The Anniversary Party

The Anniversary Party (2001) starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Alan Cumming, Jane Adams, Mina Badie, Jennifer Beals, Phoebe Cates, John Hickey, Parker Posey, Kevin Kline, Gwyneth Paltrow, John C. Reilly. Written and directed by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming. A recently reunited couple (Jason Leigh and Cumming) hold a party to celebrate their sixth anniversary. He is a writer, about to become a director, and she is an actress. Their friends are mostly movie industry people or writers, and they all come over to interact and make drama, and in real life they are mostly actor friends of Jason Leigh and Cumming. The movie is modestly entertaining, but it kind of runs off the rails when one of the guests (Paltrow) offers the gift of Ecstasy to the married couple, with enough thrown in for everyone at the party to take Ecstasy. The characters in the movie do not act as I would have expected a bunch of people on Ecstasy to act, but what do I know? It strikes me as kind of a Hollywood insider film, and that makes it kind of interesting, but mostly it just seems like a low-budget vanity project. (English subtitles are available on the disc for the hard of hearing.) Grade: B  

Camelot

Camelot (1967) starring Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero, David Hemmings. I recall really liking this movie when I saw it in 1968. Oh what a difference 45 years make. It now strikes me as a surprisingly bad movie musical, with Harris being rather weak in the lead role of King Arthur, and Redgrave not really that beautiful as Queen Guenevere. The scene where Nero, as Sir Lancelot, kills his opponent in a jousting match, then brings him back to life, stands out as extremely phony. The songs are generally pretty good, but the  singing isn't strong. The introduction of Hemmings as Arthur's illegitimate son Mordred, and the subsequent downfall of the Round Table, is just a downer. Not enjoyable at all. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: C  

Gravity

Gravity (2013) starring Sandra Bullock, George Clooney. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Bullock and Clooney play astronauts who get stranded in outer space by satellite debris which strikes the shuttle they came up in. It seems that there is no way for them to get back to Earth, but they formulate a plan which involves going to the International Space Station and using the Soyuz escape capsules to safely descend from orbit. This is a propulsive nail-biter of a movie, with seemingly accurate depictions of what it would be like to be marooned in space. I found the soundtrack to be a bit intrusive at times, but that is a minor quibble. My main regret is that I didn't see this film in an Imax 3D theater. I imagine it would have been spectacular. Cuaron won the Academy Award for Best Director, and the film won in several technical categories. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: A-

Tristana

Tristana (1970) starring Catherine Deneuve, Franco Nero, Fernando Rey. Directed by Luis Bunuel. Tristana (Deneuve), upon her mother's death, becomes the ward of a family friend named Don Lope (Rey). Though Lope is a trusted family friend, he soon seduces the innocent Tristana, who is, after all, only a teenager. Later, though, Tristana becomes disgusted with Don Lope and begins going out on her own. She falls in love with an artist named Horacio (Nero) and eventually ends up running away with him. This has been called by some the quintessential Bunuel film, and it is filled with deformity and scary dream sequences. The more I studied it, the more I liked it. It's in Spanish, with English subtitles. Grade: B+ 

Rififi

Rififi (1955) starring Jean Servais, Carl Mohner, Magali Noel, Robert Manuel, Jules Dassin. Directed by Jules Dassin. French crime noir in which four jewel thieves pull off an incredibly lucrative heist -- only to find that a slip-up by one of them endangers not only the take from the robbery but the life of one of their sons. Dassin is actually an American director who was blacklisted during the early 1950s, and had to go to Europe in order to be able to make films. This movie is actually a pretty great crime film. Of particular note is the actual heist scene itself, in which the four men go about the business of breaking into a jewelry store and cracking the safe with no soundtrack -- no dialogue or music -- except the incidental sounds of the break-in and safe-cracking. The actors were not well known, even in France. An entertaining and involving movie. In French, with English subtitles. Grade: B+   

A Night at the Opera

A Night at the Opera (1935) starring Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx, Kitty Carlisle, Allan Jones, Walter King, Margaret Dumont. The Marx brothers take their insane brand of humor to the opera and chaos reigns. Carlisle and Jones provide a romantic substrate which propels the movie forward and gives it form. Of particular note are the stateroom scene, the tearing up of the contract by Groucho and Chico, and the single-handed destruction of the opera set by Harpo. And of course Chico plays the piano and Harpo plays the harp. One of the best Marx Bros. films. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: A- 

American Hustle

American Hustle (2013) starring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence. Directed by David O. Russell. The acting is excellent in this retelling (with variations) of the Abscam scandal of the late '70s and early '80s. Of course the film's producers have gone to town with the period detail, period music and late-'70s-early-'80s fashions in clothes. That's half the fun of the movie. Bale and Adams play a con-man and -woman who team up to rip off clients, then get busted by FBI agent Cooper, who co-opts them into helping him in a sting operation, in which several high-ranking politicians are induced into taking bribes and then arrested. The movie is based on fact, but there is a lot of wiggle room allowed by the script, with several important departures from real people and events. It's a very entertaining movie that got Oscar nominations in all four major acting categories. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available, and are highly legible.) Grade: B+   

The Spectacular Now

The Spectacular Now (2013) starring Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kyle Chandler. Uninspiring romantic comedy-drama, in which zero-charisma Teller pursues Woodley, although it is mostly a one-sided relationship (she really likes him, while he is just toying with her). This is an independent, low-budget movie, and it shows in scene after scene. This film struck me as just a cheap remake of so many teenage romantic comedies that have come before, and it lacks a spark to make it really special in any way. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: C-

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) starring Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders. A lonely widow (Tierney) is romanced by the ghost of a dead sea captain (Harrison) in her cottage by the sea. The movie sustains its charm by allowing the characters to maintain their decorum (the sea captain never touches the widow, although he is shown touching other characters in the movie). When the widow falls for a flesh-and-blood man (Sanders), the sea captain voluntarily fades out of the picture to let events go where they will. It's a well mounted film, with scarcely an off note. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B

Cabaret

Cabaret (1972) starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Joel Grey. Minnelli gives Oscar-winning performance as Sally Bowles, young American woman caught up in phony glitter of Berlin in 1931, just as the Nazis were beginning their rise to power. The movie is nicely paced, with romance between Minnelli and York being interspersed with cabaret numbers, concluding with Minnelli's spirited rendition of "Life is a Cabaret." The film won eight Oscars in all, and is very entertaining while at the same time being ominous (those dang Nazis again). (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B+

The Grandmaster

The Grandmaster (2013) starring Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi. Actually a fairly typical chop-socky movie with high production values, will be of interest only to martial arts enthusiasts and perhaps people of Chinese ancestry. I found it to be pretty much a bore. In Chinese, with English subtitles. Grade: C

Inside Llewyn Davis

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, Justin Timberlake, F. Murray Abraham. This is a rather depressing movie about a week in the life of Llewyn Davis, a folk singer in New York in 1961. The film has an interesting structure, as it loops back on itself and the opening is repeated at the end, a very unique approach. But in between, it is all about how Davis can't get it together, and how he is forced to sleep on friends' couches every night because he can't afford a place of his own to live. There is a lighthearted bit about a cat, which comes into Davis' possession after he accidentally lets it out of a friend's apartment. But mostly the film just seems downbeat to me, and Davis is not a very appealing protagonist. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available on the disc.) Grade: B-

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Donald Sutherland. Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) takes another giant step toward becoming the leader of a revolution. In this film, the evil President Snow (Sutherland) contrives to have past winners of the Hunger Games come together as Tributes to battle each other -- thus, he believes, snuffing out any revolutionary sentiments among the people of Panem. But his plan backfires as the past Victors unite behind the saying, "Remember who the real enemy is." This was a very entertaining, if far-fetched, movie. Hoffman makes one of his final film appearances as a Gamemaker who is secretly a revolutionary. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: A-

Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars (2004 TV series) starring Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni. Veronica Mars (Bell) is a spunky teen-ager who is learning how to be a private eye from her father (Colantoni), the disgraced former sheriff of the fictional town of Neptune, Calif. Her father's disgrace has fallen on Veronica, costing her her social standing at Neptune High School, where she was once part of the "in" crowd. Now Veronica hovers about the fringes of the school's social stratus, doing her own thing, investigating crimes and just trying to get by. The show has lately been in the news, as Veronica Mars the movie is going to be made thanks to a Kickstarter campaign on the Internet. Many of the original stars from the TV series will appear, although they'll all be ten years older now. It's something to look forward to. (The DVD provides English subtitles for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B+

About Time

About Time (2013) starring Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy. Tim (Gleeson) learns on his 21st birthday that the men in his family can travel in time. When he falls for Mary (McAdams), he finds that his talent is essential to winning her love for himself. Complications inevitably ensue, but for the most part they work out. The movie has its heart in the right place, but the time-travel paradoxes are not very well worked out, and ultimately, for me, the film failed. It was entertaining and the ending was satisfying, but the internal logic just didn't work. Plus, in a practice I find increasingly common and very irritating, the "bonus" part of the disc is off limits to renters and can only be obtained by buying the Blu-ray disc. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are supplied on the disc.) Grade: B-

Paisan

Paisan (1946) starring Carmela Sazio, Gar Moore, Bill Tubbs, Harriet White, Maria Michi. Directed by Roberto Rossellini. This movie is one of Rossellini's neorealist films, which takes a look at conditions in Italy near the end of World War II. In this case, he looks at the Allied invasion of Italy, starting in Sicily and working its way up the peninsula. His object is to illustrate the problems that were caused when the liberators (mostly Americans who spoke only English) were unable to communicate effectively with the Italians they were liberating. My problem with this film is mainly that when the Americans spoke, their English was not subtitled, and I could rarely understand what they were saying. So I missed out on a large part of the movie. Nevertheless, there was enough that I could understand that I was able to get the gist of most of the scenes, and I really felt that this film had a lot to say. It's an episodic movie, told in six parts, and each part takes place a little further north in Italy. Some of the episodes were better than others, but in general they were very well done. The film is mostly in Italian, with English subtitles. Grade: A- 

Scenes from a Marriage

Scenes from a Marriage (1973) starring Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson. Directed by Ingmar Bergman. A married couple, played by Ullmann and Josephson, seem perfectly matched, except that he goes and falls in love with someone else, named Paula. This movie explores the years in which they fall apart, contemplate filing for divorce, get divorced, and eventually end up married to other partners. But still, at the end, they meet up while their spouses are away for a liaison at an old country cottage. It's basically a relationship movie, and it's very talky. In fact, almost all the action is talk. That's not necessarily bad, but in this case that talk is in Swedish, translated into English, and I can't help but think that something was lost in the translation. It's certainly a watchable movie, even mildly entertaining, but I didn't find it to be the great Bergman movie that some have made it out to be. It is, of course, in Swedish with English subtitles. Grade: B 

Blue Is the Warmest Color

Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013) starring Adele Exarchopoulos, Lea Seydoux. A sort of coming of age story about a high-school girl named Adele (Exarchopoulos) who finds that she is more attracted to girls than to boys. She falls in love with a fourth-year college student with blue hair named Emma (Seydoux), and they enter into an intense relationship which involves showing graphic lesbian sex scenes lasting several minutes. Eventually, though, Adele cheats by sleeping with a man, and Emma throws her out. The emotions shown by both actresses are very strong, and Adele, although she is the cheater, is heartbroken. Emma was The One for her, and Adele has great difficulty moving on. Even at nearly three hours, the movie does not seem too long. In fact, it barely sketches years of their relationship. The only quibble I have is that the actresses don't noticeably age, even with the passage of several years through the film. But this can be forgiven when a movie shows such raw emotion so convincingly, and Blue Is the Warmest Color is a film which  sticks with you long after the closing credits run. It's in French, with English subtitles. Grade: A-   

Petulia

Petulia (1968) starring Julie Christie, George C. Scott, Richard Chamberlain, Arthur Hill, Shirley Knight. Non-linear storytelling stands out in this dramatic romance wherein Petulia (Christie) is a kook who decides to pursue Archie (Scott), even though she is already married to David (Chamberlain). The movie starts in the middle of the story and then tells the rest through flashbacks and flash-forwards. Although this movie has been highly praised by critics, I found the film's style to be distracting and not particularly pleasing. Although all the pieces are there, they're scattered around, and I couldn't see that any particular purpose was served by scattering them. Not one of my favorite movies. (Subtitles in English, as well as closed captions, are offered on the disc.) Grade: B  

Goldfinger

Goldfinger (1964) starring Sean Connery, Gert Frobe, Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton. Third entry in the 007 series has James Bond (Connery) stylishly thwarting Auric Goldfinger (Frobe), an arch-criminal who plans to set off a nuclear device in Fort Knox and contaminate the U.S. gold supply.  Blackman plays the funny-named  Pussy Galore, whom Bond manages to persuade (ahem) over to the side of the good guys. The movie is entertaining throughout, with many exciting action scenes and lots of clever gadgets. Memorable scene has Goldfinger's secretary (Eaton) being killed by being covered entirely in gold paint. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B+ 

Made for Each Other

Made for Each Other (1939) starring Carole Lombard, James Stewart, Charles Coburn, Lucile Watson. Movie-quality soap opera about Lombard and Stewart getting married, then battling illness, lack of money, Stewart's meddling mother (Watson) to try and find happiness. Running gag has the family unable to keep a maid because Stewart's mother keeps driving them off. The film tends towards the maudlin in final third, but everything suddenly works out in last two or three minutes. A fairly enjoyable outing, worth it to see Stewart and Lombard on screen together. (The disc provides excellent English subtitles for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas. Grant and Loy play a married couple living in a cramped apartment in New York City, who decide to move to the boondocks in Connecticut and buy a house there. Only trouble is, the house they buy is unlivable, and they have to tear it down and build a new one -- at great expense. Low-key comedy is a pleasure to watch, with Grant and Loy very convincing as a married couple, and Douglas as their lawyer who tries to warn them that they are getting into deep trouble when they buy the property in Connecticut. Naturally, as they are building the new house, nothing goes right, and expenses mount. Grant's reactions to the rising costs provide most of the comedy, with the workmen building the house providing local color. A good quality old film. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B+ 

Mr. & Mrs. Bridge

Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990) starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Blythe Danner, Simon Callow, Kyra Sedgwick. Newman and Woodward play a middle-aged couple living in the late 1930s through the middle 1940s, dealing with changing times and their three children's desires for different lives. Mr. Bridge (Newman) is a stiff, emotionally distant father and husband, and Mrs. Bridge (Woodward) is a desperately lonely housewife who just can't get enough affection from either her husband or her children. Danner is Mrs. Bridge's best friend, Grace, who sinks into alcoholism and ultimately suicide. I can't help but feel a faithful affection for this movie, even though it's full of plot holes. I just enjoy watching it and observing the changes that all the characters go through. The film does a good job of evoking its time and its place, and it's real escapist entertainment. It's that rare thing, a portrait of a marriage between two mature people. (The subtitles, for the hearing-impaired, are highly legible.) Grade: A-  

Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter (1945) starring Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey. Directed by David Lean. Two ordinary people -- a man and a woman (Johnson, Howard), both married to others -- meet by chance at a railway stopover. Over the course of a few weeks, they fall hopelessly, desperately in love with each other. But the movie, told from Johnson's  point of view, shows that she has a kind and loving husband and two adored children at home. She never meant to fall in love with someone else, it just happened. The love affair between Johnson and Howard is never consummated, and they eventually come to their senses and give up their affair. One gets the feeling that Howard wants it to continue more than Johnson does, but he does the noble thing and takes a job in South Africa, which will keep them apart and prevent them from doing anything foolish. This is a small, sad movie with an inevitable ending -- but one which, in 1945, must have titillated audiences no end. It's a British production, which may account for some of its reserve. The film makes excellent use of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, which weaves throughout the action. Really a perfect little movie, in its own way. (English subtitles are provided for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: A- 

The Awful Truth

The Awful Truth (1937) starring Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, Cecil Cunningham. Screwball comedy in which Grant and Dunne play a married couple who, based on mutual suspicion, decide to divorce. Both make plans to remarry, but spend the rest of the movie trying to prevent each other from moving on with someone else. Dunne is especially hilarious in a scene where she pretends to be Grant's sister and barges in on a social occasion thrown by his fiancée. (The DVD offers highly legible English subtitles for the hearing-impaired, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B  

The Rules of the Game

The Rules of the Game (1939) starring Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor. Directed by Jean Renoir. In the introduction to this movie, Renoir says that he wanted to make a film that would be pleasant to watch, but which would uncover the rottenness of society. The movie shows the romantic foibles of an assortment of French men and women at a country estate, and under the cover of light comedy manages to satirize the follies, rituals and class distinctions of the bourgeoisie. I found the film to be for the most part entertaining and at times funny. It's in French, with only adequate English subtitles. Grade: B+   

All is Lost

All is Lost (2013) starring Robert Redford. A man near the end of his life (Redford) finds himself stranded aboard his sailboat, which has sustained damage in a collision with a floating storage container. We watch him as he mentally figures out each step in the process of trying to survive, while there is a minimum of dialogue (just a little monologue). Redford proves his ability to command the screen, and he is on camera for virtually every shot of the  movie. It's a harrowing experience, as his boat slowly disintegrates and he is forced to resort to the life raft, and has to work out  problems such as how to get drinkable water and food to insure his survival. The movie keeps us under suspense -- we are in doubt up to the very end as to whether he will survive or not. It's an absorbing film, though I wouldn't exactly say I was entertained. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available on the disc.) Grade: B 

Enough Said

Enough Said (2013) starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, Toni Collette. Louis-Dreyfus stars in this charming romantic comedy as Eva, a middle-aged woman who falls in love with and imperfect man named Albert (Gandolfini) and at the same time becomes friends with his ex-wife, Marianne (Keener). The catch is, Eva doesn't know at first that Albert and Marianne are exes. She dates Albert and listens to Marianne criticize her ex, but doesn't put the two together until it's too late. It's refreshing to see a romance between two mature people on screen (they both have grown children). And it's squirm-inducing to watch Louis-Dreyfus wriggle when Albert and Marianne find out that she's been trying to sustain relationships with both of them at the same time. I felt profound sympathy for all the characters, and really enjoyed the movie. (The subtitles for the hearing-impaired are quite good and legible.) Grade: B+ 

Annie Hall

Annie Hall (1977) starring Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Paul Simon, Shelley Duvall, Carol Kane. Probably Woody's best movie, stars Allen and Keaton in an autobiographical romantic comedy with many fine Allenisms, funny comparisons of New York vs. Los Angeles, Keaton singing (twice!), the lobster scene in the kitchen, "The Sorrow and the Pity," Marshall McLuhan, etc. The film won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Keaton. Many memorable and funny bits, lots of them derived from Allen's own life and from his life with Keaton. Truly a movie to be scene repeatedly and enjoyed every time. (Subtitles in English are very good.) Grade: A   

Anne Frank Remembered

Anne Frank Remembered (1995) Documentary. Directed by Jon Blair. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh. Diary read by Glenn Close. This movie tells the moving story of the young Jewish girl who, with her family, hid from the Nazis for two years in a house in Holland, and who famously kept a diary of her thoughts while in hiding. The film tells the story from the start through the time Anne and her family spent in concentration camps after being discovered. Remarkably, Anne's father, Otto, survived the camps and lived until 1979. Anne, her sister Margot, and her mother all perished in the camps. The movie tells its story in German, Dutch and English, with highly legible English subtitles. Grade: A-  

Anna and the King of Siam

Anna and the King of Siam (1946) starring Irene Dunne, Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Lee J. Cobb. Dunne stars as Anna, an English woman who in the 1860s journeyed to Siam (today's Thailand) to tutor the king's (Harrison) 67 children in English. After she arrives, everything boils down to a struggle of wills between her and the king. Neither can be said to have won, but she gains the king's respect because she speaks the truth to him -- something that his Siamese subjects are too frightened to do. My main quibble with this film is that Harrison is miscast as an Asian king -- he's an Englishman, and he scarcely even loses his accent. He doesn't even look vaguely Siamese. Cobb, as his majordomo, looks equally Caucasian. That problem aside, this is a pretty good movie. I was very moved when the king died. (The disc includes subtitles in English for the hearing-impaired, and they are quite legible.) Grade: B 

The Sorrow and the Pity

The Sorrow and the Pity (1970) Documentary. Directed by Marcel Ophuls. This movie looks at life in occupied France during World War II, largely through interviews with those who lived through it. At four hours, it's a long movie, but it needs to be this long to cover the subject thoroughly. Among those interviewed are members of the Resistance, collaborators, Germans who were in France during the war, and innocent bystanders. Also shown are scenes of the repercussions after the war for those who cooperated with their German occupiers. Some suffered severe consequences, others got off lightly. The movie is divided into two main parts: Part 1, the Collapse, and Part 2, The Choice. Part 1 deals with the ease with which the Germans were able to conquer France, and Part 2 deals with the choice Frenchmen had to make between resistance and cooperation. There are many gradations of distinction among people who made different choices, and the film explores them all in depth. Some might find this movie dry, but I was very interested, even though my mind occasionally wandered. The film is mostly in French, with highly legible English subtitles. Grade: B 

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) starring Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Stephane Audran, Bulle Ogier, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Michel Piccoli. Directed by Luis Bunuel. A group of people try to get together for dinner, but are continually interrupted by absurd, surreal events. Some of the events seem real, but then they are seen to be somebody's dream. After seeing the movie, I am unable to separate dream, fantasy and reality. I'm not sure Bunuel meant for any of the events in the film to be real -- it's all one big joke on the audience. But it's a magnificent joke, and I enjoyed watching it from start to finish. I would even go so far as to rank it as one of the best movies I've seen. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. It's in French, with English subtitles. Grade: A 

Canvas

Canvas (2006) starring Joe Pantoliano, Marcia Gay Harden, Devon Gearhart. This movie tells the story of a family in which the mother (Harden) has been stricken with schizophrenia. Her husband (Pantoliano) copes by building a sailboat in the yard, and her son Chris (Gearhart) copes by being a kid. It's a moving and somewhat scary story that is said to be based on a true family's tale. The filmmakers obviously cared a lot about their subject and have put a lot of heart into this film. (The DVD lacks subtitles in English, but closed captions save the day.) Grade: B+   

And Then There Were None

And Then There Were None (1945) starring Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward. A group of eight people are lured to an isolated island, where they stay in a mansion and are killed off one by one. Based on an Agatha Christie story, this is a pretty good mystery. There's only one problem with this disc. It has no subtitles of any kind, nor does it have closed captions. Makes it pretty rough to watch for the hearing-impaired. Grade: F 

The Lucky Ones

The Lucky Ones (2008) starring Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins, Michael Pena. Three Iraq War veterans return to the United States and end up embarking on a cross-country road trip together. Each has his or her own wounds to deal with, both physical and psychological. They are "lost souls," with only each other to rely on. McAdams steals the picture with her enthusiastic performance as Colee, a private who has a flesh wound and a guitar she has salvaged from her squadron-mate Randy, who was killed by an IED. Colee hopes to return the guitar to Randy's family, and to ingratiate herself with them. Each of the three combat veterans has issues to deal with, however, and they try to help each other, with varying results. I found this movie engaging, although some of the side trips the trio took were unnecessary. Worth seeing for McAdams performance, if nothing else. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B   

The Girl Can't Help It

The Girl Can't Help It (1956) starring Tom Ewell, Jayne Mansfield, Edmond O'Brien, Julie London. Silly bit of pop film about agent (Ewell) who is hired by gangster (O'Brien) to make the gangster's girlfriend (Mansfield) a star. Trouble is, she can't sing! Or so we are led to believe. The movie's saving grace is that the agent and the girlfriend visit several nightclubs trying to get her noticed, and at each nightclub a different contemporary act is performing. The viewer gets to see live performances of songs by Fats Domino, The Platters, Gene Vincent, and Little Richard. Mansfield isn't bad in this picture, but she isn't called on to do much acting. Julie London performs a lovely rendition of "Cry Me a River." (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: C   

American Heart

American Heart (1993) starring Jeff Bridges, Edward Furlong, Lucinda Jenney, Tracey Kapisky. Just released from prison, Jack (Bridges) finds himself tracked down by his son, Nick (Furlong). Jack doesn't know much about being a father, but Nick is in desperate need of a father figure in his life. They form an uneasy truce, and end up sharing a flop-house apartment. Jack is determined to stay on the straight and narrow, but Nick doesn't know any better and starts stealing. This is a sobering drama of a movie about what it's like to be down-and-out in modern America (it's set in Seattle). Bridges and Furlong both turn in excellent performances. (Subtitles in English are not available on this bare-bones disc, but closed captions are provided.) Grade: B+

Animal Crackers

Animal Crackers (1930) starring Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo Marx, Margaret Dumont, Lillian Roth. Groucho plays Captain Spaulding, an African explorer just returned from the Dark Continent. Chico plays the piano, Harpo plays the harp, and Groucho shoots an elephant in his pajamas. There's a stolen painting in the mix, but it only serves as a convenient plot device. The Marx Brothers are given plenty of latitude to practice their patented brand of insanity, and many of the jokes will be familiar to fans of the comedians. This was only the Marx Brothers second movie, and there are plenty of rough spots and wasted moments, but it still manages to get enough jokes in to be worth watching. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B   

Angel Face

Angel Face (1952) starring Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons. Directed by Otto Preminger. An ambulance driver named Frank (Mitchum) is called to the scene of a near-asphyxiation, where he meets Diane (Simmons), the beautiful but hate-filled stepdaughter of the woman who almost died. Diane turns out to be a manipulative witch, and she gets Frank to quit his ambulance-driving job and come to work as a chauffeur for her father and stepmother. Diane tries to get Frank to fall in love with her, but he's not having it, sensing there is something a bit off with her. Then, when her father and stepmother die in a car crash, Diane and Frank are arrested and charged together with murder. I found the premise and the resolution of this movie to be outlandish, and I was not satisfied with it. However, it did keep my interest, and I think it will stick with me as a memorable film. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B-  

Don Jon

Don Jon (2013) starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore. Gordon-Levitt, who also wrote and directed, stars as a playa named Jon who can get women any time he wants but still prefers Internet porn. He gets involved with Barbara (Johansson), who catches him watching porn and makes him promise to quit watching it. Meanwhile, Barbara pushes him to take an evening class to improve himself, and there he meets Esther (Moore), an older woman who is more understanding of his porn habit. The movie gets a lot of its laughs from Jon's weekly attendance at church and his visits to the confessional booth. This is a movie aimed more at younger viewers, and I found that I had a little trouble relating to it. Nevertheless, it provided for a satisfactory evening's entertainment. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available.) Grade: B   

Short Term 12

Short Term 12 (2013) starring Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Rami Malek. Grace (Larson) and her boyfriend Mason (Gallagher) are counselors at a home for unwanted children, where the residents "age out" at 18, and where all the kids are troubled to some degree. Of particular notice is Jayden (Dever), a girl who comes to the home but doesn't expect to stay long because "I'm going to my father's house." For a low-budget film, this one is particularly well done, and I was moved by the plight of these poor homeless kids. Complications set in when Grace learns that she is pregnant, and when she learns that her abusive father is about to be released from jail. (Subtitles in English are not offered on the disc, but closed captions are available.) Grade: A- 

Angel Eyes

Angel Eyes (2001) starring Jennifer Lopez, Jim Caviezel, Terrence Howard, Sonia Braga, Jeremy Sisto. A female cop who is estranged from her family (Lopez) runs into a lost soul (Caviezel) who is trying to recover from his own tragedy. They make an odd couple, but eventually it is revealed that they have a connection that brings them together. There's not much original or new in this movie, which has the feel of a TV movie of the week. There are a few nice scenes, and no really big blunders in the story-telling, so it makes a pretty watchable evening of entertainment. Lopez looks a little strange with blond hair, but Caviezel fits comfortably into his part and the viewer can't help but root for them to work things out. (The subtitles are very good, with both English and French available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B 

An Angel at My Table

An Angel at My Table (1990) starring Kerry Fox. Directed by Jane Campion. The life of New Zealand's most celebrated and prolific author, Janet Frame, is told in this biopic based on her autobiography. Frame, who appears to have suffered from social anxiety disorder, was falsely diagnosed as schizophrenic as a young woman; she was confined to a lunatic asylum for eight years and subjected to 200 electroshock treatments during this time. She also lost two sisters to drowning in separate incidents and had a brother who was epileptic. Somehow, through all this, she managed to write a book of short stories which was published while she was in the asylum, and which saved her from undergoing a lobotomy. After her book was published, she traveled to London, Paris and Spain, all the while continuing to write. In Spain she at last fell in love -- with an American who left her at the end of the summer to return to his teaching job. The movie, though a bit long at two and a half hours, tells her story with sympathy and not too much pity. Frame's stature as an author, especially in her native New Zealand, can scarcely be exaggerated. She became a towering literary figure, despite the hardships she endured. This is an amazing story about triumph over adversity. (Subtitles in English are available, although they are a bit hard to find.) Grade: B+   

In a World...

In a World...  (2013) starring Lake Bell, Fred Melamed, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino. Written and directed by Lake Bell. Set in the world of voice-overs, this is a quirky movie which has as its central conflict a competition for the job of voicing the trailer for a new series of four movies about Amazon women. Bell stars as Carol Solomon, a woman who is in competition with her father (Melamed) for the job. She gets into various romantic complications along the way, and the film is filled with interesting characters. I found it mildly amusing. (The subtitles for the hearing impaired are very legible, almost to the point of being intrusive.) Grade: B

Blue Jasmine

Blue Jasmine (2013) starring Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins, Bobby Cannavale, Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, Peter Sarsgaard. Written and directed by Woody Allen. Blanchett is devastatingly good in the title role as a Blanche DuBois type of character whose world is crumbling around her. The script and direction by Allen is pretty near flawless, and he paints a picture of a woman (Blanchett) who, through careless and greedy living, has brought about her own downfall. This is definitely not a comedy, which we've come to expect from Allen, but a heart-breaking drama. Blanchett's character calls herself Jasmine, and she arrives from New York to San Francisco, where she hopes to start over again, beginning with moving in with her adopted sister, Ginger (Hawkins). The problems that brought Jasmine to this pass soon crop up again, however, and she seems to end up homeless. This is a movie which would reward multiple viewings, and I recommend it highly. (The subtitles for the hearing-impaired are highly legible.) Grade: A 

Captain Phillips

Captain Phillips (2013) starring Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi. Since this movie is based on true, recent events, most viewers will know going in how it ends. But that doesn't detract from the drama and the suspense as Phillips' (Hanks) ship is taken over by Somali pirates and Phillips fights to maintain control without getting anyone killed. The movie is quite skillfully made, and you can't help a surge of emotion as the U.S. Navy comes steaming over the horizon to the rescue. Hanks is excellent in the title role, and Abdi is very convincing as the leader of the pirates. The only thing that was slightly disappointing was the moment when the Navy SEALS took out the pirates, which happened so quickly that it was hard to tell what had just happened. A very good film. (The English subtitles, for the hearing-impaired, are very legible.) Grade: A-  

Prisoners

Prisoners (2013) starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano. Two little girls, two six-year-olds, are abducted, and their parents begin a frantic search for them. On father (Jackman) abducts a suspect and tortures him horribly to try to get him to tell where the children are. Meanwhile, a detective (Gyllenhaal) methodically pursues the case, making progress even though the case is murky and strange. The ending is a bona fide surprise, and I give the movie marks for this. The tangled plot works out pretty neatly, and it made for a fascinating, if sometimes gruesome, watch. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available on the disc.) Grade: B+  

Fruitvale Station

Fruitvale Station (2013) starring Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer. True story of Oscar Grant (Jordan), a young man who was shot in the back and killed by transit police in Oakland, California, in 2009. The movie traces Grant's last day of life, New Year's Eve, 2008. At 22 years of age, he was something of a loser. He had already served time in prison for drug-dealing, and was recently fired from his job for chronic tardiness. But even though he wasn't an upstanding citizen, the film asks, did he deserve to die? The answer, clearly, is no. He wasn't doing anything wrong when the transit police singled him out for attention, and his shooting, as shown in the movie, was unprovoked. This film succeeds in making you feel sympathy for Grant and for his family, and you feel his death as a terrible injustice. For this reason, the film is a success. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available.) Grade: B    

Lee Daniels' The Butler

Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013) starring Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, and a cast too large to enumerate. Whitaker plays Cecil Gaines, a fictional White House butler of 34 years' service. Loosely based on the real life of Eugene Allen, the film spans history from the administration of Eisenhower to the advent of Obama. Gaines actually served Eisenhower through Reagan, but the film continues after he retires. Some of the portrayals of presidents by familiar actors are jarring, but in general the film works. The main  problem is that it tries to do too much, and ends up short-changing many of the eras in history which it limns. I wanted to see more of Gaines work in the White House, but we catch only occasional glimpses of what goes on there. The film spends a lot of time on the civil rights movement, which was proceeding at the same time as Gaines' service in the White House. Gaines' son, Louis, becomes a civil rights activist, much to Gaines' displeasure, but they later reconcile. Overall, this is a good movie and Whitaker delivers an excellent performance as the title character. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B   

The Buddy Holly Story

The Buddy Holly Story (1978) starring Gary Busey, Charles Martin Smith, Don Stroud, Maria Richwine. Starting in Lubbock, Texas in 1956, this movie tells the story of the meteoric rise and brief career of rock 'n' roll legend Buddy Holly (Busey). Busey, Smith and Stroud perform the songs of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, and those performances are the high point of the movie. It's great fun, for the most part, and Busey was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the role of Holly. Not a typical Hollywood biopic, this film captures the excitement of the early days of rock 'n' roll, and any viewer who grew up with this music will find much to like. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are included on the disc.) Grade: A-  

Blackboard Jungle

Blackboard Jungle (1955) starring Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Vic Morrow, Louis Calhern, Sidney Poitier. Juvenile delinquency is the theme of this movie, and Ford plays an idealistic teacher who believes that if he can just find the right formula, he can get through to these kids. This was the first film to use rock 'n' roll, as Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" plays over the opening and ending credits. The school seems kind of weird. The students are all male, and it is never explained why there are no girls going to this high school (although some of the teachers and staff are women). Altogether, it's a pretty strong movie, fairly believable and with impact. Poitier shines as one of the delinquents. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B  

Angel and the Badman

Angel and the Badman (1947) starring John Wayne, Gail Russell. This Western has three flaws: The subtitles on the DVD don't work, the sound quality is poor, and the disc is not indexed, so you can't stop the playback to take a break without losing your place. One of the worst packages I have seen. Grade: F

Bus Stop

Bus Stop (1956) starring Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Arthur O'Connell, Betty Field, Eileen Heckart, Hope Lange. A young cowboy named Bo (Murray) decides it's time to find himself a gal, and he falls immediately in love with Cherie (Monroe), a saloon singer. This is the film in which Monroe proved that she really could act, and she's very good. The plot flows as it should, with Bo proclaiming that he and Cherie (he calls her Cherry) are going to be married, while she insists that she is not going to marry him. He "kidnaps" her, and they end up stranded together at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. That's where the drama plays itself out. I found this to be a very satisfying movie. Although not a great work of art, it was enjoyable to watch and the ending was a happy one. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B

Love, Marilyn

Love, Marilyn (2012), Documentary. Using a newly discovered cache of writings by Marilyn Monroe, this movie uses various celebrity presenters, who read Monroe's words for the camera. Also seen: loads and loads of footage of Monroe, either in acting assignments or being interviewed by the press. What emerges is a new portrait of Marilyn, seen from a slightly different angle than ever before, and thus, in my opinion, worth seeing. This is not great art, but it is great pop culture, and I found it thoroughly absorbing. (Subtitles are not offered on the disc, but closed captions are available.) Grade: B 

Analyze This

Analyze This (1999) starring Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow. So-so comedy features De Niro as a mob boss who starts having panic attacks, decides he needs to see a psychiatrist (Crystal). Although the actors apparently had a lot of fun filming this movie, I did not have much fun watching it. There's nothing clever about the script, and De Niro is miscast as a Mafioso who occasionally has to cry on camera. The same concept was used in The Sopranos TV series, and with greater skill and success. Coincidentally, The Sopranos debuted in 1999, the same year that Analyze This was released. That said, this movie did well enough at the box office that a sequel, Analyze That, was released in 2002. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: C  

Duck Soup

Duck Soup (1933) starring Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern, Raquel Torres. In the tiny country of Freedonia, Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) is appointed leader because Mrs. Teasdale (Dumont) says so, and she is lending a large sum of money to the government. Firefly declares war on neighboring Sylvania just because he feels like it. The movie is one long sustained bit of zaniness, with the Marx Brothers in fine form, pulling all of their favorite jokes and a few more. A favorite scene of many (and my own) is the mirror scene, which the first time you see it is hilarious. There are many other inspired bits of madness in this film, which is considered by many to be the Marx Brothers best. It certainly gave me a few good laughs. (Subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: A   

And Now for Something Completely Different

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

The Anderson Tapes

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

Anastasia

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

An American Werewolf in London

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

American Splendor

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

An American in Paris

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

Halloween

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

The World's End

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

Love Actually

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

Elysium

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

American History X

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

Jungle Fever

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

A Letter to Three Wives

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

American Dream

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

Man of Steel

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

American Beauty

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

Allegro Non Troppo

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

Amadeus

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

The Bridge at Remagen

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

Amelie

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

The American

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

Amelia

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

Almost Famous

Almost Famous (2000) starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Directed by Cameron Crowe. In 1973, a 15-year-old writer (Fugit) gets a dream assignment: to write an article for Rolling Stone about a mid-level rock band, and to travel with the band for  part of their tour. Based on director Crowe's real-life experiences as a young writer for Rolling Stone, the movie gets behind the façade of the rock band's public face, and reveals things that they would rather not have the public know. The name of the fictional band is Stillwater (I've never heard of them, anyway), and they are led by the charismatic Crudup. McDormand plays the writer's mother, and Hudson plays a groupie whom he falls in love with. It's a better movie than you might expect, very well made and capturing a quintessential time in American pop culture. (Subtitles are provided for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B+   

All Things Fair

All Things Fair (1995) starring Johan Widerberg, Marika Lagercrantz, Tomas Von Bromssen. In 1943 in Sweden a high school student falls for his attractive young teacher, and she responds by throwing herself into the affair. There's one major complication -- she's married. This movie, in Swedish with English subtitles, has many "Swedish" aspects that do not quite translate into English. It is a well made film, but there were several moments when I thought, "Wha?" The characters certainly seem to act in unpredictable ways, which is a good thing, but sometimes what they do just doesn't make sense. This movie was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. Grade: B   

All the President's Men

All the President's Men (1976) starring Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Robards, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook. Redford and Hoffman play Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate scandal open. The movie is a combination newspaper procedural, detective story and thriller, and my only criticism is that I wanted to see the story play out all the way. Instead, we get the initial research that the reporters did, followed by a quick wrap-up at the end of the film in which a teletype prints out all the results of their efforts. It's a pretty effective ending, but the feeling I got was that the filmmakers just ran out of time and went for the quick wrap-up. Still, a very intense, involving film. (Subtitles in English are available, as well as closed captions for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: A- 

All the King's Men

All the King's Men (1949) starring Broderick Crawford, Joanne Dru, John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge. An honest politician named Willie Stark (Crawford) loses a couple of elections early in his career, then comes to the realization that the way to win is to cheat. He becomes a populist (modeled on Huey Long) who will make a deal with anyone to get elected, and who is willing to play to the "hicks" and the "yokels" to stay in office. This movie won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Crawford) and Best Actress (McCambridge). I thought it was good, but not that good. It certainly made for a diverting evening's film viewing. (Subtitles in English are included.) Grade: B 

The Uninvited

The Uninvited (1944) starring Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp, Gail Russell. A brother and sister (Milland, Hussey) in England decide on a whim to buy a grand house that they chance upon near the seashore. Wouldn't you know it, the house turns out to be haunted. No ambiguity here, we actually see the ghosts as they manifest themselves. The house turns out to have a malignant spirit that wants to kill a young woman (Russell) who once lived there. Not a terribly scary movie, this one has a lightness of spirit the sets it apart from the usual haunted-house flick. (Subtitles in English are available, but not closed captions.) Grade: B

The Way Way Back

The Way Way Back (2013) starring Liam James, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph. Young Duncan (James) finds himself trapped on a family vacation with his mother Pam (Collette) and her jerk of a boyfriend Trent (Carell). Duncan finds his redemption in a water park run by Owen (Rockwell), where he gets initiated and learns to find friendship. He also meets a girl (Robb), who follows him and (eventually) kisses him. This is a pretty good movie, though James's silent brooding in the beginning is a little hard to enjoy. It gets better as it goes along. (Subtitles in English are provided, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B  

The To Do List

The To Do List (2013) starring Aubrey Plaza, Johnny Simmons, Bill Hader, Alia Shawkat, Sarah Steele, Scott Porter, Rachel Bilson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Connie Britton, Clark Gregg. Recent high-school graduate Brandy Klark (Plaza) decides she needs to get some sexual experience, so she makes a list of sex acts she wants to complete before she goes off to college. Then, using various guys of her acquaintance, she proceeds to work her way through the list. This movie is a rather raunchy, mostly unfunny exercise, with just a few jokes that hit the mark. I found it repellent. (Subtitles in English for the hearing-impaired are provided, and they're very good.) Grade: C-   

The Conjuring

The Conjuring (2013) starring Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston. A family moves into a house that turns out to be haunted, and they hire a paranormal-investigator couple (Wilson, Farmiga) to try to get rid of the demons. Then, to further complicate matters, the evil spirits go after the paranormal experts' family. This is a spooky, creepy movie that generates a genuine feeling of dread. (Subtitles in English for the hearing-impaired are offered on the disc, although closed captions are not.) Grade: B 

All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) starring Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray. Famous anti-war movie tells World War I story from point of view of young German men, although they all speak English in the  movie. The film shows how grand patriotism contrasts with the realities of war and death, and how the young soldiers react to being placed in this new, stressful situation. Ayres, who stars as young soldier Paul, later became a pacifist and claimed conscientious objector status in World War II. The message of this movie is not dated, although the technology (quality of image and sound) is. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available on the disc, although closed captions are not.) Grade: B+

All Night Long

All Night Long (1981) starring Gene Hackman, Barbra Streisand, Diane Ladd, Dennis Quaid. Hackman stars as George Dupler, a mid-level executive at a drug-store company who begins the movie by throwing a chair out through a window and punching his boss. In the process of restructuring his life, he meets and falls for a woman (Streisand) who is gradually won over to his crazy new way of life. Dupler's son (Quaid) is already having an affair with the woman, which makes things kind of awkward between them. This is an oddball little movie which offers its own rewards and has an upbeat ending. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available.) Grade: B 

All of Me

All of Me (1984) starring Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Victoria Tennant. Directed by Carl Reiner. Cranky, rich, but bedridden woman (Tomlin) arranges to get her soul transferred into a young, healthy woman (Tennant) upon her death. But the plan goes awry, and Tomlin's soul ends up in a lawyer (Martin) who doesn't really want to be a lawyer. The movie is uneven, but has many funny scenes, and Martin is brilliantly funny as the man whose soul shares his body with a woman's soul. Unfortunately, this is a bare-bones disc, and has no subtitles or closed captions. Grade: B

Fantasia

Fantasia (1940) starring Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Narrated by Deems Taylor. Walt Disney Studios creates a marriage of classical music and animation, with eight different sections filling out this two-hour movie. Included are Bach's Toccata and Fugue; Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony (excerpt); "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (with Mickey Mouse); "A Night on Bald Mountain"; "The Dance of the Hours" (with dancing hippos and alligators); and Stravinski's "Rite of Spring" (showing evolution through the dinosaurs). Fantasia is a fantastic movie. It even includes subtitles for the hearing-impaired. Grade: A-   

Allegheny Uprising

Allegheny Uprising (1939) starring John Wayne, Claire Trevor, George Sanders, Brian Donlevy. In 1759, a few years before the War for Independence, a valley of Pennsylvania colonists rises up against British rule, led by Jim Smith (Wayne). Trevor plays Wayne's romantic interest, and she's one scrappy frontierswoman. This is quite the colonial tale, though obviously shot on a low budget. It succeeds in entertaining, and is said to be based on a true story. (Subtitles in English are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B  

The Heat

The Heat (2013) starring Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy. Bullock and McCarthy play an odd couple of law enforcement trying to bring down a drug ring in Boston. The movie is a mess in many ways, but it certainly has its moments. Bullock plays an uptight FBI agent from New York, while McCarthy is a brash and potty-mouthed police officer from Boston. They are thrown together on a case and proceed to drive each other crazy -- until they learn to love each other. This film is obviously a variation on a well worn theme, but it almost works. Bullock is a little out of her element here, but McCarthy is note-perfect and really brings the movie to life. The movie has an improvised feel to it, which is not necessarily a bad thing, except that some of the improvised humor just misses the mark. I ended up feeling good after watching this film, so it must be said that the formula worked, at least in part. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired, as are closed captions.) Grade: B

When Comedy Was King

When Comedy Was King (1960) starring Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Fatty Arbuckle and Mabel Normand, Wallace Beery and Gloria Swanson, the Keystone Kops. Silent comedy classics from 1914 onward through the twenties are featured in this brief (81 minutes) compilation film. There are plenty of laughs to be had here if your sense of humor is still intact. If you love the old silent comedy classics, this movie is a must-see. (Subtitles of any kind are not available, but after all these are silent films.) Grade: B 

All About My Mother

All About My Mother (1999) starring Cecelia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Penelope Cruz. Directed by Pedro Almodovar. When a woman loses her son, she returns to Barcelona and reconnects with her earlier life there. This Almodovar's tribute to women, and one can only imagine that his own mother may have born some resemblance to the women in this movie. It's an intensely interesting movie, with lots of transsexuals and pregnant nuns. It also pays tribute to All About Eve and A Streetcar Named Desire. It's in Spanish, with English subtitles. Grade: A-    

All About Eve

All About Eve (1950) starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Davis stars as a fading Broadway star who takes in a devoted fan (Baxter), who turns out to be a conniving bitch who wants to use Davis (and others) to start an acting career of her own. The film won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor (Sanders). This is a perfect little film with a brilliant script (by Mankiewicz) that tells a human story which rings true. (Subtitles are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: A  

Aliens

Aliens (1986) starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton. Directed by James Cameron. Ripley (Weaver), the only survivor of the first mission to LV-426, returns with a fresh crew of gung-ho Marines to wipe out a colony of alien creatures. Weaver was nominated for an Academy Award for her excellent performance as the forceful Ripley. The movie is propulsive in its action sequences, driving forward with constant suspense, and arriving at one of those endings which Cameron became famous for after he directed The Terminator (1984). This is a real kick-ass movie, and deserves the attention of action and sci-fi fans everywhere. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B+   

Alien

Alien (1979) starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto, Veronica Cartwright. Directed by Ridley Scott. Commercial spacecraft responds to a beacon and the crew end up being hunted down by a scary and very lethal alien creature. The only survivor is the forceful, resourceful Ripley (Weaver).This movie is a kind of cultural touchstone, and has some really neat ideas and some well earned scares. But after the creature is aboard the space ship, it amounts to little more than a haunted-house horror show. And an anti-corporate tirade (not such a bad thing). The version I watched was the Director's Cut, which added some footage not shown in theaters and trimmed a few scenes here and there. I didn't find it to be an improvement over the theatrical version. I remember this movie being a really big deal when it came out in 1979, but it is now mostly a disappointment (though a necessary prelude to the superior sequel, Aliens.) (Subtitles in English are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B-    

Alice's Restaurant

Alice's Restaurant (1969) starring Arlo Guthrie, Pat Quinn, James Broderick. Amateurish movie incorporates the song "The Alice's Restaurant Massacree" into it's otherwise flabby plot. Not much is going on here, and the acting is really not up to snuff. Some good music is included, along with a guest appearance by Pete Seeger. This film really seems like an anachronism. I was expecting to feel some nostalgia for the '60s, but the effect was the opposite. Did we really look like that? Did we really act like that? Phoo-eee. (The disc has closed captions, so the hearing-impaired aren't entirely left out.) Grade: C

Operation Crossbow

Operation Crossbow (1965) starring Sophia Loren, George Peppard, Trevor Howard, Tom Courtenay, Jeremy Kemp, Anthony Quayle, John Mills. During World War II, British agents parachute into Nazi-occupied Europe on a mission to stop the German V-1 rocket (flying bomb) project. At the last minute, the mission is canceled -- but not before two of the agents have already made the jump. Loren plays the ex-wife of one of the identities that has been assumed by one of the agents (Peppard). Although Loren gets top billing, her part is really rather small; in fact, she dies early in the film. The pyrotechnics are rather impressive, as the Germans progress past the V-1 to the V-2 rocket, and we see large sections  of London obliterated. Overall, however, the movie is rather fantastical and hard to believe. I don't think the bombing of the V-2 facility actually took place as represented in the movie. (Subtitles in English are available, as are closed captions.) Grade: B-