The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

Why have I waited so long between movies when not on vacation? Well, mainly, I've kinda painted myself into a corner by insisting on Halloween-type movies every October. Now that Netflix has ceased disc delivery, I find their streaming horror and pseudo-horror options lacking. Disney+ is no better for that. In desperation, I resorted to a faintly gothic offering.

In medieval Paris, Minister of Justice Claude Frollo (Tony Jay) regularly assumes the worst about the Roma, consistently called by the slur "Gypsies" in this picture. He kills one at the Notre Dame Cathedral, only to find that she was carrying not contraband but a deformed baby. The archdeacon (David Ogden Stiers) tells him to raise the child as penance. Frollo keeps the boy in the cathedral bell tower, dubbing him Quasimodo and self-identifying as his master. After 20 years, Quasimodo (now voiced by Tom Hulce) finally ventures below during the Feast of Fools, when lots of people try to look freaky anyway. There he meets Esmeralda (Demi Moore), a Roma dancer who's not nearly as bad as he was led to believe. Quasimodo isn't the only one to fall for her, but Frollo has a twisted way to show it....

Cry Freedom (1987)

I've learned that there was a streak of anti-apartheid features in the years shortly before apartheid ended. The only one I had watched before, in high school, was A Dry White Season, which pulled no punches. This time, I thought I'd check out one about Steve Biko, whom I knew only to be treated as a martyr.

Like many films about race relations (e.g., The Blind Side), it doesn't actually give the most screen time to the main Black guy. The protagonist here is Donald Woods (Kevin Kline), '70s editor of a left-leaning newspaper who nevertheless starts in opposition to Biko (Denzel Washington in his first Oscar-nominated role), whom he sees as something like Malcolm X (how appropriate for Washington). When challenged to meet Biko, he learns that the man is more like MLK. Woods lends his support despite threats to his family.

Silverado (1985)

As you may have guessed from the title, it's a western; and as you may have guessed from the year of release, it's not very serious as westerns go. The casting provides a further clue to the latter: It includes Kevin Kline and, in a smaller role, John Cleese. Oh, it's not A Fish Called Wanda with twang; the humorous aspects are secondary to the adventure and occasionally solemn drama. (Netflix calls it "fast-paced," but it allows some tense pauses a la Sergio Leone.) Still funnier than the overrated Cat Ballou in my book.