Bound for Glory (1976)

I knew very little about Woody Guthrie going in. I'm more familiar with his son Arlo, whose songs are less serious (and probably less talented). If you're going to watch another musician biopic, best let it be of a musician you ought to learn about.

Actually, this adaptation from an autobiography is somewhat loose and takes a while to feel like a biopic. It starts with Woody (David Carradine, after many bigger names were considered) at his Texas home with a wife and two daughters, a decade before the birth of Arlo. Between the Dust Bowl and his low fortune as a sign painter, Woody decides to head for California and send for his family afterward. The first hour out of 2:25 largely consists of him traveling broke and looking for a job. When he finally starts getting paid to sing, he must choose whether to do as his sponsors ask or stick to pro-labor union songs about the troubles of migrant farmworkers. The film ends with him heading for New York, not yet having written his most famous number.

Prisoners (2013)

At one time, I would have refused to see this. It seemed to me that revenge flicks were largely just an excuse to have a "hero" behaving more nastily than usual. But I have discovered my taste for them, whether we're supposed to root for the protagonist or recognize that he's in the wrong. In this case, I knew it was bigger on drama than action.

Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and Frank Birch (Terrence Howard) are friends through their first-grade daughters -- who go missing at the same time. Laconic, low-IQ Alex Jones (Paul Dano) is soon apprehended as a suspected kidnapper, but the evidence is too circumstantial to hold him for long; and despite the request of Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), the chief lets him go totally free. Having slightly more evidence to convince him, however inadmissible in court, Keller kidnaps Alex and enlists Frank's reluctant help in trying to torture their daughters' whereabouts out of him, keeping this secret from their respective wives, Grace (Maria Bello) and Nancy (Viola Davis). Meanwhile, Loki continues to look for the girls and Alex -- sometimes following Keller.

The Night of the Iguana (1964)

What sounds like a cheesy horror is actually based on a Tennessee Williams drama. His plays have a good track record on screen, if not even better than on stage (see A Streetcar Named Desire; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; and Suddenly, Last Summer). This appears to be the last silver-screen feature in his lifetime, affording more suggestiveness than the '50s would allow. Having John Huston at the helm couldn't hurt either.

Disgraced Rev. Shannon (Richard Burton) finds work as a tour guide in Mexico. He regards his present company as mostly annoying biddies, one of whom, Miss Fellowes (Grayson Hall), accuses him of molesting teen Charlotte (Sue Lyon), who actually put the moves on him to no avail. In order to postpone his firing until he can regain the tourists' support, he abandons the itinerary and drives to a remote, inexpensive hotel that belonged to a late friend of his, sabotaging the bus to prevent an escape. The widow and current owner, Maxine (Ava Gardner), likes him just enough to reopen off season. Soon after, Hannah (Deborah Kerr) and her nearly gone grandfather "Nonno" (Cyril Delevanti) show up, hoping to buy room and board with art and poetry; Shannon talks Maxine into a tentative agreement. From there, Shannon, Maxine, and Hannah share the main focus.

The Naked Spur (1953)

My first western viewing in half a year seems to have one of the most generic titles, but I assure you that the spur does serve an unusually important purpose eventually. I'll spare you that spoiler, even if it's hardly the biggest surprise.

For me, the biggest surprise (but not really a spoiler) came about 15 minutes in, as the Netflix description didn't do the plot much justice. We're told that Howard (James Stewart), on a long manhunt for Ben (Robert Ryan), meets and receives help from old prospector Jesse (Millard Mitchell) and Yankee ex-soldier Roy (Ralph Meeker). What Netflix omits is how quickly they round up Ben, accompanied by his not-girlfriend Lina (Janet Leigh). The rest of the movie is about their journey from Colorado toward Kansas to collect a reward. Ben has his hands tied, but he's not gagged and knows well how to sow discord among the party while hatching a plan with Lina. No wonder he frequently wears a charismatic little smile.

Dersu Uzala (1975)

This Akira Kurosawa film easily stands out from all the rest that I've seen. Not only is it based on a true story; it's set in Siberia, with USSR actors speaking what I can only assume to be Russian. No Toshirō Mifune this time -- or anyone else you're likely to recognize. I figured the director had some interest in that country after adapting The Idiot, but this is still a great departure.

The story follows Army Captain Arsenev, leader of a topographic expedition troop starting in 1902. They run into several episodes of trouble, mostly in the form of nature, but an aged Nanai trapper by the title name has the woodland smarts to help them out. Arsenev and Uzala become friends. Too bad Uzala is too much of a country mouse to visit comfortably....

Finding Dory (2016)

Normally, I agree with the majority of viewers on which Pixar features are among the best and which are merely OK. Finding Nemo has been the glaring exception: I found it uncreative, overly simple, immature, and unwholesomely preachy. The humor, especially surrounding Dory's anterograde amnesia, is both predictable and politically incorrect. I almost declined my parents' invitation to see Finding Dory in a theater. But maybe my tastes had changed in 13 years. Besides, one reviewer intrigued me by talking about its special positive meaning for people with mental disorders and their families. Being such a person, I had to give it a shot.

Indeed, Dory's not so happy-go-lucky as a main character, nor is her problem played nearly so much for laughs. The movie begins with a look back at her early childhood, with parents lovingly compensating for her "short-term remembery loss." (Many in the theater awwed at the adoryble, strangely rotund, bug-eyed little blue tang voiced by a 7-year-old.) At some point, she got lost, which is 10 times worse with her condition. Fortunately, a young fish is much more self-suffishent than a young human, so she reached adulthood on her own, albeit still searching for her parents -- right up to the moment she met Marlon, whose more pressing search made her forget her own problems altogether. One year later, she suddenly remembers a big clue and heads off on her adventure anew. As more flashbacks come to her, the mystery unfolds.

Band of Outsiders (1964)

Also known as Bande à part (inspiring Quentin Tarantino's A Band Apart production company), this was Jean-Luc Godard's next film after Contempt. I had said in that review that I wouldn't bother with this film, but that was before a Meetup group invited me. If I didn't like it, I could still appreciate the talk before and after.

The titular band is not as big as I'd thought: just three young adults who meet via an ESL class. Arthur and Franz like to imagine themselves in a crime flick (unaware that they are) and have something of a love triangle with Odile (Godard staple Anna Karina), albeit not strongly enough to be genteel toward her. For the first hour or so, they mainly just goof around. Then they commit a crime for real: burglarizing a house that Odile shares with a non-relative who keeps a suspicious amount of cash in a stash. But someone besides Odile is home....

The Science of Sleep (2006)

For all its peculiarity, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favorite celluloid romances. When I learned that writer Michel Gondry had another cerebral sci-fi about a man in love -- with a focus on dreams, no less -- I decided to check it out someday, even if it was reputedly not the next ESotSM.

Stéphane (Gael Garcia Bernal) is tricked by his newly widowed mother into taking a lame job so he'll have a reason to move back into her apartment building. This annoys him, but he does discover something promising about the arrangement: attractive neighbor Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who shares his interest in quirky artistry. If only they weren't both introverts and had the social skills to make it work easily. Stéphane tends to let his imagination run away with him, with difficulty separating dreams, daydreams, and reality....

Fruitvale Station (2013)

Another movie based on a true story that made many think the Academy racist for a lack of nominations. I'd had it on my streaming list for quite a while, but only when looking with my dad did I muster the courage to give it a try.

If you don't remember the headline event, the opening RL footage (with a mercifully timed blackout) will remind you: Oscar Grant III, age 22, was unduly shot by Oakland-area subway police. Most of what follows the footage apparently takes place in the 24 hours before the shooting, preparing to celebrate not New Year's Eve 2008 so much as his mother's birthday. It ends with his death the next day and an epilogue regarding the high-profile aftermath.

Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

When I think of Ingmar Bergman, I think of bleak brooding. Sometimes his artistry makes it worth my while, and sometimes I wish I hadn't bothered. I chose this viewing at the time for the word "summer," but I put it on my queue in the first place because I had to see what a Bergman romantic comedy would be like. Especially one that inspired a Woody Allen comedy.

Circa 1900, a group of adults gets together for a typical Swedish solstice celebration. What makes it unusual is that the hostess, Desiree, invited them specifically to sort out their relationship troubles. They include Fredrik, who used to have an affair with her; his much younger virgin wife, Anne; his adult son, Henrik, who wants to be a minister but has mutual feelings for Anne; servant Petra, who wants Henrik; Count Carl-Magnus, who currently has an affair with Desiree and the military might to intimidate romantic rivals; and Countess Charlotte, who loves Carl-Magnus regardless.