Up the Down Staircase

Up the Down Staircase (1967) starring Sandy Dennis. Sylvia Barrett (Dennis) is a new teacher at an inner-city school who struggles to get through to her students. Sound familiar? It seems that the high-school teaching environment is a rich one for book and movie plots. Maybe this one was original in 1967, but it seems all too dated and hackneyed now. Dennis is appealing in the starring role, and I was pleased to see Jean Stapleton in a supporting role. The film is memorable most of all for a scene in which a student, having sent a love note to one of her teachers, is made to stand and listen while he corrects the grammar of the note, without responding to its content. (The student, Alice, then jumps out of a window. What finally happens to her, we never find out.) (The movie has English subtitles for the hearing impaired, but they are a bit hard to read.) Grade: B

Up Close and Personal

Up Close and Personal (1996) starring Robert Redford, Michelle Pfeiffer. A young woman named Sally Atwater (Pfeiffer) seeks a career in television news, and an old hand named Warren Justice (Redford) takes on the task of training her up from an assistant to an on-air reporter. Naturally, they fall in love. It's a pet peeve of mine, but Redford was 60 when the film was made, and Pfeiffer was 38. I didn't believe the chemistry between them, although toward the end they almost had me convinced. The script for this movie was awfully hackneyed, and it all seemed like an excuse to get the two stars together on screen. (The film offers English subtitles, as well as closed captions.) Grade: C

An Unreasonable Man

An Unreasonable Man (Ralph Nader) (2007) Documentary. Ralph Nader's lifelong battle to protect consumers is chronicled, along with his controversial decision to run for president in 2000 and 2004. For those who don't remember, Nader came to prominence in the '60s with the publication of his book, Unsafe at Any Speed. The movie clearly delineates his contributions to the safety of Americans in a number of areas, including car safety, food safety and drug safety. About half of the film is devoted to the controversy surrounding his runs for the presidency in '00 and '04, which some blame for George W. Bush's election and re-election to office. I found the movie to be an important, informative document of the life of a great American. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are provided, but are hard to read.) Grade: A 

The Untouchables

The Untouchables (1987) starring Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, Robert De Niro. Directed by Brian De Palma. Crusading federal treasury agent Eliot Ness (Kostner) arrives in Chicago in 1930 to "get" Al Capone (De Niro). With the help of a small group of "untouchables" (Smith, Garcia and Connery), Ness has some early success at disrupting the illegal liquor trade -- and at arousing Capone's ire. The movie has plenty of action, with several notable shootouts and a rooftop pursuit. The only criticism I have is that De Palma has a bit too much of a taste for blood. Connery won a well deserved Oscar for his portrayal of Jimmy Malone, the honest cop who shows Ness how laws are enforced "the Chicago way."  I saw this film in a theater in 1987, and have seen it on video a couple of times since. It holds up rather well. (English subtitles are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: A-

Unforgiven

Unforgiven (1992) starring Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris. Directed by Clint Eastwood. In the 1870s, long-retired gunman William Munny (Eastwood) takes one last job because he needs the money. Together with his partner Ned (Freeman) he rides into the town of Big Whiskey, which is ruled by the sadistic hand of sheriff Little Bill (Hackman). In the end, Munny proves that he is still the killing machine he was years ago, before he cleaned up his act. This is a great movie, and a great Western, although it has been referred to as an anti-Western by some. There is certainly no glory in the killing. The film won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. (English subtitles are available, but better are the closed captions.) Grade: A 

An Unmarried Woman

An Unmarried Woman (1978) starring Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates, Michael Murphy. Clayburgh stars as Erica, who discovers one day that her husband Martin (Murphy) is in love with someone else. She goes through a transition period of grief, then falls in love with Saul (Bates), an artist at the gallery where she works. The movie was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actress (for Clayburgh). It was considered groundbreaking in its day, and still provides a comfortable quantity of entertainment, although there are few surprises to be found. Clayburgh is winning in the title role. The most amazing thing about the film to me was the prices. Two people ate lunch in a New York eatery for $3.95. Another couple bought ice cream on the street for twenty cents apiece. Incredible. (The movie has English subtitles; closed captions are also available.) Grade: B

Under the Volcano

Under the Volcano (1984) starring Albert Finney, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Andrews. Directed by John Huston. Former diplomat Geoffrey Firmin (Finney) is a raging alcoholic, living in Mexico just before World War II, whose wife Yvonne (Bisset) has just returned after divorcing him. She begs to be his wife again, but he chooses the bottle over her. That's an oversimplification, of course, but that's the skeleton of the plot. The movie is beautifully conceived and photographed, and although it doesn't have a happy ending, the ending seems inevitable in hindsight. (The subtitles are very hard to find -- you can only access them through the remote -- and there are no closed captions.) Grade: B+  

Head

Head (1968) starring the Monkees. An hour and a half of silliness, with no subtitles and no closed captions. Grade: D

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin. Set in 1968 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, The Unbearable Lightness of Being tells the story of a doctor named Tomas (Day-Lewis) who has a way with women. (His favorite seduction line is, "Take off your clothes.") It comes as something of a surprise when he decides to marry Tereza (Binoche). Then, the Soviet tanks roll in, and the film switches temporarily to black-and-white so that documentary footage can be mixed in. Tomas and Tereza flee to Switzerland, and things are never the same. This is an unusual and wonderful motion picture that tells a human story and mixes it in with historical events. Very enjoyable and sexy. (Subtitles in English are provided for the hard of hearing.) Grade: A 

Unfaithfully Yours

Unfaithfully Yours (1948) starring Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell. Directed by Preston Sturges. Harrison stars as a famous conductor named Alfred in this comedy; Darnell plays his devoted younger wife whom he mistakenly suspects of cheating on him. While conducting a concert one night, he fantasizes about how he will deal with her -- first killing her, then forgiving her, then challenging her "lover" to a game of Russian roulette. When he goes home and starts trying to act out his fantasies, a slapstick bonanza ensues. This is a pretty masterful comedy, for 1948. It will certainly satisfy and amuse viewers who enjoy old movies. I found the humor predictable but still entertaining. (English subtitles are available, and can only be accessed via the remote control of your DVD  player. No closed captions.) Grade: B      

My Afternoons with Margueritte

My Afternoons with Margueritte (2010) starring Gerard Depardieu, Gisele Casadesus. An illiterate handyman named Germain (Depardieu) meets an old woman (Casadesus) in the park. The two, though far apart in age and education, fall in love. She reads to him and he learns to appreciate books. But more than that, he finds in her the maternal affection that he never received from his own mother. It's a lovely story, efficiently told and nicely  photographed. It's in French, with English subtitles. Grade: A-

Ulee's Gold

Ulee's Gold (1997) starring Peter Fonda, Patricia Richardson, Jessica Biel. Fonda stars as Ulee Jackson, a taciturn Florida beekeeper whose son is in prison and whose daughter-in-law is on drugs. Ulee's two granddaughters are living with him. Trouble arises when it comes to light that two of his son's criminal associates have learned that there is $100,000 from a previous robbery hidden on Ulee's property. They want the money, and only Ulee can talk to his son and find out where it is. Finely crafted movie earned Fonda an Academy Award nomination. Good script with believable dialogue. (Subtitles in English are available on the disc, trumped by closed captions.) Grade: B     

Ugetsu

Ugetsu (1953) starring Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori, Kinuyo Tanaka. Japanese movie, set during the 16th century during a time of war. Two friends go separate ways, lost in the chaos of war, and both leave wives behind. One man seeks riches selling his pottery, the other wants to become a samurai. They both get what they desire, but at great cost. In Japanese, with English subtitles. Grade: B+    

2010

2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) starring Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, Bob Balaban, Keir Dullea. Three American scientists (Scheider, Lithgow and Balaban) travel aboard a Russian space ship to visit the Discovery from 2001: A Space Odyssey, to try and figure out what went wrong. Meanwhile, back on Earth, an international crisis is playing out, with war breaking out between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Obviously, this presents a problem to present-day viewers of this movie, since we know that the Soviet Union will not exist in 2010. Dave Bowman (Dullea), from 2001, makes an appearance, with important news for Earth. This film is not a total success, but for sci-fi fans it will be sufficient as a followup to 2001. (Closed captions are available.) Grade: B    

2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) starring Keir Dullea, William Sylvester, Gary Lockwood. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Arguably Kubrick's masterpiece, 2001 traces the development of mankind from the Dawn of Man four million years ago until the near future (now past), when humans are exploring space and discover a mysterious monolith on the Moon. An expedition is mounted to Jupiter, manned by five men and the HAL-9000 computer. The special effects are really special in this movie, and Kubrick makes great used of music (especially Strauss' "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"). Main flaw is some rather stiff acting and dialogue at certain points. (English subtitles are offered, but trumped by closed captions.) Grade: A-