Redbelt (DVD)

Redbelt (2008) starring Chiwetel Ejiofor. This DVD does not have English subtitles for the hard of hearing, like me. Grade: F

August (DVD)

August (2008) starring Josh Hartnett, Adam Scott, Robin Tunney, Naomie Harris, Rip Torn, David Bowie. Two brothers struggle to keep their business afloat; the business is a dot-com startup facing the tech bust of August, 2001. The CEO is a total jerk (Hartnett), who gets his comeuppance in the end. Add to this an intrusive, annoying soundtrack, and you've got "August." Grade: C-

Empire Records (DVD)

Empire Records (1995) starring Anthony LaPaglia, Debi Mazar, Liv Tyler, Robin Tunney, Renee Zellweger, and a bunch of actors who were never heard from again. Record store clerk takes the day's receipts ($9,014) to Atlantic City, hoping to win enough to keep the store from becoming a chain store, and gambles them away. The rest of the movie is an uninspired tale of what the rest of the day at the store is like, with much loud music, teens dancing and disrobing, and lots of teen angst. Any movie that can make Zellweger, Tyler and Tunney all look unattractive deserves a Grade: D-

Jeremiah Johnson (DVD)

Jeremiah Johnson (1972) starring Robert Redford. Loner Jeremiah Johnson (Redford) wants nothing but to be a mountain man. However, the solitude he seeks proves harder to realize than he had imagined. He acquires an Indian wife and a surrogate son, and builds a house for them to live in. The second half of the film is unsatisfactory, however, and his career as an Indian fighter is glossed over in a montage; the film drifts to a inconclusive end. Grade: B

Mon Oncle Antoine (DVD)

Mon Oncle Antoine (My Uncle Antoine) (1971) starring Jacques Gagnon. Supposed masterpiece of Canadian cinema leaves much to be desired. It takes place in the holiday season in a small village in Quebec, and involves a general store that doubles as a mortuary. Sounds like a pretty good setup, but it fails to deliver. Grade: C

Out of Africa (DVD)

Out of Africa (1985) starring Meryl Streep, Robert Redford. Streep stars as Danish writer Karen Blixen, and Redford plays the free-spirited English hunter whom she meets after moving to Africa in 1913. The film is epic in scope, and the soundtrack is lush. Streep, as usual, does a wonderful Danish accent, but Redford doesn't even bother to try for an English accent. The DVD is subtitled for the hearing-impaired, but the captions are atrocious. The movie clocks in at two hours, forty minutes, about an hour too long. Multiple Oscar winner. Grade: B+

Magnum Force (DVD)

Magnum Force (1973) starring Clint Eastwood. The second of five "Dirty Harry" movies has inspector Callahan (Eastwood) pursuing vigilante cops, who are assassinating crooks who have slipped through the fingers of the justice system. Things go too far, however, when the vigilantes start killing innocents and (gasp!) other cops. Like all Dirty Harry films, this one is morally ambiguous. The airplane hijacking scene seems quaint in light of what has happened since. Grade: B

The Band's Visit (DVD)

The Band's Visit (2007) starring a cast of unknowns. An Egyptian police band, comprised of about eight musicians, travels to Israel to play at the opening of an Arab arts center. But after arriving in Israel, they become lost and end up spending the night in a remote desert town. Their interactions with the inhabitants of the town make up the core of the movie. Especially in the foreground is the brief relationship formed between the leader of the band and a woman of the town. It's all about Arabs and Israelis getting along, and it has resonance in the present day. Grade: B

The Big Lebowski (DVD)

The Big Lebowski (1998) starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore. Legendary Coen brothers film (written and directed) has become a cult classic only 10 years after it was released in theaters. Made up of equal parts Raymond Chandler, "The Big Sleep," bowling, marijuana, and shaggy dog story, it manages to be intermittently amusing; it does not, however, have a real plot, just a skeleton story on which vignettes of kooky characters hang like Christmas ornaments. It lacks the cohesiveness of other Coen brothers films, but still enjoyable for fans of their weird side. Grade: B

Slums of Beverly Hills (DVD)

Slums of Beverly Hills (1998) starring Alan Arkin, Natasha Lyonne, Marisa Tomei. Arkin plays the washed-up patriarch of a dysfunctional 1970s family that struggles to stay together. The film shows his struggle to keep his kids within the Beverly Hills school district, all the while trying to scrape by on his meager earnings as a car salesman. But it's told from the point of view of his daughter, Vivian (Lyonne), who is about fed up with moving in the middle of the night and would just as soon be free of the family. There's not much to the plot -- it's more of a slice-of-life portrait of this wacky family and the goofy people they run into. Grade: B+

Helvetica (DVD)

Helvetica (2007) by Gary Hustwit. Fascinating documentary about the world's most ubiquitous font, which originated in Switzerland in 1957, and which has dominated typography for fifty years. After a thorough discussion of Helvetica, what it is and why designers like it, the film examines the reaction against Helvetica in some sectors -- and how the advent of computers has made it possible for individuals to design their own fonts. Grade: A-

Goodfellas (DVD)

Goodfellas (1990) starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Paul Sorvino, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco. One of the great gangster movies of recent years, though the violence and language may prove disturbing to some viewers. Liotta plays Henry Hill, a real-life person whose story is the basis for the movie. Most of the characters in the movie are mobsters, and the film shows an unflinching picture of the life of the career criminal, both fascinating and repulsive. It's a great entertainment, though. Grade: A

The Fire Within (DVD)

The Fire Within (1963) starring Maurice Ronet, Jeanne Moreau, Lena Skerla. Weighed down by depression, estranged from his wife, an alcoholic writer decides to end his life -- but first determines to spend his last day trying to find a connection that will make him change his mind. He visits various friends, and we learn that there are many people who care about him. But he feels that he cannot connect with anybody. Critically acclaimed existential psychological drama from director Louis Malle. Grade: B

Being John Malkovich (DVD)

Being John Malkovich (1999) starring John Cusack, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich, Cameron Diaz. Struggling puppeteer (Cusack) finds a job on the 7-and-a-half floor of an office building. One day, he discovers a small door behind a file cabinet, and the door turns out to be a portal into the mind of the actor John Malkovich. Twisty-turny story from director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman keeps you on your toes until the very end. Grade: A-

The Counterfeiters (DVD)

The Counterfeiters (2007) starring Karl Markovics. In 1938 Berlin, a Jewish master forger (Markovics) is arrested just as he is about to escape the clutches of the Nazis. His artistry allows him to survive for five years in concentration camps, until he is tasked with counterfeiting British and American currency to help fund the German war effort. With a small group of fellow artists, he succeeds in duplicating the British pound, but finds himself stymied by the dollar. The film gives us a fascinating, though grim, look at a little-known facet of the history of World War II. Grade: A-

The Bank Job (DVD)

The Bank Job (2008) starring Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows. Based on a true story. Car dealer with a dodgy past (Statham) becomes involved in a bank heist, only to find that, by robbing the bank vault, he has stirred up a hornet's nest of London villains. Set in 1971, the film attempts to show a believable version of a real-life bank robbery -- one which has gone unsolved ever since. The subtitles are excellent, which really helped me because everyone in the movie speaks with a strong British accent. Grade: B+

Pretty in Pink (DVD)

Pretty in Pink (1986) starring Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer, Andrew McCarthy, Harry Dean Stanton, Annie Potts, James Spader. Poor girl Andie (Ringwald) has a date for the prom with rich kid Blane (McCarthy). Meanwhile, her friend Duckie (Cryer), who has been in love with her for years, is driven bonkers by the fact that she's going out with one of the rich crowd (and not him). Spader plays the villain, the rich guy that Andie won't go out with and who, as a consequence, can't bear to see her happy. The movie is rich with '80s nostalgia for those who lived through the era. And it has a happy ending. Grade: B

Brazil (DVD)

Brazil (1985) starring Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Michael Palin, Kim Greist, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm. At the beginning of "Brazil," a card proclaims that it takes place "Somewhere in the 20th Century." Where that could be, it scarcely matters. But it seems to take place in an alternate universe where '30s styles prevailed and where technology advanced in a wacky way. And where fascism prevailed. It's a darkly funny fantasy which ultimately doesn't quite work, but it's a fun ride if you're in the right mood. Grade: B+