This Gun for Hire

This Gun for Hire (1942) starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Robert Preston. ...

We Need to Talk About Kevin

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) starring Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller. Directed by Lynne Ramsay. Swinton plays a mother named Eva whose son Kevin (Miller) seems to hate her from the moment he is born. Kevin acts perfectly normally towards his father, Franklin (Reilly), but seems to do everything in his power to aggravate his mother. Eventually he grows into a sociopathic monster. Director Ramsay, for some reason, has chosen to tell the story in a loopy, non-linear manner. Having read the book, I always knew what was going on, but I'm not sure the artificial confusion was necessary to make a good film. The book was dynamite, but I don't think the movie even comes close to doing it justice. The ultimate, necessary massacre scene, especially, I felt fell short of having the full impact it could have had. (English subtitles are furnished and are adequate. Closed captions are not offered.) Grade: C

This Boy's Life

This Boy's Life (1993) starring Robert De Niro, Ellen Barkin, Leonardo DiCaprio. Based on Tobias Wolff's autobiography, this movie tells the story of Toby (DiCaprio), a boy who does battle with his abusive stepfather (De Niro). Toby's mother, Caroline (Barkin), is an optimistic spirit who eventually runs out of energy to move on and settles on Dwight (De Niro), a mean-spirited, even depraved man who courts her nicely and then turns abusive. The film is compulsively watchable, and all in the cast deliver fine performances. (Subtitles are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: A

George Harrison: Living in the Material World

George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011), documentary. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Archival film, video, still photos, music and interviews are used by Scorsese to illustrate Harrison's life as a Beatle and later as a solo act. Extensive coverage goes to George's spiritual evolution and his involvement with Eastern religions. The second half of the movie (after he leaves the Beatles) tends to be slow in parts, but overall it's an excellent and moving portrait of Harrison, the "Beatle who changed the most." (The supplied subtitles are adequate. Closed captions are not furnished.) Grade: A-

Thirteen

Thirteen (2003) starring Holly Hunter, Evan Rachel Wood, Nikki Reed, Jeremy Sisto. Troubled young Tracy (Wood) spins out of control under influence of "bad" girl (Reed), while her mom Melanie (Hunter) just tries to keep her little single-mom household together. Complicating matters is the fact that Melanie is a recovering alcoholic, always just one step away from taking that first drink. It's a scary, believable look at how one girl from a broken home runs off the rails. To the filmmakers' credit, there's not a happy ending to be found. (The supplied subtitles are adequate, the closed captions are better.) Grade: B+

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) starring Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright. A weird kid named Oskar (Horn) loses his father (Hanks) in the terrorist attack on 9/11. Oskar finds a key among his father's belongings, and sets about searching all of New York to find the lock that it goes to. Along the way, he is helped by an old man who doesn't speak (von Sydow). Although this movie has many flaws, I still found it moving in the way it protrays the grief of one young boy who has lost his father on a fateful day. (The subtitles furnished on the disc are pretty good; closed captions, not offered, would have been better.) Grade: B+

The Third Man

The Third Man (1949) starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Valli, Trevor Howard. American writer Holly Martins (Cotten) arrives in Vienna to meet his friend Harry Lime (Welles) only to find that Lime has been killed in a traffic accident. Martins smells something fishy about Lime's "death," and decides to stay on in Vienna and find out what's going on. This is one of the better movies I've seen lately, full of iconic imagery and carried along by a fast-moving plot. Based on a novel by Graham Greene, adapted for the screen by Greene. (The furnished subtitles are at times hard to read. Closed captions are not available.) Grade: A