Beasts of No Nation (2015)

For all its plaudits, this bombed at the box office. Some theaters declined to play it because it also went straight to Netflix streaming. Plus, I suspect that many prospective viewers were reluctant to watch such a dark story in an immersive environment with no pause option. Well, there's no better time for me to check out something bleak than right after a fun flick.

The film was shot in Ghana, with some lines in Krio and Twi, but honors its title by not specifying where in West Africa it's set. The decade is hard to guess too. Amid a civil war, prepubescent boy Agu (Abraham Attah) gets separated from some of his relatives and witnesses the killing of the rest. He runs into a rebel battalion, whose unnamed Commandant (Idris Elba) recruits him with an almost fatherly approach. That's not much if any better than wandering the wilderness alone....

Locke (2013)

I don't recall adding this to my Netflix queue or even learning about it before. Google classifies it as "Thriller/Crime," but it's neither. I chose it last night partly for looking different from other recent viewings and partly for its 84-minute runtime.

Birmingham foreman Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) has had an affair with colleague Bethan Maguire (Olivia Colman). She got pregnant and decided not to abort. On the night before Ivan's supposed to supervise an epic construction project, Bethan goes into labor. Since she has no family or friends available, Ivan agrees to drive a couple hours to the London hospital, making car phone calls to trainee Donal (Andrew Scott), boss Gareth (Ben Daniels), and wife Katrina (Ruth Wilson). Nobody is happy with his decision except Bethan, and she's stressed enough that he's not already there.

Steel Magnolias (1989)

I'd seen a fair number of movies with comedic elements lately, but it was time for an indisputable comedy-drama. It was also time for something that easily passed the Bechdel test, with six women getting top billing and the entire poster. OK, mainly I decided to watch what would soon stop streaming on Netflix.

Although partly based in truth, the story takes place entirely in a fictional small town in Louisiana. It begins on the wedding day of Shelby Eatenton (Julia Roberts) and Jackson Latcherie (Dylan McDermott), who narrowly avoid several fiascos, including cold feet. Alas, the event showcases Shelby's worsening health from diabetes. Her mother, Mary Lynn or "M'Lynn" (Sally Field), would rather she not endanger herself further by having a baby. When the focus is not on the Eatentons or the Latcheries, it's usually on Annelle Dupuy (Daryl Hannah), sometimes made out to be the main character. She's a struggling newcomer who gets hired at the beauty shop of gossipy Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton), falls for one Sammy DeSoto (Kevin J. O'Connor), and then finds religion more than Sammy likes.

David (2025)

Let's see: a biblical animation with the same distributor as The King of Kings, released in the same year, with the same IMDb rating. But this one's a musical set in the Old Testament without narration. Would it feel more like a spiritual successor to The Prince of Egypt?

The story begins shortly before Bethlehem shepherd David (Brandon Engman, later Phil Wickham) gets anointed by prophet Samuel (Brian Stivale) as a future king and ends when the Israelites formally recognize his kingship. When not contending with the powerful Philistines and creepy Amalekites who hope to enslave his people, his antagonist is King Saul (Adam Michael Gold), who now cares more about holding onto power than following the Lord's guidance.

100 Meters (2025)

I continue my incidental pattern since April 2025 of watching at least one animated movie per month. This one's my first anime since October, and it continues another incidental pattern: animes that are neither fantasy nor sci-fi. Considering how I used to think that all anime was too weird, I can't complain.

The most focal character herein is Togashi, at three points in his life: sixth grade, high school, and ten years after. In each chapter, he's an excellent sprinter, but his attitude toward the sport isn't stable. Sometimes he thinks it'll solve all his problems, sometimes he loses interest, and sometimes he falls to pieces over an inability to stay on top.

Jurassic World (2015)

This is the first movie I ever watched after (OK, long after) checking out the Nostalgia Critic's synopsis thereof. He made it sound bad except for two great sequences, ultimately declining to recommend seeing or skipping it, but at least he put it ahead of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. What finally persuaded me? A warning that it would stop streaming on Netflix at the end of the month.

In Costa Rica, a successor to the failed zoo of revived dinosaurs has actually done rather well, but the novelty is wearing off, so the profits don't satisfy stockholders. Operations manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and CEO Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) give the go-ahead for the team of Dr. Henry Wu (returning BD Wong) to engineer a whole new multispecies specimen, the Indominus rex, projected to be fifty feet tall someday. I hardly need to tell you they've created a monster and not prepared adequately. The clever girl's escape kicks off a whole host of catastrophes, with other big reptiles chipping in.

20th Century Women (2016)

I felt I'd seen enough comedies or semi-comedies in a row. This movie looked suitably serious, not least with A24 distribution. Turns out it's a dramedy. Oh well, I hardly noticed.

Apart from brief flashbacks and flash-forwards, the setting is 1979 Santa Barbara. Dorothea (Annette Bening), 55, feels inadequate as the single mom of Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann), 15, and doesn't count on middle-aged tenant and potential boyfriend William (Billy Crudup) to supplement her efforts. She asks her other unrelated tenant, 24-year-old Abbie (Greta Gerwig), and Jamie's closest female friend, 17-year-old Julie (Elle Fanning), to help him grow up healthily. But Jamie's not keen on this arrangement, and the ladies have conflicting ideas of how to go about it.

The American President (1995)

With Valentine's Day on a Presidents' Day weekend, I knew just what to watch: a White House romance. I'd seen this one in a theater, but I could barely follow along at 13 or remember much after 30 years. Even if I could, I'd want to compare my adult perspective.

Amid a reelection campaign, widowed Pres. Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) must continue governmental decisions such as how ambitious a gun control bill to support, what to do about an attack in Libya, and how much reduction of carbon dioxide to endorse. He still finds time to pursue a new love interest, lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening), who gradually overcomes her intimidation. The press, of course, pays inordinate attention, and candidate Sen. Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss) sees an opportunity to trash his opponent's morals. Shepherd understandably gives no comment, but that doesn't help his odds of winning a second term -- or Wade's devotion.

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.

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Boy, it's been more than a decade since I saw the first sequel. I don't remember when I put the predecessor on my Netflix list; I may have ignored it many times. But I was finally in the mood for a flick with a lot of decent singing, regardless of any other virtues.

After a disastrous performance at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, the all-female Barden Bellas are down to Aubrey (Anna Camp) and Chloe (Brittany Snow). They can't be too picky, so the new recruits are a motley crew. Some get kicked out for intimacy with the Bellas' fiercest on-campus rivals, the all-male Treblemakers. The main internal conflict concerns Beca (Anna Kendrick), who has a habit of pushing people away but does great at mashups, which hidebound, bossy Aubrey rejects.

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....

The Maze Runner (2014)

Yes, one more dystopia for the year. It stops streaming on Netflix January 8, and I didn't want to forget. Besides, there's some advantage to watching while my memory of a certain other is still pretty fresh.

Once a month, an initially unidentified organization sends a new amnesiac teen, along with a few supplies, to a walled-off Glade with other such teens. Part of the wall opens each dawn to reveal a mechanized labyrinth, and designated "Runners" will explore and map it, hoping to find an exit. They have to return before the wall closes at dusk, because no one has ever lasted a night in the maze without getting stung by a cyborg monster called a Griever. If it doesn't kill you outright, its venom makes you too aggressively insane to retain your welcome in the Glade.

Protagonist Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) is the latest arrival, about three years into the maze's existence, so the population is a couple dozen. Within a few days, his curiosity has him breaking the teen society's rules and succeeding where no one else has. Not everyone appreciates this, especially Gally (Will Poulter), one of the leaders, who fears how the maze will respond. Indeed, it does start doing things differently, upping the difficulty level....

The Hunger Games (2012)

After all the post-apocalyptic horror movies I watched in October, I thought it'd be a while before I tried another dystopia. But when YouTube suggested this one to me, I thought it was a pretty big hole in my cultural education. Besides, at least the dystopia is legalistic and orderly for a change.

In the future nation of Panem, an annual televised competition has two 12- to 18-year-olds from each of 12 districts live in a rigged woodland until only one survives, with an expectation that some deaths will be at each other's hands. They're usually drafted by lottery, having greater odds of being picked the more they accept government rations, but Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), 16, volunteers to replace her younger sister (Willow Shields). The other "tribute" from her district is her friend Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), who has wanted to be more than a friend to her, but the rules have erased his hope. Katniss, however, does not adopt a loner attitude....

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

I hadn't seen any big-screen TMNT outing since the abortive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III more than 30 years ago. The latest entry got my attention mainly when the first trailer met with very mixed reactions, presumably because it emphasized the teenage aspect at the expense of coolness. Nonetheless, reviews of the actual movie have been positive overall, and I was willing to take a chance on an alternate version for a new generation.

After rogue scientist Baxter Stockman (Giancarlo Esposito) accidentally spills mutagenic ooze into a New York sewer, four anthro-reptilian brothers spend their first 15 years enjoying human culture in secret, albeit not as stealthily as adoptive anthro-rat Splinter (Jackie Chan) would like. When they unwittingly cause aspiring high school journalist April O'Neil (Ayo Edebiri) to lose her moped to a thief, they finally use their ninja training for good and gain a human ally. She and they both want to gain popularity by foiling serial robber Superfly (Ice Cube), but that gets complicated when they discover that he and his closest minions are fellow mutants out to create more mutants. Can the turtles hope to take them on? Do they even want to fight their likeliest comrades to protect humans, some of whom, under a shady project leader (Maya Rudolph), have nasty plans for the turtles?

Daughters (2024)

I don't remember reading about this documentary before. Most likely, I added it to my list because it's set in my long-time hometown. And unlike most DC pics, it has nothing to do with the federal government. It's all residential Washington, albeit nowhere I recognize.

The Date With Dad program assembles girls whose fathers are all in the same jail and buses them there. Then they have something of a fancy ball for a few hours. This doc focuses on four dads and four daughters, the latter ranging from age five to the teens. We also get epilogues one and three years later.

I'm Still Here (2024)

Not to be confused with the 2010 Joaquin Phoenix flick of the same title. I've been dragging my heels about watching the latest Academy Best Picture nominees, because few of them look like my type. I finally decided to go ahead with another when it came up on Netflix, not knowing much about it.

In 1970, military-run Brazil faces a lot of unrest. The Paiva family in Rio de Janeiro gets a taste of it when officers thoroughly search motorists for suspects. More importantly, Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello) has been supporting expats, which his wife, Eunice (Fernanda Torres), and their five kids don't seem to know -- until plainclothesmen arrest him. Asking about him yields incomplete answers at best and follow-up punishment at worst.

Election (1999)

Once I saw this title on the menu, I decided it should be my first viewing after Election Day. The advertising didn't appeal to me, especially the poster showing a tiny man's head in a girl's mouth, but the movie itself has some enduring clout, including reportedly being Barack Obama's favorite political pic.

High school civic teacher Jim (Matthew Broderick) has complicated feelings about busy, ambitious A student Tracy (Reese Witherspoon): He resents her for having had an inappropriate relationship with his now fired and divorced co-worker, Dave (Mark Harelik), but also fears that he will make the same mistake, especially if she becomes the student government president and thus spends more time around him. He persuades injured football star Paul (Chris Klein) to run against her. Paul's sister Tammy (Jessica Campbell), bitter at him for dating her female love interest, Lisa (Frankie Ingrassia), then enters the race to thwart him. Amid this havoc, Jim turns out to be in much more danger of straying toward Dave's ex-wife, Linda (Delaney Driscoll), who is also a friend of Jim's wife, Diane (Molly Hagan).

The Black Cauldron (1985)

When I read Lloyd Alexander's The Book of Three, it didn't make me want to read the immediate sequel by this title. And by all accounts, the adaptation from both novels was one of the worst Disney animations. Nevertheless, I got curious to judge for myself. Besides, I wanted to break up my October viewings with something gothic yet ostensibly family-friendly.

Adolescent Taran (Grant Bardsley) longs to be a warrior but must settle for assisting old Dallben (Freddie Jones) in the care of spoiled pig Hen Wen. The job gets less boring when Hen Wen panics over a prophetic vision, readable by means of water and magic. The ancient undead Horned King (John Hurt) has learned of Hen Wen and sent minions to coerce her to reveal the location of a legendary cauldron that can reanimate his skeletal army, enabling world domination. Taran tries to take the pig where she won't be found, but it wouldn't be much of a story if he succeeded.

Train to Busan (2016)

This was one of the most popular recent horror movies I hadn't seen yet. I would have saved it for later in the month, but I was in something of a hurry to find a Halloween-appropriate movie, and this was the main one left on my Netflix list.

In Seoul, Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) has devoted more of himself as a fund manager than as a husband or father. He reluctantly agrees to take young daughter Su-an (Kim Su-an) to Busan so she can spend her birthday with his ex-wife. But news reports of random riots turn out to have been an understatement: Everyone who gets bitten turns just as berserk, and one such victim boards their train....

Talk to Me (2022)

Normally, I'd save a horror for next month, but Netflix, in its unfathomable wisdom, will stop streaming this one by then. I approached with trepidation, partly because I have trouble liking A24 and partly because Australia can scare me good.

In modern Adelaide, there exists a disembodied hand covered in papier-mâché and written all over (we never get a good look at the messages). If you grasp it near a lit candle and say, "Talk to me," you alone will see a usually random ghost standing before you in an instant, looking as a body might shortly after death (less tastefully than in The Sixth Sense). If you then say, "I let you in," you get possessed until someone pries the hand from you and extinguishes the flame -- as long as they're fast enough. Some ghosts are tenacious. And malevolent, for reasons unknown.