Little Miss Sunshine (DVD)

Little Miss Sunshine (2006) starring Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, Alan Arkin. Dysfunctional family takes road trip so the the youngest member (Breslin) can enter the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Each of the six members of the extended family has his or her own personality quirks, and the Volkswagen bus they travel has its own quirks, too. They interact in unexpected ways, and there are several hilarious episodes along the way. The grand finale, the beauty pageant itself, does not disappoint -- in fact it is the high point of the movie. This independent production is definitely worth seeing. Grade: A

House of Sand and Fog (DVD)

House of Sand and Fog (2003) starring Jennifer Connelly, Ben Kingsley, Ron Eldard, Frances Fisher. Connelly is almost too beautiful for this role, in which she portrays Kathy Nicolo, an alcoholic who finds herself evicted from her home -- inherited from her father -- for nonpayment of taxes. Kingsley plays an Iranian exile who sees in the house an opportunity for his family to bootstrap itself up in class. He buys the house at auction, but he doesn't anticipate Kathy's fierce determination to get her house back. With the help of a deputy sheriff (Eldard) who has taken a shine to her, Kathy brings pressure on the Iranian family to surrender the house. It's a situation that practically guarantees that there can be no happy ending to the film, and sure enough it ends in tragedy. The movie tries, perhaps a bit too hard, to be poetic. It almost gets there. Grade: B+

Written on the Wind (DVD)

Written on the Wind (1956) starring Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone. Melodrama with Stack as Kyle, an alcoholic Texas oil millionaire who manages to sweep Lucy (Bacall) off her feet and into marriage. Hudson plays his best friend Mitch, who is also in love with Lucy, and Malone portrays Marylee, Kyle's sister, who has a lifelong crush on Mitch. The love lines get tangled as Kyle and Lucy have trouble conceiving a child, and jealous Marylee casts suspicion on Mitch. It's all a bit overwrought, and Stack in particular is unconvincing. Grade: B

It's a Wonderful Life (DVD)

It's a Wonderful Life (1946) starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Henry Travers. If you've watched this movie during the Christmas season when it shows up on broadcast TV, you'll notice on the DVD the improved quality of the image, the lack of constant commercial interruptions, and the fact that scenes haven't been left out to fit into a time slot. If you're like me, you'll turn on the subtitles and catch all the dialogue you've been missing, too. This sentimental favorite delivers the tears and laughter every time, and who can deny its charm? Stewart stars as George Bailey, frustrated small-town banker, who thinks all is lost and contemplates taking his own life. An angel named Clarence (Travers) is sent down to show him what the world would have been like without him, and Stewart expertly plays the man who finds that his world has dissolved. Grade: A-

I Served the King of England (DVD)

I Served the King of England (2006) starring Ivan Barnev. An opportunistic young waiter in pre-World War II Czechoslovakia dreams of someday becoming rich and owning his own hotel. He survives the war and his wish is granted -- only to be snatched away by events in the post-war period. Pretty entertaining, but suffers from ever-present voice over. Grade: B

Kung Fu Panda (DVD)

Kung Fu Panda (2008) with the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane, Michael Clarke Duncan. Lazy Po (Black) is a panda who dreams of being a kung fu fighter, but seemingly lacks the discipline to make the grade. Destiny, however, chooses him to be the hero who will protect his peaceful valley from a master criminal. Pretty good animation, but if you're a stickler for logic, forget it. Grade: B+

Titanic (DVD)

Titanic (1997) starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet. The most popular movie of all time (based on box-office receipts) delivers on several different levels, with a sincere love story and absolutely top-notch special effects showing the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Grade: A

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (DVD)

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008) starring Michael Cera, Kat Dennings. The two stars spend a night in Manhattan sharing their opinions on music and life. Grade: B+

Wanted (DVD)

Wanted (2008) starring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie. A young cubicle-dweller (McAvoy) finds himself recruited by a band of modern-day assassins (including Freeman and Jolie). The assassins refer to themselves as the Fraternity. The hook: The young man's father was a member of the Fraternity, and he has just been killed. Now the members of the Fraternity are giving the son the chance to take over where his father's work left off -- and eventually get revenge. Or so they tell him. Based on a series of comics books, this movie has some pretty great special effects but a very flimsy plot. Grade: B-

The Secret Life of Bees (DVD)

The Secret Life of Bees (2008) starring Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifa, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo, Paul Bettany. Set in 1964 in the American South, 14-year-old Lily (Fanning) escapes her dreary existence with her abusive father and heads to a nearby town with her friend and caregiver, Rosaleen (Hudson). Racial tensions are high, as President Johnson has just signed the Civil Rights Bill. But Lily and Rosaleen find a safe place to stay on the honey farm of three black sisters, August (Latifa), May (Okonedo) and June (Keys) Boatwright. Thanks to a strong performance by young Fanning, this is a movie which captures the spirit of the book it is based on. Adapted from the novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Grade: A-

The Terminator (DVD)

The Terminator (1984) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton. Schwarzenegger is perfectly cast as a soulless cyborg from the future who has been sent back to assassinate Sarah Connor (Hamilton), who is destined to be the mother of a human resistance leader in the future war between man and machine. Biehn is effective as the human soldier who has been sent back from the same future to protect her. The action is non-stop, with new layers of the story gradually revealed so that the viewer has the pleasure of discovering them as the movie progresses. This is a seminal science-fiction movie, and well worth seeing for fans of the genre. Grade: A-