Ladyhawke (1985)

Sources told me that this was a cult classic. I fully expected an '80s sword-and-sorcery flick to be cheesy, but when YouTube suggested it, I figured it would at least be different from my other recent viewings.

Medieval peasant and habitual petty thief Phillipe "The Mouse" Gaston (young Matthew Broderick, mischievous as usual) escapes from an Italian dungeon but needs help evading guards ordered by the bishop of Aquila (John Wood) to kill him. Enter Etienne of Navarre (Rutger Hauer), former captain of said guards, who seeks to kill the bishop over a past treachery. Etienne is accompanied by a faithful red-tailed hawk, but by night, Phillipe sees neither of them, only the friendly Isabeau of Anjou (young Michelle Pfeiffer) and a black wolf who attacks only their enemies....

Moonraker (1979)

More than 20 years ago, an online quiz claimed that this was the most promising James Bond flick for me, but others warned me that it was likely to annoy me. Since then, I've found that even unpopular entries can strike a chord with me. When Netflix kept suggesting this one, I finally went for it.

The title refers to a model of space shuttle, one of which gets hijacked en route from California to the UK. Agent 007 (Roger Moore) begins his case by meeting with Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale), shady yet publicly trusted owner of the manufacturing company. The plot Bond eventually uncovers is probably the most destructive in the history of the franchise.

Tenet (2020)

Christopher Nolan doesn't seem to have directed any unpopular features, and this was one of the more profitable of the (infamously off) year. But I haven't encountered people discussing it much, and its IMDb rating is relatively low for him, so I hesitated to watch. The 150-minute runtime didn't tempt me either. Only a Netflix notice that it would stop streaming at the end of the year prioritized it for me.

Like in Looper, the time machine hasn't been invented "yet," but its effects can already be seen. Unlike in Looper, it doesn't just send things back; it can send things backwards. Even inanimate objects behave differently that way, as by falling upward to be caught by a "dropper." The curiously unnamed protagonist (John David Washington), a CIA agent, comes across such effects on a mission and is then made privy to a still more secretive agency, Tenet (clearly named just for the palindrome), that tries to use time travel for the greater good. He and recruiter Neil (Robert Pattinson) are among a globe-hopping team out to neutralize the forces of the world's most dangerous time traveler, Russian oligarch Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh).

Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)

I wondered why I found this DVD in the H section of my library. The answer came at the title screen when the British subtitles read, "Honor Among Thieves." (No relation to a recent movie.) To make matters more confusing, it was released in the U.S. as Grisbi but appears on IMDb by its literal translation, Don't Touch the Loot.

Big-time crook Max (Jean Gabin, long after his heyday) has recently stolen gold bars, planning to retire on them. Unfortunately for him, partner in crime Riton (René Dary) has an unfaithful girlfriend (Jeanne Moreau) who lets their secret slip to her other boyfriend, Angelo (Lino Ventura). Angelo's men abduct Riton for ransom, so Max enlists two more partners (Paul Frankeur and Michel Jourdan) to help confront them....

Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part 1 (2023)

What a trickily punctuated title. Someone must regret that the original had a colon. Anyway, since the past three sequels had been going strong and Christopher McQuarrie was still directing, I figured it was a worthy way to fill an evening. Kinda surprised there weren't more people in my theater on its U.S. debut.

What can possibly challenge Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) anymore, when even age doesn't seem to slow him down? An online AI gone self-aware and rogue, now known only as "the Entity," has been infiltrating all kinds of sensitive information systems. Ethan's mission is to collect the two halves of a key that promises access to the Entity somewhere, but once he understands that the government wants to control rather than destroy the Entity, he himself goes rogue. Not only does he once again have Impossible Missions Force support only from Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg), with the rest of the IMF after them, but they can't rely much on their state-of-the-art equipment with the Entity compromising things. To make matters worse, sadistic terrorist Gabriel (Esai Morales), a personal foe from before Ethan joined the IMF, is serving the Entity's interest.

The Italian Job (1969)

When I selected this to follow a comedy, I had forgotten that it was another comedy. I must have known at one time, because I recognize the most famous (and IMO most overrated) moment from a YouTube excerpt. Only after a lot of humor had trickled in did I realize what I was in for. Kinda wish I'd do that more often, because humor is often funnier to me when I'm not primed for it.

Newly freed small-time Cockney crook Charlie (Michael Caine) learns that the Sicilian Mafia just offed his partner in crime (Rossano Brazzi), but that needn't stop him from carrying out the scheme the Mafia opposed. Eventually, he persuades still-imprisoned kingpin Mr. Bridger (Noël Coward, who had one foot in the grave) to lend his financial resources for a heist involving about as many people as Danny Ocean's. They are to engineer an enormous Turin traffic jam, take $4 million in gold from a scheduled convoy, and outmaneuver the police with multiple vehicles. Of course, the police aren't the only threat....

Shoeshine (1946)

In its homeland, this is called Sciuscià, a cognate, because that is what the shoeshiners say when trying to get customers. I guess post-WWII Italy had a pretty strong American presence. Regardless, shoeshine has vanishingly little to do with the plot. It's merely how homeless 15-year-old Pascuale (Franco Interlenghi) and younger housed but impoverished pal Giuseppe (Rinaldo Smordoni) make money early on, before things start happening. Perhaps the point is that they occupy a humble place in society. And/or that they soon come to wish they had stuck with their first job, which might have sufficed if they weren't saving up for a horse.

After unwittingly taking part in a scam, Pascuale and Giuseppe go to separate five-boy cells in juvie. Since one of the uncaught deliberate criminals is Giuseppe's older brother, Attilio (uncredited, like most of the cast), the duo agrees not to spill. This gets harder when Pascuale worries about Giuseppe's well-being, but Giuseppe is not apt to be grateful, or even forgiving, for being spared at the expense of Attilio. How well can friendship survive in this environment, even with the prospect of escape?

The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)

So much for my earlier decision not to see this. Eh, I have changed some in seven years. Anyway, yes, that is the entire title, tho it's just Madam de... in the original French. Whenever her surname would be given, it is completely drowned out, interrupted, or visually blocked. I still don't know the purpose -- maybe trying to convey that all sorts of women are like her? At least we know her first name, and the significance of her jewelry becomes apparent almost immediately.

In what I take to be the 19th century, Louise (Danielle Darieux) has been so profligate in her Parisian decadence that she sees fit to sell the earrings her husband, André (Charles Boyer), gave her for their wedding. To save face, she claims to have lost them, but the jeweler (Jean Debucourt) sells them back to André, who gives them to his mistress (Lia Di Leo), who sells them to pay off her own debts. Their next buyer, Fabrizio (Vittorio De Sica), just happens to run into Louise and fall for her....

Ford v Ferrari (2019)

I took this long to get to this Academy Best Picture nominee because, apart from the DVD wait time, it sounded predictable. Another auto race flick, and judging from respective reputations, I could guess who won by virtue of underdog status. Still, it is nonfiction, however loaded with anachronisms and other errors, and has two highly watchable leads.

In the 1960s, Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) is furious that his company has become something of a laughingstock. Who should answer his demand for a good idea but Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal), who taps former champion racer turned auto company founder Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) to design a car that might break Enzo Ferrari's (Remo Girone) winning streak at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Shelby makes controversial, job-threatening decisions in this effort, not least in insisting that the main tester and racer be broke mechanic Ken Miles (Christian Bale, in one of the few times I've heard him act with a British accent), who is excellent on both counts but hard to work with.

Aquaman (2018)

Mixed reviews kept me uncertain whether I would watch this—until I read a circa-New Year's column about the most important silver-screen superheroes of the last decade. Aquaman was the only one I hadn't seen in any movie. Anyway, this season isn't big on new superhero pics, so now seemed like the best time to catch up.

In this version, the title character (Jason Momoa), a.k.a. Arthur Curry, is the son of Maine lighthouse keeper Tom (Temuera Morrison) and Queen Atlanna of Atlantis (Nicole Kidman), Tom having rescued her when she fled an arranged betrothal. Arthur may be the world's only such cross, since most people have no idea that those who sank with the ancient city survived via advanced technology and have descendants to this day. His hybrid nature and mostly unsubmerged upbringing do nothing to hinder his Atlantean powers, which he studied under vizier Vulko (Willem Dafoe) and uses primarily to be humanity's high-seas hero of legend, but many Atlanteans think less of him for those reasons as well as his unlawful origin. He doesn't want the throne of Atlantis anyway, until the sympathetic Princess Mera (Amber Heard) urges him to try to take it because his half-brother, King Orm (Patrick Wilson), is about to launch a war against the "surface dwellers."

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (2019)

Ah, Quentin Tarantino, one of the directors I have the most mixed feelings about. As a rule, I take his name as a warning yet find his movies pretty good, if typically overrated. Why make this the second Best Picture nominee I see for the year? Well, it happened to be showing at a convenient time for me, I didn't trust either parent to want to watch with me, and I'd already watched the 1994 adaptation of Little Women twice.

Set chiefly in 1969, OUaTiH follows Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), former star of a western TV series; and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), his buddy and former stunt double. The biggest contrast between them is in how they handle the decline of their careers: Rick cries at the realization of it and then struggles to recover, but Cliff is content to have become something of a butler to him. Also, Rick hates hippies while Cliff takes an interest in one of them -- until he discovers just how unruly she and her friends are. They are the Manson Family....

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

As I predicted, I got around to seeing a second adaptation of the same Patricia Highsmith novel. I'm glad I waited, because I could no longer remember much of what happened before. Nevertheless, looking back over my review of Purple Noon, I noticed a number of differences, some of which reportedly hew closer to the source material.

In the '50s, a New York shipping magnate (James Rebhorn) mistakes master of fakery Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) for a former classmate of rebellious son Dickie (Jude Law) and hires him to fetch Dickie from a prodigal life in Italy. Tom becomes a friendly third wheel to Dickie and girlfriend Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow) but soon reveals his mission, which he utterly fails. This does not end Tom's welcome in Dickie's eyes, but when that does run out, the two have a physical fight and Tom kills him. Tom begins telling earlier acquaintances that Dickie is away somewhere and telling later acquaintances that he is Dickie. Offhand, I'd say it's his hardest con job yet. It could be funny if it weren't deadly serious.

The Traitor (2019)

Thanks partly to a late start on my part, I didn't connect with the Meetup group that invited me to this showing, even afterward. Still, I overheard many people discussing it as they left, so I got a good sense of prevailing emotions. It's not the kind of movie you can be quiet about once you've seen it.

Based on a true story and spanning decades, it begins when Tommaso Buscetta is already established as Don Masino, "the Boss of Two Worlds." When he's served a fair amount of time for drug trafficking in Brazil and lost far too many relatives to infighting in the Sicilian Mafia (or Cosa Nostra, as they prefer to call it), he decides to spill all kinds of secrets to the legal authorities. This is almost unprecedented at the time, and you can guess how dangerous it is, especially in areas where Cosa Nostra is actually popular.

Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)

Huh. I hadn't realized going in that Disney had no production or distribution claim on this movie. Or on Spider-Man: Homecoming, whose tags I've since corrected. Better be careful with these things. Regardless, the first entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to follow Avengers: Endgame does retain continuity, being set some eight months later.

Peter Parker (Tom Holland), still in high school, goes on a class trip to various European nations. With its inadequate planning, this would be a pretty lame vacation if not for Peter secretly being Spider-Man and thus a fated danger magnet. In this case, the danger takes the shape of rampaging elemental giants, which Spidey takes on with help from a new super stranger (Jake Gyllenhaal), aptly nicknamed Mysterio. He may be reminiscent of both Iron Man and Dr. Strange, but many Marvel fans already know him better than that....

Seven Beauties (1975)

Oh, hello, another downer about oppression in Europe. This one stands out first and foremost for making Lina Wertmüller the first woman (of only five to date) to garner an Academy Best Director nomination. If no one had told me, I would not have guessed that a woman directed it.

Pasqualino "Settebellezze" (Giancarlo Giannini) starts as a smooth criminal who will defend his sense of honor in defiance of the law, but as soon as he kills his sister's wretched boyfriend, his life is largely a series of cowardly decisions to maximize his chances of life at the cost of honor. This includes pleading insane, volunteering for the army in World War II, and deserting at the first opportunity. When he ends up in a concentration camp, he puts his ladies' man wiles to the test, hoping to win mercy from the ice-cold commandant (Shirley Stoler).

The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

I saw the 1934 adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas classic some years ago, inspired by its excerpt in V for Vendetta. Although I enjoyed it (and seeing why V did too), later I could remember little more than the basic outline: A wrongfully imprisoned swordsman gets revenge. Perhaps a second take, especially one for a modern audience, would stay with me better.

Illiterate sailor Edmond (Jim Caviezel) helps his dying captain pay an emergency visit to Elba during the exile of Napoleon (Alex Norton). The price of treatment by the local physician is Edmond's agreement to stealthily deliver a letter, which Napoleon claims is innocent. Upon returning to France, Edmond is charged with treason—thanks not to an honest misunderstanding regarding the mail, as he first believes, but to treachery by three acquaintances. During his long stay at the Château d'If, priestly inmate Faria (Richard Harris in one of his last roles) secretly teaches him in many ways and then helps him escape and find a vast hidden treasure. Edmond reappears in civilized society in the guise of the titular count, observing his old enemies and plotting their downfalls....

Summertime (1955)

Not for the first time, I watch a movie in the summer because of its title. I suspect that I put it on my queue for Katharine Hepburn. Possibly for director David Lean, but despite my love of Lawrence of Arabia and Bride on the River Kwai, his hits rarely do much for me.

Jane (Hepburn) goes alone on vacation to Italy for the first time, specifically to Venice. She makes the acquaintance of a young, apparently orphaned boy with good English skills who alternately begs, attempts shady sales, and does her favors, garnering mixed reactions from her. She also meets shopkeeper Renato (Rossano Brazzi), who initially gives her creepy vibes but rapidly charms his way into her heart. Unfortunately, he doesn't tell her that he has a wife somewhere....

Purple Noon (1960)

None of my sources explain the English title. I can see how the native French one, Plein soleil, "Full Sun," wouldn't carry over; but I noticed no literal purple, nor do any characters mention it, at least in the subtitles. In any event, it's the first screen adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Master forger Tom Ripley is not exactly a friend to aristocrat Philippe Greenleaf, but they enjoy a bit of mischief together in Italy. Philippe must sense jealousy of his fiancée, Marge, because he grows mean to Tom—until Tom kills him. Tom does a good job of hiding Philippe's body and assuming his identity (except around prior acquaintances), but even a genius doesn't have an easy time keeping up a charade indefinitely....

Tulipani: Love, Honour and a Bicycle (2017)

Dad and I had tentatively planned on seeing several entries in a European showcase at AFI, but we put it off. Tonight was the last night, so we got the initiative just in time. To my slight surprise, Mom came too.

This is one of those rare stories to include flashbacks within flashbacks. In the "present" of 1980, Anna, who has lived mostly in Canada, finds herself and two acquaintances explaining a suspicious death to an Italian policeman. From one standpoint, her relevant story begins only nine days prior, when she sees fit to take her adoptive mother's ashes to the village of Puglia; from another, it starts in 1953, when Gauke, who would become her father, wanders from flooded Holland to Puglia. (Anna learns the story from her acquaintances only within those nine days.) Most of what we see is about Gauke's not-so-uneventful life as a tulip farmer in the area.

That Hamilton Woman (1941)

No connection to the subject of Hamilton here. It's another historical figure from around the same era: Emma Hamilton. Even if her name doesn't ring a bell, you may have seen her portraits by George Romney, Joshua Reynolds, and others.

Emma (Vivien Leigh) is heavily implied to have been licentious in youth, until Charles Francis Greville (not portrayed herein) courted her into upper-class society. Alas, he's not the type to follow through on proposals, and Emma marries his uncle, Lord Hamilton (Alan Mowbray), ambassador to Naples, out of sheer convenience. This convenience does become pretty cushy, but it is hardly surprising to anyone that her heart should wander from her husband, especially upon meeting Admiral Horatio Nelson (Laurence Olivier).