Vols. 1 (2003) & 2 (2004)

Sometimes I bewilder myself. I have now watched every feature film directed in full by Quentin Tarantino, despite not expecting to like them overall. These two are popular -- the first is still in IMDb's top 250 -- but what I knew of them gave me reasons to deprioritize. Perhaps a warning that they would stop streaming on Netflix this month increased my interest, along with a realization that people still talk about them from time to time. I split the four-hour collective runtime over two days. I wasn't sure I'd go on to the second volume, but the first ends very unsatisfying by design.

Beatrix (Uma Thurman) is a globe-trotting hitwoman until a pregnancy inspires her to turn over a new leaf. She tries to marry under an alias, but jealous ex-boss Bill (David Carradine) has everyone at the wedding rehearsal shot. Only Beatrix survives, waking from a four-year coma and swearing to kill all five of her former co-workers (among them Vivica Fox, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, and Daryl Hannah) for their part in the massacre, along with anyone else who gets in the way.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

After a drama whose visuals failed to grab me, I felt like seeing a fanciful animation. Alas, it's getting hard to think of promising ones I haven't seen yet. As usual for late-'90s or early-'00s Disney, this one underperformed a bit upon release but still gets mentioned positively in my circles now and then. Would I join the cult fandom?

In 1914, adorkable archaeologist Milo (Michael J. Fox) is disrespected even in scholarly circles for obsessing over the possibility of finding the legendary ruins of Atlantis. He finally gets a break when a rich man (John Mahoney) who knew Milo's grandfather finances an expedition, with Milo serving primarily to read instructions in an ancient language. To the entire party's surprise, Atlantis is still populated, and Milo grows pretty close to their princess, Kida (Cree Summer). But most of the explorers are in it just for wealth, and the less scrupulous among them, especially Commander Rourke (James Garner), are willing to steal the very crystal that allows Atlanteans to live in their air pocket space: the Heart of Atlantis.

Charlie Bartlett (2007)

This relatively inexpensive flick still suffered a net loss at the box office, and both critics and general audiences had mixed opinions of it. Why did I check it out? Because someone left the DVD lying around. I can be easy to influence that way.

Spoiled rich Charlie (Anton Yelchin) has been expelled many times, most recently for selling fake IDs. His mom (Hope Davis) finally enrolls him in a public high school, where he stands out as the only student to dress formally. He gets the idea to fake out his many psychiatrists, acquire prescription drugs, and sell them to classmates in apparent need, in addition to offering his own advice. He becomes quite popular and even makes a business partner out of the guy who first physically bullies him (Tyler Hilton). But Principal Gardner (Robert Downey, Jr.) is leery of such a shady character, especially one who starts dating his daughter (Kat Dennings).

The Mule (2018)

This doesn't seem to have been talked about much since it was brand new. If any aspect stands out, it's the fact that Clint Eastwood has made only one feature since, and that one bombed, whereas TM was reported halfway decent. I chose to watch it largely because it looked different from a bunch of my most recent viewings.

Earl (Eastwood), despite an illustrious ongoing career in horticulture, is hurting for money. At the advice of a "friend of a friend," he gets a shady job transporting bags he's advised not to open. I'm not sure how soon he realizes that his employer is a drug cartel, but he gets surprised at just how much they're entrusting to him. Elderly Anglos with no record even of parking violations make unlikely suspects, so he becomes an MVP, with a lot more comfort than certain other mules. But not everyone in the business is willing to accommodate an employee who doesn't follow strict rules, and one sass to the wrong guy could put him in a trunk. Meanwhile, two DEA agents (Bradley Cooper and Michael Peña) are closing in with help from a reluctant informant (Eugene Cordero), albeit too gradually for the patience of their supervisor (Laurence Fishburne).