One from the Heart

One from the Heart (1982) starring Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Raul Julia, Nastassja Kinski. Directed by Francis Coppola. This was a vanity project for Coppola, and boy did it flop. Second-rate acting and a weak script make this one of the worst movies I've ever sat through. In fact, I fell asleep watching it, something that virtually never happens. Seriously, Francis, what were you thinking? Grade: D

Antwone Fisher

Antwone Fisher (2002) starring Derek Luke, Denzel Washington, Joy Bryant, Salli Richardson. Directed by Denzel Washington. A troubled sailor (Luke) is sent to see a Navy psychiatrist (Washington) to try to unravel his behavioral problems. From their sessions emerges a tale of incredible abuse and neglect, and a resolve to overcome his past and push through into a better future. In the process, the sailor ends up helping the psychiatrist in unanticipated ways. This is a well told, and ultimately very moving, story. Not a great movie, but certainly worth watching. Grade: B+ 

The Apartment

The Apartment (1960) starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray. Directed by Billy Wilder. C.C. Baxter (Lemmon) has a problem with his apartment. To further his ambitions at the insurance company where he works, he has allowed executives there to borrow his apartment for their illicit romantic trysts. The trouble really starts when he lends his apartment out to the head of personnel (MacMurray), and falls for the head of personnel's girlfriend (MacLaine). Part comedy, part drama, this is a movie that manages to be both touching and funny. Lemmon and MacLaine are superb. Lemmon has never been more appealing, and MacLaine has never been more lovely. The film won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. It's a joy to watch, and I highly recommend it. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are very legible.) Grade: A  

The Helen Morgan Story

The Helen Morgan Story (1957) starring Ann Blyth, Paul Newman, Richard Carlson, Gene Evans, Alan King. Directed by Michael Curtiz. There really was a Helen Morgan, and she was a big star during the 1920s and '30s. This largely fictionalized movie focuses on Morgan's (Blyth) romances and alcoholism. Although she performs a number of songs, her career as a torch singer seems to be in the background in this film. Newman plays a cheap hood who she falls in love with early on and can never stop loving -- in contrast to her real life, where she was married three times. This film is billed as a Paul Newman movie, but it's one he'd probably rather forget. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available on the disc.) Grade: B- 

The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner. DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, a real-life Wall Street honcho who made a fortune in the stock market and then ended up serving time in prison for his shenanigans. The movie is very heavy on "colorful" language, drugs, nudity and simulated sex. The movie is also three hours long, and every other word is fuck. I found it distasteful for the most part, and I can't recommend it. Some parts of the film were funny, so you might classify it as a black comedy, but I don't think the funny outweighs the ugly. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B- 

Charade

Charade (1963) starring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy. Grant and Hepburn meet, as if by chance, while on holiday in the Alps. When Hepburn returns to Paris, she learns that her husband has been murdered, and that he had stolen $250,000 in gold. Grant arrives in Paris soon afterward and comes to her aid -- or so it seems. Is he a friend, or is he just another thief trying to get his hands on the money? It's practically the very last scene in the movie when we (and Hepburn's character) find out. Truly, this is an excellent movie, mixing suspense, romance and comedy and thoroughly entertaining the audience. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available, but can only be accessed by using the Subtitle key on the remote control.) Grade: A  

Wonder Boys

Wonder Boys (2000) starring Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey, Jr., Katie Holmes. Professor Grady Tripp (Douglas) is 50 years old and stands at a crossroads of his life. His young, beautiful wife has left him, and he's struggling to write his second novel, seven years after the first novel was a big hit. Plus, his girlfriend Sara (McDormand) announces that she is pregnant. The movie follows Tripp through a picaresque weekend in which he blunders around town in a marijuana haze, trying to figure out what to do and specifically what he wants. In the process, he gets involved in the life of a morose student (Maguire) and fends off the advances of an attractive female student (Holmes). I found the film to be fairly entertaining, though there were some bits that didn't work. The Extras on the disc are mostly of the self-congratulatory type. English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are provided and are highly legible. Plus, the songs are subtitled! Grade: B

Tim's Vermeer

Tim's Vermeer (2014), documentary. Produced and directed by Penn and Teller. Tim Jenison, an inventor and old friend of producer Penn Jillette, had a theory that Johannes Vermeer, the 17th-century Dutch painter, may have used technological means to achieve the photorealistic effects in his paintings. Jenison, as documented in this film, went on to demonstrate just how this might have been done, and he is certainly very convincing. He actually built an optical device that allowed him, avowedly not a painter, to re-create a painting by Vermeer in phenomenal detail. The film is fascinating, although at times it moves a bit slowly. At 80 minutes, it is certainly not overlong. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available, and are highly legible.) Grade: B

Her

Her (2013) starring Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson (voice), Amy Adams, Rooney Mara. Directed by Spike Jonze. In the year 2025, Theodore (Phoenix) falls in love with his computer's operating system (voice of Johansson). What's more, the OS "falls in love" with him. But of course it can't be that simple. Suffice it to say that his OS has the ability to learn and evolve, and their relationship goes places one wouldn't dream it could go. This is a very interesting "what if" sort of movie. It's not believable for a second, but it poses some fascinating questions about the nature of intelligence and emotion, and of the future of computers. It certainly made for a good evening's entertainment. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available.) Grade: B+

Heavenly Creatures

Heavenly Creatures (1994) starring Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent, Clive Morrison. Directed by Peter Jackson. Based on a true story, two teenage girls in New Zealand (Lynskey, Winslet) form an obsessive, exclusive friendship. They develop their own little fantasy world, and feed off each other until they reach a state of hysteria,  ending up collaborating on a murder. It's a beautifully made movie, with the girls' fantasy life vividly shown. The fact that it's a true story makes it all the more chilling. (English subtitles are supplied for the hearing-impaired, and are very legible and well done -- even the songs are subtitled.) Grade: A-   

Hitchcock

Hitchcock (2012) starring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Toni Collette, Danny Huston. Hopkins portrays legendary movie director Alfred Hitchcock, and Mirren plays his wife, Alma. This film is about their relationship, while at the same time showing glimpses into the making of Hitchcock's movie Psycho, which was released in 1960. As portrayed here, Hitch and Alma had a symbiotic relationship, and Alma played an equal-partner role in the making of his films. Meanwhile, it's fun to see Johansson's take on Janet Leigh, which it seems to me she did a pretty good job of portraying. This is not a great movie, but it's an entertaining diversion for an evening. I got the Blu-Ray copy from my library, and the Extras are copious. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B+  

Anatomy of a Murder

Anatomy of a Murder (1959) starring James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'Connell, Eve Arden, George C. Scott. Directed by Otto Preminger. Rather long courtroom drama about a small-town lawyer (Stewart) defending a man (Gazzara) on murder charges after the man killed his wife's (Remick) rapist. This was probably a somewhat racy movie back in '59, but today it seems rather stilted and underdone. There are some fine performances in it, however, particularly Stewart, who towers over the courtroom scenes, and O'Connell and Arden, who are both fine in supporting roles. Music by Duke Ellington, who also appears onscreen. Although the film was released in 1959, it was shot in black and white, which might turn off some viewers. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B  

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) starring Robert Morse, Michele Lee, Rudy Vallee. Based on the Broadway musical, I recall seeing this movie in 1967 and rather liking it. Unfortunately, the DVD is totally devoid of subtitles for the hearing-impaired, and I found it too tedious to watch all the way through. Grade: F

The Harvey Girls

The Harvey Girls (1946) starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, John Hodiak, Angela Lansbury. Attempt at a "musical Western" mostly falls flat. Designed as a vehicle for Garland, it pretty much serves that purpose, but silly script and (mostly) lame musical numbers sabotage the film at every turn. Plot has Garland traveling by train from Ohio to a remote little fictional town called Sandrock out west (apparently in Arizona), where she has agreed to be somebody's mail-order bride. When the marriage plans fall through, she joins up with a bunch of young women who are traveling on the same train with the object of being waitresses in a Harvey House restaurant. The Harvey House restaurants were apparently a nonfictional fixture in the West, but the movie does little to explore that aspect of the plot. Low point is probably a "brawl" between the Harvey Girls and the ladies of a local saloon, which comes off as totally phony  (Judy is lovely, but she can't even fake a fight). The film has English subtitles for the hearing-impaired, but the songs aren't subtitled! Grade: C+  

Hair

Hair (1979) starring John Savage, Treat Williams, Beverly D'Angelo. Directed by Milos Forman. Attempt to bring 1968 stage play to film, really doesn't try too hard to replicate the play, but instead makes many changes, and consequently fails. Some of the songs are enjoyable to hear again, but the plot of the movie is really not much to brag about. Savage plays a young man who is entering the Army and is headed to Vietnam, Williams is the head of a band of hippies that Savage hooks up with, and D'Angelo is Savage's romantic interest. To the credit of the DVD, it does have English subtitles to aid the hearing-impaired, and even the songs are subtitled. Grade: C 

Fatal Attraction

Fatal Attraction (1987) starring Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer. Happily married Dan (Douglas) has a weekend fling with book editor Alex (Close), but soon learns that she doesn't consider it a fling. When Alex confronts him with the claim that she is pregnant, things get serious. Dan gradually comes to realize that Alex is not normal, as she shows up at his office and his home without being invited. The movie escalates nicely as Alex becomes more and more unhinged. Dan's wife Beth (Archer) assumes greater importance as the film progresses, and she has the honor of administering the crucial coup de grace in the climactic scene. This is an involving movie that will keep you glued to the screen, but it doesn't hold up very well to critical examination of the plot points. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B-  

Lust for Life

Lust for Life (1956) starring Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown. Vincent van Gogh (Douglas) struggles to develop his now-famous painting style, while at the same time struggling to make a sale. Quinn won a Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Van Gogh's friend and fellow artist Paul Gaugin. Surprisingly, van Gogh did not cut his ear off over a woman, but after an argument with Gaugin. Donald turns in a solid supporting performance as van Gogh's brother Theo, who kept van Gogh afloat with donations of canvases, paints and cash. Douglas may be accused of overacting a little bit, but it can't be easy to portray someone who is steadily losing his mind. Van Gogh's life ended in suicide, but of course today his paintings are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The movie is amply illustrated with pictures of van Gogh's actual paintings. (The disc supplies English subtitles for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B  

Friendly Persuasion

Friendly Persuasion (1956) starring Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins. A pacifist Quaker family, living in southern Indiana during the Civil War, struggles to maintain ideals while under threat of attack by Rebel raiders. Surprisingly, the war section of the movie occupies only a fraction of the screen time; much of the rest of the film is filled with comic vignettes from the lives of the main characters. Cooper stars as Jess Birdwell, the patriarch of the family, and McGuire plays his minister wife, who tries to restrain her son Josh (Perkins) from going off to fight the Rebels. The film starts slowly but builds momentum until the final action scenes put an exclamation point on the story. Very entertaining, well acted, and ultimately moving. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B+

Antonia's Line

Antonia's Line (1995) starring Willeke van Ammelrooy, Els Dottermans. Following World War II, in Holland, the widow Antonia (Ammelrooy) and her daughter Danielle (Dottermans) return to Antonia's home town, where Antonia's mother lies dying. The pair settle in to make a life for themselves, and Antonia establishes a matriarchal line of women passing down through her daughter Danielle to Danielle's daughter Therese, to Therese's daughter Sarah. The movie won the 1995 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and the award was richly deserved. Always unpredictable, always interesting, this is a film worth seeking out. It's in Dutch, with English subtitles that are very legible. Grade: A 

El Cid

El Cid (1961) starring Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren. Directed by Anthony Mann. Don Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, also known as El Cid (Heston) rises to power, marries the beautiful Chimene (Loren). Based on the true story of a Spanish national hero, this is a grand historical epic. It's obviously a big-budget extravaganza, and one can see all the money that was spent up on the screen. This DVD also has copious Extras, including a making-of feature and a behind-the-scenes featurette. Amazingly, one of the Extras reveals that Heston and Loren despised each other! I found the movie, despite its excessive length of over three hours, to be eminently watchable and emotionally rewarding. A really good film. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available on the disc.) Grade: A-