The Pink Panther (DVD)

The Pink Panther (1963) starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Wagner. Princess Dala (Cardinale) arrives at a posh resort with her precious "Panther" -- a large pink diamond with a flaw in the shape of a leaping panther. A debonair thief (Niven) tries to take possession of the jewel, while the comically clumsy Inspector Clouseau (Sellers) tries to protect her. The sight of a rather mature Niven trying to seduce the young and beautiful Cardinale is rather jarringly unfunny. Plus, there are long stretches of nonsense which do little to advance the plot and which contain no moments of humor. It's all terribly dated. Grade: B-

The General (DVD)

The General (1927) starring Buster Keaton, Marion Mack. Silent film in which Johnnie Gray (Keaton), rejected by the Confederate Army at the beginning of the Civil War, ends up battling Union spies who have stolen his beloved locomotive, the General. Meanwhile, coincidentally, his beloved Annabelle (Mack) has been kidnapped by the same men who stole his train. Pursuing them in a borrowed locomotive, Gray passes the advancing armies and ends up behind enemy lines. Hilarity (and slapstick) ensue. It's not much to get excited about, but as an example of early movies, it's harmless fun. Grade: B

Snatch (DVD)

Snatch (2000) starring Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Farina, Vinnie Jones, Brad Pitt, Rade Serbedzija, Jason Statham, Alan Ford, Mike Reid, Jason Flemyng, Stephen Graham. Director Guy Ritchie juggles several interlocking plots involving a stolen 84-carat diamond and everybody's desire to possess it. Set in London, the movie has many characters, all speaking different dialects of English. Luckily, the subtitles are excellent. Grade: B

Chariots of Fire (DVD)

Chariots of Fire (1981) starring Ian Charleson, Ben Cross, Ian Holm. Long-distance runners in post-World War I England face off in a quest to bring Olympic glory to Great Britain. More than just an athletic contest, their rivalry is framed as a clash between Christian and Jew. Based on a true story. Winner of the 1981 Academy Award for Best Picture. Instantly recognizable music by Vangelis. Grade: B+

The Wackness (DVD)

The Wackness (2008) starring Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Famke Janssen, Olivia Thirlby, Mary-Kate Olsen. Peck plays a teenage drug dealer named Luke in '90s New York City, coping with the summer between his high school graduation and college. He trades marijuana for therapy sessions from Dr. Squires (Kingsley), and falls for Dr. Squires' stepdaughter Stephanie (Thirlby). It's kind of a coming-of-age story; in the final act, the protagonist and his family get evicted from their upper East Side apartment. To top it off, the disc lacks English subtitles. Grade: D

The Sting (DVD)

The Sting (1973) starring Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Robert Shaw. Small-time con man Johnny Hooker (Redford) hooks up with veteran flim-flam man Henry Gondorff (Newman) to fleece a homicidal racketeer (Shaw) in 1930s Chicago. The fascination of the film, other than the chemistry of the stars, lies in learning how the "big con" works and watching it carried out. The first time you see it it's a real mind-blower. The movie won seven Oscars, including Best Picture. Grade: B+

Liar Liar (DVD)

Liar Liar (1997) starring Jim Carrey, Maura Tierney, Justin Cooper, Jennifer Tilly. Lawyer Fletcher Reede (Carrey) is an expert liar. But his lying ways have destroyed his marriage to Audrey (Tierney) and threaten to damage his relationship with his son Max (Cooper). When Max makes a birthday wish that his dad can't lie, it comes true. Fletcher finds he's incapable of lying, and his uncontrollable urge to blurt out the truth threatens a case he's working on -- and his career. Carrey is at his rubber-faced best as he acts out the inner turmoil of a man striving to lie but unable to do so. In general, I like Jim Carrey; but in general, I don't like Jim Carrey movies. This one is an exception -- I loved it. Grade: A

The X-Files: I Want to Believe (DVD)

The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008) starring David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Amanda Peet. Former FBI agents Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) are drawn into a missing-persons case that soon becomes something much more sinister. It comes off as an extra long, extra gruesome episode of the old "X-Files" TV series -- not necessarily a bad thing. Grade: B

Appaloosa (DVD)

Appaloosa (2008) starring Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris, Jeremy Irons, Renee Zellweger, Lance Henriksen. A malicious, land-hungry rancher (Irons) kills the marshal of Appaloosa and two deputies, and two guns-for-hire (Mortensen, Harris) are brought in to restore law and order to the frontier town. The two lawmen are more than up to the job, but when the widow Mrs. French (Zellweger) arrives in town, the dynamics of the situation change. The movie could have used tightening up, and runs on about a half-hour too long. Plus, I'd swear some of the plot devices are recycled from other movies. Grade: B

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (DVD)

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) starring Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen. Frodo and Sam (Wood and Astin) continue their daunting quest, to carry the One Ring to Mordor and there destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom. Meanwhile, the forces of the Dark Lord Sauron are on the move, preparing to attack Gondor, the realm of Men. It's a faithful adaptation of the book by J.R.R. Tolkien, but the battle scenes may not be to everyone's taste. Director Peter Jackson's epic fantasy won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Grade: A-

The Duchess (DVD)

The Duchess (2008) starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Rampling. Georgiana (Knightley) marries the Duke of Devonshire (Fiennes) and thus becomes the Duchess of Devonshire. But the time is the late 18th century, and they are a poor match. She fails to provide him with a male heir, which is basically all he wants from her, and he treats her wretchedly. She rebels, but all of the power is in his hands. There's a lot of sturm und drang, but basically this is a chick flick set in historic times. Grade: B

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (DVD)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) starring Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen. The Fellowship of the Ring is broken, and this second film in the trilogy picks up where the first left off -- with Frodo and Sam making their way to Mordor, pursued, then led, by Gollum, to try and destroy the One Ring of power. Whether anyone who has not read the book will be able to follow the movie, or will care to, I'm not sure. But it is beautifully conceived and majestically filmed -- although for some viewers the time spent on battles will be unwelcome. I find it to be the least of the three "Lord of the Rings" films. Grade: B+

Burn After Reading (DVD)

Burn After Reading (2008) starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton. A computer disk falls into the hands of a pair of not-too-bright private gym employees (Pitt and McDormand), and they conclude that it contains top-secret data. Hoping to turn a profit, they first try to blackmail the man who wrote the disk (Malkovich), then try to sell it to the Russians. It's a Coen brothers film with an all-star cast, so it is rather disappointing when it turns out to be not very entertaining or funny. Worst, perhaps, is the ending, which seems abrupt and fails to satisfy with any decisive climax. Grade: B-

Ghost Town (DVD)

Ghost Town (2008) starring Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni. After dying and being brought back to life, a misanthropic dentist (Gervais) finds that he has the ability to see the ghosts of the dead. More particularly, the ghosts notice that he can see them, and they have all kinds of unfinished business that they want help with. One in particular (Kinnear) manages to gain the dentist's attention, and he wants help preventing his widow (Leoni) from remarrying. It's actually a pretty standard romantic comedy, but the presence of Gervais gives it an added spark, and it's been expertly filmed. Extras: The standout is a short reel of Gervais being himself on set, and having trouble getting through takes without cracking up with laughter. Grade: A-

The House Bunny (DVD)

The House Bunny (2008) starring Anna Faris and a large supporting cast. Faris plays a Playboy bunny who gets tricked into leaving Hef's mansion and ends up briefly living in her car. She soon finds another way to survive, however, becoming house mother to an outcast sorority at a local college. If you're looking for believability, this movie is not for you, but it's actually a rather cute story that had me rooting for the girls of Zeta Alpha Zeta. Grade: B+

Mamma Mia! (DVD)

Mamma Mia! (2008) starring Merly Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Christine Baranski. Based on the stage musical featuring the songs of pop superstars ABBA, this movie demonstrates that some actors, no matter how talented, should never, ever sing and dance on screen. Particularly painful is when Brosnan bursts into "song," but he's not the only offender. This is actually kind of cute chick flick, but the musical part of it just doesn't work for me. Grade: B-

Tropic Thunder (DVD)

Tropic Thunder (2008) starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, Nick Nolte, Tom Cruise. A group of dimwitted actors making a war movie are forced to become "real" soldiers when they are abandoned in the jungles of southeast Asia. They run afoul of a drug lord and his minions, who take Stiller captive and force him to re-create a movie role he once played. The movie is perhaps a bit flawed in its particulars, but overall it's a comic masterpiece. Grade: B+

Fargo (DVD)

Fargo (1996) starring Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi. McDormand won an Oscar for her portrayal of a rural Minnesota sheriff who unravels crimes while pregnant. Macy plays a car salesman at the end of his rope who hatches a plot to have his wife kidnapped. Needless to say, nothing about the plot goes smoothly. This is one of the best films I have seen, ever. It kept me interested and absorbed from start to finish. There are several moments of violence, however, which might turn some viewers off. Grade: A

The Dark Knight (DVD)

The Dark Knight (2008) starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Anthony Michael Hall, Eric Roberts. Batman (Bale) battles big time crime in Gotham City, and his chief antagonist is the psychotic Joker (Ledger, in his final performance). I suspect that this movie would have been spectacular if I had seen it in a theater, but then I (being hard of hearing) would have missed half the dialogue. The trade-off is that I have to watch it on a small TV screen, which is all I have. That being said, the movie has a constant forward drive and nearly continuous action, and for those who like Batman movies it's a can't-miss. Grade: A

The Shootist (DVD)

The Shootist (1976) starring John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, and an all-star supporting cast. Aging gunfighter (Wayne) washes up in Carson City after being told by a doctor that he is dying of cancer. His fame as a gunman creates a sensation in the town, and publicity quickly brings miscreants trying to kill him. The film builds nicely until the violent climactic scene, which is a bit of a letdown by today's standards. This was the last feature film Wayne made before losing his own battle with cancer. Grade: B