Drive

Drive (2011) starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, Albert Brooks. A man named Driver (Gosling) works part-time as a stunt driver for the movies and part-time as a getaway driver and part-time as a mechanic. Irene (Mulligan) is the girl who lives down the hall. They go out on a few dates; then Irene's husband gets out of prison. Soon, gangsters are threatening Irene and her son Benicio, and Driver steps in to help. That's when the excrement hits the fan. There are several gruesome murders in this film, and plenty of blood, so be forewarned. I have a little trouble accepting the slight Gosling as a stone cold killer, but that's part of the role he assumes for this movie. Perlman and Brooks play West Coast gang bosses whom he comes into conflict with, and they are both well acted. The DVD offers good subtitles, but no closed captions. Grade: A-

Heavenly Creatures

Heavenly Creatures (1994) starring Kate Winslet, Melanie Lynskey. Directed by Peter Jackson. In the early 1950s in New Zealand, two teenage girls named Pauline (Lynskey) and Juliet (Winslet) form a close bond. To outside observers, the bond appears obsessive; some, including Juliet's father, suspect the girls are lesbians. Pauline and Juliet share an incredibly detailed and rich fantasy life, but they aren't doing anyone any harm -- until their parents decide that they must be permanently separated. The movie is based on true events, and excerpts from Pauline's diary serve as a framing device for the story. The DVD includes both English subtitles and closed captions. Grade: A-

Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope

Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness. Directed by George Lucas. This movie, also known as simply Star Wars, set box-office records back in '77, and with good reason. It has everything that the old Saturday afternoon matinees used to have, plus great special effects. The plot: Princess Leia (Fisher) has entrusted the evil Empire's plans for the Death Star to a droid called R2-D2, and Luke Skywalker (Hamill) sets out to save the princess and destroy the Death Star. He is aided along the way by Obi-Wan Kenobi (Guinness) and Han Solo (Ford). Great music by John Williams helps everything hang together. Subtitles in English are available; the disc also has closed captions. Grade: A

Start the Revolution Without Me

Start the Revolution Without Me (1970) starring Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, Victor Spinetti. Directed by Bud Yorkin. Two pairs of twins, switched at birth, grow up to be the noble De Sisi brothers -- and a pair of peasant brothers -- in 1789 France. Wilder and Sutherland both play dual roles as half of each pair of brothers. It's a madcap, slapstick movie about the French Revolution, none of it to be taken seriously. The King of France, Louis XVI, is made out to be the biggest fool of all. Meanwhile, the evil Duke d'Escargot (Spinetti) plots to oust the king and take over the kingdom. The movie was filmed entirely on location in France, which gives it a considerable air of authenticity. It really is a non-stop laugh-fest. English subtitles are offered, but the closed captions are better. Grade: B+

50/50

50/50 (2011) starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard. Twenty-seven-year-old Adam (Gordon-Levitt) is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and he and his friend Kyle (Rogen) struggle to find ways to deal with it. Adam's girlfriend (Howard) cheats on him, and his therapist (Kendrick) may be falling for him. The movie is based on real life (one of the writers had survived cancer), and it has a real-life feel to it. Adam meets his cancer with humor, and later with frustration and anger. The film is about as close to a comedy about cancer as you can get, but it still takes the disease, and its victims, seriously. The DVD offers English subtitles for the hearing-impaired, but no closed captions. Grade: B

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Catherine Hicks. The familiar (but somewhat older) crew of the USS Enterprise journeys back to the 20th century to save the earth -- with the help of a pair of humpback whales. The fun doesn't really start until the crew members arrive in 20th century San Francisco, where Hicks is the spark plug for the action. She's the keeper of the whales, and has to be convinced that Kirk (Shatner) and Spock (Nimoy) are from the future, and that they have good intentions. Even though the science aspect of the plot is full of hoakum and Trek-talk, it's still fun to watch these characters return to their old roles. The DVD offers subtitles in English for the hearing-impaired, as well as closed captions. Grade: B+

Stardust Memories

Stardust Memories (1980) starring Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, Marie-Christine Barrault, Tony Roberts. Written and directed by Woody Allen. Sandy Bates, a character not unlike Woody Allen, agrees to attend a weekend seminar devoted to his films -- where he is besieged by fans, who do all kinds of crazy things to get his attention. One gets the feeling that this film is highly autobiographical. Some may feel it's just narcissistic, but Woody addresses that objection in the film itself. I found it highly amusing. English subtitles are not included, but closed captions are. Grade: B+

Star Trek

Star Trek (2009) starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy. It's early days as James T. Kirk (Pine) is born as his mother flees (in a medical shuttle) the destruction of the USS Kelvin -- with Kirk's father in charge. Eventually, Kirk goes to Starfleet Academy and ends up aboard the USS Enterprise, where he meets, for the first time, the future crew of the starship which he is destined to command. The rest of the plot is some time-travel crap, apparently devised so that Nimoy can show up as the future Spock. That's OK though, if you're a Star Trek fan you'll enjoy seeing the characters in their early incarnations. I thought Urban was a standout as Bones. There's some pretty exciting action, but the film doesn't stray far from the Star Trek we all know and love. Subtitles in English are available, but I chose to watch with the closed captions option. Grade: B

Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris (2011) starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams. Directed by Woody Allen. American Gil Pender (Wilson), visiting Paris with his fiancee Inez(McAdams), magically (somehow) finds himself transported back in time, to '20s Paris, where he meets F. Scott Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Picasso ... the list goes on. Also, of course, he falls in love with a young woman from the '20s named Adriana. In essence, Wilson plays the Woody Allen role -- the role that Allen would have played himself when he was young. But there's more to this film than that. There are wheels within wheels, and the script is beautifully written. The subtitles supplied on the DVD are fine, and no closed captions are needed. Grade: A-

Starting Out in the Evening

Starting Out in the Evening (2007) starring Frank Langella, Lauren Ambrose, Lili Taylor. A worshipful grad student named Heather Wolfe (Ambrose) sets out to write her thesis on aging author Leonard Schiller (Langella); meanwhile, Schiller is worried about his daughter, Ariel (Taylor), who is nearing 40 and can't seem to find her way in the world. Ariel doesn't trust Heather's motives; she thinks Heather might be a gold digger. This is an independent film, and it shows. It's very limited in scope, and I didn't find it terribly moving. It's not a bad movie, just not great. The stars, especially Langella, make it worth watching, but it's not a film I'll recommend to others or ever make an effort to see again. The English subtitles are good, as are the closed captions. Grade: B

The Ides of March

The Ides of March (2011) starring Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood. Directed by George Clooney. Dirty tricks spoil an idealistic young campaign worker's (Gosling) outlook, and he turns to some dirty tricks of his own. This is an involving, scary movie, and my only criticism is that it seems a bit one-dimensional. The subtitles provided on the disc are very good. Grade: B

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) starring Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Oskar Werner. Burton stars as a British Cold War spy, on the brink of retirement, who is sent on one last, dangerous mission. Bloom plays the woman who has the misfortune to fall in love with him. The twists and turns of the plot are surprisingly clear, and at the end I felt I understood pretty well what motivated the characters and why they made the decisions they did. The movie was adapted from a John Le Carre novel. Burton was nominated for an Oscar for his performance. English subtitles are available, as well as closed captions. Grade: A-

Stalag 17

Stalag 17 (1953) starring William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger. The quintessential World War II POW movie starts with an escape attempt, which tells you it's going to be about life in the camp. Holden stars as Sefton, a sergeant who has adapted very successfully to life in the camp -- much to the envy of the other men, who suspect him of being a snitch; and there is a snitch in Barracks 14. He turns out to be -- not who you'd suspect. Preminger stars as the camp commandant. Holden won an Oscar for his performance. The disc comes with English subtitles and closed captions. Grade: A-

Higher Ground

Higher Ground (2011) starring Vera Farmiga. Farmiga stars in and directs this story of a woman's spiritual journey. Corinne (Farmiga), raised to be a Christian, joins a fundamentalist sect. She spends years seeking the Lord, but he does not answer her cries. We watch as she eventually decides to leave the sect, and to leave her husband. This is a pretty good movie, but lacks a clear narrative line. The subtitles provided on the disc are good. There are no closed captions. Grade: B

A Star is Born

A Star is Born (1954) starring Judy Garland, James Mason. Small-time singer Esther Blodgett (Garland) is "discovered" by famous actor Norman Maine (Mason), who promises to get her a screen test. Eventually, he follows through, and she goes on to become a star. Unfortunately he is a fading star himself, with a bad drinking habit. His contract gets canceled, while she goes on to become the featured star of the studio. My biggest problem with this movie is that Garland, who was 32 at the time it was made and looks older, just doesn't seem like the young fresh star being discovered. The other problem is that the restored film is almost three hours long, and feels to me like it contains a lot of filler. Garland, however, delivers a dynamite performance, and was nominated for an Academy Award. The disc includes English subtitles, as well as closed captions. Grade: B-

Stand and Deliver

Stand and Deliver (1987) starring Edward James Olmos, Lou Diamond Phillips, Rosana de Soto, Andy Garcia. Olmos wears a terrible comb-over as a Latino math teacher who's trying to inspire a class of high school kids to take (and pass) the Advanced Placement calculus exam. It's all very inspirational, until ... the Educational Testing Service accuses his students of cheating on the test. Based on a true story, you couldn't make this stuff up. The disc has closed captions. Grade: B+

Stagecoach

Stagecoach (1939) starring Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell. Directed by John Ford. A motley crew of seven passengers sets off in a stagecoach to cross Apache country in the movie which, among other things, made Wayne a major star. Quintessential Western has just about everything that would later become a cliche in Westerns through the '40s, '50s and '60s. The year Stagecoach came out, 1939, was a great year for movies, producing among other films Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz. If you had to see just one Western, this would be the one. The subtitles on this disc are good, although a little hard to find. Grade: A-

The Debt

The Debt (2010) starring Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Tom Wilkinson, Ciaran Hinds. Three Israeli Mossad agents travel to East Berlin in 1965 to try to capture the "Surgeon of Birkenau," a dangerous war criminal. Rachel Singer (Mirren) has to relive the events years later when her daughter writes a book about her. When it turns out that some of the events told in the book aren't true, the 30-years-older Singer must go on a dangerous mission into Ukraine. Chastain plays the younger version of Singer. This is an intense, watchable movie, but there's something not-quite-right about the ending. The director seems to want to have his cake and eat it too. Nevertheless, overall, a watchable entertainment. Good subtitles, no closed captions. Grade: A-

The Squid and the Whale

The Squid and the Whale (2005) starring Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Anna Paquin. A couple (Daniels and Linney) splits up, leaving their sons (Eisenberg and Kline) with divided loyalties and confused about the breakup. The wife, Joan, is a rising star in the literary world, while the husband, Bernard's fame seems to be in the past. Every word of the script rings true as the boys struggle with being boys while trying to deal with their parents' separation. At the same time, the parents' quarreling dialogue always seems spot on. Daniels especially plays a very convincing consummate jerk. The subtitles are good, closed captions even better. Grade: A