Only Angels Have Wings (DVD)

Only Angels Have Wings (1939) starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth. Directed by Howard Hawks. Fliers in South America brave dangerous conditions, including mountains and fog, to get the mail through. Grant is Carter, the leader of the pilots, and Arthur is the blond showgirl who arrives by boat and stays to pursue Carter. It's an entertaining movie, and some of the flying scenes are actually exciting. The subtitles are the best kind for a black-and-white movie: yellow with a black outline. Very legible. Grade: B+

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (DVD)

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) starring Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur. Directed by Frank Capra. Cooper plays Longfellow Deeds, a young small-town man who inherits $20 million and confounds the big-city folk by wanting to give it all away to needy people. Arthur plays Babe Bennett, the hard-boiled reporter who wants to get the scoop on Deeds -- and, of course, falls for him. It's an American classic. The subtitles -- yellow with a black outline -- are perfect for a black-and-white film. Grade: A-

Funny People (DVD)

Funny People (2009) starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill. Sandler plays comedian George Simmons, who has all the trappings of success but is basically miserable. When he gets a diagnosis of a potentially fatal disease, it makes him reevaluate his life. He hires Ira Wright (Rogen) to be his joke writer and assistant, and the two form an unlikely bond. Unfortunately, the "comedy" performed by the "funny people" in the movie isn't very funny. And Sandler is largely just grating. Plus, the movie is two and a half hours long. The subtitles are good. Grade: C

Gomorra (DVD)

Gomorra (2008) starring an all-Italian cast. A multifaceted look at the Neapolitan crime mob known as the Camorra, who are reputed to be more fearsome than the Mafia. The movie follows several separate characters along parallel plot-lines as they deal with different aspects of the organization. There's lots of violence and some nudity -- the film is unrated. It's no "Godfather," but it has its own gritty power. The spelling of the title is correct -- I'm guessing, an allusion to Sodom and Gomorrah. In Italian, with English subtitles. Grade: B+

Arsenic and Old Lace (DVD)

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) starring Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Jack Carson, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair. Directed by Frank Capra. Two seemingly harmless old ladies (Hull and Adair) poison lonely gentlemen callers, then bury them in their cellar. Their nephew, Mortimer Brewster (Grant), finds out what is going on just as he is preparing to leave for his honeymoon. To complicate matters, Mortimer's long-lost brother Jonathon (Massey) shows up -- now a criminal, made unrecognizable by plastic surgery -- and he too has a body to dispose of. Mortimer's frantic efforts to resolve all the tangled elements in the story generate the comedy, and it's funny, in a dark way. I can't say Grant is a great comic actor -- he seems more suited to the suave, debonair thing to me. But he does all right, even taking a few pratfalls. Grade: B

The Mouse on the Moon (DVD)

The Mouse on the Moon (1963) starring Margaret Rutherford, Bernard Cribbins, Ron Moody, Terry-Thomas. Lame sequel to 1959's "The Mouse That Roared"; conspicuous by absence is Peter Sellers, who played three parts in the first movie. This one is populated by no-name actors (at least to American audiences) and seems dated and not especially funny. Worst flaw is, unlike the earlier movie, this one lacks subtitles in English for the hearing-impaired. However, it does have closed captioning, so that counters the lack of subtitles. Grade: C

Humpday (DVD)

Humpday (2009) starring Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore. Low-budget indie film about a couple of old friends (Duplass and Leonard) who are reunited, go to a wild party, and goad each other into volunteering to make a sex film for an amateur porn festival -- in which they will have sex with each other. One of them, Ben (Duplass) has to explain what he is going to do to his wife, Anna (Delmore). Both of them, Ben and Andrew (Leonard), have to overcome their avowed heterosexuality. This was a hard film to watch, not least because if lacked subtitles for the hearing-impaired. Plus the last third of the film was very talkie, no actiony. Grade: D

Bruno (DVD)

Bruno (2009) starring Sacha Baron Cohen. As a flamboyantly gay Austrian TV star, Bruno (Cohen) tries to stir up trouble with the people he interviews. After failing in Europe, he comes to Los Angeles to "become a celebrity." In the process, he tries to make fools of real celebrities, with mixed results. I felt conflicted while watching this movie -- like, did I really think it was funny, or was it just offensive? There are a number of raunchy sex scenes, and the film required strategically placed black boxes to escape with an R rating. I thought the movie was just awful, yet it did provide a few laugh-out-loud moments for me. Not quite a worthy follow-up to Cohen's "Borat," but still worth seeing. Grade: B-

Star Trek (DVD)

Star Trek (2009) starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy. In this reboot of the Star Trek franchise, Pine stars as a young James T. Kirk, and Quinto plays the young Spock. Urban is especially pleasing as the young "Bones" McCoy. The whole crew is united for the first time as Star Fleet cadets who are called into duty to defend against an attack on Vulcan, Spock's home planet. There's time travel involved, an alternate reality, and something called "red matter," which is never explained but is pivotal to the plot. Despite all the nonsense, as an avid fan of the original "Star Trek," I enjoyed the movie. It will be interesting to see the next installment in the series, if there is one. The DVD has excellent subtitles. Grade: B+

The Matrix (DVD)

The Matrix (1999) starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving. Reeves plays Neo, a hacker who learns that the world we live in is just a computer construct. Neo is destined to be the One, the human who can save us all from our fates as slaves to the artificial intelligence that has taken over the world. The special effects are outstanding and the action is practically non-stop in this sci-fi thriller. Even though it doesn't all stand up to close analysis (the business with the Oracle is particularly pointless), it's rollicking good kick-ass entertainment. The martial-arts scenes are killer. The helicopter flight over NYC is spectacular. The subtitles are very good. Grade: A-

Mon Oncle (DVD)

Mon Oncle (1958) starring Jacques Tati. Directed by Jacques Tati. Tati plays the title character, Monsieur Hulot, a rather simple man who finds it difficult dealing with all the gadgetry at his sister's ultramodern home. This movie, which has little dialogue, has been called a "masterpiece." It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for 1958. It certainly has its Gallic charms, but much of the humor was lost on me. Yet another let-down from a film that was given four stars by the usually reliable Leonard Maltin. This movie is 50 years old -- that may account for some of its loss of appeal. The subtitles are only adequate. Grade: B

Mountains of the Moon (DVD)

Mountains of the Moon (1990) starring Patrick Bergin, Iain Glen. Two English explorers search for the source of the Nile River in the late 1800s. Their first attempt ends in disaster when their exploration party is attacked by hostile, fierce natives. The action then returns to Victorian England, where various maneuvering takes place as they aim to mount a second, larger and better-armed, expedition. I can't judge very well the quality of this movie, however, because the actors speak with English accents, and the disc lacks subtitles for the hearing-impaired. There was very little of it that I could understand. Plus, the disc proved to be unplayable. Grade: F

The Proposal (DVD)

The Proposal (2009) starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Betty White, Craig T. Nelson, Mary Steenburgen. Dragon-lady book editor Margaret (Bullock) forces her assistant, Andrew (Reynolds) to agree to marry her to keep her from being deported to Canada, where she is from. Circumstances dictate that they travel from New York to Alaska to visit his family, where Margaret re-learns the experience of being part of a family and being loved. She and Andrew, of course, fall in love. It's an OK setup, and the stars make it entertaining enough, but you just never quite believe that enough has happened between them in Alaska to constitute "falling in love." And for a romantic comedy, there aren't many really funny moments. The subtitles, however, are excellent. Grade: B-

Up (DVD)

Up (2009) with the voices of Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer, John Ratzenberger. Do you long to be treated like a child? This Disney/Pixar DVD will fill the bill for you. Once you put it in your DVD player, you lose all control. It shows about 10 minutes of previews, which you have no option but to let play (pushing the Menu button on your remote control gets no response). Then the movie starts, and there is no menu. There is no option allowing you to turn on subtitles for the hearing-impaired. The only choice you have is to stop and start the DVD, once the movie starts. For this, I give the disc a Grade: F

Moulin Rouge (DVD)

Moulin Rouge (1952) starring Jose Ferrer, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Suzanne Flon. Directed by John Huston. The 19th-century French artist Toulouse-Lautrec (Ferrer) is portrayed; like so many artists, he lived a tortured life. We see his youth in a quick flashback, which reveals how his growth was stunted as a child by an accident, and how his childhood sweetheart cruelly rejected his proposal of marriage. The movie focuses on his miserable love life, his heavy drinking, his bitterness and -- eventually, a little -- on his art. Interestingly, one thing Lautrec did not lack was money. Throughout the film, he is portrayed as quite prosperous, having been born to the aristocracy. All in all, it makes for a passable evening's entertainment, although the film does seem a bit dated. The subtitles are quite adequate. Grade: B

Mosquito Coast (DVD)

Mosquito Coast (1986) starring Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, River Phoenix. Half-crazed inventor Allie Fox (Ford) uproots his family and moves them to Central America, obsessed with his dream of building an ice factory in the jungle. Once his dream is realized, however, he becomes restless; and his quest to bring ice to a primitive tribe brings trouble for his family. They are soon clamoring to go home to the United States, but Fox will have none of it. Calamity follows upon calamity until they all reach the breaking point. The film ends in the only way it can, but it's still rather depressing. The subtitles, at least, are quite good. Grade: B+

The Mouse That Roared (DVD)

The Mouse That Roared (1959) starring Peter Sellers, Jean Seberg. The Duchy of Grand Fenwick, smallest country in the world, finds itself in financial straits. So what is the solution? Why, declare war on the United States, that's what. Once the war is lost, aid from the U.S. will come pouring in. But trouble arises when the Fenwickian "invasion force" arrives in New York; there is no one to surrender to, because the U.S. is holding an air raid drill. Hilarity ensues. It's nothing spectacular, but it's good, clean, silly fun. Sellers plays three separate roles, as is his wont, and Seberg plays the daughter of the American scientist who is developing the "Q Bomb." The subtitles are very good. Grade: B

Mother Teresa (DVD)

Mother Teresa (1986). Poorly made documentary with good intentions that does not include subtitles for the hearing-impaired. Mother Teresa speaks in heavily accented English which is impossible to understand. Grade: D-

Mother Night (DVD)

Mother Night (1996) starring Nick Nolte, Sheryl Lee, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Kirsten Dunst. Nolte plays Howard W. Campbell Jr., an American spy in World War II who posed as a Nazi propagandist. The only catch: His government can't acknowledge his contribution to the war effort, because they might need to use the same trick in "the next war." Campbell goes to live in New York City, where eventually his past comes back to haunt him. Ultimately, it's a very sad movie, with an ending that some will regard as a downer. I liked it, though. I thought the message was powerful -- you shouldn't do evil, even in a good cause. Plus, it had pretty good subtitles. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., author of the book on which the movie is based, makes a cameo appearance. Grade: A-

Moscow on the Hudson (DVD)

Moscow on the Hudson (1984) starring Robin Williams, Maria Conchita Alonso, Cleavant Derricks. Williams plays a Russian saxophonist who comes to visit America with the Moscow Circus. While shopping in Bloomingdale's, just before time to catch the airplane back to the Soviet Union, he decides to defect. He is befriended and taken in by a security guard at the store (Derricks), and a sales clerk named Lucia (Alonso) provides the romantic interest. Note that the movie takes place in 1984, before the fall of the Soviet Union, so defection still had some meaning. I'm not a big Robin Williams fan, but in this film he is fine. Very good subtitles. Grade: B+

The More the Merrier (DVD)

The More the Merrier (1943) starring Jean Arthur, Charles Coburn, Joel McCrea. Set in Washington, D.C. during World War II -- there's a housing shortage, and a young civil servant (Arthur) ends up renting out half of her apartment to two men (Coburn and McCrea). I think it's supposed to play out as a screwball comedy, but then there's this wartime nonsense where the FBI gets involved, and it's rather tedious. Also, this disc lacks subtitles for the hearing-impaired. Grade: C

Moonstruck (DVD)

Moonstruck (1987) starring Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis. Simply a delightful movie, set in New York, in which a 37-year-old woman (Cher) agrees to marry an older man (Aiello), but is irresistibly drawn to his younger brother (Cage). Makes great use of music and New York settings to set a mood of mild madness, in which anything can happen, and does. It makes you wish you lived in New York, so that you could visit Little Italy. Cher and Dukakis won Oscars for their performances. Good subtitles. Grade: A