Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (2023)

This is typically deemed the best Marvel Cinematic Universe movie to come out since Spider-Man: No Way Home. So why did I wait this long? Perhaps I wanted a break after recent underwhelming entries. Perhaps I feared that I had to watch Thor: Love and Thunder to understand enough. Thankfully, as I later learned, Thor parted ways with the gang early on.

Rocket (Bradley Cooper) has never told the other Guardians about his past, but it catches up with him when the forces of his "creator," Orgocorp, attempt to recapture him for neurological study. The Guardians fend off powerful emissary Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) for the nonce, but Rocket is left comatose and fading. Standard medical procedures won't work, thanks to Orgocorp's nasty bio-programming. The heroes' best bet is to swipe an override sequence right from the heart of Orgocorp. Hey, it matches their skillset.

tick...tick...BOOM! (2021)

This sat on my Netflix list quite a while before I actually looked at the description. The title and poster image didn't grab me, but then I saw that it was a musical directed (not composed) by Lin-Manuel Miranda. And at about two hours, short enough for a comfortable night's viewing.

In 1990, 29-year-old Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield) is a bit of a starving artist, waiting at a New York diner but failing to pay his energy bills. He badly wants the sci-fi musical he's writing to be a Broadway hit, but he's stagnating on a key song advised by Stephen Sondheim (Bradley Whitford) in a workshop. As the deadline draws near, Jonathan neglects everything else, including girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp) and gay best friend Michael (Robin de Jesús).

Surf's Up (2007)

I wasn't sure I would ever get around to watching this. It was clearly riding the wave of success from March of the Penguins and especially Happy Feet, and the ad I saw didn't suggest much of a plot. But now SU actually has slightly higher IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes ratings than HF. Besides, I wanted something short from my Netflix list, and this runs 85 minutes.

Teen penguin Cody (Shia Laboeuf) has been the only surfer in an otherwise busy, disapproving Antarctic community when he gets the chance to enter Pen-Gu Island's 10th annual contest in memory of his idol. He soon finds himself in a practice face-off with longtime champion Tank (Diedrich Bader), the sports flick's requisite jerk. The resulting wipeout leaves Cody in critical condition, and Lani (Zooey Deschanel), the lifeguard on whom he has an instant crush, desperately takes him to a hideaway in the island's rainforest, where her washed-up, largely apathetic uncle (Jeff Bridges), who goes by "Geek," can look after him. Once Cody's on his feet, he and Geek have a lot to teach each other in the three days before the contest, which includes a region of deadly rocks.

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Here it is, folks: my final DVD from Netflix. I made a point to pick a reputed classic and also to wait until after October, but perhaps I should have waited for late December, because my hunch that the story would take place around Christmas was correct. Perhaps I dimly remembered something similar from She Loves Me, a musical adapted from it. I know it wasn't the case in the modernized remake, You've Got Mail.

In keeping with the source material, Miklós László's play Parfumerie, the setting is Budapest, albeit with mostly American-accented English. Despite long being the best salesman at a gift shop, Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) has begun to lock horns with boss Hugo Matuschek (Frank Morgan), for reasons not immediately clear. He locks horns considerably more with new hire Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan). But he and a pseudonymous pen pal he discovered through a newspaper ad have become smitten with each other. Less than halfway through the picture, he realizes that Klara is that pen pal. Of course, this wouldn't be much of a comedy if he told her right away....

Cliffhanger (1993)

I'd encountered very mixed reviews about this picture since it came out. I put it on my list but wasn't sure whether I'd go ahead with it, until (1) I wanted something thrilling for Halloween and (2) Netflix was about to stop streaming it.

In the Colorado Rockies, Rangers Gabe (Sylvester Stallone) and Hal (Michael Rooker) answer a distress call. Since an initial snowstorm precludes a helicopter rescue, they climb -- to find guns trained on them. These five "hikers," led by one Eric Qualen (John Lithgow), have actually robbed a plane transporting three suitcases full of money, only to drop the cases and crash. The robbers now demand that the rangers help them recoup the cases, which have trackers. It soon becomes clear that the ingrates plan to kill the rangers afterward. But given who plays Gabe, they underestimate his survival skills and determination not to let them get their way entirely. And as other rangers grow uneasy about the paltry radio reports, Gabe's girlfriend, Jessie (Janine Turner), joins the action.

Batman: The Long Halloween (2021)

This isn't the first time I've watched a two-part Batman animated direct-to-DVD movie for my October set at a friend's suggestion, but it is a more appropriate choice than before. I won't split this into two reviews, partly because I watched both halves back to back and partly because it doesn't feel like two stories stuck together.

In contrast with The Dark Knight Returns, this takes place pretty early in the Caped Crusader's (Jensen Ackles) career: Old-school mafias are still big in Gotham, Barbara Gordon (Amy Landecker) is a little girl, and a moderately sane Harvey Dent (Josh Duhamel) has just become the district attorney. From one Halloween to the next, an anonymous killer code-named "Holiday" picks off people close to Carmine "The Roman" Falcone (Titus Welliver) on major holidays, leaving a seasonal decoration and a handgun with a bottle nipple for a suppressor. (Seems a bad strategy to leave the weapon in plain sight every time, but Batman enemies aren't known for their caution.) As usual, Gotham police protection is inadequate. Any number of people could have a reason to get at a mob boss, so Batman and Commissioner Gordon (Billy Burke) must examine many a suspect.

Us (2019)

Another Monkeypaw Production already. I didn't set out to do this; it was simply the next horror I found on Netflix. And it got a somewhat better reception.

Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong'o, getting top billing for the first time I've seen) is reluctant to go with husband Gabe (Winston Duke) and their children, teen Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and preteen Jason (Evan Alex), on vacation to Santa Cruz, because that's where she developed childhood PTSD from an encounter with an identical girl. Her anxiety increases as she notices coincidences. Gabe doesn't take any of this seriously until around the midpoint, when doubles of the entire family show up -- with murderous intentions.

Wendell & Wild (2022)

In my continuing quest for Halloween-type movies that I haven't seen before and might want to, I accepted Netflix's up-front suggestion, which they had pushed quite a bit last year. It has fared a bit better with critics than with general audiences, but hey, I've seen and reviewed less popular on this blog.

At 13, delinquent Kat (Lyric Ross) gets transferred to a Catholic girls' boarding school in her fading former hometown, Rust Bank. There she discovers a captive demon (Phoebe Lamont) who makes her a "hell maiden" able to summon Wendell (Keegan-Michael Key) and Wild (Jordan Peele), two disgraced sons of underworld lord Buffalo Belzer (Ving Rhames). She wants them to bring back her parents (Gary Gatewood and Gabrielle Dennis), whose deaths she had accidentally caused ages ago. The boys stumble on the revitalizing properties of their dad's hair cream. They also learn that two execs (Maxine Peak and David Harewood) could pay them enough money to start their own afterlife amusement park -- provided they use the cream only on the dead councillors who could sway the vote in favor of turning Rust Bank into a prison complex, a motion otherwise unanimously opposed. Let's just say demons aren't so good with promises. But despite Kat's efforts to avoid friendships lest she jinx more people, she can get a fair amount of support from certain students and faculty to save both the town and herself.

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....

Let the Dance Begin (2023)

This may be the first time in eight years that I attended the Latin American Film Festival at AFI. It took my parents' invitation to get my attention. The plot of this entry sounded more fun than most.

Carlos (Darío Grandinetti) is a famous former tango dancer who went on to coach in Spain. One day, his old friend Pichuquito (Jorge Marrale) reports that Carlos's erstwhile wife and tango partner, Margarita (Mercedes Morán), has committed suicide. Carlos flies to Argentina, goes to the funeral, and then learns that "Marga" faked her death, largely because he wouldn't come otherwise. She confesses to lying about an abortion 40 years ago, and she wants his company in visiting their son for the first time since she gave the baby up for adoption. Carlos makes up an excuse to his current wife, Elvira (Pastora Vega, not that one), for not returning on schedule and joins Marga and "Pichu" (not that one) on a two-day road trip.

As you may have guessed, Carlos is very reluctant. First he furiously denies the possibility of a son. He and Marga had not parted on good terms, so he wouldn't put it past her to seek vengeance. Then he worries about riding in a van about as geriatric as its passengers. Elvira gets suspicious and says that he's much needed back home. And setbacks along the way reinforce his conviction that the drive was a mistake.

Wikipedia lists only eight actors in total; IMDb stops at six. It's not like no one else gets spoken lines. My parents and I wouldn't be surprised if most had no professional acting background and were simply geographically convenient. Several minor characters do appear smiling during the end credits.

At any rate, we don't doubt the professionalism of the leads. They really tie the picture together with their complicated feelings, including between Carlos and Pichu. It soon becomes clear that Marga and Pichu continue to share secrets they haven't told Carlos by the start of the journey, which adds to the tragicomic awkwardness.

The theater audience laughed quite a bit. I found the humor just OK. Maybe it works better for people of relevant heritage, of whom there were many in attendance. As it happens, my parents and I had visited Argentina briefly, but only now did we realize how difficult it is for us to understand Argentinians compared with other Spanish speakers, even with subtitles to hint what words they might have used.

Fortunately, the humor was adequate for alleviating my mood in light of the more serious moments. Things move pretty slowly for 99 minutes, but I hardly noticed; the pace no doubt serves its purpose. And for all the characters' flaws that drive each other nuts, we see why they care. As do we.

For a story of three seniors driving across open country, LtDB is engaging. My family may well have chosen the best option in the festival.