A Prophet (DVD)

A Prophet (2009) starring Tahar Rahim. A 19-year-old Arab named Malik (Rahim) is thrown into a French prison, where it's sink or swim. He's sentenced to six years. The Corsican mob gives him an offer he can't refuse: kill another inmate, or be killed himself. He is soon working for the Corsicans, and under their protection. Then he starts making deals on his own. And so on. Usually, I like foreign movies, but this one just didn't do it for me. Something about it was just too confusing. Maybe it was just over my head, or maybe it was the translation from French to English subtitles. At any rate, I didn't enjoy it at all. Grade: C

The Ghost Writer (DVD)

The Ghost Writer (2010) starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall, Eli Wallach, James Belushi, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton. Directed by Roman Polanski. A writer known only as "The Ghost" (McGregor) is hired to doctor a manuscript of the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Brosnan). Ominously, the previous ghost writer who worked on the manuscript died in an "accident" in which he fell off a ferry and drowned. Lang is clearly a stand-in for former British P.M. Tony Blair, and the action takes place during the administration of George W. Bush. When The Ghost actually goes to work for Lang at his Massachusetts hideaway, things start to go very wrong. He keeps digging deeper into Lang's past, and what he discovers doesn't add up. Soon, he finds himself running for his life, pursued by a mysterious black sedan. There are several twists and turns still to go in the plot of the movie, and I wasn't disappointed. It's jolly entertaining, as long as you don't think too much about the director's sordid past. The subtitles are all right. Grade: B+

The Philadelphia Story (DVD)

The Philadelphia Story (1940) starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart. Socialite Tracy Lord (Hepburn) is preparing to marry, two years after divorcing her first husband Dexter Haven (Grant). Helped by Haven, tabloid reporter Macaulay Connor (Stewart) has gained entrance to her house the day before the wedding. Madcap antics ensue -- mostly involving the consumption of copious quantities of alcohol. Still, it's fun to watch the three superstars of their time on screen together. Stewart won a Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance. The subtitles are slightly better than adequate. Grade: B

Girl with a Pearl Earring (DVD)

Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) starring Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Judy Parfitt, Cillian Murphy. In 1665 in Delft, Holland, a girl named Griet (Johansson) is hired as a maid in the household of master painter Johannes Vermeer (Firth). She's a good maid, but she catches Vermeer's eye and he wants more from her. He wants her to help him mix his paints; and to pose for a painting -- a painting which will become the classic "Girl with a Pearl Earring," now considered a masterpiece. But her seemingly improved status comes at a cost. Vermeer's wife is insanely jealous of Griet, and one of his daughters takes a special disliking to her. Meanwhile, Vermeer's patron (Wilkinson) has taken a leering fancy to Griet, and makes trouble of a different kind for her. One feels at all times that her virtue is in peril; as a mere maid, there is little she can do to protect herself and still keep her job. Johansson is perfect as Griet, conveying a wide range of emotions with few words. The filmmakers have done an excellent job of creating a world -- Holland in the 17th century, as we can easily imagine it to have been. All the details are spot on. The movie's subtitles are useful and unobtrusive. Grade: A-

Easy Rider (DVD)

Easy Rider (1969) starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson. After a drug deal in L.A. nets them a large amount of money, two buddies (Fonda and Hopper) set off on a cross-country motorcycle ride, headed for New Orleans and Mardi Gras. Along the way, they pick up a lawyer named George Hanson (Nicholson) and he goes along for the ride. Tragedy ensues. From that point on, the film just gets trippy and weird. In the end, the rednecks win. This movie does have excellent subtitles, however. Even the songs are captioned. Grade: B-

Peyton Place (DVD)

Peyton Place (1957) starring Lana Turner, Hope Lange, Arthur Kennedy, Lloyd Nolan, Russ Tamblyn. In 1941, on the eve of World War II, the inhabitants of a small New England town struggle with family problems, personal relationships, rape, unwanted pregnancy, gossip, scandal.... Why, it's a regular soap opera. Then comes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and all the young men of the town are called away. You'd think the soap opera would get swallowed up in the Second World War, but no, it goes on. It is a high-class soap opera, however, and I found myself quite involved in the story, right up to the end. The subtitles are very good. Grade: B+

Vincere (DVD)

Vincere (2009) starring Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Fillipo Timi. Vincere means "win" or "to win" in Italian. This movie tells the story of Ida Dalser (Mezzogiorno), an attractive woman who falls in love with the young Benito Mussolini (Timi). In 1914, they meet and get married, but World War I separates them, and Mussolini (gasp!) marries another woman. Ida begs him to acknowledge her as his wife, and her son as his son, but Mussolini and the Fascists have other ideas. When she insists that she is Mussolini's wife, mother to his first-born son, they shut her away in a mental hospital. What's worse, they take her son away from her. Even though there was a language barrier (this movie is in Italian, with English subtitles), I felt that this was a powerful film which told a tragic story. It must have had strong resonance in Italy, since it dealt with a shameful chapter of Italian history, and was made there. The subtitles are adequate. Grade: A-

The Petrified Forest (DVD)

The Petrified Forest (1936) starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart. Wanderer named Alan Squier (Howard) stops at a gas station in the remote desert southwest, where he meets Gabrielle (Davis), the daughter of the owner. They soon find themselves held hostage by a notorious gangster (Bogart) in the restaurant connected to the gas station. It's a stagey, as opposed to cinematic, production -- which is no surprise, since it was adapted from the stage for the screen. It's interesting to see the actors in their youth, especially Davis and Bogart. It was Bogart's first great success in movies. The movie itself is pretty run-of-the-mill. Grade: B

Peter Pan (DVD)

Peter Pan (1953) -- animated. I can't remember when I first saw this movie. My first memory of Peter Pan is of a picture book I had when I was four years old -- which would have been in 1953, the year this movie was released. I guess I got the book instead of going to see the film (my family was very poor in '53), but I treasured that book, and read it over and over. The movie is a delightful reminder of a childhood experience that stands out like a remembered dream. The film tells the story of Wendy, Michael and John, the Darling children, and how one day they fly away with Peter Pan to Neverland, where children never have to grow up. Pan's ongoing battle with Captain Hook is one of the comic subplots, as is Tinker Bell's jealousy of Wendy. Of course, everything works out in the end, and the animation is top-notch. The subtitles are very good. Grade: A

Personal Velocity (DVD)

Personal Velocity (2002) starring Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey, Fairuza Balk, David Warshofsky, Brian Tarantina, Tim Guinee. Delia (Sedgwick) leaves her abusive husband, taking her three kids with her. She gets a job as a waitress, and has to fend off the leering advances of the cook's son. Greta (Posey) has a kind, considerate husband and works for a publisher. Her unexpected success places temptation in her path, and she has a problem with fidelity. Paula (Balk) is pregnant, and headed upstate when she picks up a young hitchhiker. He's been injured, and she tries to help him -- at some cost to herself. The three stories in this movie are only tangentially linked, but each one is interesting in its way. The subtitles are good. Grade: B

The Runaways (DVD)

The Runaways (2010) starring Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon, Scout Taylor-Compton, Alia Shawkat, Stella Maeve, Riley Keough. Set in the 1970s, this movie portrays the genesis and rise to fame of The Runaways, a real girl band of the era. Stewart plays guitarist Joan Jett, and Fanning is lead singer Cherie Currie. The girls have to fight the rock fans' bias against women, plus their own battles with substance abuse. It turns out to be pretty standard rock-band-makes-it-good-then-breaks-up fare, but with a feminine twist. Unfortunately, the subtitles are lousy. In a film saturated with music, the songs are not captioned. I know it can be done, because I've seen it done in other movies. If you're not already familiar with the music of the '70s, you'll be lost half the time. I was. Grade: B-

Peter's Friends (DVD)

Peter's Friends (1992) starring Stephen Fry, Kenneth Branagh, Rita Rudner, Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Imelda Staunton. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Sometimes referred to as the British "Big Chill"; ten years after graduation, Peter Morton (Fry) inherits the family mansion and invites a group of friends from college to stay with him for a weekend. The friends all bring their own baggage, both literally and figuratively. One of them brings her boyfriend of two weeks. Others bring spouses, not part of the original group. The interplay of all the various characters, changing partners, etc., is cleverly told. Which is a way of saying that the script is very good. Rudner and Thompson deliver standout performances. The subtitles are excellent. Grade: B+

Green Zone (DVD)

Green Zone (2009) starring Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Khalid Abdalla, Amy Ryan, Igal Naor, Jason Isaacs. Early in the Iraq War, Army Chief Roy Miller (Damon) questions why the intel is bad on the location of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Kinnear plays a government weasel who won't listen to the soldiers on the ground. Gleeson is a CIA agent who encourages Miller but won't tell all he knows. Ryan plays a journalist who wrote articles on WMD based on faulty sources. The movie shows Iraq after the invasion as a chaotic place, with various U.S. factions playing off against each other in a giant clusterfuck, which it undoubtedly was. Dear old George W. Bush even makes an appearance. The subtitles are pretty good, but the film's kinetic action is hard to follow even with captions. Grade: B+

Persuasion (DVD)

Persuasion (1995) starring Amanda Root, Ciaran Hinds. Set in 1814, in the wake of war with France, Anne Elliot (Root) lives a quiet life with her father and sisters -- until poverty overtakes them, and the family (except Anne) is forced to relocate to Bath. Anne goes to stay with her "sick" sister Mary, and it is a fateful turn of events. Home from the war is Captain Frederick Wentworth (Hinds), who proposed to Anne eight years before and was refused. Anne loved him, but was talked out of making the match because his prospects were deemed poor by her family. Now Wentworth has returned, having profited from his part in the war and become quite rich. Based on the Jane Austen novel of the same title, the movie reflects the mores and conventions of a long-past time in England -- 200 years ago now. The story is told at a leisurely pace, but rewards the patient viewer. The subtitles are good. Grade: A-

A Perfect Murder (DVD)

A Perfect Murder (1998) starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Viggo Mortensen. When financial tycoon Steven Taylor (Douglas) discovers that his wife Emily (Paltrow) is having an affair with David, an artist (Mortensen), he digs up dirt on David and tries to hire him to kill his wife. There is no such thing as a perfect murder, of course, and complications ensue. For those who aren't familiar with it, this is a '90s update of Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder." Unfortunately, it's not a very good one. In fact, this is a terrible movie. It's filled with glaring errors, logical flaws in the script that are obvious while you're watching it. Furthermore, the subtitles are poor -- hard to read and incomplete. Grade: D

Amelie (DVD)

Amelie (2001) starring Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz. Sheltered young woman (Tautou) encounters real life at the age of 23, decides to try and manipulate the lives of those around her to make them happier. When she finally finds a young man she is interested in, she pursues him in a rather elliptical fashion, always working on a new stratagem. The movie is shot with a saturated color palate that I find very pleasing. It is cleverly written, and Tautou is brilliant in her starring role. I found this to be a charming, original film in all its facets. In French, with English subtitles. Grade: A

Pepe le Moko (DVD)

Pepe le Moko (1937) starring Jean Gabin, Mireille Balin. French film about gangster (Gabin) who is hiding out in the Casbah section of Algiers and eludes capture until he is lured out by an attractive woman (Balin). The evocation of the Casbah seems very convincing, although Gabin doesn't seem quite menacing enough to be a gangster. Although this film is quite old, it's still entertaining to watch. The subtitles are, unfortunately, not easy to read. Grade: B

People Will Talk (DVD)

People Will Talk (1951) starring Cary Grant, Jeanne Crain, Hume Cronyn. Dr. Noah Praetorius (Grant) falls in love with Deborah Higgins (Crain), a pregnant patient, and marries her. Meanwhile, Praetorius' enemy (Cronyn) manages to gin up a trial of the doctor based on his association with an old friend. The last 15 minutes of the film are dynamite, but they hardly make up for all the nonsense that went before. The subtitles are good. Grade: B-

Pelle the Conqueror (DVD)

Pelle the Conqueror (1988) starring Max von Sydow, Pelle Hvenegaard. It's the 19th century, and widower Lasse Karlsson (von Sydow) and his son Pelle (Hvenegaard) emigrate from Sweden to Denmark looking for high-paying jobs. What they find is wretched poverty working on a rich man's farm. There is plenty of drama to witness on the farm, however, as Lasse and Pelle are not the only workers there who are miserable and only wish to escape. But things seem to be looking up for Lasse and Pelle when they meet the "widow" Olsen, who has a home and a cow. From the context and the dialogue, it becomes clear that the help on the farm are no more than indentured servants. Most of them are Swedish immigrants, and have virtually no rights. The movie itself, however, is a rich and varied tapestry depicting life in another time, a distant place. The two-and-a-half hour playing time, usually too long for my taste, seemed like barely enough. The film is in Danish and Swedish, with English subtitles. Grade: A

What About Bob? (DVD)

What About Bob? (1991) starring Bill Murray, Richard Dreyfuss, Julie Hagerty. Murray plays Bob, a phobic, half-crazed patient who pursues his psychiatrist Leo (Dreyfuss) on vacation in New Hampshire. Much to Leo's distress, his family seems to like Bob better than him. Slowly, one baby step at a time, Bob drives Leo insane while co-opting his family. The movie has some genuinely funny moments, and may be just the thing if you're looking for some light entertainment. The subtitles are quite good. Grade: B+

Payday (DVD)

Payday (1973) starring Rip Torn, Ahna Capri, Elayne Heilveil, Cliff Emmich, Michael C. Gwynne. Torn stars as Maury Dann, a second-rate country music star who's on the road with his band, raising hell, wooing women and partaking freely of drugs and alcohol. Dann indulges his every whim, even to the point of killing a man, and expects his manager to fix whatever situation he gets himself into. It's a pretty wild ride, and Torn is pretty great in the role. One complaint: The songs aren't subtitled. Grade: B+

The Pawnbroker (DVD)

The Pawnbroker (1965) starring Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, Jaime Sanchez. Directed by Sidney Lumet. Steiger stars as Sol Nazerman, a Jew who survived the Holocaust during World War II and now, 25 years later, owns a pawn shop in New York City. Nazerman is clearly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, because he continually has flashbacks to his life in the concentration camp. The unspeakable horrors that he has been subject to are revealed gradually, in flashbacks of increasing intensity, and we watch him crumble before our eyes. This is a powerful film, full of meaning, and not easy to watch. But it is certainly worth seeing. There are no subtitles offered on the disc, but it does have closed captions, which are available on most modern TVs. Grade: A-

Pauline at the Beach (DVD)

Pauline at the Beach (1983) starring Amanda Langlet, Arielle Dombasle, Pascal Greggory, Feodor Atkine. A teenage girl named Pauline (Langlet) spends the summer at the beach with her older, sexy cousin Marion (Dombasle). They both become involved with males that they have newly met. Henri, who hooks up with Marion, turns out to be something of a playboy. A friend, walking by his beach house, sees another woman naked in his room. The "friend" tells Marion. High jinks ensue. This movie is in French, with English subtitles. It's somewhat talky, but still quite entertaining, what with all the skimpy swimsuits and casual nudity. Grade: B+

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (DVD)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) starring Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Sven-Bertil Taube. Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist), apparently disgraced journalist, is hired for a six-month job of solving a 40-year-old murder mystery. Lisbeth Salander (Rapace), computer hacker extraordinaire, becomes interested in Blomkvist's case, believing that he was framed. Soon (and I'm not clear on exactly how it happens) the two are working together on the cold murder case. It is customary when reviewing a movie that has been made from a popular book to compare the two, usually to the detriment of the film. In this case, however, I think the movie is actually better in many ways than the book. I felt the book was guilty of many excesses, and these have been corrected in the film. The script is more economical, shorn as it is of much of the verbiage of the book. The story is set in Sweden, and the dialogue is in Swedish, with English subtitles. The DVD has an English soundtrack available, for those who don't like subtitles, and also features an interview with Rapace. Grade: A

Paths of Glory (DVD)

Paths of Glory (1957) starring Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. In World War I, an ambitious French general (Macready) orders his men to take an impregnable German position. When the attack fails, the general orders an example made: Three of the men will be placed on court-martial for cowardice, under penalty of death. Colonel Dax (Douglas) acts as defense counsel -- and conscience of the film -- for the accused men. This movie is now recognized as one of the great anti-war films. Some also see it as anti-military, with some justification. The subtitles are adequate. Grade: A-

The Parallax View (DVD)

The Parallax View (1974) starring Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, William Daniels, Walter McGinn, Hume Cronyn. A reporter (Beatty) investigating a three-year-old assassination doesn't believe it's a conspiracy -- until he digs deeper and finds his own life threatened. Then he decides to go undercover with the Parallax Corporation, the company that seems to be recruiting assassins. It turns out to be an unwise move. This movie didn't hold my interest very well -- I thought it was just too far-fetched. Even with the closed captions turned on, I found parts of it hard to follow. The captions were rather poor -- bowdlerized for no particularly good reason. Grade: B-

Crash (DVD)

Crash (2005) starring Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton, Brendan Fraser, Jennifer Esposito, many others. Directed by Paul Haggis. Racism, crime, HMOs, politics, corruption and many other of the aggravations of living in modern America get their due in this Best Picture Oscar-winning movie. Set in Los Angeles, it tells of the intersecting lives of a cross-section of Angelinos, of all different races and classes, and it does so with dark humor and pathos. It's an ensemble piece, with some big-name actors getting just a small share of the available screen time, and it left me wanting to know more about many of the little stories that played out during the film. That's hardly a flaw, however. This is an absorbing, powerful movie. The subtitles are good. Grade: A

Melvin and Howard (DVD)

Melvin and Howard (1980) starring Paul LeMat, Jason Robards, Mary Steenburgen. Loser Melvin Dummar (LeMat) gives a ride -- and lends a quarter -- to an old stranger (Robards) who claims to be Howard Hughes. Years later, after Hughes dies, a will turns up which names Melvin as an heir to Hughes' estate. The "climax" is anticlimactic, and this movie is only intermittently interesting. Some critics rave over this film, but I didn't like it that much. The subtitles are pretty good. Grade: B-

Georgy Girl (DVD)

Georgy Girl (1966) starring Lynn Redgrave, James Mason, Alan Bates, Charlotte Rampling. It's the Swinging Sixties in London, and Redgrave stars as "ugly duckling" Georgy, who's 22 and "never been kissed." Mason plays James, an older, married man who wants to make her his mistress. When Georgy's flatmate, Meredith (Rampling) gets pregnant, it's decided that Georgy will stay on -- and Meredith's husband, Jos (Bates) falls in love with Georgy. The whole movie is thoroughly delightful and funny, with many unexpected turns. It's made even better by the knowledge that Lynn Redgrave was really quite attractive. I've read that she gained weight so that she could look "ugly" for this film. The only complaint I have about the subtitles is that the songs are not captioned. Grade: A

The Eclipse (DVD)

The Eclipse (2009) starring Ciaran Hinds, Iben Hjejle, Aidan Quinn. Supernatural thriller in which widower (Hinds) senses a presence in his house and at first can't figure out what it could be. Meanwhile, as one of the organizers of a literary festival, his life becomes entwined with a couple of authors (Hjejle and Quinn). This movie has elements of horror, drama and romance, but none of them are really explored fully. It felt incomplete, and all the plot elements got short shrift. The only subtitles available for this disc are closed captions, which serve adequately. Grade: C+

The Paper Chase (DVD)

The Paper Chase (1973) starring Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner, John Houseman. A Harvard Law School freshman named Hart (Bottoms) becomes slightly obsessed with a difficult professor named Kingsfield (Houseman). Hart's problems are compounded when he discovers that his new girlfriend Susan (Wagner) is Kingsfield's daughter. I found the chemistry between Bottoms and Wagner to be a bit tepid. The legal jousting in Kingsfield's classroom was rather interesting. The '70s hairstyles are hi-larious. The subtitles are good. Grade: B+

Walkabout (DVD)

Walkabout (1971) starring Jenny Agutter, Lucien John, David Gulpilil, John Meillon. A teen-age girl (Agutter) and her young brother (John) are abandoned in the Australian outback after their father suffers a fatal breakdown. They end up depending on an Aboriginal youth (Gulpilil) for their survival. A mere summation of the plot, however, does not begin to describe this film. It has a near-hallucinatory quality, as the director makes strange jump-cuts and interpolations which seem to make no sense. A couple of nude scenes featuring Agutter, who was 16 at the time the movie was filmed, are thrown in for no apparent reason other than titillation. In fact, there are many scenes whose presence I can't explain, perhaps because the film doesn't adequately explain them. Whether there was some guiding hand behind the movie who could make sense of it all seems highly doubtful to me. And yet, I found it to be rather compelling. Grade: B

Little Big Man (DVD)

Little Big Man (1970) starring Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Martin Balsam, Richard Mulligan, Chief Dan George. Jack Crabb (Hoffman), a 121-year-old man, and the "only white survivor of Custer's Last Stand," reminisces about his long life on the American frontier. At 10 years old, his family (except his sister) is wiped out by Pawnee raiders, and he is adopted by the Cheyenne, who refer to themselves as the Human Beings. He stays with them five years. After returning to live with white people, Crabb tries various avenues in life, including religion, quackery, gunfighting and store keeping -- all to no avail. Known as Little Big Man to the Cheyenne, he keeps running into them on the frontier. Among other things, Little Big Man is witness to the wanton slaughter of a Cheyenne tribe by soldiers under Custer. The movie is both funny and tragic, which, combined with the fact that it's a good movie, makes it great. The subtitles are very good. Grade: A

The Country Girl (DVD)

The Country Girl (1954) starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, William Holden. Complex psychological drama in which Crosby plays an aging performer (and alcoholic) named Frank Elgin, who is trying to make a comeback, while Kelly plays his wife, Georgie, who feels that she must play go-between to help him deal with producers and directors. Holden portrays Bernie Dodd, a director trying to help Elgin with his comeback, who comes into conflict with Georgie. Kelly won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance, and Crosby delivers a spot-on portrayal of a man who can't be honest with anyone and is wracked with guilt over the death of his son. I wasn't expecting to like this movie much, but the script just blew me away. As happens so often in Hollywood, Crosby was 51 at the time the movie was made, Kelly was 25; yet they play a couple who have been married for 10 years. The subtitles are good. Grade: B+

Paper Moon (DVD)

Paper Moon (1973) starring Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal, Madeline Kahn, John Hillerman. Due to circumstances which would not be allowed today, a 1930s con man (Ryan O'Neal) ends up traveling through Kansas and Missouri with a young orphan named Addie (Tatum O'Neal) who is not his actual daughter (although the actress portraying her is O'Neal's actual daughter). He tries to get rid of her as soon as possible, but she proves to be a better con artist than he is. When they are arrested for bootlegging, it is Addie who engineers their escape. Tatum O'Neal, 10, won a Supporting Actress Oscar for this, her screen debut. The subtitles are OK. Grade: A

The Last Station

The Last Station (2009) starring Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, James McAvoy, Paul Giamatti, Kerry Condon. Set in 1910, during the last year of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy's (Plummer) life, this movie explores the fractious relationship between Tolstoy and his wife (Mirren). Tolstoy in his latter years wanted to make a gift of his writing (and the copyright) to "the people," and his wife resisted stoutly, believing that he was giving away his children's inheritance. Into this maelstrom comes his new assistant Valentin (McAvoy), who can't quite figure out what to make of it all. The film at times ascends to melodrama, and it's not above going for a laugh. The subject matter is, of course, quite serious. The subtitles are absolutely top-notch. Grade: A-

Whip It (DVD)

Whip It (2009) starring Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Daniel Stern, Alia Shawcat. Disaffected Texas teen Bliss (Page) is seduced by the dark side of sports and -- even though she is underage -- she joins a roller derby team, where she is known as Babe Ruthless. The name of the team is the Hurl Scouts, and they are the worst team in the league -- and proud of it. That is, until Babe Ruthless arrives and the team begins to get tired of losing. Meanwhile, Bliss must deal with her overbearing mother (Harden), who just wants her to be good in school and to win beauty pageants. Things get complicated when Bliss falls for a young man, who betrays her, and her best friend (Shawcat) gets arrested for drinking underage at a Hurl Scout afterparty. The dramatic choice then becomes, will Babe Ruthless play for the Hurl Scouts in the championship game, or will Bliss appear in a beauty pageant (the events are on the same day) to please her mother? I think this movie is supposed to be all about grrrl power (Barrymore directed as well as acting in the film), but to me it just comes off as a piling up of sports-movie cliches. The parts don't add up to a coherent whole, and the plot is all too predictable. The novelty -- that the sport is roller derby -- quickly wears off. The subtitles are good. Grade: B

The Reivers (DVD)

The Reivers (1969) starring Steve McQueen, Sharon Farrell, Mitch Vogel, Rupert Crosse, Will Geer. After stealing er, borrowing a car from young Lucius' (Vogel) grandfather (Geer), Boon (McQueen), Lucius and Ned (Crosse) set off cross-country from Mississippi for the big city of Memphis. The year is 1905, and the story is told as a flashback, narrated by Burgess Meredith. Their picaresque adventures prove a sobering experience for 11-year-old Lucius, who learns more than he'd like about lying, women and racism. The script is based on a novel by William Faulkner. The movie finishes strong, which makes up for some slow spots in the middle. Good subtitles. Grade: B+

Panic in the Streets (DVD)

Panic in the Streets (1950) starring Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jack Palance, Zero Mostel. Dr. Clint Reed (Widmark) finds that a recently murdered man had pneumonic plague, and the killers (Palance, Mostel) must be found before they start an epidemic. The police captain (Douglas) is not very cooperative, so Dr. Reed goes off by himself, searching the docks of New Orleans for anyone who has seen the dead man. Meanwhile, the killers are doing everything they can to elude capture while the plague incubates inside them. Despite the 1950 production values, it's a pretty intense film. The subtitles are very helpful. Grade: B

The Princess and the Frog (DVD)

The Princess and the Frog (2009) with the voices of Anika Noni Rose, Jennifer Cody, Jennifer Lewis, Keith David, Oprah Winfrey. Tiana (Rose) dreams of opening her own nightspot and restaurant, but when she kisses a frog, she turns into a frog herself. Set in New Orleans during the Jazz Age, this Disney animation is notable principally for the fact that the princess of the title is (at last) an African American. Trouble is, she spends most of the movie as a frog. The animation mostly looks flat, probably because it is -- as opposed to CGI; the songs are uninspired. Still, this will likely appeal to youngsters who still go for animated films. It's a cute movie. The subtitles are good. Grade: B

Collapse (DVD)

Collapse (2009) starring Michael Ruppert. Investigative journalist Ruppert is interviewed at length, and gives his reasons why he thinks civilization is headed for collapse. His central argument is that modern civilization, and the population growth that has accompanied it, is attributable to and dependent on the exploitation of oil -- and that we have already passed the permanent peak of production for oil worldwide. Not only that, but there is on the horizon no viable substitute for oil. Ruppert's discussion is wide-ranging, encyclopedic, and apocalyptic, but never boring. Also, the film is subtitled for the hearing-impaired. Grade: B+

Invictus (DVD)

Invictus (2009) starring Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon. Directed by Clint Eastwood. In 1995, South Africa's newly elected president Nelson Mandela (Freeman) decides that the rugby World Cup would be a good place to begin the process of reconciliation. Damon, as the captain of the rugby team, "gets" it -- Mandela wants them to win the World Cup. It's an inspiring story, but let's face it: In the end, this is a movie about rugby -- a sport that will be incomprehensible to 99 percent of Americans, and was to me. They should make a movie about cricket. Now that would be great. Subtitles: fine. Grade: B

Pan's Labyrinth (DVD)

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) starring Sergi Lopez, Maribel Verdu, Ivana Baquero. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. In 1944 in Franco's Spain, the triumphant forces of Fascism set up outposts to hunt down the Communist guerrillas who continue to resist. The brutal Fascist Captain Vidal (Lopez) commands a mountain garrison, where his new wife and young stepdaughter Ofelia (Baquero) have come to stay with him. Ofelia escapes the violence around her by drifting into a fantasy world where she is a princess given three tasks by a mysterious faun who lives underground at the center of a labyrinth. In the end, I had the feeling that I had seen something profound and moving. But what does it all mean? I couldn't say. In Spanish, with English subtitles. Grade: A-

The Panic in Needle Park (DVD)

The Panic in Needle Park (1971) starring Al Pacino, Kitty Winn. Bobby (Pacino) and Helen (Winn) meet each other in New York City and become involved. Bobby is a small-time hustler and thief, while Helen has just recently been abandoned by her boyfriend. Soon Bobby and Helen are both hooked on heroin, and things go straight downhill from there. The "panic" of the title is a shortage of heroin on the streets. This is a real strong anti-drug movie. What the heck, I'm anti-heroin myself. The subtitles are essential and helpful, though a little hard to read. Grade: B+

The Painted Veil (DVD)

The Painted Veil (2006) starring Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Toby Jones, Diana Rigg. In 1925, Dr. Walter Fane (Norton) enters into a marriage of convenience with Kitty (Watts). It's convenient for her, anyway. He's in love, she's not. His work as a bacteriologist takes them to China, where she strikes up a love affair with Charlie Townsend (Schreiber). Dr. Fane is no fool, however, and he agrees not to divorce her only if she will accompany him into the interior of China to fight a cholera epidemic. While battling the disease together, they unexpectedly fall in love with one another all over again. This movie is beautifully photographed, scripted, and acted (especially by Watts). The subtitles are helpful, but not great. Grade: A-

From Here to Eternity (DVD)

From Here to Eternity (1953) starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra. Intrigue and romance in the U.S. Army on Hawaii in 1941, right before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Prewitt (Clift) doesn't want to box, but the Army wants him to box. Meanwhile, Sergeant Warden (Lancaster) is fooling around with the company commander's wife (Kerr). This film features the famous scene of Lancaster and Kerr kissing on the beach while the surf rolls over them -- not nearly as much of a thrill in context as it is in outtakes. But I have to admit, I got caught up in the soap opera. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor puts an exclamation point on the film -- but time has robbed it of some of its impact. This movie won eight Oscars, including Best Picture. The subtitles are very legible, but frequently omit fragments of dialogue. Grade: B

Mogambo (DVD)

Mogambo (1953) starring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly. Directed by John Ford. Gable, as Victor Marswell, captures wild animals in Africa for sale to zoos, circuses and trainers. Eloise Kelly (Gardner) shows up as an uninvited guest, expecting to go on safari, but her "date" stands her up; and at first she proves to be a nuisance. When Mrs. Nordley (Kelly) shows up, it is apparent that Marswell is drawn to her -- and Eloise Kelly is jealous. The result is an awkward sort of love triangle that may have been interesting in 1953, but in 2010 seems stilted and dated. The movies back then had to adhere to different rules, of course, and as an artifact of the '50s this one has its good points. The gorilla safari, however, isn't one of them. It's embarrassingly retro by today's standards. "Mogambo" was a remake of "Red Dust," a 1932 film in which Gable also starred. The subtitles are just barely adequate. Grade: C+

As It Is in Heaven (DVD)

As It Is in Heaven (2005) starring Michael Nyqvist, Frida Hallgren. A famous conductor suffers a heart attack, ending his performing career, and decides to move back to the small village where he grew up. He has changed his name, however, so no one knows that he is from the village. He ends up in charge of the local church choir; as he says, "Music is all I know." It's a thankless job, at a menial wage, but he throws himself into it with vigor. His passion for music stirs up a lot of suppressed emotions in the choir members, however, and some in the village aren't happy with what he's doing. The many little dramas that are thus played out make up the bulk of the movie. It was fun to watch. The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Picture at the Oscars. In Swedish, with very good English subtitles. Grade: B+

Artists of the 20th Century: Paul Klee (DVD)

Artists of the 20th Century: Paul Klee (2004). This documentary is the video equivalent of an art book, with reproductions of many of Klee's paintings, accompanied by a running commentary. I happen to really like Klee's work, so I enjoyed this DVD immensely -- even though it has no subtitles, which in this rare case are not needed. If I have a complaint about this disc, it is that it is too short, and Klee's works are not placed in historical context. For example, he continued to work through World War I, but no indication of how the war may have affected him is given, even though he is German. The disc could have used some added depth. Grade: A-

Fantastic Mr. Fox (DVD)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) with the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray. Mr. Fox (Clooney) decides he wants to pull "one last job" before quitting his chicken-stealing ways. But he arouses the ire of three mean farmers, who set out to kill him. It's basically the wild animals against the humans in this stop-motion fantasy, which makes for passable entertainment. It's good clean fun, with the word "cuss" used everywhere a curse word might appear. Rated PG, I think it would be fine for kids. Good subtitles. Grade: B

The Young Victoria (DVD)

The Young Victoria (2009) starring Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Paul Bettany. Blunt plays 18-year-old British royal Victoria, who in 1837 ascends to the throne whilst court intrigue swirls around her. She proves to be a firm but inexperienced queen, and has a lot of learning on the job to do. Young Victoria soon (1840) marries Prince Albert of Germany (Friend), who has difficulty fitting in as the husband of the Queen. Interesting factoid: They had nine children, and Albert died 20 years later, at age 42, from typhoid. This is not a bad movie, by any means, but it covers such a short span of Victoria's life and covers it in such a shallow manner that the film seems a mere trifle. The subtitles are excellent. Grade: B

The Ox-Bow Incident (DVD)

The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) starring Henry Fonda, Harry Morgan, Frank Conroy, Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn. Well told story of a lynch mob in the old West, pursuing three men who have the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Only a few in the mob (including Fonda) have the courage to stand up to the majority and oppose a hanging without a trial. The story is very economically told in 75 minutes. The subtitles are pretty good. Grade: A

The Pajama Game (DVD)

The Pajama Game (1957) starring Doris Day, John Raitt. Old-fashioned musical has its charms, but the disc fails to deliver since it has no subtitles, not even closed captions. Furthermore, the DVD is not indexed -- you can't stop it to take a break and return to the spot where you stopped. This is a disc of the very poorest quality. Grade: F

Over the Edge (DVD)

Over the Edge (1979) starring Michael Kramer, Pamela Ludwig, Matt Dillon, Vincent Spano. Disaffected teenagers plus incompetent cops adds up to trouble in this distinctly period drama. Alcohol and drugs flow freely for these kids -- and then one of them turns up with a gun. You just know no good can come of that. When all the parents meet at the high school "cafetorium" to discuss the problem, the kids' reaction is unexpectedly violent and chaotic. Unfortunately, the movie has a kind of cartoonish apocalypse for a climax. Not the most effective ending, although the film's prologue claims it's based on actual events. Good subtitles. Grade: B-

Owning Mahowny (DVD)

Owning Mahowny (2003) starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Driver, Maury Chaykin, John Hurt. Dan Mahowny (Hoffman) is a successful bank manager who also happens to be a compulsive gambler. When he wins a large account at the bank, he starts embezzling big chunks of money (starting with $100,000) to support his gambling habit. His supportive and loyal girlfriend Belinda (Driver) has figured out that he has a problem, but she doesn't know how deep in it he is. Meanwhile, the police have a wiretap on Mahowny's bookie. The movie is made more interesting by the fact that it is based on true events, although Mahowny's name has probably been changed. The disc has absolutely no subtitles, but is saved by the closed captions, which are quite good. Grade: A-

Out of the Past (DVD)

Out of the Past (1947) starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming. Mitchum plays a former private detective who is trying to escape his past. Greer fills the femme fatale role as Kathie, the dame who keeps pulling him back into danger -- and who has a bad habit of shooting men who get in her way. The dialogue is snappy and the action is pretty much non-stop -- and everybody, especially Mitchum, drinks freely and smokes like a chimney. The plot of this movie is really a little too complicated to be enjoyed, but it makes up for it with atmosphere. It's the quintessential noir for film students. The subtitles are good. Grade: B

East of Eden (DVD)

East of Eden (1955) starring James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Jo Van Fleet, Burl Ives. Dean plays Cal, "bad" son to his father Adam (Massey), in this drama set in 1917 in California. When Adam loses all his money in a scheme to sell refrigerated lettuce, Cal resolves to earn the money back by raising beans to sell in the coming war. Meanwhile, Cal and his brother, Aron, compete for the love of a young woman (Harris) -- and for the love of their father. Cal uncovers a dark family secret, which sets the plot in motion. The obvious parallel is to the biblical story of Cain and Abel. The film, based on a John Steinbeck novel, packs a real emotional punch. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, and won one (Supporting Actress for Van Fleet). The subtitles are good. Grade: A

Avatar (DVD)

Avatar (2009) starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez. Written and directed by James Cameron. Evil, corporate humans and their military minions try to destroy the natives on the alien moon Pandora -- all to get at a big deposit of a valuable mineral called unobtanium. A human wearing an alien body (Worthington) turns out to be the fly in the ointment when he falls in love with the Na'vi people and with one female named Neytiri (Saldana) in particular. There are many elements in Avatar that are derivative, but it's still a big thrill-ride of a movie, and I can only imagine what it must have been like to see it in 3D. The special effects are phenomenal. The subtitles are excellent. Grade: A-

Crazy Heart (DVD)

Crazy Heart (2009) starring Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall. Bridges stars as a washed-up, alcoholic country music star named Bad Blake, who has been reduced to playing bowling alleys and bars in small towns to make ends meet. Gyllenhaal plays Jean, a small-town journalist who interviews him -- and sleeps with him. Blake sees a chance for salvation in Jean, who cares about him; but when he is entrusted with the care of her young son, Buddy, he pulls the boneheaded move of stopping for a drink and losing the boy. This film isn't a tragedy, of course -- nothing bad happens to Buddy. But after that point the movie just kind of fizzles out. It's still interesting, but it lacks some sort of creative spark that would make it really shine. Bridges did win a Best Actor Oscar for his performance, but that's about the only reason to see the movie. The subtitles are very good. Grade: B

The Blind Side (DVD)

The Blind Side (2009) starring Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Kathy Bates. Bullock won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance as Leigh Anne Tuohy, an affluent Memphis mom who takes a homeless African American teen under her wing. The teen in question is Michael Oher (Aaron), who goes on to become a football player in the NFL. It's a pretty entertaining movie. The subtitles are OK. Grade: B+

The Messenger (DVD)

The Messenger (2009) starring Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone. The Messenger is an intense, emotionally charged movie about two soldiers (Harrelson and Foster) who are assigned notification duty. It is their job to inform the next of kin of fallen comrades who have been killed in the line of duty. It's a tough job, and it takes an emotional toll on the pair. This is a somber film, but an oddly upbeat one, especially towards the end. Morton and Malone provide the romantic interests. The subtitles are very good. Grade: B+

Our Town (DVD)

Our Town (1940) starring William Holden, Martha Scott. Based on Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The picture is of poor quality, the sound is muddy, and there are no subtitles for the hearing-impaired -- not even closed captions. Grade: F

Orlando (DVD)

Orlando (1993) starring Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane. Swinton plays the title character, who lives for 400 years, first as an English nobleman, then as a woman. That's right, he/she changes sex halfway through the film. And there's no real mechanism for the change, it just happens one day. This movie is a real oddity, and if you like that sort of thing, it might be for you. The subtitles are fine. Grade: B-

Ordinary People (DVD)

Ordinary People (1980) starring Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton, M. Emmet Walsh, Elizabeth McGovern. Directed by Robert Redford. Now thirty years old, this movie has lost none of its power to move me. The conflict is timeless, as an American middle-class family struggles to deal with the death of one of two sons. The surviving son (Hutton) has to overcome feelings of guilt about living through the boating accident that killed his brother. His father (Sutherland) worries about him, and his mother (Moore) resents him. The film won four well-deserved Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The acting is good all around. It's McGovern's screen debut. The subtitles are quite good. Grade: A

The Hurt Locker (DVD)

The Hurt Locker (2008) starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Guy Pearce. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. This is another of those annoying rental DVDs that force you to sit through ten or 15 minutes of previews before you can access the movie. When you press the "menu" button, you get a little symbol in the top right corner of the picture that says "ah-ah-ah, you can't do that." It's extremely aggravating. ... In "The Hurt Locker," an Army bomb disposal squad in Iraq struggles with the conditions of the war and with each other. The movie captures the chaos of war as the men count down the days until they can go home. The film won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. But overall, it left me feeling dissatisfied. The subtitles are good. Grade: B

Ordet (DVD)

Ordet (1955) starring Henrik Malberg, Emil Hass Christensen, Cay Kristiansen, Preben Lerdorff Rye. Danish film set in 1925 about two families with differing religious beliefs, who must deal with the love between two of their children. Even though both families are Christian, they believe in different flavors of Christianity. When one father turns down an offer of marriage for his daughter, the other father comes to his house to argue with him about theology. Every crisis is discussed in terms of faith. The ending is quite a surprise. This film won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1956. The subtitles are ... necessary. Grade: B

Operation Petticoat (DVD)

Operation Petticoat (1959) starring Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Dina Merrill. Grant stars as the World War II captain of a crippled submarine who is determined to make it seaworthy again. Curtis plays his "creative" supply officer. Unfortunately, this DVD has no subtitles for the hearing-impaired, not even closed captions. What a shame. Grade: F

The Sound of Music (DVD)

The Sound of Music (1965) starring Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Peggy Wood. Utterly captivating fictionalization of the story of the true-life von Trapp family, who fled Austria in 1938 to escape the Nazis. The whole movie is buoyed by the infectious charm and lovely voice of Andrews, who stars as Maria, the postulant who fails as a nun and becomes the governess for the von Trapp children. The songs are practically all winners, and some have gone on to become standards. While the real story of the von Trapp family has been altered and sanitized for dramatic effect, the movie is nevertheless a grand entertainment. It won five Oscars, including Best Picture. The subtitles are very good. Grade: A-

On the Waterfront (DVD)

On the Waterfront (1954) starring Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, Eva Marie Saint. The Longshoreman's Union is dominated by the mob in New York. Terry Malloy (Brando), a has-been boxer, works on the docks and becomes involved in the murder of a "cheese eater." When he becomes involved with the victim's sister (Saint), he begins to have a change of heart. The film won eight Oscars, including Best Picture. The subtitles are excellent. Grade: A

On the Town (DVD)

On the Town (1949) starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Vera-Ellen, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller. Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. Musical in which three sailors have 24 hours to explore New York City on shore leave. Their primary goal, of course, is to pick up some good-looking young ladies -- and to break out in song and dance every few minutes. This movie is extremely short on plot, long on music and choreography -- but it's surprisingly entertaining. Highlight is rousing "New York, New York." Unfortunately, the last 10 or 15 minutes devolve into silliness. The subtitles are very good. Grade: B

On the Beach (DVD)

On the Beach (1959) starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins. Directed by Stanley Kramer. American submarine, captained by Dwight Towers (Peck), docks in Australia in the aftermath of a nuclear war. Australia has been spared from the bombs, but a radioactive cloud is believed to be five months away. Gardner plays Moira, Captain Towers' love interest. Astaire plays Julian, a scientist who wrestles with guilt, and Perkins plays a young Navy lieutenant who's worried about what to do when the end nears. Everyone deals with the end of the world in his or her own way. Some go mad, some turn to religion, some commit suicide. The movie gets a little preachy toward the end, but still puts in a good effort in dealing with a somber subject. No subtitles, but does have closed captions. Grade: B+

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (DVD)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) starring George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas. Lazenby takes over the role of James Bond, Agent 007, for one film. Some 007 fans are said to believe that this is the best of the Bond films, but I can't see it. It's mostly chase scenes, sometimes in cars, sometimes on skis, and ultimately in bobsleds. The script is bland and so is Lazenby. The DVD has no subtitles, except for closed captions, which are adequate. Grade: C

One, Two, Three (DVD)

One, Two, Three (1961) starring James Cagney, Arlene Francis, Horst Buchholtz, Pamela Tiffin. Directed by Billy Wilder. Dumb Cold-War comedy has Cagney playing a Coca-Cola executive in 1961 in West Berlin. Assigned to baby-sit his boss' wild 17-year-old daughter (Tiffin), he is dismayed to discover she has secretly married an East Berlin Communist (Buchholtz). Some of the situations and jokes are good for a smile or a chuckle, but basically the whole thing seems awfully dated. Cagney, born in 1899, seems a little old for his role, and I don't find him especially funny. The subtitles are very good. Grade: C+

Blood Simple (DVD)

Blood Simple (1984) starring John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, Samm-Art Williams, M. Emmet Walsh. Directed by Joel Coen. Cuckolded bar owner Marty (Hedaya) hires slimy private eye Loren (Walsh) to kill his wife Abby (McDormand) and her lover Ray (Getz). And that's in the first 20 minutes. From that point on the movie takes numerous bizarre twists and turns, some of which knocked me out, others of which left me confused. I've seen this movie before, and I seem to remember it as being better than this. The final showdown between Abby and Loren is still great, though. This film marks McDormand's cinema debut. The subtitles are a big help. Grade: B+

Out of Sight (DVD)

Out of Sight (1998) starring George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez. Bank robber Jack Foley (Clooney) and federal marshal Karen Sisco (Lopez) meet in the trunk of a getaway car. Although they are on opposite sides of the law, there is no denying that there is a mutual attraction between them. They are soon separated by circumstances, but they keep running into each other -- since she is part of the FBI task force pursuing him. The film ends as it has to end, but I found the denouement a little disappointing. Good subtitles for the hearing-impaired. Grade: B

Selena (DVD)

Selena (1997) starring Jennifer Lopez, Edward James Olmos, Jon Seda. Abraham (Olmos) is the patriarch of a Mexican-American family living in a gringo neighborhood. After he hears his young daughter Selena sing, he decides to buy instruments and start a family band. The going is rough at first (of course), but out of his dreams is born the Hispanic singing sensation Selena (Lopez). Whether you like the movie or not will probably depend on whether you like Jennifer Lopez, and I'm kind of on the fence about her. The film is pretty much a standard rags-to-riches biopic, until the shocking climax. The subtitles are generally good. Grade: B-

Friendly Persuasion (DVD)

Friendly Persuasion (1956) starring Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins. Jess and Eliza Birdwell (Cooper and McGuire) are devoted Quaker parents living in southern Indiana during the Civil War. They are opposed to violence and war because of their religion, but their son Josh (Perkins) feels compelled to get into the fight. Fortunately, the Birdwells' war is very short. The movie has adequate subtitles. Grade: B+

Five Minutes of Heaven (DVD)

Five Minutes of Heaven (2009) starring Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt. This is another one of those DVDs which make you sit through 15 minutes of previews of coming attractions before you actually get to the movie. It's very irritating, even if you like previews, which I do. But on to the film: Neeson and Nesbitt play two men who were once on opposite sides of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Alistair Little (Neeson) is a killer, Joe Griffin (Nesbitt), is the brother of the man he killed. Long after the conflict is over, the two are set to meet as part of the reconciliation process. But Griffin is not after reconciliation -- he seeks revenge. The climactic confrontation is fairly satisfying. I was thankful for the subtitles -- everyone in the movie speaks with a heavy Irish accent. Grade: B

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (DVD)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) starring Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher. Directed by Milos Forman. R.P. McMurphy (Nicholson) wreaks havoc on a mental ward presided over by the evil Nurse Ratched (Fletcher). Several now-familiar actors appear as mental patients, including Brad Dourif, Danny Devito and Christopher Lloyd. Every scene is memorable, and the movie maintains a steady clip. The film performed the rare feat of winning all five major Oscars: Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress. The subtitles are OK. Grade: A

One Fine Day (DVD)

One Fine Day (1996) starring Michelle Pfeiffer, George Clooney. Pfeiffer and Clooney play divorced single parents who, we know from the start, are destined to fall in love. How do we know this? Because from the start, they don't like each other. This is a very nice movie with two likable stars, and a good supporting cast. The subtitles are good, too. Grade: B+

Once Were Warriors (DVD)

Once Were Warriors (1994) starring Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell. Lower-class, urbanized Maori family in New Zealand struggles with poverty, crime, abuse. The wife (Owen) finally decides that she's not going to take it anymore, but it's too late for her daughter Grace (Kerr-Bell), who has been raped by one of her father's friends and hangs herself. There can be no happy ending, of course, but there is a kind of rough justice. This is a movie that really packs a punch. It has good subtitles, too. Grade: A-

Once Upon a Time in the West (DVD)

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) starring Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards. Directed by Sergio Leone. The widow McBain (Cardinale) holds the title to land the railroad wants, and she faces the murderous outlaw Frank (Fonda), who would just as soon take it away from her. "Harmonica" (Bronson) becomes her protector, for reasons which are not at first clear. The movie's length, at two hours, 45 minutes, works against it; but it ultimately has a satisfying climax. Grade: B

The Lovely Bones (DVD)

The Lovely Bones (2009) starring Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci. Directed by Peter Jackson. Ronan plays Susie Salmon, the 14-year-old girl who is murdered early in the movie. We, the viewers, know how it happened and we know who did it: George Harvey (Tucci), a solitary man who lives in the neighborhood. Two questions arise: One, does the movie work as a movie, and two, does the movie live up to the book? The answer to the first question is, Pretty well, and the answer to the second question is, Not quite. There's a whole subplot that involves Sarandon as the crazy, alcoholic grandmother who comes to "help" -- which is amusing enough, but the movie could have done without her. Major changes have been made to the book -- characters have been added, and Susie has a romantic interest. More importantly, the film just can't capture the complexity of emotion that is experienced in reading the book. The subtitles are very good. Grade: B

Summer Hours (DVD)

Summer Hours (2008) starring Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, Jeremie Renier, Edith Scob. When the matriarch (Scob) of a French clan dies, her children (Binoche, Berling and Renier) must decide how to deal with her estate -- which includes a country house and a substantial art collection. Their decision is complicated by the fact that only one of them (Berling) lives in France. One son (Renier) lives in China, and the daughter (Binoche) lives in New York. Meanwhile, the son who lives in France starts having trouble with his daughter. This film shares a common flaw of foreign films, in that when a character speaks in English, even if in heavily French-accented English, the subtitles stop. Ironically, when the characters speak in English, that is when the movie is hardest to understand and follow. Otherwise, the subtitles are fine. Grade: B+

Once Upon a Time in America (DVD)

Once Upon a Time in America (1984) starring Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Tuesday Weld. Directed by Sergio Leone. Sprawling, violent epic of Jewish mobsters in the 1920s in New York. Directed by Leone and with a score by Ennio Morricone, it often has the feel of a spaghetti Western. It is told in flashback fashion, with De Niro returning 35 years after his heyday to do one last job. Extreme length of film works against it -- at three hours, 45 minutes, I can't imagine sitting through it in a theater. The subtitles are pretty good. Grade: C

O Lucky Man! (DVD)

O Lucky Man! (1973) starring Malcolm McDowell, Rachel Roberts, Arthur Lowe, Ralph Richardson. This movie is an oddity, in that it is so long (three hours) that it comes on two discs. The really odd thing is that Netflix sent me two copies of Disc 1, so that I had only the first half of the movie. I wasn't enjoying it that much anyway, but Netflix definitely gets an F.

Old Yeller (DVD)

Old Yeller (1957) starring Dorothy McGuire, Fess Parker, Tommy Kirk. Corny Disney tale of pesky old stray who turns out to be a pretty darn good dog. Good family fare. Watch out for the tear-jerker ending. The subtitles for the hearing-impaired are excellent. Grade: B

Oliver Twist (DVD)

Oliver Twist (1948) starring Alec Guinness, Robert Newton, John Howard Davies, Kay Walsh, Francis L. Sullivan, Anthony Newley. Directed by David Lean. The Charles Dickens story gets the movie treatment, with young Davies in the title role. Orphan Oliver Twist, born and raised in a workhouse for the destitute, is apprenticed at age 9 to an undertaker. He soon finds himself in trouble at his new post, however, and runs away to London. There he meets up with the Artful Dodger (Newley), who introduces him to the despicable Fagin (Guinness, with a big fake nose). Complications ensue, as those familiar with Dickens can imagine. All ends well, of course. The subtitles are a little hard to find, but adequate. Grade: B+

Up in the Air (DVD)

Up in the Air (2009) starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman. Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham, a corporate weasel whose job it is to fly all over the country and fire people for companies who don't want to do their own firing. During his travels, he meets Alex (Farmiga), who is a female version of himself. Meanwhile, a young hotshot named Natalie (Kendrick) comes up with a plan to do the firing via teleconference, which would ground Clooney and ruin his dream of accumulating ten million frequent-flier miles. But Natalie finds that firing people is not so easy. This is one film that gives the viewer plenty of food for thought. The movie was nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture, but won none. The subtitles are very good. Grade: A-

Oliver! (DVD)

Oliver! (1968) starring Mark Lester, Ron Moody, Jack Wild, Oliver Reed. Directed by Carol Reed. Orphan Oliver Twist (Lester) escapes from the workhouse, falls under the tutelage of the crooked Fagin (Moody). Through Fagin, Oliver meets (and runs afoul of) the brutal Bill Sikes (Reed). As befits a musical, the movie features lots of singing and dancing, most of it quite forgettable. The phrase, "They don't make 'em like this anymore" comes to mind. The film is a bit too long at two and a half hours. It won six Oscars, including Best Picture. The subtitles are excellent. Grade: B

Braveheart (DVD)

Braveheart (1995) starring Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Catherine McCormack. Directed by Mel Gibson. When Murron (McCormack), his new bride and the love of his life, is murdered by the English, William Wallace (Gibson) reacts by leading his village in an uprising against the local English garrison. From that point on, the Scots under Wallace are in full rebellion against the heinous English rule. But the Scottish noblemen cannot be counted on, and in that may lie Wallace's downfall. The battle scenes are thrilling, but the movie's extreme length (two hours, 57 min.) works against it. "Braveheart" won five Oscars, including Best Picture. The subtitles are very good. Grade: A-

Old Gringo (DVD)

Old Gringo (1989) starring Jane Fonda, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Smits. Self-described spinster Harriet Winslow (Fonda) travels to Mexico to be a governess in 1913, becomes entangled in the Mexican revolution. Smits plays a revolutionary general; and Peck plays Ambrose Bierce, the "old gringo" of the title, who travels to Mexico to witness the revolution firsthand. It makes for a pretty good story, enhanced by the fact the Bierce was a historical figure, a famous American author who did, in fact, travel south to observe the Mexican revolution. He disappeared, never to be heard from again. The movie hints at a solution to the mystery. The subtitles are pretty good. Grade: B

Oklahoma! (DVD)

Oklahoma! (1955) starring Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Charlotte Greenwood, Rod Steiger. Classic musical movie version of stage show has songs, dancing, romance, conflict and the threat of violence. Many of the song and dance numbers are forgettable, but there are plenty of familiar winners thrown into the mix. Main flaw: The film is unnecessarily long at two hours, 25 minutes. The subtitles are excellent. Grade: B-

Oh, God! (DVD)

Oh, God! (1977) starring George Burns, John Denver, Teri Garr, Paul Sorvino. Directed by Carl Reiner, who also appears in a small role. God, in the person of Burns, comes down to Earth to tell grocery store manager Jerry (Denver) to deliver his message to the world. But of course nobody believes Jerry, not even his wife Bobbie (Garr). Nobody believes him, that is, until he appears on the Dinah Shore show. The movie manages to take a light-hearted look at a serious subject, and in some way it's comfort food for the mind. A very young-looking Sorvino has a delicious role as an evangelical preacher. The subtitles are good. Grade: B+

Of Mice and Men (DVD)

Of Mice and Men (1939) starring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney Jr., Betty Field. I have a feeling this is a really good movie, but it's hard to tell since it lacks subtitles or captions of any kind for the hearing-impaired. Grade: F

The Bad Lieutenant (DVD)

The Bad Lieutenant (2009) starring Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer. Cage plays a post-Katrina New Orleans policeman who starts out good, injures his back, becomes addicted to pain killers and various illegal drugs, and becomes a bad cop. In the course of the movie, he hallucinates singing iguanas (not as entertaining as it sounds) and loses a witness to a murder. He smokes crack and terrorizes old women. Ultimately, he goes rogue. Cage plays his role like some crazed dope fiend from Reefer Madness. Then, suddenly, all the trouble he has gotten himself into evaporates and the film has, strangely enough, a happy ending. Kilmer, billed as a co-star, barely makes an appearance. The subtitles are very poor. Grade: C-

Off the Map (DVD)

Off the Map (2004) starring Valentina de Angelis, Sam Elliott, Joan Allen, J.K. Simmons. In 1974, a family retreats to the boondocks of New Mexico, where the 12-year-old daughter, Bo (de Angelis), is puzzled by her father Charley's (Elliott) depression. Soon, an IRS agent shows up to ask why they haven't filed a tax return for seven years. But the agent falls in love with Bo's mother (Allen), and with New Mexico, and never returns to his job at the IRS. Interesting movie. Top-notch subtitles. Grade: B

La Strada (DVD)

La Strada (1954) starring Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart. Brutish traveling entertainer Zampano (Quinn) buys services of simpleton Gelsomina (Masina) from her mother for the equivalent of about $15. He takes her on the road to "teach her a trade" as an itinerant clown. But it soon becomes clear that he will treat her as his stooge. She falls for him, but he mistreats her. She tries to leave him, but he won't let her go. The film develops naturally until a surprisingly devastating conclusion. This movie won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In English, la strada means "the road." The subtitles are a little hard to read. Grade: A

The Time Traveler's Wife (DVD)

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) starring Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Ron Livingston. This is one of those infuriating DVDs that makes you sit through several previews of coming attractions before you can access the movie. I find this quite irritating, and I won't be swayed to see any of the films advertised just because I have been forced to sit through the preview.... But that doesn't necessarily have a bearing on "The Time Traveler's Wife." In the movie, Henry (Bana), due to a genetic defect, travels through time at random and unpredictable times and places. His soul mate is Clare (McAdams), whom he meets as a young girl when he's older, but doesn't remember when they meet as adults (it's complicated). The time travel has the odd effect of making their love inevitable from the start, so that the movie can't end with a happily ever after. Some will find the time travel aspect of the film to be too gimmicky, but I found it fascinating. The subtitles are very good. Grade: B+

The Official Story (DVD)

The Official Story (1985) starring Norma Aleandro, Hector Alterio. Aleandro plays an Argentinian woman named Alicia who has a comfortable life, untouched by the political turmoil that surrounds her, until she begins to suspect that her adopted child Gaby may have been stolen from one of "the disappeared." Alicia goes searching to find the truth, and the closer she gets to it, the more miserable she feels. This is a powerful movie, with no happy ending. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The subtitles are not very good, but are adequate to the job. Grade: A-