Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

I had enjoyed First Blood but understood that it bore little resemblance to the rest of the Rambo series. Green Beret John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) doesn't kill any humans in it, for one thing. When I found the immediate sequel on Pluto TV, I decided to get an informed opinion of how accurate the many parodies were. Hey, it wouldn't be the first mediocre Stallone vehicle I found interesting.

After a few years of a labor sentence, Rambo learns from his former commander, Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna), of a chance at a pardon. His accepted mission from Major Marshall Roger Murdock (Charles Napier) is to sneak into a Vietnamese camp suspected of still containing American POWs and take only pictures. Of course, this wouldn't be much of a story if he followed instructions precisely. Once he sees an opportunity to free a tortured prisoner (Andy Wood), it won't be long before the projectiles fly.

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.

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.

The Look of Silence (2014)

Yet again, I chose a viewing based on what was about to drop off my Netflix list. It's another documentary with more talking than anything else, but at least it's on a subject I knew almost nothing about.

This is a companion piece to 2012's The Act of Killing, similarly directed by Joshua Oppenheimer (no relation) and an anonymous partner. Here we follow optometrist Adi Rukun, sometimes providing his services or hanging with his cheerful children, but mostly interviewing older Indonesians who remember the anti-communist purge of the mid-'60s, along with younger relatives. Many of the seniors had a hand in the massacre of hundreds of thousands and were never penalized for it, because they had the government's blessing then and ever since. Adi also watches an earlier video of two men who had killed his brother.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)

This was actually my first viewing this month, but I opted to wait until after a scheduled Meetup discussion to write my review. It's the kind of film I have trouble evaluating without a broader perspective.

In modern rural Thailand, Boonmee (Thanapat Saisaymar), around age 60, has a kidney disorder and knows he is not long for this world. Perhaps that's why the ghost of his wife (Natthakarn Aphaiwong) shows up and sticks around. Soon after, their long-vanished adult son (Jeerasak Kulhong) returns as a sort of glowing-eyed yeti, explaining that he got that way from sex with another such creature, which he calls a Monkey Ghost. Everyone in the homestead -- including Boonmee's nephew and caretaker (Sakda Kaewbuadee), who's not as prominent as the title implies -- acknowledges these surprise guests but is not alarmed. Indeed, things progress quite peacefully toward the conclusion, a mix of the inevitable and the unpredictable.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Initially, I put this title off because I felt like I'd already learned all there is to know about it. Then I put it off more when I learned that Ben Stiller starred and directed (he's even more of a red flag for me than Will Ferrell) and Jack Black was among the highest billed. But recently, I heard an interview in which Robert Downey Jr. reflected fondly on it. Maybe it would be worth a viewing after all.

The production of a modern Vietnam War epic is going slowly and over budget, apparently because the director (Steve Coogan) doesn't know how to work with prima donnas. At the advice of the gritty writer of the book being adapted (Nick Nolte), he sends the five main actors deeper into the jungle for a more authentic experience. Little does any of them know that this jungle is home to a strong gang of heroin manufacturers, who mistake the fake soldiers for Drug Enforcement Administration officers (do they have international jurisdiction?). The actors, in turn, take a little while to realize that the criminals aren't other actors.

Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)

This has not received much mention in my social circles, but it gets moderately high ratings. After seeing its icon on Disney Plus enough times, I decided to give it a go. If nothing else, I'd see a dragon animation and a new effort from Big Hero Six director Don Hall.

The setting is an alternate version of Southeast Asia in centuries past, with humans and monkeys the only real species around. Known civilization consists of five hostile tribes, each named after a dragon body part. They had been in harmony 500 years ago, when dragons provided rain and other great benefits to them, but demons called the Druun turned all the dragons to stone, except one Sisu (Awkwafina), who disappeared after dispelling the Druun. Things get a lot worse when the tribes squabble over Sisu's gem and break it in five, reducing its power to keep the Druun from petrifying more beings. Six years later, Raya (Kelly Marie Tran), 18-year-old daughter of Chief Benja (Daniel Dae Kim) of the Heart tribe, is on a quest to find Sisu and unite her with all the gem shards, if only to unpetrify Benja.

The Sapphires (2012)

My best guess for how I ever learned about this film is that it was advertised as I prepared to see another. Based on the subject, I'm not surprised it hasn't been talked about much in the U.S., despite financial success within its home country. Still, stories about singers tend to draw me in, so I chose it from my list.

Based on a play based very loosely on a true story, it takes place in 1968, starting at an Aboriginal Australian reserve. Three adult sisters -- in descending order of age, Gail (Deborah Mailman), Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell), and Julie (Jessica Mauboy) -- gain the attention of talent scout Dave (Chris O'Dowd), probably the first White person to recognize their merit as singers. He gets them on a tour -- along with their semi-estranged cousin, Kay (Shari Sebbens) -- performing soul classics for U.S. troops in Vietnam. Their most immediate concern, of course, is that the army can't fully guarantee safety.

Swimming to Cambodia (1987)

Yes, already another movie that's partly about war in southeast Asia, but that's about where the similarity ends. I previously mentioned this one as a predecessor to Monster in a Box, so I knew it would be nearly all monologue, with comic elements, and therefore not half as disturbing.

The overarching theme of Spalding Gray's anecdotes herein concerns the making of The Killing Fields, in which he got sixth billing as the unnamed U.S. consul. But once again, the unity is rather loose. He talks about what he did in Thailand between shots, what he did back in Manhattan, and the history of the Cambodian War.

Fires on the Plain (1959)

The only movie I'd previously seen directed (not associate-directed) by Kon Ichikawa was The Burmese Harp. As war flicks go, it's pretty gentle. This one notoriously isn't.

We can tell from the very first scene that there won't be a happy ending: The protagonist, WWII Private Tamura (Eiji Funakoshi), has TB, but the only accessible hospital on the Philippine island of Leyte is too full to take anyone who can still walk. Nor is he welcome back at his company in this condition. An officer orders him to grenade himself if he can't get treatment, but when he comes to that bridge, he decides to wander instead. Alas, by the end, he may wish he'd followed the order.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)

I knew going in that this would not be a jolly holiday flick. It's about prisoners of war, after all. Still, I could think of no more appropriate season to watch it.

In 1942, British Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence (Tom Conti) remains a leader among the POWs at a camp in Indonesia, serving as a bilingual liaison relatively amiable to the Japanese officers, especially the otherwise harsh Sergeant Hara (Takeshi Kitano), who says the title. But neither Lawrence nor Hara is as focal as rebellious new POW Major Celliers (David Bowie) or even Captain Yonoi (Ryuchi Sakamoto, doubling as the composer), who, for all his strictness, tends to show Celliers favor, apparently for a reason he'd rather not admit to himself....

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

This is the first time in two years I've seen a movie set primarily in Southeast Asia. I couldn't help but be suspicious of the hype: Is it popular for being great or simply for being decent and having a mostly Asian cast, as is so rare for Hollywood? And how much does the Asian aspect matter to the plot?

Well, let me answer the latter question first: somewhat. Rachel (Constance Wu), a middle-class New Yorker of recent Chinese descent, agrees to accompany boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) to the wedding of his friends Colin (Chris Pang) and Araminta (Sonoya Mizuno) in his native Singapore. Only then does she learn that Nick is famous, being the likely heir to one of Singapore's biggest and oldest fortunes. Of course, this means that Rachel sticks out like a sore thumb at the festivities; others look down on her as a gold digger or, at best, not in the same league. But Nick's mom, Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), also of Chinese descent, has a different concern: the allegedly incompatible philosophies of the East and West. She doesn't trust an American, even one who can speak Cantonese, to respect the tradition of heeding one's mother.

Ilo Ilo (2013)

I'm quite certain that I'd never seen a Singaporean feature before. I'm less certain how I came to put it on my list. But when my DVD player stopped working and I saw fit to pick something of a modest length to stream, this looked different enough to try.

In 1997, Filipina migrant Terry starts work as a maid for a family of four (if you count the unborn). She must be quite desperate for money, because she has left behind a baby son whom she misses dearly, and she'll take a lousy second job. The recession clearly goes farther than the Philippines; neither parent has much job security or satisfaction, and they take gambles like the lottery seriously. Ten-year-old boy Jiale is troubled less by finances and more by a highly contrary demeanor. Nevertheless, his initial coldness to Terry gives way to an affection that makes his mom jealous.

The Raid: Redemption (2011)

For all the international movies I watch, I had never seen an Indonesian one before. I don't recall whether I took the recommendation from Netflix or IMDb, but it looked like another Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, which I vaguely recall liking. More importantly, I felt up for an action flick.

Here a SWAT team infiltrates an apartment building run by a notorious drug lord. Alas, they go in with too little preparation (under suspicious circumstances) and underestimate his power. Before long, nobody left alive outside the building knows that the team is there, and the drug lord announces free residence for life to anyone who helps make them disappear. Gang members or not, there sure are a lot of young male tenants prepared to take up arms against the cops, who spend most of the story just trying to leave.