The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)

This was the first sequel ever to get an Academy Best Picture nod, but I hadn't known that going in. Bing Crosby as a priest in a Leo McCarey movie could have been a spiritual successor to the previous year's Going My Way, which, while probably the least popular Best Picture of the '40s, made a comfortable viewing for me. I was up for more comfort.

Father Chuck O'Malley (Crosby) becomes the...principal?...of an inner-city Catholic school for first- to eighth-graders. He takes a more casual approach than Sister Superior Mary Benedict (Ingrid Bergman), which leads them to lock horns on occasion, not least regarding whether to give leeway to failing eighth-grader Patsy (Joan Carroll) in light of her domestic difficulties. But they agree on one thing: Their building won't serve their purpose much longer. Sending everyone to another parish across town is hardly their first choice. What they'd really like is for CEO Horace P. Bogardus (Henry Travers) to give them his newly constructed office building next door for free. Considering Bogardus hates kids, this may take a miracle.

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

I browsed Netflix for a good end to the month and came across this title. Why wasn't it on my list already? After all, I liked The Conjuring, and the first sequel was reputed to be almost as good. I'm just not in the habit of watching horror sequels.

Around Christmas of 1977, shortly after their Amityville incident, paranormal experts Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) are invited to the London Borough of Enfield. The Hodgsons, consisting of mother Peggy (Frances O'Connor) and four kids, have lately had stressful domestic conflict and an abortive Ouija effort, both of which are said to feed into an unwelcome presence, and the ensuing events have been frightful enough to make them seek shelter with neighbors. These events, including apparent part-time possession of 11-year-old Janet (Madison Wolfe), are attributed to the hostile spirit of a prior resident (Bob Adrian). The Catholic Church won't authorize an exorcism without compelling evidence. That's where the Warrens come in, coordinating with convinced investigator Maurice Grosse (Simon McBurnie) and doubtful psychologist Anita Gregory (Franka Potente). But Lorraine, with her psychic connections, gets the feeling that this mission will be more dangerous than any they've tackled before....

Viridiana (1961)

I had not had great experiences with writer-director Luis Buñuel. I found The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie a confusing mess and The Exterminating Angel too absurd to take seriously. Had I recalled his role in writing part of Johnny Got His Gun, I might have refused to watch anything else of his. But sometimes the fact that a picture was once banned makes it tempting, even to those who respect the church that decried it. Besides, I was curious to see how Buñuel would do with something neither in the realm of fantasy nor full of dreams.

The title character (Silvia Pinal) is preparing to become a nun in Spain. She reluctantly accepts an invitation to visit her estranged wealthy uncle, Don Jaime (Fernando Rey), who may not have much longer to live. Viridiana looks so much like her departed aunt that he hatches a terrible plot to have his way with her. That's as far as the Netflix summary goes, but it doesn't do justice to the second half; if you don't mind possible spoilers, read on.

The Irishman (2019)

I knew I wasn't going to love this. Martin Scorsese fare is rarely even moderately enjoyable to me. But it is one of the most championed contenders for Academy Best Picture this year, and as a Netflix original, it's already available for streaming. I started early in the evening, because at 209 minutes, it's the longest mainstream feature in decades.

Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), a Philadelphia trucker, gets into '50s organized crime, including "painting houses" with the blood of the homeowners, despite quiet disapproval by his wife and daughter (played in adulthood by Anna Paquin). After helping him escape a charge, his defense attorney (Ray Romano) introduces him to crime lord Russell Buffalino (an oddly placid Joe Pesci), who in turn connects him with Teamsters Union pres Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Sheeran and Hoffa stay close for about 20 years, which is not a particularly good thing when the latter is infamous....

The Fog (1980)

While I haven't reviewed other John Carpenter flicks on this blog, I have mostly enjoyed the seven I've watched, especially the ones from the late '70s and early '80s. It's too bad he apparently lost the knack in the '90s and largely retired from directing early. The Fog was his first post-Halloween silver-screen feature, so I figured it held promise.

The story follows multiple heroes -- among them radio DJ Stevie (Adrienne Barbeau), her young son Andy (Ty Mitchell), career fisherman Nick (Tom Atkins), drifter Elizabeth (Jamie Lee Curtis), festivity hostess Kathy (Janet Leigh!), her assistant Sandy (Nancy Loomis), and Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) -- in the fictional California town of Antonio Bay within the course of a day, namely the town's centennial. It's also the centennial of a fog-based fatal shipwreck. From the stroke of midnight, strange things happen around town. And where the glowing fog hits, death is likely to follow. None of this being coincidental, of course.

The Fountain (2006)

Hoo boy, Darren Aronofsky. When he's not directing straightforward downers like Requiem for a Dream, he's spinning dark mind screws like Pi and Black Swan. My favorite work of his is The Wrestler, more for Mickey Rourke's performance than anything else. Throw in TF's box office failure and a considerable discrepancy between its ratings on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, and I had a real gamble on my hands. But Aronofsky didn't regret taking chances, so it didn't seem wrong for me to do the same. Besides, I tend to like love stories better with sci-fi/fantasy elements.

Netflix describes the story as taking place over a millennium, but there are only three times with which we need concern ourselves, all distinct enough not to disorient us much with the many jump cuts. Probably the most screen time is spent in the present, when surgeon Tom (Hugh Jackman) strives to find a cure for cancer before his wife Izzi (Rachel Weisz) dies of it. Izzi has been writing a story set primarily in the 16th century, in which Queen Isabella (Weisz again) assigns conquistador Tomás (Jackman again) to find the Tree of Life guarded by Mayans. The other segments show an enhanced Tom, now "Tommy," in the future, staying by the Tree of Life while flying to a nebula that Izzi had identified as Xibalba.

The Conjuring (2013)

All month until now, I'd seen movies that end with a notice that the depicted characters and events are fictitious -- even Blade Runner 2049, for crying out loud. This one boasts a basis in true events, with only a few changes for entertainment's sake (e.g., compressing a decade into weeks). Such claims are especially common for horrors about exorcism, probably because more people today believe in ghosts and demons than in, say, werewolves. At any rate, we know that it is partly true, insofar as the major players (among living humans, anyway) have existed and had connections with each other; two served as consultants on the film.

The main setting is a rural Rhode Island mansion in 1971. I'm not sure why the Perron family moved into a home so old and disused without learning much about it ahead of time, but I guess two spouses and five daughters don't have many options both comfortably large and affordable. Perhaps their first warning that there are worse things in it than dust and cobwebs is that the dog adamantly refuses to enter. As phenomena get increasingly difficult to explain, the Perrons turn to demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, perhaps best known for their part in the story that inspired The Amityville Horror. Despite their expertise, the Warrens remain apprehensive; not only do exorcisms (including those of buildings rather than people) end badly sometimes, but Lorraine recently had some unshared mental trauma that might compromise her ability. And one of the perceived entities herein threatens the Warrens' daughter elsewhere....