The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1952) starring Dan O'Herlihy. Directed by Luis Bunuel. Sometime in the 1600s, a man named Robinson Crusoe (O'Herlihy) leaves home to sail the seas. Much to his dismay, his ship is blown far off course by a storm, and he is stranded on an uninhabited island. By pluck and quick wits, he manages to survive, and eventually ends up spending 28 years almost completely alone on the island. His only relief from loneliness is his man Friday, a native who shows up on the island about half-way through the film. It's a moderately entertaining movie, although there's only so much you can do with one man cast away, alone on an island. In the end, his exit from the island seemed a bit anticlimactic, and the film overall was kind of a downer. (Captions in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B 

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989) starring John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed, Charles McKeown, Jonathan Pryce, Uma Thurman, Sting, Robin Williams. Directed by Terry Gilliam. Typical Gilliam fare has Baron Munchausen (Neville) riding in to save a city from the depredations of the Turks in the late 18th century. Everything about the film is fanciful, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I found it to be a mildly diverting evening's entertainment, certainly not one of the great films, but worth watching for the most part. (The supplied English subtitles are very legible, and the disc also offers closed captions.) Grade: B

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) starring Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Andy Serkis. Directed by Peter Jackson. Frodo Baggins (Wood) continues his quest to destroy the evil One Ring, accompanied by Sam Gamgee (Astin) and Gollum (Serkis). Meanwhile, the forces of men, led by Aragorn (Mortensen) and Gandalf (McKellen), take on the armies of Sauron in battle after battle. It's hard to say enough about this movie, which is so beautifully rendered and faithfully adapted from the book by J.R.R. Tolkien. It won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. It's long at three hours and twenty minutes -- something I usually object to strenuously -- but in this case I think every minute is justified. This movie has no boring stretches, and I would gladly sit through it at a theater if my bladder would hold out. (Subtitles in English are available on the disc for the hearing-impaired, as well as closed captions.) Grade: A   

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games (2012) starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci. In a dystopian future, the United States has been replaced by Panem, a country made up of 12 districts and the Capitol. Every year, two "tributes" from each district are chosen to come to the Capitol and engage in the Hunger Games, which involve fighting to the death until only one Victor is left. Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) volunteers to be District 12's tribute to save her little sister from having to go. It's the ultimate extension of today's reality TV shows, and it illustrates the questionable nature of these shows. It makes for a pretty entertaining movie, although the director's choice to use a shaky camera during fight scenes feels like somewhat of a cop-out. It may have been done to downplay the violence and keep the movie's PG-13 rating, since the contestants in the Hunger Games are all teenagers. (The film features available English subtitles, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B+

Tarzan and His Mate

Tarzan and His Mate (1934) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan. Bad white men come to the jungle hoping to steal a fortune in ivory from an elephant graveyard. They ask Tarzan (Weissmuller) for help, but once he understands what they are after, he refuses. Meanwhile, the white men try to lure Jane (O'Sullivan) into leaving Tarzan and coming back to civilization. It's kind of an entertaining movie, in a retro sort of way, but definitely not state-of-the-art. (The disc offers English subtitles, and also closed captions.) Grade: B

Swiss Family Robinson

Swiss Family Robinson (1960) starring John Mills, Dorothy McGuire. Around 1800, a family traveling from Switzerland to New Guinea is shipwrecked on what appears to be a deserted island. Disney treatment of classic story is mildly entertaining; good family fare, but probably not suitable for older kids. (Subtitles in English and closed captions are both available.) Grade: B

The Adventures of Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin (2011) with the voices of Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Nick Frost, Toby Jones, Mackenzie Crook, Cary Elwes. Fearless young journalist Tintin (Bell) goes in search of a model ship, which holds the answer to a mystery. Comic relief is provided by two incompetent police detectives named Thomson and Thompson (Pegg). The motion capture is only partially successful. Many of the characters seem lifeless. And the treasure that the protagonists are seeking is nothing but the usual gold and jewels. Not really so much to get excited about. (The disc offers subtitles in English, and closed captioning.) Grade: B

The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad

The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958) starring Kerwin Mathews, Kathryn Grant, Torin Thatcher. Prince Sinbad of Bagdad (Mathews) must sail to the island of Colossa to save the princess Parisa (Grant) from an evil spell. On the island are exotic monsters, including a giant Cyclops which has a taste for human flesh. Sinbad is forced to ask for help from an unscrupulous magician (Thatcher) who betrays him at the first opportunity. The acting is awful, the script is silly, and the special effects are primitive in this fantasy epic. The stop-motion animation of Ray Harryhausen was state-of-the-art at the time, and I'm sure many children would be entertained (as I was, as a child) by this movie. To it's credit, English subtitles are available, as well as closed captions. Grade: B

Romancing the Stone (DVD)

Romancing the Stone (1984) starring Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito. Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Joan Wilder, reclusive author of romance novels (Turner), is lured to Colombia when she finds out her sister is in trouble. There, she gets on the wrong bus and ends up teamed up with American mercenary Jack Colton (Douglas). Pursued at once by the crooks who are holding her sister (DeVito et. al.) and by the (crooked) authorities, Wilder and Colton flee together through the jungle. It's like she's living one of her own romance novels. Turner and Douglas have pretty good chemistry together on screen, and it's good to see them both looking young and healthy. The script moves along briskly, and the film includes lots of gun play and even a car chase or two. There may be one coincidence too many, but who's nitpicking? The disc offers subtitles in English as well as closed captions. Grade: B

127 Hours (DVD)

127 Hours (2010) starring James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn. Directed by Danny Boyle. Rock climber Aron Ralston (Franco) falls in a crevasse and finds himself trapped, his hand pinned against a rock wall by a boulder. He calls for help, but nobody can hear him due to his remote location. His only hope of survival is to cut off his own hand. Based on a true story (you can't make this stuff up!). Only problem is, the story has been told and retold so that there is little suspense left to fuel the movie. If you've been paying attention at all, you know what he's going to end up doing. One mystery that emerges: How is he going to cut through bone with the tools at his disposal? Suffice it to say that he solves the problem in a way that was, to me, unexpected -- and hard to watch. The denouement -- the part that comes after the climax -- was very satisfying. The movie has good subtitles, plus closed captions. Grade: B+

The Prisoner of Zenda (DVD)

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) starring Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey, Mary Astor, David Niven. Colman, as a central European prince and his English cousin, plays a dual role. The prince, due to be crowned king, drinks some drugged wine and is unable to attend the ceremonies. His English cousin, a dead ringer for him, fills in. Problems arise when the English cousin falls in love with the princess Flavia (Carroll), who is destined to marry the leader of the country -- be it King Rudolph (Colman) or his evil half-brother Michael (Massey). The real King Rudolph is the prisoner of Zenda -- he's abducted and imprisoned at a hunting lodge called Zenda by the villainous Rupert of Hentzau (Fairbanks). His rescue is the action set-piece that forms the climax of the film. The subtitles are good. Grade: B