Fish Tank (DVD)

Fish Tank (2009) starring Katie Jarvis, Kierston Wareing, Michael Fassbender. Life of hot-tempered teen outcast Mia (Jarvis) seems to be taking a turn for the better when her mother (Wareing) brings home new boyfriend Connor (Fassbender). Connor treats Mia decently, and seems to be the father figure she needs in her life. But Connor soon turns out to be more of a kind of "funny uncle," and when he messes with Mia he finds himself in deeper than he could have anticipated. All in all, it's a grim tale, without a happy ending. Interesting to watch, though. The subtitles are hard to find, and just adequate. Grade: B

Get Low (DVD)

Get Low (2009) starring Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Bill Murray, Lucas Black. Duvall stars as Felix Bush, a backwoods hermit who decides to plan his own funeral so he can attend it while he's still alive. Bush says that he wants people to attend his funeral who have a story to tell about him, but it turns out that it is he who has the story to tell -- a confession for a long-ago misdeed that he has been keeping to himself for 40 years. The movie goes in a direction the viewer is not expecting, and I found it a bit of a disappointment. It doesn't provide the kick that you've been primed to expect. The subtitles are quite good. Grade: B

The Rare Breed (DVD)

The Rare Breed (1966) starring James Stewart, Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith. Headstrong British widow Martha Price (O'Hara) is determined to transport her prized Hereford bull Vindicator to Texas to breed with longhorns. Along the way, she is "helped" by old cowboy Sam Burnett (Stewart), who is involved in a shady deal to deliver the bull to the wrong destination. The movie is a curious mixture of Western and comedy, and doesn't completely succeed at either. Still, it's entertaining to watch, and there's plenty of Western action (fistfights, a stampede, bushwhacking). Keith, in red beard and wig, is over the top as a Scottish cattle baron in Texas. The subtitles are adequate. Grade: B

American Beauty (DVD)

American Beauty (1999) starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Mena Suvari. Spacey stars (and won an Oscar) as Lester Burnham, a middle-class suburbanite facing a midlife crisis who becomes infatuated with the cheerleader friend Angela (Suvari) of his daughter Jane (Birch). Meanwhile, Lester's wife Carolyn (Bening) embarks on an affair with a real estate salesman. This movie won five Oscars, including Best Picture. I think it deserved to win. The captions are good. Grade: A

The Rapture (DVD)

The Rapture (1991) starring Mimi Rogers, David Duchovny, Patrick Bauchau. Hedonists Sharon and Vic (Rogers and Bauchau) find meaning in life through swinging with other couples -- until Sharon finds religion. Six years later, convinced that the Rapture is imminent, Sharon goes out into the desert with her young daughter to wait for God. The events that take place in the desert are both shocking and heart-rending. This movie is not for all tastes, but if you're looking for something different, it might be worth a try. Rogers is excellent in the role of Sharon. Duchovny plays her husband, Randy. The film is closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired. Grade: B+

The Rape of Europa (DVD)

The Rape of Europa (2007), documentary. During the ascendancy of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s and '40s, the Nazis pillaged artworks from throughout Europe and kept them for themselves. First Poland, then France, then Russia and Italy fell under the determined German campaign to acquire all available pieces of art, especially old masterpieces and the most valuable paintings and sculptures. Meanwhile, Allied armies and air forces had to use caution in their counter-attacks upon the Nazis to avoid destroying priceless architecture and monuments. This movie explores both ends of the campaign -- the Nazis stealing the art and the Allies trying to return it to its rightful owners. It's a fascinating story. Closed-captioned for the hearing impaired. Grade: B+

Rambling Rose (DVD)

Rambling Rose (1991) starring Laura Dern, Robert Duvall, Diane Ladd, Lukas Haas. Teenager named Rose (Dern) comes to live with a Southern family in the 1930s. She immediately falls in love with the man of the house, Daddy (Duvall), and young Buddy (Haas) falls in love with her. Soon she is stirring up the passions of all the men in the town, causing fist fights and biting policemen in brawls. Daddy decrees that she must go, but Mother (Ladd) takes Rose's side and argues for keeping her on. What Rose wants, she says, is love, not sex. The movie is well-acted all around, and Dern is superb in the role of Rose. Closed captioned for the hearing impaired. Grade: A-

A Raisin in the Sun (DVD)

A Raisin in the Sun (1961) starring Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee. An inner-city family struggles with poverty. When the matriarch of the family (McNeil) receives an insurance check for $10,000, they all have different ideas about how the money should be spent. When calamity strikes, it seems sure that the family will fly apart. No movie I've seen, no book that I've read, speaks more eloquently about the struggle of being black in America. The subtitles are very good. Grade: B+

The Social Network (DVD)

The Social Network (2010) starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake. Directed by David Fincher. This film tells the story of Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg). Since Facebook is now a multibillion-dollar enterprise, there were, not surprisingly, several lawsuits around who invented it and who should get a share of it. As presented in the movie, Zuckerberg didn't come up with the original idea himself. Also, he's a jerk, especially to his girlfriend, who breaks up with him early on. Timberlake is a standout as Sean Parker, founder of Napster, who became involved with Facebook. Garfield plays Eduardo Saverin, an early partner in Facebook who later got muscled out and sued Zuckerberg. "The Social Network" has been nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture. The subtitles are very good. Grade: A-

Raise the Red Lantern (DVD)

Raise the Red Lantern (1991) starring Gong Li. When her father dies, teenager Songlian (Li) is forced to become the fourth wife (concubine) of a rich man. She soon becomes entangled in the politics of his house, where she must compete with three other wives for attention and privileges. Watching this movie is kind of like watching a Chinese soap opera, where the customs and rules must remain forever mysterious to a Westerner. That doesn't stop it, however, from being fascinating. The Second Mistress, the only one who acts friendly towards Songlian, turns out to be the one who stabs her in the back. The relationships among concubines, servants, Master and children are all played out beautifully. In Mandarin, with English subtitles. Grade: A

Raiders of the Lost Ark (DVD)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Ford makes his first outing as intrepid archeologist Indiana Jones in this adventure flick, set in 1936, which sends him up against the Nazis in trying to obtain the lost Ark of the Covenant. This movie has a little bit of everything, although it's well toned down to earn a PG rating (and to allow kids to see it). All told, it's a very entertaining film with scarcely a single slow moment. The subtitles are very good. Grade: A-

Raging Bull (DVD)

Raging Bull (1980) starring Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Middleweight boxer Jake La Motta (De Niro) has tons of talent and the ability to take a punch, but his personal demons -- anger, jealousy -- prevent him from finding happiness. He aggravates the crime boss, who has the ability to decide whether he gets a shot at the championship; and he aggravates his wife, Vickie (Moriarty), who is innocently in love with him but can't stand his jealousy. After winning the middleweight championship, La Motta begins to gain weight -- a fact which his brother Joe (Pesci) is quick to point out. Also, his jealousy begins to escalate to insane heights. De Niro won an Oscar for his performance, gaining a reported 60 pounds to play the older La Motta. Although the subject matter is not large, this is a great movie. The subtitles are very good. Grade: A

The Tillman Story (DVD)

The Tillman Story (2010), directed by Amir Bar-Lev. This documentary explores the story of Pat Tillman, the pro football player who gave up his multimillion-dollar career to join the Army and fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was killed there, and his surviving family comes forward in this film to discuss how the government lied to them and attempted to manipulate them in the aftermath of his death. The fact that he was killed by friendly fire was withheld from the public and from his family, and the movie delves into the facts behind the official story. Unfortunately, satisfactory answers are not forthcoming, and all we are left with is the knowledge that the generals lied. The subtitles are very good. Grade: B

Quiz Show (DVD)

Quiz Show (1994) starring John Torturro, Rob Morrow, Ralph Feinnes, David Paymer, Hank Azaria. Directed by Robert Redford. It's 1958, and the producers of the quiz show "21" have asked know-it-all Herbert Stempel to take a dive. His replacement is the good-looking, well bred Charles Van Doren (Feinnes), who agrees to be on the show only on condition that there be no cheating. Actually, it's clear from the start that the show is rigged. Morrow plays the government lawyer who gets a whiff of scandal and begins to doggedly pursue the case. Paymer and Azaria are great as a couple of network weasels who make the case for why cheating is all right because it's "entertainment." The big disappointment is that, in the end, the bad guys get away with it. The disc offers both subtitles and closed captions, both good. Grade: B+

Easy A (DVD)

Easy A (2010) starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Aly Michalka, Stanley Tucci. High school girl Olive (Stone) lies about having slept with a college guy (she didn't), and soon develops an (undeserved) reputation as the school slut. She decides to go with it, and starts making money by letting losers pretend they have "fooled around" with her. It's never really fun, and when things spin out of control she decides to tell her story in a webcast, which makes up the framework of the movie. This film has lots of good parts, which make it worth watching, but also its fair share of parts that don't work, which lowers its grade. There are some good performances, especially Stone in the lead role, who proves that she can carry a movie. The subtitles are excellent. Grade: B

Nowhere Boy (DVD)

Nowhere Boy (2009) starring Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff, Thomas Sangster. John Lennon's (Johnson) teen years, just before the formation of The Beatles, are depicted in this biopic. He lives with his Aunt Mimi (Scott Thomas), and just as he is getting to know his biological mother (Duff) she is killed in a car accident. The movie does a pretty good job of capturing what we might imagine Lennon's early life was like, but who really knows? Sangster has the thankless role of a young Paul McCartney. He does a good job of playing left-handed guitar. The subtitles are very good. Grade: B+

The American (DVD)

The American (2010) starring George Clooney, Violante Placido, Paolo Bonacelli. Assassin for hire Jack (Clooney) ends a difficult assignment in Sweden and flees to Italy, where he hides out in a small town waiting for his next assignment. It's hard to like a movie when the protagonist (Clooney) is not a sympathetic character. How can we root for a man who, in the first five minutes of the film, shoots his girlfriend in the back? The subtitles are not good -- when someone speaks in Italian, the original film's captions appear, too tiny to read, at the bottom of the screen. Grade: C-

Salt (DVD)

Salt (2010) starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor. When CIA agent Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is accused of being a Russian spy, she goes on the run. What follows is an hour and a half of nearly non-stop action in which she shows herself to be a killing machine. I found myself a little lost -- there are still some things she did which I don't understand -- but it was fun to watch Jolie in action. I couldn't suspend disbelief on some of the action though; when Jolie encounters three men with guns and defeats them with her bare hands, it's a bit hard to buy into. Still, if you like lots of action, this movie might be for you. The subtitles are quite adequate. Grade: B

Forbidden Planet (DVD)

Forbidden Planet (1956) starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Robby the Robot. In the 23rd century, an advanced spaceship arrives on Altair IV to investigate the disappearance of a ship that landed there earlier. The commander of the ship (Nielsen) encounters the one survivor of the earlier voyage, Dr. Morbius (Pidgeon), and his daughter Alta (Francis). There are strange forces at work on the planet, and the visiting spacemen must investigate. Morbius reveals that an ancient race known as the Krell once occupied Altair IV, and rose to great heights. But there is also a sinister, invisible monster which stalks the crew of the spaceship. This must have been quite the sensation in 1956, but today it comes off as crude special effects, bogus reasoning and a weak script. Kind of fun to watch, but not a great movie. The subtitles are good. Grade: B-

Animal Kingdom (DVD)

Animal Kingdom (2010) starring James Frecheville, Guy Pearce. When his mother overdoses on heroin and dies, a 17-year-old boy named Josh (Frecheville) finds himself drawn into her family of origin, which is riddled with crime. His uncles are a scary bunch, but soon after he arrives they start dying as police pick them off one by one. Then they turn on Josh, suspecting him of talking to the cops. A sympathetic detective (Pearce) takes Josh under his wing, and tries to help him survive. In a twist worthy of "The Godfather," Josh's grandmother decides that he is expendable and "has to go" because she's afraid he'll testify against her sons (Josh's uncles). I felt that the movie was compelling, but the last 15 minutes or so left me befuddled. What happened, and why? I couldn't figure it out. The subtitles are very good. Grade: B

The Town (DVD)

The Town (2010) starring Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, John Hamm. Gang led by Doug (Affleck) pulls a bank heist, takes an employee (Hall) hostage. After letting the hostage go, they realize that she lives close to where they hang out, so Doug (no longer wearing his mask) befriends her, then falls in love with her. The gang soon attempts another robbery, but this one goes very, very wrong. The FBI (Hamm) is on their ass, and things are about to get hairy. This is a good movie, but the ending left me a little puzzled. The subtitles are good. Grade: B+

Lebanon (DVD)

Lebanon (2009) starring an Israeli cast of unknowns. During the 1982 war with Lebanon, four young Israeli's are shown in the confines of the tank they are manning. They do not seem prepared for war. The gunner refuses to fire when ordered. The movie becomes increasingly claustrophobic as the members of the tank crew begin to argue among themselves. We never see the exterior of the tank, until the very end -- all the action takes place in the interior. This film just did not work for me. I never felt like I got to know the four crewmen of the tank. They were barely differentiated from one another. And the ending seemed very flat to me. There were some suspenseful moments, but not enough to add up to a coherent whole. The movie is mostly in Hebrew, with English subtitles. Grade: C

Queen Margot (DVD)

Queen Margot (1994) starring Isabelle Adjani, Daniel Auteuil. This film is set in 1572 in France, a time when Protestants and Catholics were warring with one another, both between nations and within nations. The plot is set in motion by the wedding of Margot de Valois (Adjani) and Henri de Navarre (Auteuil), a marriage between a Catholic and a Protestant that it is hoped will bring peace. The result, however, is the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in which thousands of prominent Protestants were assassinated by the Catholics. Queen Margot helps her Protestant lover escape, resulting in boiling palace intrigue. To put it in historical perspective, ponder the fact that the Protestants were also known as Huguenots, and many of the Huguenots ended up fleeing the persecution and emigrating to America. Henri de Navarre eventually became King Henry IV of France. Although the movie is rather hard to follow at first, it eventually becomes an involving and dramatic, suspenseful and romantic epic. It doesn't have a happy ending. In French, with English subtitles. Grade: B+

The Other Guys (DVD)

The Other Guys (2010) starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg. Two police officers, desk jockeys who can't get no respect (Ferrell and Wahlberg), fight with each other while trying to get involved in serious police work. A series of set pieces makes fun of police movies and TV shows that have gone before, and Ferrell and Wahlberg crank up the crazy in a desperate effort to be funny. The people who made this movie seem to think the height of humor is a car chase in a Prius. There are some funny moments, but too many of the jokes just fall flat. The chemistry between Ferrell and Wahlberg never quite gels. The subtitles are good. Grade: C+

Cyrus (DVD)

Cyrus (2010) starring John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill. John (Reilly) is thrilled to meet Molly (Tomei) at a party. He soon learns, however, that she has a grown son named Cyrus (Hill) who is living with her. Cyrus acts friendly, but his secret agenda is to prevent anything serious from developing between John and his mother. Soon, open warfare breaks out between John and Cyrus. I really didn't enjoy this movie, and I wouldn't recommend it. Good subtitles, though. Grade: B-

Despicable Me (DVD)

Despicable Me (2010) with the voices of Steve Carell, Julie Andrews, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Will Arnett. Ineffectual villain Gru (Carell) adopts three orphan girls as part of his nefarious plan to acquire a shrink ray so that he can steal the Moon. This is that rarity, an animated film that is not from Pixar but is still good. Gru and the girls are developed as characters so that we really care about them. The story is rather silly, but it's fun and entertaining to watch. A good children's movie that can be enjoyed by adults, too. Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are included, although the bonus features are reserved for those who go out and buy the disc. Grade: B+

Queen Christina (DVD)

Queen Christina (1933) starring Greta Garbo, John Gilbert. Garbo stars as Queen Christina of Sweden, who ascends to the throne in 1632 as a girl. After she has grown up, she falls in love with the ambassador from Spain (Gilbert) -- but they meet at a country inn, and he doesn't know that she is the queen. Christina faces the classic conflict of wanting to seek her personal happiness vs. the need to do her duty as a sovereign. Specifically, her people do not want her to marry a Spaniard, because Sweden is a Protestant country and Spain is Catholic. Garbo is splendid in this movie, but the plot is a timeworn story that is familiar and predictable. The disc offers English subtitles, as well as closed captions. Grade: B

The Queen (DVD)

The Queen (2006) starring Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen. It's 1997, and shortly after becoming Prime Minister of England, Tony Blair (Sheen) is confronted with a crisis. Princess Diana has been killed in a traffic accident in Paris, and the queen (Mirren) wants to keep her funeral a private affair. Blair feels that as the "people's princess," Diana deserves a public funeral. The whole situation becomes a public-relations disaster for the royals. Mirren won an Oscar for her performance as the queen. All in all, a most excellent movie. The DVD offers subtitles for the hearing-impaired, as well as closed captions. Grade: B+

Quai des Orfevres (DVD)

Quai des Orfevres (1947) starring Louis Jouvet, Suzy Delair. When a rich, dirty old man is killed, there's no shortage of suspects. A French policeman becomes the protagonist as he tries to sort through the differing stories. He soon settles on a suspect he likes, but he's got the wrong man. This movie may have been original in 1947, but today it looks like just another police procedural, though artfully done. The necessary subtitles (the film's in French) are hard to read. Grade: B

The Quare Fellow (DVD)

The Quare Fellow (1962) starring Patrick McGoohan, Sylvia Syms. New prison guard (McGoohan) must deal with hanging scheduled for two weeks after he starts work. Unfortunately, this movie has no subtitles, nor any closed captions for the hearing impaired. I couldn't make out half the dialogue. Grade: F

Fight Club (DVD)

Fight Club (1999) starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf. Corporate drone with no name (Norton) starts going to support groups because they are the only way he can feel close to people. There, he meets Marla Singer (Bonham Carter), a woman who is also faking a variety of illnesses in order to attend the meetings. Then, on an airplane during a business trip, he meets Tyler Durden (Pitt). Durden is an outlandish character who claims to make and sell soap for a living. Together, the drone and Durden end up forming Fight Club. Things get increasingly strange from there. Fight Club mushrooms into a movement, which becomes increasingly anti-establishment, then violent. Tyler Durden becomes a legend. The ending is rather disappointing. The film features subtitles for the hearing-impaired, plus closed captions. Grade: B-

Inception (DVD)

Inception (2010) starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page. Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) earns a living infiltrating the dreams of corporate big-wigs to steal their secrets. Only trouble is, his activities have made him a wanted man, and he can't return to the United States without facing charges. His dead wife, whom he is suspected of killing, inhabits his subconscious, and keeps appearing in his dreams. The new architect he has hired (Page) figures out what's going on with his subconscious, and insists on going on his next mission. For a movie about dreams, this one has a surprising amount of action. The plot involves a dream within a dream within a dream, and it gets kind of complicated to follow at times, but it never ceases to be interesting. The subtitles are very good. Grade: A-

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (DVD)

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Scott Pilgrim (Cera) meets the girl of his dreams (Winstead), only to learn that in order to date her he has to defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends in martial arts combat. This movie is based on a comic book, er, graphic novel, and it really shows in every frame. Some viewers will no doubt find this diverting, but I found it merely irritating. This film really just didn't do it for me. The subtitles are good. Grade: C

Going the Distance (DVD)

Going the Distance (2010) starring Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Christina Applegate. Erin (Barrymore) and Garrett (Long) fall in love while she is in New York on an internship. When she goes back to Stanford to finish graduate school, they find themselves in a long-distance relationship. There is some funny stuff thrown in with Garrett's nutty male friends in New York, and later he goes to the West coast to visit Erin for Thanksgiving. Applegate is funny as Erin's uptight and protective sister. The conflict that inevitably arises comes about when Erin gets offered a job with the San Francisco Chronicle -- which normally would be a dream job for her, but which means that if she accepts it she can't move back to New York and be with Garrett. The success of a movie like this depends on the likability of the stars. How badly, really, do we want them to get together? In this case, I felt their chemistry was lacking. Neither of them really charmed me. The film is a passable entertainment, but nothing special. The subtitles are quite good. Grade: B

Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (DVD)

Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970) starring Gene Wilder, Margot Kidder. This DVD has no subtitles, no closed captions, nothing to aid the hearing-impaired. Furthermore, it takes place in Ireland, so everyone speaks with an Irish accent, making it even harder to understand. I didn't even bother to watch it all the way through. Grade: F

Let the Right One In (DVD)

Let the Right One In (2008) starring a cast of Swedish actors you've never heard of. Swedish boy named Oskar is bullied at school, forms unlikely friendship with neighbor girl named Eli, who just happens to be a vampire. Will she help him fight the bullies, or will she eat him? It seems clear that Eli really likes Oskar, and will seek her needed food elsewhere. Generally speaking, I don't care for vampire-themed movies, but this one was the rare exception. I felt genuine sympathy for Oskar and Eli, right up until the very end. One funny thing about this movie -- the DVD has available a version dubbed in English, plus English subtitles. By watching the English-dubbed version and reading the English subtitles, one gets a very strange impression of the movie, because the two are comically out of synch. Which is "right"? Beats me. Grade: B+

Pursued (DVD)

Pursued (1947) starring Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright. The Rand and Callum families are feuding, and Jeb Rand (Mitchum), the only surviving Rand, is being hunted by the Callum clan. In an odd twist, Jeb is adopted at a young age by a Callum family. He ends up fighting with his stepbrother Adam and falling in love with his stepsister Thor (Wright). When, as an adult, Jeb ends up killing Adam (in self-defense), Thor's love turns to hate. This is a psychological Western with a non-standard plot, and even though the dialogue is a bit ham-handed at times, it's interesting to watch. The only subtitle option is the closed-captions, which are good enough. Grade: B

Exit Through the Gift Shop (DVD)

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) documentary. Street artist Banksy introduces us to a video camera fanatic named Thierry, who films everything. Thierry gets interested in the practitioners of street art, and starts following the artists all over the world, filming all the time. Miraculously, Thierry becomes friends with Banksy, and begins to travel with him. When Banksy's fame explodes after a show in L.A., Thierry is on the spot -- now is the time to put his video together and put out his documentary about street artists, including Banksy. But Thierry is ill-prepared, because he hasn't been keeping track of his reels of film, just throwing them into boxes and storing them. As events develop, Banksy takes over the making of the film and sends Thierry back to L.A. to do his own show. At this point one begins to wonder whether this movie is a real documentary or a put-on. If it's a hoax, it's an elaborate and effective one. The subtitles are good. Grade: B+

Toy Story 3 (DVD)

Toy Story 3 (2010) with the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, John Ratzenberger, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, Ned Beatty. The toys, led by cowboy Woody (Hanks), must cope with their owner Andy's departure for college. Although Andy intends to put them in the attic, they end up getting donated to a nearby daycare center, where the kids play with them rather roughly. The toy-world of the daycare center is ruled over by an evil plush bear named Lotso (Beatty), and things look grim for Andy's toys until Woody comes up with a plan for them to escape and go home. Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of animated films, but "Toy Story 3" was a shining exception. Pixar has really made an art of animation. It's entertaining for both adults and kids, with many clever jokes and a lot of heart. The subtitles are good, too. Grade: A-

The Kids Are All Right (DVD)

The Kids Are All Right (2010) starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo. Same-sex parents Nic (Bening) and Jules (Moore) have two children that were conceived by a sperm donor; and the children, Joni and Laser, seek out their biological father Paul (Ruffalo) to satisfy their curiosity. While the kids are bonding with Paul, Nic finds that she resents him, but Jules, whom he has hired to do some landscaping, has sex with him. Naturally, when Nic finds out about Jules and Paul, things explode. My only complaint about this movie is that it ended too soon. I rarely complain about a film being too short, but in this case, after getting to know the characters, I didn't want to say goodbye to them. I suppose that's the mark of a good movie. The subtitles are very good. Grade: A-

Micmacs (DVD)

Micmacs (2009) starring Dany Boon. A man named Bazil (Boon) is the victim of a drive-by shooting, which leaves a bullet lodged in his head. After his recovery, he finds himself homeless and hooks up with a ragtag gang of street people. They agree to help him take revenge against the arms manufacturer who made the bullet that is stuck in his skull -- and, incidentally, made the mine that killed Bazil's father 30 years earlier. The gang of misfits are like a league of heroes, each with a special skill which can be used in getting revenge on the weapons dealers. They develop a Rube-Goldbergesque plot to bring down the bad guys, and therein lies the movie's problem. It's just too complicated to be enjoyed. Though the film is visually inventive, it seems too overtly political to suit its plot. It's in French, with English subtitles that are not very good. Grade: B-

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (DVD)

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010) directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. Rivers, 75, still clings tenaciously to whatever fame she can find. The film does a brief look back at her career, including 20 years as Johnny Carson's first-string guest host, then her doomed decision to take Fox's offer of a show of her own. Following the failure of that show, her husband's suicide was a devastating blow. But she has continued to soldier on, refusing to even entertain the thought of retiring. She goes on "Celebrity Apprentice," and amazingly, wins. This is not a great movie, but is an absorbing peek into the life of a fame whore. The subtitles are good. Grade: B+

The Purple Rose of Cairo (DVD)

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) starring Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Dianne Wiest. Directed by Woody Allen. Farrow plays a Depression-era waitress named Cecilia who's addicted to the movies and married to an abusive lout (Aiello). The film quickly takes a quirky turn when a movie character named Tom Baxter (Daniels) steps down off the screen and proclaims his love for Cecilia. Meanwhile, Gil Shepherd (also Daniels), the actor who plays Tom Baxter, wants his alter ego to get back up on the screen and behave. The studio executives aren't too thrilled about it either. This is a delightful fantasy that plays with questions of religion, reality, and the meaning of life. The subtitles are good. Grade: A

Punchline (DVD)

Punchline (1988) starring Sally Field, Tom Hanks, John Goodman. Housewife, mother of three and aspiring stand-up comic Lilah (Field) has to contend with husband (Goodman) who wants her to be available for his needs. Meanwhile, she seeks advice from fellow comic Steven (Hanks) who is about to get his big break, and really doesn't care about anyone but himself. The problem with the movie is that none of the comedy routines portrayed is really funny. None of the comics garners a genuine laugh. We may care about the characters, because they are likable, but they aren't funny. Hanks provides an occasional spark, but it's not enough to save the movie. The subtitles are barely adequate. Grade: B-

Pulp Fiction (DVD)

Pulp Fiction (1994) starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Ving Rhames, Harvey Keitel, Bruce Willis. Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Tongue-in-cheek gangster movie features Travolta and Jackson as a couple of hit men, and Willis as a boxer who fixes a fight in reverse to make a killing from bookies. Several unforgettable sequences follow, too numerous to mention. If you've seen the movie before, you'll remember the scene with The Gimp and the cleaner named Wolf (Keitel). It's violent, it's bloody, and it's a real hoot. The subtitles are good. Grade: A-

Cairo Time (DVD)

Cairo Time (2009) starring Patricia Clarkson, Alexander Siddig, Tom McCamus. Magazine editor Juliette (Clarkson) travels to Cairo to be with her husband, Mark (McCamus), but finds him unavoidably detained. Instead, her guide to Cairo becomes Tareq (Siddig), an Egyptian man who formerly worked for Mark. Juliette and Tareq develop feelings for each other, but they never act on them -- except that Juliette goes with Tareq to visit the Pyramids, something she had promised Mark she would save for him. It's a good sort of culture-clash film, although it moves rather slowly. The subtitles are good. Grade: B+

The Public Enemy (DVD)

The Public Enemy (1931) starring James Cagney, Jean Harlow. A young hood named Tom Powers (Cagney) rises to become a gangster in the Prohibition era. Harlow plays his girlfriend. When "Nails" Nathan, the boss gangster, dies, war breaks out between the gangs. Ultimately, Powers dies. This is the movie that made Cagney a star. It's also the film in which he famously squishes a grapefruit in his girlfriend's face (not Harlow, but the girl that came before her). The ending is pretty horrifying. The quality of the script and the filmmaking are uneven. The subtitles, including closed captions, are good. Grade: B

Psycho (DVD)

Psycho (1960) starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles. Bank employee (Leigh) steals $40,000 cash, goes on the lam. Driving west, she has a few scares from an overly inquisitive cop, then decides to stop for the night in the Bates Motel. The manager of the motel, Norman Bates (Perkins), is very friendly -- at first. This movie is actually much better than I remembered it, even though there are a few improbabilities in the plotting. It's full of tension and the occasional gotcha! type scare. The only real weak point is the exposition by the psychiatrist at the end -- strictly amateur psychology. But by then we've had our thrills. Subtitled for the hearing-impaired. Grade: B+

Valhalla Rising (DVD)

Valhalla Rising (2009) starring Mads Mikkelsen. Invincible Viking warrior known only as One-Eye (Mikkelson) escapes from slavery, takes up with a band of Christians going on a crusade. They're headed for the Holy Land, but their ship gets lost in a mist, and when they find land they don't know where they are. They only know that members of their crew keep dying violently or going missing. Eventually the mystery is solved -- sort of. This film has too much bone-crunching, blood-spattering violence and too little plot for my taste. Really, don't see this movie. The subtitles are good. Grade: D

The Producers (DVD)

The Producers (1968) starring Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder. Written and directed by Mel Brooks. Washed-up Broadway producer (Mostel) talks meek accountant (Wilder) into plot to make a fortune by putting on a play guaranteed to fail. The resulting musical, "Springtime for Hitler," is a surprise smash, placing the producers in a difficult position. From that point on, the movie is largely anticlimactic, but the funny parts still make it worth seeing. The subtitles are excellent. Grade: B+

The Pacific (DVD)

The Pacific (2010) starring Joseph Mazzello, James Badge Dale, Jon Seda. This HBO production follows the battles of Marines in the Pacific theater during World War II. The first two episodes cover the battle of Guadalcanal. Although it tries mightily, somehow this miniseries failed to capture the essence of the Marines' experience for me. Most of the fighting takes place at night, and I frequently couldn't tell what was going on except that a lot of guns were being fired at advancing Japanese. There is one genuinely moving moment toward the end of Part 2, but it wasn't enough of a payoff for me. Grade: B

Prizzi's Honor (DVD)

Prizzi's Honor (1985) starring Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Anjelica Huston. Directed by John Huston. Dim-bulb Mafia hit man Charley Partanna (Nicholson) falls for sultry freelance assassin Irene Walker (Turner) at a wedding. But the Don's daughter, Maerose Prizzi (Anjelica Huston) still carries a torch for Charley, and she won't let him go easily -- especially after Charley finds out that Irene pulled a scam on a Prizzi casino in Vegas. The plot gets awfully tangled, but it's delicious to watch. Huston won a Supporting Actress Oscar for her sly performance as a Mafia daughter. The subtitles are excellent. Grade: B+

Prisoner of Paradise (DVD)

Prisoner of Paradise (2002), documentary directed by Malcolm Clarke and Stuart Sender. This movie tells the tragic story of Kurt Gerron, a popular and successful actor and director in 1930s Berlin. Gerron, a Jew, saw his career destroyed by Hitler's rise to power, and was later forced to write and direct a Nazi propaganda film about a concentration camp in which he was a prisoner. This story of one soul caught up in the Holocaust serves as an illustration of the entire massive horror that was visited on Europe's Jews by the Nazis. The captions are good. Grade: A-

Countdown to Zero (DVD)

Countdown to Zero (2009) directed by Lucy Walker. This documentary explores in a scary way the issue of nuclear proliferation. If you're looking for a film to cheer you up, don't look at this one. Over and over, it emphasizes that the probability of a nuclear accident -- or a terrorist attack -- is greater than zero, and thus eventually inevitable. The movie makes a strong case for nuclear disarmament, but I wasn't convinced that disarmament is really possible. It's a story that has been told before, but this film condenses and refines the message so that you can't ignore it. With closed-captions for the hearing-impaired. Grade: A

The Karate Kid (DVD)

The Karate Kid (2010) starring Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan. Young Dre (Smith) moves to China with his mother and soon falls prey to a pack of larger, older Chinese bullies -- who know kung fu. The maintenance man (Chan) in his building saves him from one attack, then agrees to teach him kung fu. This remake of the 1984 movie is somewhat freshened up by new locale, necessity for hero to learn to deal with language and cultural barriers. Although this film effectively duplicates the major plot points of the earlier movie, it may be pleasing to younger viewers who haven't seen the first film. The subtitles are very good, but the songs aren't captioned. Grade: B+

The Day of the Jackal (DVD)

The Day of the Jackal (1973) starring Edward Fox, Michel Lonsdale. In 1962, an organization known as the O.A.S. -- infuriated at French President Charles de Gaulle's decision to give Algeria its independence -- plots to assassinate him. When their early efforts fail, their leaders decide that an outsider, known only as the Jackal (Fox) must be hired to do the job. The movie tells two parallel stories -- the efforts of the Jackal to bring his plot to fruition, even though his cover has been blown; and the efforts of French Police Commissioner Claude Lebel (Lonsdale) to stop him before he can kill de Gaulle. The result is an exciting movie, full of suspense right up to the end. Based on the thriller by Frederick Forsyth. The subtitles are quite good. Grade: A

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (DVD)

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) starring Robert Stephens, Colin Blakeley, Genevieve Page. Directed by Billy Wilder. Sherlock Holmes (Stephens) shoots cocaine when he becomes bored between cases, and is very tight-lipped about his relationships with women. Women, he says, are "wholly unreliable, and not to be trusted." But that doesn't stop him from taking the case of a Madame Valladon (Page), from Belgium. She shows up at his door one night, and claims to have forgotten who she is and how she got there. Holmes and Watson (Blakeley) end up traveling with her to Scotland to try to solve the mystery of her identity and her missing husband. The mystery ends up involving Holmes' brother Mycroft, the Loch Ness Monster, and German spies. It all adds up to a mildly diverting entertainment. The subtitles are good. 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

Get Him to the Greek (DVD)

Get Him to the Greek (2010) starring Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Elisabeth Moss, Rose Byrne, Colm Meaney, Sean Combs. Hill plays a young record company lackey named Aaron Green who gets the assignment of shepherding drug-addled rock star Aldous Snow (Brand) from London to New York to Los Angeles in 72 hours for a comeback concert. Snow proves, naturally, hard to herd. Meanwhile, Green's wife (Moss), a medical student, decides that she and Green must move to Seattle. When he resists, she says that they should "take some time." This movie has one major weakness for me -- Jonah Hill in the lead role has approximately zero charisma. On the other hand, Brand -- who was so good in "Forgetting Sarah Marshal" -- has a lot of funny lines. Although Brand looks a bit the worse for wear, he holds up his end of the movie quite well. I felt of two minds about this film -- there are some very funny bits, but also some parts that I found too raunchy or distasteful. So a mixed review from me. To the DVD's everlasting credit, all of the loopy, funny songs are captioned. Grade: B

The Girl Who Played with Fire (DVD)

The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009) starring Noomi Rapace, Micheal Nyqvist. Part Two of Stieg Larsson's trilogy starring the girl with the dragon tattoo, Lisbeth Salander (Rapace), comes to the screen. Salander is suspected of murder when her fingerprints are found on a gun used to kill two writers. She goes into hiding, while journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist) works to prove her innocence. It's a tangled plot, with many characters playing different parts. In particular, we find out who Salander's father is, and her brother -- neither one a savory character. The final half hour is truly thrilling. The story doesn't end here, of course; there's still one more movie to go -- "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" should come out next year. In Swedish, with English subtitles. Grade: A-

Splice (DVD)

Splice (2009) starring Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Chaneac. A pair of "brilliant" scientists, Clive and Elsa (Brody and Polley), succeed in creating a human-animal hybrid (Chaneac) by gene splicing. It's name is Dren (nerd spelled backward). This movie is kind of a cross of "Frankenstein" and "The Fly." You just know that the scientists are going to regret making this creature; the only suspense is in finding out what sort of danger it will pose. Soon we learn that Elsa had madness in her family, and it becomes a question of who poses the greater threat to whom -- Dren to Elsa, or Elsa to Dren? The script is weak and the acting is not much better, although Chaneac must be given credit for being a credible "monster." The subtitles are pretty good. Grade: C-

Kisses (DVD)

Kisses (2008) starring Shane Curry, Kelly O'Neill. A young Irish boy and girl flee their dysfunctional homes in the slums and go wandering in Dublin. What starts out as a lark turns increasingly dark as the hour grows late. The subtitles on this low-budget film are the strangest I've ever seen. For some reason, the filmmakers have decided to economize on subtitles. About half of the spoken dialogue is captioned; the rest is not. The result is a frustrating viewing experience in which one feels tantalizing close to being able to follow the movie, only to have it repeatedly slip away. Grade: C

Leaves of Grass (DVD)

Leaves of Grass (2010) starring Edward Norton, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Keri Russell, Melanie Lynskey, Maggie Siff, Tim Blake Nelson, Ty Burrell, Josh Pais. Philosophy professor Bill (Norton) hears that his twin, pot-growing brother Brady (also played by Norton) has been murdered. This is soon revealed to be a cruel ploy by Brady to get Bill to come home to Oklahoma and bail him out of trouble. Bill hates every moment in Oklahoma -- until he smokes some of Brady's weed and meets Janet (Russell). From there, things get incredibly complicated. For a comedy, this film features a lot of (movie) violence. Still, except for one atonal performance by an actor, it's great fun to watch. The subtitles are adequate. Grade: B+

Prisoner of the Mountains (DVD)

Prisoner of the Mountains (1996) starring a cast of foreigners whose names you would not recognize. Two Russian soldiers of contrasting temperaments are captured by Chechen rebels, who hold them as hostages. A village elder hopes to exchange the hostages for his son, who is being held prisoner in the town by the Russians. In war, however, plans often go awry. This is a slow-paced, moderately interesting movie in which most of the action is confined to the last 30 minutes of the film. I felt something was lost in translation. In Russian, with English subtitles. Grade: C+

Solitary Man (DVD)

Solitary Man (2009) starring Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Mary-Louise Parker, Jenna Fischer, Imogen Poots, Jesse Eisenberg. Douglas stars as Ben Kalmen, a failed car dealership owner who is emerging from trouble with the law and trying to put together another dealership. He's also an inveterate womanizer, who is not above sleeping with his girlfriend's (Parker) daughter (Poots). Kalmen's poor choices continue to get him deeper and deeper in trouble, and it gives Douglas a chance to show off his acting chops. DeVito co-stars as a genuinely decent man, which is certainly a change for him. The ending of the movie is kind of a cop-out, but it's interesting watching it get there. Good subtitles. Grade: B

Princess Caraboo (DVD)

Princess Caraboo (1994) starring Phoebe Cates, Jim Broadbent, Wendy Hughes, Kevin Kline, John Lithgow, Stephen Rae. In 1817 in England, a time when harsh laws constrain vagrants and beggars, a young woman (Cates) -- of exotic appearance and speaking no English -- appears on the side of a country road. She is quickly adopted by a couple (Broadbent and Hughes), who come to believe that she is a foreign princess named Caraboo who has washed up on English shores after escaping a slave ship. Rae plays a journalist named Gutch, who is enchanted with Caraboo but can't quite bring himself to believe her story. Others take her for an impostor, but she manages to win them over. The performances by the whole cast are very good. The fact that the movie is subtitled "A True Story" adds another layer of wonder to the whole entertainment. The subtitles are available in several languages, including English. I had a lot of fun watching it. Grade: B+

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (DVD)

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) starring Maggie Smith. At a girls' school in Scotland in the 1930s, Miss Jean Brodie (Smith) teaches history -- officially -- while instructing "her girls" in art and culture. She fancies herself to be "in her prime," though viewers of the movie can see that she is verging on middle age. For her high spirits, the girls whom she teaches adore her -- but the authorities at the school where she teaches are not happy with her, nor her teaching methods. To top it all off, Miss Brodie is shockingly naive in her political beliefs -- she thinks that Mussolini in Italy and Franco in Spain are great men. She is a passionate person with many conflicting opinions. One must wonder if, ultimately, she will find life to be a disappointment. Smith won an Oscar for her performance. In acting, direction and staging, this is a nearly perfect film. The subtitles are very good. Grade: A

Priest (DVD)

Priest (1994) starring Linus Roache, Tom Wilkinson. Young priest named Father Greg (Roache) has trouble dealing with problems of the inner city, not to mention his own secret homosexuality. You might recognize Roache from his role on "Law & Order," the TV show (now canceled). Fr. Greg's first conflict comes about when a girl named Lisa tells him in the confessional that her father is sexually abusing her. How can Fr. Greg help her, without breaking the sacred trust of the confessional? Turns out, he can't. He can scarcely help himself. The scenes of two men making love to each other didn't do much for me, but the film's ending was still moving. The captions are very good. Grade: B

Please Give (DVD)

Please Give (2010) starring Oliver Platt, Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Rebecca Hall, Lois Smith, Ann Morgan Guilbert. A Manhattan couple (Platt and Keener) wait for their next-door neighbor (Guilbert) to die so that they can buy her apartment and expand their living space into it. When they meet the neighbor's granddaughters (Hall and Peet) things start to get complicated. It's an indie film -- not a big Hollywood production, but still a pleasure to experience. The actors all do a good job, and the script is well written and nicely balanced. The subtitles are excellent. Grade: B+

Pride and Prejudice (DVD)

Pride and Prejudice (1940) starring Laurence Olivier, Greer Garson. Olivier plays Mr. Darcy and Garson plays Elizabeth Bennet in this adaptation of Jane Austen's novel about social mores in the early 1800s in England. The five Bennet sisters -- and their mother -- are all aflutter when Mr. Bingham and Mr. Darcy, two very eligible bachelors, arrive in town. But Mr. Darcy gets off on the wrong foot with Elizabeth, and it will take the entire movie for things to be put right. Although this film was made 70 years ago, it holds up rather well. The English subtitles are very good. Grade: B+

The Pride of the Yankess (DVD)

The Pride of the Yankees (1942) starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth, Walter Brennan. Cooper plays Lou Gehrig, one of the greatest baseball players ever to wear the Yankee uniform, who died in 1941 from ALS, the illness that ever after was known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. The movie follows Gehrig's career from the time he was a young boy until he graduated to the major leagues, on to his courting and marriage to Chicago heiress Eleanor Twitchell (Wright). At the height of his happiness, he starts to show symptoms of the disease that we, the audience, know will kill him. My main complaint about this film is that Cooper, though his acting is good, just doesn't move like an athlete -- but maybe that's asking too much, at least of a movie of this vintage. Cooper was over 40 when this movie was made, an age which Gehrig never reached. The finale, Gehrig's famous farewell speech in Yankee Stadium, is very effective. The captions are good. Grade: B

Priceless (DVD)

Priceless (2006) starring Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh. Gold-digger Irene (Tautou) mistakes bartender Jean (Elmaleh) for a rich man and sleeps with him. When she finds out he's just a working stiff, she drops him like a hot potato. But he continues to pursue her. Irene goes along with it, quickly draining him of all his savings, then telling him goodbye. But the plot thickens, as Jean acquires a sugar-momma of his own. For some reason, Jean can't stop loving Irene, even though she is a rather foul creature. No one is more surprised than I am to find that I didn't like Audrey Tautou's character in this movie, and thus found it hard to root for her to fall in love. Elmaleh, on the other hand, is an appealing guy and I did find myself rooting for him. All in all, an amusing, if not great, film. In French, with English subtitles. Grade: B-

Pretty Woman (DVD)

Pretty Woman (1990) starring Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, Ralph Bellamy, Jason Alexander, Hector Elizondo. Wealthy businessman Edward Lewis (Gere) picks up a poverty-stricken streetwalker named Vivian (Roberts) and takes her to his Beverly Hills penthouse. He needs a no-obligations companion for a week, so he hires Vivian for $3,000. Naturally, they fall (slowly) in love. Although Gere got top billing, this is the film that launched Roberts to stardom. The shopping scene on Rodeo Drive (accompanied by Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman") is priceless. Alexander is very convincing as a sleazy lawyer who works for Lewis. The captions are very good. Grade: B+

Calamity Jane (DVD)

Calamity Jane (1953) starring Doris Day, Howard Keel. Calamity Jane (Day) sets off from Deadwood for Chicago to try and hire an actress to come and entertain at the local saloon. When the Army officer Calamity loves falls for the actress, Calam finds herself in the unaccustomed role of being jealous. Meanwhile, Calam's best friend Wild Bill Hickock (Keel) finds himself in love with her. Mixed in there, Day gets to perform the Oscar-winning song, "Secret Love," which would become a No. 1 pop hit for her. Calamity Jane is a light but enjoyable entertainment, a throwback to the days before rock 'n' roll. The subtitles on the disc are adequate at best, but the closed captions are good. Grade: B+

The President's Analyst (DVD)

The President's Analyst (1967) starring James Coburn. Dr. Sidney Schaefer (Coburn) is plucked from obscurity to be psychoanalyst to the President of the U.S. The job comes with lots of perks -- but also heavy responsibilities. It's not long before the president's analyst is driven crazy by the pressures of the job, and ends up on the run. Much silliness ensues as every foreign government, plus the "CEA" and the "FBR," try to chase Dr. Schaefer down. The ultimate is when he takes up with a band of hippies, the 1967 movie version, to avoid capture. The film spins off into lands of fantasy from there. Some pretty funny touches, but I found it ultimately unsatisfying. The captions are very good. Grade: C+

Date Night (DVD)

Date Night (2010) starring Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Leighton Meester, Jimmi Simpson, Common, Taraji P. Henson. Married couple Claire and Phil Foster (Fey and Carell) decide to spend their "date night" at a nice uptown restaurant. They don't, however, have reservations, and they have to steal someone else's reservation to get a table. Oops. The people whose reservation they steal are in big trouble with the bad guys (Simpson and Common), who naturally mistake the Fosters for them. After escaping the bad guys on their first encounter, Claire and Phil go on the run. Several comedy set-pieces follow, some funny, some not so much. The car chase scene stands out as a bad idea. Fey and Carell, however, are good together on screen, and there were moments, particularly early in the film, where I laughed out loud. The captions are excellent. Grade: B-

The Postman Always Rings Twice (DVD)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) starring Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn. Cora and Nick (Turner and Kellaway) are a married couple who own a diner by the side of the highway; Frank (Garfield) is the hired hand who arrives hitchhiking one day. Things get sticky when Cora and Frank fall in love, then decide to do away with the likable Nick. Cronyn plays a sleazy lawyer named Keats who, after Nick's death, ends up playing Cora and Frank off against each other. Many complications follow, but suffice it to say that Cora and Frank both end up paying for their crime. I was not too thrilled by this film. In particular, I thought the chemistry between Turner and Garfield seemed phony. Neither was a great actor. The captions on this disc are very good. Grade: B

Posse (DVD)

Posse (1975) starring Kirk Douglas, Bruce Dern, Bo Hopkins, James Stacy, Luke Askew, David Canary. Old West lawman named Nightingale (Douglas) aims to advance his campaign for Senate by catching notorious crook Strawhorn (Dern). But Strawhorn proves to be elusive prey. Once captured, he soon escapes and begins to wreak havoc. In a surprising turn of events, Strawhorn takes Nightingale captive, and it is up to the posse to rectify the situation. Nightingale's electioneering forms the backdrop against which the good guys vs. bad guys action takes place. The ending is quite a surprise, definitely not what you'd expect in a Western. The subtitles supplied on the disc are good. Grade: B

Emmanuelle (DVD)

Emmanuelle (1974) starring Sylvia Kristel. The actress who plays Emmanuelle is very pretty. She has sex with various men -- and women. Her husband tells her he wants her to be free to do whatever she wants. But when she fails to come home one night, he is alarmed. Later, he entrusts her to the tender care of an older man named Mario, who is to instruct her in the ways of "eroticism." Mario spouts a bunch of nonsense. That's pretty much the plot, such as it is. What a travesty. Grade: D

The Three Faces of Eve (DVD)

The Three Faces of Eve (1957) starring Joanne Woodward, David Wayne, Lee J. Cobb. Woodward won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Eve, a woman with multiple personalities and three intertwined, yet separate, lives. Her performance is great. The rest of the movie leaves much to be desired. In particular, Eve's cure seems to come much too easily. It's explained in only the most superficial terms. Still, an enjoyable 90 minutes can be spent watching this movie. The subtitles are very good, except that the songs aren't captioned. Grade: B

A Face in the Crowd (DVD)

A Face in the Crowd (1957) starring Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa, Walter Matthau, Lee Remick. Directed by Elia Kazan. Small-town radio producer (Neal) plucks drunken bum (Griffith) from jail, makes him a star. Turns out he has a talent for manipulating audiences, even on TV. Unfortunately, when he hits the big time, he also turns out to be an unscrupulous womanizer, and the power of being a TV star goes to his head. "A Face in the Crowd" is a sharp observation of the growing strength of television as a medium, and its power to make or break a man -- or a woman. As such, it is a cautionary tale, still relevant today. The subtitles on this disc are pretty good. Grade: B+

Twelve O'Clock High

Twelve O'Clock High (1949) starring Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard Mitchell, Dean Jagger. Peck plays General Frank Savage, an Army Air Force officer in World War II who is tasked with taking over an air group and restoring morale. He thinks the previous commanding officer failed because he cared too much about the men. Only trouble is, after Savage whips the air group into shape and commands it for a while, he falls prey to the same "weakness." This is a pretty good movie, even inspiring, but the ending feels a little flabby. Good subtitles. Grade: B+

Pork Chop Hill (DVD)

Pork Chop Hill (1959) starring Gregory Peck, Harry Guardino, Rip Torn, George Peppard, Robert Blake, Martin Landau, Harry Dean Stanton, Gavin MacLeod, many more. Based on a true story. A group of combat soldiers, led by Lieutenant Joe Clemons (Peck), try to take a seemingly worthless hill near the end of the Korean War. It's 1953, and peace negotiations with the enemy are already under way. Neither side, however, has stopped fighting. When Clemons' men do take the hill, they have to immediately shift over to defense. On the American side, it's one SNAFU after another. It's interesting to see a combat movie that was made after the Korean War, but before the Vietnam War. Those were definitely different times. The captions on this film are just adequate. Grade: B

The Pope of Greenwich Village (DVD)

The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984) starring Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Daryl Hannah, Geraldine Page. Charlie (Rourke) and Paulie (Roberts) are cousins, and even though Paulie is a screw-up, Charlie hangs with him. After Paulie gets him fired from his job at a restaurant, Charlie finds out that his girlfriend, Diane (Hannah) is pregnant. Then Paulie comes up with the idea for a big score; Charlie and Paulie hire a safe-cracker. Naturally, things go south from there. This movie features a cast of accomplished actors, both in the main roles and in the co-starring roles. The ending is a little vague, though. The only subtitle option is closed captions. Grade: B

Poltergeist (DVD)

Poltergeist (1982) starring Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robins, Heather O'Rourke. Directed by Tobe Hooper. Produced by Steven Spielberg. Family's placid existence is disturbed when Carol Anne (O'Rourke), the five-year-old daughter, is kidnapped by the "TV people," who only she can see. The climax is foreshadowed early on when the dad (Nelson) learns from his boss that the entire neighborhood was built over a cemetery. Famous tag line, "They're here," is spoken by Carol Anne when the poltergeist, whatever it is, first appears in the TV. The family calls in a team of parapsychologists to try and get Carol Anne back. Then they hire a clairvoyant. This is followed by a lot of hokum, flashing lights and a scary appearance by The Beast. The bottom line is, this movie is just a lot of fun to watch, even when it's being silly. Spielberg's hand is very apparent, for anyone who's familiar with his other films. The disc includes good subtitles. Grade: B+

The Secret in Their Eyes (DVD)

The Secret in Their Eyes (2010) starring Ricardo Darin, Soledad Villamil. A retired judge (Darin), with nothing left to fill his days, finds himself haunted by a murder case from 25 years ago, which ended with the killer being freed and recruited by the government. In flashbacks, we see the judge as a young man, pursuing the killer. And we see Irene, the love of his life, helping him catch the criminal, then marrying someone else. Twenty-five years later, Esposito, the judge, determines to start looking for his man once again. He finds him in a most surprising way. This movie deservedly won the Oscar for best foreign picture. The subtitles are great. Grade: A-

Point Blank (DVD)

Point Blank (1967) starring Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn, Carroll O'Connor. Crook named Walker (Marvin) is double-crossed by his partner in crime, shot twice and left for dead. Two years later Walker comes back, looking for revenge. Not only for being shot, but he wants his share of the loot -- $93,000. This film is supposedly regarded as one of the top films of the '60s, but I can't see it. It was released in 1967, takes place in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and there's not a long-hair to be seen. What's that about? The subtitles are fine. Grade: B-

The Pledge (DVD)

The Pledge (2001) starring Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Vanessa Redgrave, Tom Noonan, Patricia Clarkson. Directed by Sean Penn. Retiring police detective Jerry Black (Nicholson) takes on one last case when a young girl is raped and murdered. Although the first suspect confessed and then killed himself, Black is not convinced that the real killer has been found -- and he swore to the girl's mother that he would find the guilty man. This movie features a star-studded cast, and while the mystery is engaging, it's also fun to play name-that-star while you're watching it. Overall, however, this film was a big disappointment, and the ending is particularly unsatisfying. The disc offers a choice of English subtitles or closed captions. Grade: C-

Max Headroom (DVD)

Max Headroom: The Complete Series -- Disc 1 (1987) starring Matt Frewer, Amanda Pays. This is a ground-breaking, short-lived TV series that ran on ABC in 1987-88. It features a virtual person named Max Headroom (Frewer) who is created when his human progenitor Edison Carter (also played by Frewer) is believed to be dead and his personality is transferred into a computer. Carter is a TV reporter for "Channel 23," a sinister media organization which wields way too much power in a future, dystopian society. The first episode is the one in which Carter uncovers the network's practice of showing "blipverts," ads which are compressed to run in a short time so that viewers can't switch the channel. Only trouble is, blipverts kill. Pays plays Carter's "controller," Theora Jones, who, besides being lovely, is a computer genius. The real heart of the series is, of course, Max Headroom, who became a celebrity in his own right in the late '80s and even appeared on "The Late Show" with David Letterman. The bits in which he appears are amusing. The first episode especially, in which he is created, is very entertaining. Subsequent episodes, not so much. Concept: A. Execution: B-. Only closed captions are offered for the hearing-impaired.

Letters to Juliet (DVD)

Letters to Juliet (2010) starring Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan, Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero. Sophie (Seyfried) journeys to the Italian city of Verona with her fiance Victor (Bernal) on a "pre-honeymoon." But Victor is so busy talking with suppliers (he is about to open a restaurant in New York) that Sophie is left pretty much on her own. She ends up helping a group of Italian women who write replies to letters to Juliet, of "Romeo and Juliet" fame, which are left on a wall under a balcony in Verona. When she answers a letter from Claire (Redgrave), a British woman who was in love with an Italian named Lorenzo, she is surprised a few days later by Claire herself, who shows up in Verona searching for her long-lost love. With Claire is Charlie (Egan), Claire's grandson, who takes an instant disliking to Sophie. But since Sophie is free, the trio sets out to find Claire's Lorenzo, who they hope is still alive and living in the area. The setup is so romantic, you just know somebody is going to fall in love. Now let's see, who could it be? My bet is, you'll see it coming a mile away. But you'll have to see the movie to be sure. The subtitles are good -- even the songs are subtitled. And I enjoyed hearing Italian spoken, in the few scenes where it made up the dialogue. Grade: B

Kick-Ass (DVD)

Kick-Ass (2010) starring Aaron Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Chloe Moretz, Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lyndsy Fonseca. Ordinary high schooler Dave (Johnson) decides that he's going to fight crime in a superhero suit of his own design. At first he's a spectacular failure, but he persists. Soon enough, he becomes an Internet sensation; then he is joined by Hit Girl (Moretz) and Big Daddy (Cage), two costumed crime fighters who are way better than him at what they do -- they use swords and guns. Meanwhile he pursues his high-school crush (Fonseca), a girl who hangs out with him because she thinks he's gay. Even though this movie has elements of satire in it, it takes its crime-fighting seriously. In the end, there's plenty of criminal ass that needs to be kicked, and Hit Girl -- with a crucial assist from Kick-Ass -- is the one to do it. The finale is spectacular. This disc has subtitles for the hearing-impaired. Extras: None. Grade: A-

Please Don't Eat the Daisies (DVD)

Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) starring Doris Day, David Niven, Janis Paige, Spring Byington, Patsy Kelly. Day and Niven play a married couple; he's a rookie theater critic, she's a stay-at-home mom to their brood of four children, all boys. Just when Larry's (Niven) career begins to take off, the family is evicted from their apartment and must quickly find somewhere else to live. Kate (Day) wants to get a house in the country, but it's hard to find anything decent on short notice. Nevertheless, they move to the country (70 miles out of New York), and then the fun really begins. Well, it's supposed to be fun. The two stars are expected to carry the movie with the force of their personalities, but I really felt the chemistry between Day and Niven wasn't quite right. They may have been big stars in 1960, but much of their luster has faded by now. The movie I found to be mildly amusing and mostly harmless. The subtitles are adequate. Grade: B

Play Misty for Me (DVD)

Play Misty for Me (1971) starring Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills, John Larch. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Radio disc jockey Dave Garver (Eastwood) is pursued by crazy fan Evelyn (Walter). When she starts to smother him, he pushes her away, and she becomes a stalker. The movie never explains how she knows where he lives. Maybe 1971 was just a more innocent time. The dialogue is wooden at times, as is Eastwood's acting. He's a good action hero, but this film calls for something a little more nuanced. Eastwood the director does take full advantage of the scenery; the movie is set in Carmel, California, and the seaside scenes are beautifully shot. The subtitles are more than adequate. Grade: C

The Exploding Girl (DVD)

The Exploding Girl (2009) starring Zoe Kazan, Mark Randall. Ivy (Kazan), a college student on spring break in Brooklyn, finds that her relationship with boyfriend Greg is fizzling via cell phone. Meanwhile, her longtime platonic friend Al (Randall) is obviously in love with her. To top off her troubles, Ivy has epilepsy. This is a modest little indie film, with a pretty simple plot. It was watchable, but not great. It does come with English subtitles, which is a plus. Grade: B

Red Riding - 1974 (DVD)

Red Riding - 1974 (2009) starring Andrew Garfield. When a young girl is found murdered, journalist Edward Dunford (Garfield) thinks he sees a pattern linking the killing to earlier disappearances of girls. But when he starts asking questions, the police come around and rough him up. Soon after, a fellow journalist and friend dies in an "accident." Dunford suspects foul play. The deeper he digs, the more trouble he stirs up. In the end, this movie gets more and more violent, until it goes out in a blaze of gunfire. The question is, will you want to see Parts 2 and 3 of the Red Riding trilogy? I don't think I'll be renting them. The subtitles that come on the disc are very good, but curiously, closed captions are not offered. Grade: B

The Player (DVD)

The Player (1992) starring Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, many more. Directed by Robert Altman. Robbins plays Griffin Mill, a Hollywood producer who is being harassed by a writer whom he apparently brushed off. When the harassment goes on too long, it starts to drive Mill crazy, and he starts to act crazy. Vincent D'Onofrio (of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent") appears as David Kahane, the writer who's mad at Mill because he said he would get back to him and didn't. The real story of this movie, for me, was the amazing, large cast and the plethora of celebrity cameos that Altman managed to shoehorn in -- just incredible. The DVD includes an Extra that shows all the cameo players and lists their film credits. The movie itself drags a little in spots, but I'm sure it's full of movie in-jokes and references. I caught a few of them. The ending is killer. The subtitles are OK. Grade: A-

Platoon (DVD)

Platoon (1986) starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen. Directed by Oliver Stone. "Cherry" Chris Taylor (Sheen) arrives in Vietnam in 1967, at the height of the war. Berenger plays Barnes, a hard-ass sergeant who leads the platoon in the destruction of a village. Dafoe plays Elias, the good sergeant to Berenger's bad sergeant, trying to bring some reason to the chaos of the war. The combat sequences are as intense as any I've seen on film. This movie won four Oscars, including Best Picture. It offers a choice of subtitles in English or closed captions. Grade: A

Sunshine Cleaning (DVD)

Sunshine Cleaning (2008) starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin. Rose (Adams), in desperate need of money to get her young son into a private school, decides to start a business cleaning up biohazards and crime scenes. She ropes her sister Norah (Blunt) into being her partner in the enterprise. While dealing with gruesome scenes of carnage and death at work, the pair are also trying to get their personal lives in order. At the same time, the job brings up painful memories of their mother's suicide. I really wanted to like this movie, and it has its likable elements, but overall I was disappointed. The script was just too thin -- not enough good lines, not enough funny jokes, just not satisfying. The subtitles, though, are quite good. Grade: B-

The Wire (DVD)

The Wire (2002) starring Dominic West. This HBO series has been praised to the skies by other critics, so I finally decided to take a chance on renting it. It's really not possible to judge an entire series by the first three episodes (contained on this disc), but so far so good. The show is a gritty dramatization of the illegal drug scene in Baltimore, seen alternately from the point of view of the cops and the perpetrators. The acting is good and the writing is very good. There are subtitles included on the disc, or if you prefer you can use the closed captions provided by your TV. I will definitely be renting more discs in this series. Grade so far: A

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (DVD)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010) starring Zachary Gordon. Greg Heffley (Gordon) enters middle school with no idea what it takes to be "cool." In fact, he already thinks he's pretty cool (he would never describe himself as a wimp), it's just a matter of getting the rest of the world to recognize it. Unfortunately, it's his dorky best friend Rowley who climbs the vine of popularity, while Greg's stock just continues to sink lower and lower. Naturally, it all resolves itself in the end. This movie is OK entertainment, but it definitely lacks depth. It seems clearly targeted at tweens -- kids the same age as the kids in the film. Everything is kept simple -- too simple, for my adult tastes. The subtitles are OK, kind of hard to read. Grade: C+