This Gun for Hire

This Gun for Hire (1942) starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Robert Preston. Killer-for-hire named Raven (Ladd) does a job for traitor Willard Gates (Preston) and gets paid in "hot" money. On the run, Raven travels to Los Angeles to get revenge on Gates and expose his plan to sell poison gas to the Japanese. In the course of events, nightclub entertainer Ellen Graham (Lake) gets mixed up in the deal. The film mixes crime and war themes with only partially successful results; its principal claim to fame is being Ladd's movie debut. (The subtitles included on the disc are adequate. No closed captions.) Grade: B

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

The Thin Blue Line

The Thin Blue Line (1988) Documentary. Directed by Errol Morris. An investigation into a murder in Dallas, in which an innocent man was convicted of the crime. After this movie came out, the evidence was revisited, and the innocent man was exonerated. I found the film modestly entertaining, although I had some trouble following it. (Subtitles and closed captions are both offered on the disc.) Grade: B+

The Thin Man

The Thin Man (1934) starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan. Nick and Nora Charles (Powell and Loy) get involved in a murder case, but they don't allow the investigation to come between them and their drinking. This was the first in a highly successful series of movies teaming up Powell and Loy, and it features some snappy dialogue and comedy along with the mystery, which is actually of secondary interest. (English subtitles are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B

The Thing from Another World

The Thing from Another World (1951) starring Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James Arness. Now-classic sci-fi about a flying saucer crashing near the North Pole; creature (Arness) found in a block of ice turns out to be vegetable in origin -- and lives on blood. This is a rather entertaining early movie about the dangers in the skies -- i.e., what if a superior, space-faring race comes to Earth and wants to dine on us? This is a seminal film which any fan of sci-fi/horror would probably enjoy. (The subtitles are adequate; closed captions, easier to read, are also available.) Grade: B

Thieves Like Us

Thieves Like Us (1974) starring Keith Carradine, Shelley Duvall, John Schuck, Bert Remsen, Louise Fletcher, Ann Latham, Tom Skerritt. Directed by Robert Altman. In the 1930s, three career criminals (Carradine, Schuck and Remsen) escape from prison in Mississippi and go on a crime spree, mostly robbing banks. One of them, Bowie (Carradine) falls in love with a simple-minded girl named Keechie (Duvall) and they pair off. Unfortunately, he can't break away from his partners in crime, and that fact leads to his downfall. This movie is basically a remake of They Live by Night, and it doesn't improve much on the original. (The subtitles are good, and closed captions are also available.) Grade: B+

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011) starring Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara. This version was pretty good, but I liked the Swedish version better; and I liked the book better than that. Good subtitles. Grade: B+

They Were Expendable

They Were Expendable (1945) starring Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, Donna Reed, Jack Holt, Ward Bond. Directed by John Ford. The story of PT boats in the early days of World War II in the Phillipines, this movie seems to love war a little too much. It has history on its side -- it was made after the war had been won -- but to me it seemed to take a little too sentimental a view of war and the men who fought them. The romance between Rusty Ryan (Wayne) and a nurse (Reed) seems contrived. (Subtitles in English are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B

The Muppets

The Muppets (2011) starring the Muppets, Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones. The Muppets, made irrelevant by the passage of time, must find a way to put on a show to save their theater from an evil oil man (Cooper) who wants to demolish it and drill for petroleum. That's the bare bones of the plot, and there's not a whole lot more to it. Young children being introduced to the Muppets for the first time may like this movie, as well as those adults who grew up with the Muppets and feel nostalgic for their youth. But for most adults it has little to offer. What it does offer is wholesome, family-friendly entertainment which is, at its worst, harmless. (Good subtitles and closed captions.) Grade: B

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) starring Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young. Directed by Sydney Pollack. A Depression-era dance marathon is the backdrop for drama, and one shocking act of violence. Young won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as the slimy emcee of the proceedings. Fonda and Sarrazin star as contestants who go up against about 50 other couples to try to "dance" the longest without passing out. It's a pretty entertaining movie, with several separate plot lines going on simultaneously. It's one of those movies that makes you wonder, "Did people ever really live this way?" (The supplied subtitles are adequate; closed captions are also available.) Grade: B

They Live by Night

They Live by Night (1949) starring Farley Granger, Cathy O'Donnell, Howard da Silva. After a successful bank robbery, Bowie (Granger) gets in a car accident. His partners leave him behind, and the next day he and Keechie (O'Donnell) go on the run together. The rest of the movie is about Bowie and Keechie and their adventures running from the law. It's a surprisingly well acted, well scripted and well directed movie. Although an unhappy ending is guaranteed, the film still hangs together and makes for compelling viewing. (The subtitles supplied are somewhat hard to read. Closed captions are not available.) Grade: B+

They Drive by Night

They Drive by Night (1940) starring George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart. Well-acted, well-written melodrama about Joe and Paul (Raft and Bogart), two brothers who are in the trucking business together. Mrs. Carlsen (Lupino), the wife of a trucking firm owner, is in love with Joe, but he doesn't return her feelings. She resorts to murder to try to win him, but it doesn't work. This is really a movie that flies mostly on the strength of its cast, and it only goes so far. (Subtitles in English are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B-

There's Something About Mary

There's Something About Mary (1998) starring Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller. Thirteen years after high school, Ted (Stiller) is still pining for his crush (Diaz), whom, but for an unfortunate accident, he would have taken to the prom. So he hires a private detective (Dillon) to track her down in Florida. Nobody is who he seems to be in this gross-out comedy from the Farrely brothers, and although it has some funny moments (Ted's epic fight with a little dog stands out), it doesn't really hold up all that well. This disc from Netflix was in terrible shape, and the subtitles didn't function correctly either. For that I give the film a Grade: C.

Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey

Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1993), Documentary. Interesting movie examines the life and work of Leon Theremin, best known today as the inventor of the first electronic musical synthesizer -- a primitive device that is nevertheless still in use, and was the inspiration for the Moog synthesizer. Theremin came to the United States from Russia early in the 20th century, and was a prolific inventor of electronic devices. In the '20s he was kidnapped by Soviet agents and spirited back to Russia, where he was forced to work for the KGB. This film features many of the applications of the musical instrument that bears his name, including its use in movie soundtracks and in music such as the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations." There seems to have been a paucity of material for this movie -- it's only 82 minutes long -- but that which was available has been put to good use. (Closed captions are available.) Grade: B

The Terrorist

The Terrorist (1999) starring Ayesha Dharkar. A young woman (Dharkar), a member of an unspecified rebel movement, is recruited to carry out an assassination using a suicide belt. But will she go through with it? This is an interesting movie on a fairly unusual topic, and I found it absorbing. It's in Hindi, with English subtitles. Grade: B

Theodora Goes Wild

Theodora Goes Wild (1936) starring Irene Dunne, Melvyn Douglas. Dunne plays a small-town girl who secretly writes a steamy novel. When she goes to New York to meet with her publisher, she meets the man who illustrates the book jackets (Douglas), with whom she eventually falls in love. Screwball comedy is Dunne's first film, sets the pattern for many to follow. I found it to be a comfortable evening's entertainment. (The disc has good, readable subtitles in English, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B

Them!

Them! (1954) starring James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness. Giant mutant ants, created by nine years of exposure to the radiation of the first atomic bomb test, menace the Southwest. Naturally, man's first reaction is to try to exterminate all the ants, first with cyanide, then with flame throwers. The special effects are primitive by today's standards, but the finale -- fought in the storm drains under Los Angeles -- is a real corker. (The disc features subtitles in several languages, including English, plus closed captions.) Grade: B