Prizzi's Honor (DVD)

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

Prisoner of Paradise (DVD)

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

Countdown to Zero (DVD)

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

The Karate Kid (DVD)

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

The Day of the Jackal (DVD)

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

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (DVD)

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

The Prisoner of Zenda (DVD)

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

Get Him to the Greek (DVD)

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

The Girl Who Played with Fire (DVD)

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

Splice (DVD)

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

Kisses (DVD)

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

Leaves of Grass (DVD)

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

Prisoner of the Mountains (DVD)

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

Solitary Man (DVD)

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

Princess Caraboo (DVD)

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

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (DVD)

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

Priest (DVD)

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

Please Give (DVD)

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

Pride and Prejudice (DVD)

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

The Pride of the Yankess (DVD)

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