Fourteen Hours (1951)

This is the first movie I know to lie about lying. Specifically, it begins with a disclaimer that any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental, yet all my sources indicate inspiration from a real event in the '30s. I still won't use the "true story" tag due to fundamental differences, including the resolution and the stated length of time.

On a warm St. Patrick's Day morning, a 20-something man (Richard Basehart) steps onto the ledge outside his 15th-floor New York City hotel room. Traffic cop Charlie Dunnigan (Paul Douglas) reports this and then goes up to have a few words with the potential jumper, eventually identified as Robert Cosick, before the pros show up. Oddly enough, Robert doesn't want to hear from anyone but Charlie at that point -- something about the officer's rough, relatively earnest air, I suppose. Of course, as the title implies, Robert takes quite a while to make up his mind.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)

Have you ever checked out a movie or play without knowing in advance that it was a musical? Now I have. Good thing I don't mind the upbeat, sporadically sung old-school variety.

The title does indeed refer to a book -- facetious in reality but treated as genuinely helpful herein. New York window washer J. Pierpont "Ponty" Finch (Robert Morse, looking remarkably like Jerry Lewis) picks it up and wastes no time getting a foot in the door of the nearest large yet ill-run corporation, the MacGuffin-producing World-Wide Wicket Company. He then wastes no time wheedling and fibbing his way up the ladder. His main obstacles: the jealous nephew (Anthony Teague) of the CEO (Rudy Vallee), the occasional competently savvy suit, the affections of scrupulous secretary Rosemary (Michele Lee), and the affections of temptress secretary Hedy (Maureen Arthur).

Dolores Claiborne (1995)

Of the nine movies I've seen based on Stephen King stories, Misery is in my personal top two. When I learned that Kathy Bates had starred in another King adaptation five years later, I took interest.

As is common for King, the action occurs primarily in backwater Maine. Selena St. George (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a young reporter in New York, gets wind that her mother, Dolores, is the prime suspect in the violent death of Vera (Judy Parfitt), a wealthy yet stingy, fussy old curmudgeon who hired her as a maid. Selena and Dolores have been out of touch for so long that Dolores does not recognize her daughter by sight, but Selena sticks around because she doesn't share her mom's seeming confidence in an acquittal, not least because the lead detective (Christopher Plummer) thinks Dolores got away with murder 20 years ago -- that of her abusive husband (David Strathairn). Between numerous flashbacks and reports, we and Selena gradually learn which allegations are true and which aren't.

Isle of Dogs (2018)

This review is for those seemingly few who, like me, neither love nor hate the works of Wes Anderson (the rest have no need of a review in the first place). He displays no shortage of signatures, for better, worse, or both. I had expected to wait and maybe see this on DVD, but a Meetup invitation to the limited screening before wide release in the U.S. drew me in.

In either the near future or an alternate present, the dog-hating mayor of fictional Megasaki, Japan, exiles all dogs to the aptly named Trash Island, with popular support thanks to a worrisome flu epidemic among the dogs. After half a year of barely hanging on, a quintet of adult male dogs sees a jet crash on the island. Out comes Atari, an injured 12-year-old orphan and rebellious nephew of the mayor, in search of his beloved Spots. The quintet democratically votes to try to help him, with only long-time stray Chief (Bryan Cranston) against it.

Loving Vincent (2017)

This is the first time I've known an animated movie's DVD to show trailers only for non-animations. They don't even look similar in theme or genre. Either the distributor doesn't offer any other animations, or LV is really in a class by itself. I suspect the latter. Not many animations are so geared toward grown-ups (it's PG-13), and absolutely no others have been 100% hand-painted.

It's 1891, about a year after the untimely passing of Vincent van Gogh. His mailman, Joseph, who was also a friend and posed for portraits, has tried and failed to deliver his last letter to his brother, Theo. The protagonist is Joseph's son, Armand, who sees little point in the belated delivery and would rather drink all the time, but he still honors his dad's request. Theo turns out to be dead too, but instead of going straight home, Armand begins a series of interviews to try to figure out why "your loving Vincent," whom he barely knew despite posing in his teens, would commit suicide mere weeks after an optimistic letter -- if it even was a suicide.

La Bête Humaine/The Human Beast (1938)

This early or at least proto-film noir came out the year in between Jean Renoir's two most esteemed films, Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game. I recall vaguely liking both of them, but very few details have stayed with me. Perhaps a change of genre and a story by Émile Zola would make the difference for me. Of course, just having this blog reinforces my memories.

Engineer Roubaud jealously coerces his wife, Séverine, into aiding and abetting his murder of her erstwhile paramour, Grandmorin, in a shaded train compartment. Another engineer, Lantier, sees them go to and from the compartment but refrains from testifying against them. After all, Lantier has his own designs on Séverine....

The Cameraman (1928)

Buster Keaton may be my favorite silent star. He doesn't attain as much pathos as Charlie Chaplin, but he sure knows comedy, often with impressive stunts, and projects more innocence than Harold Lloyd. I hadn't seen any of those giants since I started this blog, so it was time for another go.

Here Buster (identified only by the same nickname) has been barely making ends meet as a portrait photographer. One customer, Sally, catches his eye, and he learns that she's a secretary for MGM Newsreels. That makes him want a job there, but he has too little experience with the kind of cameras they use. Sally still finds him endearing enough to date and even slip an advance notice of a story to cover, but Buster has competition, both professional and romantic, in the form of a handsome jerk at the company.

Dil Se.. (1998)

To my dismay, my current Netflix list consists mostly of movies from the last few years. Guess I've seen most of their older promising streaming content. I chose this one (whose title means "From the Heart") partly to buck the trend a little and partly because it has been a while since my last viewing from India. To my surprise, I had seen a little of it before, having looked up the portion that amounts to a music video of "Chaiyya Chaiyya," a song strangely coopted for Inside Man (2006).

That number's cheeriness does not reflect the plot well. Delhi radio program executive Amar falls for a woman at a train station and happens to see her repeatedly, but she mostly resists his charms. Little does he realize that she walks a dark path that doesn't lend itself to attachments, tho she sometimes finds it advantageous to get close to someone in his position, under the pseudonym "Meghna." They develop complex feelings about each other, especially as Amar pieces together that she belongs to the secessionist forces whose leader he once interviewed.

Black Panther (2018)

Two years ago, I would've had reservations about an adaptation of a character who clearly came out of the blaxploitation era. Thankfully, not only did his screen debut in Captain America: Civil War show how promisingly cool he was, but TV's Luke Cage reassured me that Marvel blaxploitation could avoid looking like old-fashioned moderate racism.

Although Prince T'Challa of Wakanda (Chadwick Boseman) had already donned the royal stylized catsuit, only in this movie does he officially become king and take the Black Panther title, along with a substance that enhances his physical abilities. Soon afterward, he learns of a murderous international museum heist that put secret Wakandan technology in the hands of smuggler Klaw (a hammy Andy Serkis), and he assembles a team to recover it at a rendezvous intended for a black-market sale. Naturally, a mere illegitimate businessman could hardly be the main villain in a work like this; he has a temporary partner with a vision for the global future....

Mr. Blandings Build His Dream House (1948)

I may have first known this title from a bookshelf, but what got me interested in the movie was its inclusion in AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs at #72. Of course, I always took that list with a grain of salt; some of its entries do little to nothing for me, but that's likely to be true of anyone's 100 favorite comedies. Regardless, Jim Blandings is played by Cary Grant, who, tho previously unmentioned on this blog, has starred in 20 films that I've seen and has a fine track record in my view.

Tired of having little space for four in their New York apartment, Jim and wife Muriel (Myrna Loy) jump at the chance to move to rural Connecticut. Despite Jim's experience as an advertiser, he doesn't see through a slick pitch, and they buy a house fit to be condemned. This could be a blessing in disguise, as they now have the excuse to rebuild entirely to their specs. But that, too, is not their strong suit....