And Now for Something Completely Different

And Now for Something Completely Different (1971) starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Carol Cleveland, Connie Booth. The Monty Python gang appear in a number of funny skits originally seen on their TV show in England. Included are the Dead Parrot, Upper-Class Twit of the Year, and the amusing Lumberjack Song. This movie is a great introduction to Monty Python's strange style of humor for anyone who hasn't seen them in their original numbers. They're really very silly, but that's intentional. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: A- 

The Anderson Tapes

The Anderson Tapes (1971) starring Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, Ralph Meeker, Alan King, Margaret Hamilton, Christopher Walken. Right after being released from prison, Duke Anderson (Connery) starts organizing another heist, this one of the apartment building where his girlfriend (Cannon) lives. What he doesn't realize is that his every move and every utterance is being taped by various authorities. When it comes time for the robbery to go down, a veritable army of cops is waiting to bring Anderson and his cohort to justice. This movie really has the look and feel of the '70s captured, from the typeface of the titles to the cheesy soundtrack by Quincy Jones. This is not one of Connery's finest films. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B- 

Anastasia

Anastasia (1956) starring Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, Helen Hayes. Pure fantasy based on historical facts. Brynner plays a Russian who selects "Anna Anderson" (Bergman) to play the role of Anastasia, believed to be the last surviving heir to the Russian throne. His motive: A supposed inheritance waiting in British banks, said to be worth ten million pounds sterling. Bergman won an Oscar for her portrayal of the woman, but we never do find out if she's really Anastasia (she's not). The movie, though rooted in the true-to-life assassination of the royal Russian Romanovs by Bolshevik revolutionaries, is pure fiction based on wishful thinking. Nevertheless, it works on its own terms, at least as long as you're not too picky about facts. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available on the disc.) Grade: B   

An American Werewolf in London

An American Werewolf in London (1981) starring David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne. Written and directed by John Landis. While backpacking through England, an American named David (Naughton) is bitten by a werewolf, while his friend Jack (Dunne) is killed. As it turns out, David becomes a werewolf himself, and Jack returns to haunt him, insisting that David must die to free Jack from limbo. The special effects by Rick Baker  won an Oscar, and the movie displays a wicked sense of humor, even while remaining a full-blown horror picture. For this type of film, it's really quite good. Many scenes are memorable. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are supplied on the disc.) Grade: B+  

American Splendor

American Splendor (2003) starring Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis. The story of Harvey Pekar, comic-book writer and publisher, who has appeared a number of times on the Letterman talk show. The movie takes a dark turn when Pekar is diagnosed with testicular cancer, but he gets through the treatment and gets the all-clear from his doctor. The film is presented in a kind of quasi-comic book style, and is the more entertaining for it. Giamatti is good in the role of Pekar, and Davis is also very good as Pekar's girlfriend and later wife. It's a low-budget but well produced movie, and I enjoyed it. (Subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B+ 

An American in Paris

An American in Paris (1951) starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Georges Guetary, Nina Foch. American ex-pat Jerry Mulligan (Kelly) lives in Paris, tries his hand at being a painter. He falls in love with a French girl (Caron) while being sponsored by a rich American woman (Foch), who tries to advance his career. There's lots of singing, dancing and music involved, and it all results in a "happy" ending. I was only slightly bothered by the age difference between Kelly (40) and Caron (20), making her motion-picture debut. There was a long ballet number toward the end of the movie that I found rather boring. Overall, the movie holds up rather well, though I found it somewhat dated. (Subtitles in English are offered on the disc for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B  

Halloween

Halloween (1978) starring Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Loomis, P.J. Soles. Low-budget horror flick about a maniac who strikes on Halloween at the age of six, returns 15 years later to continue to terrorize his small town. This movie has become iconic and has been much imitated, but none of the copycats has lived up to the original. The film was highly successful at the box office, grossing a total (domestic and international) of $70 million. It was Curtis's movie debut. Interestingly, the film is not really a "slasher film," because Micheal Myers (the villain) doesn't always kill with a knife, but strangles two of his victims. My big problem with this movie on DVD is that it has no subtitles for the hearing-impaired, and no closed captions. Grade: D 

The World's End

The World's End (2013) starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Rosamund Pike, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, Pierce Brosnan. Five buddies set out to relive their high-school days by going back to their home town and doing a pub crawl to 12 drinking establishments, ending with a pub called The World's End. But their quest leads them into surprising territory, as they find that their home town has been taken over by aliens who intend to conquer the Earth. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it's just a toss-off of a movie, with cheap special effects and a weak script. There is some humor to be found in some of the friends' interactions, but it is seldom really funny, unless you think getting drunk is inherently funny -- which I don't. The aliens, in particular, are rather lame. They are extremely fragile, and their heads and limbs pop off rather easily in a fight. Their blood is blue, in case you're curious. Altogether, a disappointing movie. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B-  

Love Actually

Love Actually (2003) starring Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Alan Rickman, Colin Firth, Bill Nighy. It's four weeks to Christmas, and it seems like everyone in Britain is falling in love. Some of the relationships end well, some not so well. A large cast of (mostly) British actors gives this movie a (mostly) sprightly air, and there are multiple happy endings. Also, it's a Christmas movie, which gives it an added lagniappe of sentimentality. Whether this is to your taste or not, only you can decide. It gave me, for the most part, great pleasure. This is a romantic, Christmasy movie, and it might be best viewed by people in a romantic, Christmasy mood. Others could find it sad. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available on the disc.) Grade: B+ 

Elysium

Elysium (2013) starring Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga. The year is 2154, and Earth has become sharply divided into the Haves and the Have-nots. The ultra-rich live on a space station high above the surface of Earth, and have medical technology that can cure any disease, repair any damage. Max (Damon) receives a lethal dose of radiation on the job and has five days to live -- or to get to Elysium and be cured. I'm a sci-fi freak, so I was eager to see this movie and find out how the premise had been translated to the screen. I was disappointed. The special effects are pretty good, but the plot boils down to a hand-to-hand fight on the space station -- always a cop-out, in my opinion. In addition, the acting had some weak spots and the script had some weak dialogue that detracted from the overall effect of the movie. Plus, the ending was too pat. So I can't give this film the highest grade, even though I applaud the attempt to make a full-on sci-fi drama. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B

American History X

American History X (1998) starring Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Fairuza Balk, Beverly D'Angelo, Avery Brooks, Stacy Keach, Jennifer Lien, Elliot Gould. A neo-Nazi skinhead racist (Norton) kills two blacks, and ends up sentenced to prison. Surprisingly, doing time turns his head around, and after being released three years later, he decides that he wants out of the white-supremacist movement. His first priority: trying to prevent his little brother (Furlong) from following in his footsteps. This is an intense movie, filled with racist rhetoric, and the script seems loosely stitched together. But it was fascinating to watch, especially with former Star Trek franchise stars Brooks and Lien in the cast. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B+ 

Jungle Fever

Jungle Fever (1991) starring Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, Spike Lee, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Samuel L. Jackson, Lonette McKee. Written and directed by Spike Lee. A black man and a white woman (Snipes and Sciorra) fall into an affair, with disastrous consequences. Neither can keep from talking about it to friends, who inevitably tell other friends, and eventually family. Both families reject the offending lovers, and their friends aren't much better. The movie explores the sociology and psychology of skin color, and it's none too subtle about it. But it's eminently watchable, with developments coming fast and thick. This is a seminal film, not to be missed. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B+   

A Letter to Three Wives

A Letter to Three Wives (1949) starring Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Kirk Douglas, Paul Douglas, Jeffrey Lynn. Written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Three married women receive a letter from the town flirt that says she has run away with one of their husbands. Then, in flashback, we see each of them in her relationship with her husband, and each of them has a reason to believe her husband might have left her. Then, at the end, of course, we get the final reveal. It's a well crafted movie that makes the lives of these people interesting and keeps us involved. Mankiewicz won Oscars for the script and for Best Director. An enjoyable movie. Also included on the disc as an Extra is an interesting documentary about the off-screen life of Linda Darnell, which ended in tragedy. (Subtitles are available in English, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B+  

American Dream

American Dream (1989) Documentary. Directed by Barbara Kopple. In the 1980s, a Hormel meat-packing plant in the small town of Austin, Minnesota decided to unilaterally lower the wages of its unionized workers from $10.69 an hour to $8.50 an hour. The union went out on strike, but in the anti-union atmosphere of the Reagan '80s, they stood little chance against the power of management. This movie documents their struggle, and how the management of Hormel slowly wore them down by refusing to negotiate. It's a sad story, and in many ways it's the story of America in the post-Reagan era. Reagan fired all the air-traffic controllers when they went out on strike, and that set the tone for the rest of his presidency. In effect, he broke the unions. Foreign competition may have done the job anyway, but this film shows the agonizing death throes of one union, Local P-9 of the meatpackers' union,  in painful detail. The movie won an Oscar as Best Documentary. (Subtitles in English are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B 

Man of Steel

Man of Steel (2013) starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne. Before the planet Krypton explodes, Jor-El (Crowe) sends his son Kal-El (Cavill) into space on a rocket to Earth. Kal-El grows up to become Superman, and faces his greatest challenge when General Zod (Shannon) arrives on Earth, bent on changing it to a Krypton-like planet where his people can be restored. For me, this film had a Transformers-like feel to it, as various parts of Earth were trashed (and many lives lost) while the aliens battled it out. Amy Adams plays Lois Lane convincingly, while Kal-El's Earth parents, Ma and Pa Kent, are played creditably by Costner and Lane. Whether anyone will ever make a good Superman movie again remains to be seen. This one is just passable. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B  

American Beauty

American Beauty (1999) starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper, Peter Gallagher, Allison Janney. Directed by Sam Mendes. Surprisingly good look at two families in suburbia who just happen to live next door to each other. The key character is Lester Burnham (Spacey), who narrates  throughout the movie about his pathetic little life. The main nuclear family is made up of Lester and his wife Carolyn (Bening) and their daughter Jane (Birch). Their next-door-neighbor Ricky (Bentley) has the at-first-creepy habit of videotaping everything he sees, especially Jane. Ricky's father (Cooper) is a retired Marine who is fanatical about his son's behavior. The movie really comes alive when Lester goes to see Jane's performance in a pep rally and falls instantly in love with Jane's friend Angela (Suvari). The film is a true original, with unexpected events at every turn. The movie won Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Screenwriter, Actor (Spacey), and Cinematography. It really is surprisingly excellent. (Subtitles in English are available on the disc.) Grade: A-  

Allegro Non Troppo

Allegro Non Troppo (1976) animated. Italian answer to Disney's "Fantasia" is mediocre at best. One or two of the animated segments stand out, but mostly the animation is not very good, and the live segments in between are just plain stupid. Music by Debussy, Dvorak, Ravel, Vivaldi and Stravinsky, among others, is illustrated by Italian animators with uneven results. The live segments are in black and white, in Italian with English subtitles. The truth is I found the movie profoundly soporific, and I slept through half of it and had to go back and re-view it. I enjoyed the nap. Grade: B-

Amadeus

Amadeus (1984) starring F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey Jones. Directed by Milos Forman. Abraham won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Antonio Salieri, the unfortunate 18th-century composer who lived and worked at the same time and place as Mozart. Salieri was a mediocre talent at best, and he was undone by his jealousy of Mozart's effortless genius. Hulce, as Mozart, makes the composer seem convincingly obnoxious, and the script is beautifully written to illustrate Salieri's mixed feelings about Mozart. He recognizes Mozart's talent -- perhaps he is the only one in Vienna who does -- yet he resents Mozart's person. The movie also won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, and I think they were well deserved. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired, as are closed captions.) Grade: A   

The Bridge at Remagen

The Bridge at Remagen (1969) starring George Segal, Robert Vaughn, Ben Gazzara, Bradford Dillman, E.G. Marshall. Near the end of World War II, the Germans are on the run, and only one bridge remains spanning the Rhine. It's the escape route for 75,000 German troops, but also an invasion route for Allied soldiers. Unfortunately, this movie never makes clear just exactly what all the fighting is about. Do we want to destroy the bridge, or preserve it? It's never made quite clear in the film, although historically the Allied armies went to great lengths to keep the Nazis from blowing up the span. The movie features lots of neat soldier action, with machine guns and tanks and explosions, but it lacks a coherent script that would explain why all the shooting is taking place. (The DVD does not offer English subtitles, but does have closed captions.) Grade: B-   

Amelie

Amelie (2001) starring Audrey Tautou. Although I give this movie an "A" before, I was curiously disappointed this time. I think the fault must lie with me, but I can't figure out why I didn't enjoy the film as much as I had before. All the charms of this oddball movie are still there, and Tautou dazzles in the title role. But for some reason it just didn't register with me as in the past. (In French, with English subtitles.) Grade: B

The American

The American (2010) starring George Clooney, Violante Placido. A weapons expert and assassin (Clooney) is forced to hide out in a small Italian town for a while, but he fails to keep a low profile, continuing to work and developing a serious attraction to a beautiful prostitute named Clara (Placido). As his past gradually catches up to him, he makes up his mind to get out of the criminal business he is in. But it may prove to be too late, as his boss puts out a hit on him. The movie is partially in Italian, but English subtitles are available throughout. Grade: B-

Amelia

Amelia (2009) starring Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor. The story of famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart (Swank) is told, using her around-the-world attempt as a framing device. You already know the basic outline of the story, and there are not a lot of surprises here, but I found the movie to be an interesting telling of a classic American tale. Swank is fine in the title role, and Gere is not bad as her business associate and later husband. Not an earth-shaking film, but a good evening's entertainment. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available.) Grade: B