More Mini Reviews

Here is what I have watched on DVD since I posted my last list. They are listed in declining order as I rated them. The ratings I give are on my own number system as explained previously in this blog.

A public library merger is enabling me to pick up DVDs at a more convenient location, but the transition will slow my check out pace for the next week or two. I have been considering a temporary slowdown anyway, to work on some other projects, so this is good timing. The films at the bottom of this list indicate how reluctant I am to totally reject a movie that seemed interesting enough for me to get a copy and watch it. Those at 2.9 down to 2.7, I consider marginal, but still will not give a Netflix 2 star rating. But the bottom two are bad enough to meet that fate.

How about letting us know if you have any comments regarding any of these films and about what you have been watching at home or in the theater?

The Secret Life of Bees - 2008. I was not familiar with the book, but am very impressed by the movie, as was the author of the novel per the very good special features on the DVD. Much time was spent making sure the film was true to the source, while developing the presentation to also exploit the strengths of the movie medium. Gina Prince-Bythewood deserves much of the credit for writing and directing this 3.6 film. Dakota Fanning is a marvelous young actress and I hope she continues to excel into her adulthood. All the other roles were well cast and played. The story is, as Netflix says, emotional and sentimental, which I really like when it is as well done as this movie.

Capitalism: A Love Story - 2009. This Michael Moore documentary about the evils of capitalism in general and the financial collapse in particular did not cover any new ground or demonstrate any new Moore techniques, but I like the progressive slant of Moore and still find his proven style appealing. It is true that Moore criticizes and ridicules without offering much in the way of solutions, but this film does show some individuals and groups who have taken small steps on a local basis to make improvements. The special features include some quite worthwhile materials, adding to my overall 3.3 rating, which should be taken with a grain of salt because of my personal preference for progressive documentaries.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - 2005. A goofy name for what I thought would be a cutesy movie, but I know some of the young actresses in it are good and Netflix said I would like it. I did like it even a little more than Flix predicted. I give it 3.2. It is about friendship, family and love, has some humor and more sentiment and the young characters, and a few older ones, all experience meaningful development. And the beauty of the Greek island portion of the film is jaw dropping.

Fermat's Room - 2007. This Spanish mystery thriller locked four brilliant mathematicians in a room where they faced death unless they continued solving math puzzles quick enough. I would call it a Who's Doing It and gave it a 3. At only about 90 minutes, it held my interest for the full run. Not one of my favorite genres, but I thought I'd give it a try. If you like a mystery thriller mix, you might like it better than I did.

Cutting Edge; The Magic of Movie Editing - 2004. This documentary about movie editing features interspersed interview clips from various editors, with clips from films they have edited and with examples from the early days of silent films. The material and interviews are all very good, but could have been better organized. Sometimes it felt like a historical analysis and sometimes like a primer on various aspects of editing, but the overall effect was not as good as it could have been, and I rate it a 3. I have read lots of materials on movie editing and have tries my hand at it a few times, so I can vouch for the validity of what is said shown in this film, and I do recommend it to anyone interested in how editing plays a significant role in movie making.

Uprising - 2001. This movie tells the unfamiliar story of the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto during WWII who engaged in armed warfare against the Nazis. The producers built a replica of the ghetto to use in filming and destroyed it in the process. This was a refreshing change to see the Jews wiping out Nazis. The solid 3 rated drama told the story as well as a documentary could, while also allowing for some character development. I got the DVD from the library. Netflix does not have it, which is a shame, since the story is not well enough known.

Under Fire - 1983. The movie showed the final days of the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua through the eyes of photojournalist Nick Nolte, with a journalistic love triangle sub plot that did not intrude too much. Tight script and attention which held their age and held my attention earned a 3 rating.

L'Innocente (The Innocent) - 1976. This stylish 1976 Italian production included the then obligatory casting of an American in a key supporting role, Jennifer O'Neill, whose Italian dialogue seemed mostly dubbed, but otherwise was a solid 3 morality tale of a 19th Century aristocrat's sexual double standard that backfired. The movie, directed by Luchino Visconti, holds its age quite well. Laura Antonelli's costumes are so gorgeous that they actually compete with her nude scenes.

Human Condition: A Soldier's Prayer - 1961. The final film in this Japanese trilogy has the hero, aware that the Japanese army has been defeated in Manchuria, trying to evade capture by the Russians and Chinese and making his way, with a varying ensemble of rag tag followers, somehow to get back to his wife in Japan. This third installment returns to the level of the first, earning my 3 rating.

The Guru - 2003. Bollywood modeled old MGM musicals, and this American film modeled Bollywood. The result was more watchable and fun than I expected. Nothing much to think about here, but at 2.9, some good laughs and nothing to make you cringe.

The Goddess of 1967 - 2000. This independent Australian film was definitely oddball and shifted time frames fairly often. I was hoping for a cross cultural road trip with character development. There was some cultural variety and the characters were on the road, but in spite of some flashes of interesting film technique, and giving a pass on low production values because it was an indie, the characters never got to me and the plot was too scattered to hold my interest. Net 2.8.

Shenandoah - 1965. I was disappointed that this story with Jimmy Stewart playing a widowed Virginia farmer trying to ignore the Civil War raging around him and his family was not any better than a 2.8. There is not much to learn from this film about the history involved, as the reasons behind the war are not explored beyond rugged individualists like Jimmy don't need slaves. Racial political correctness intercedes to the detriment of historical inaccuracy, with colored troops fighting in integrated Union Army units, something that was prohibited in the Army until Harry Truman ended it in 1948. The music was typically the most dated part of the film and I found it hard to become emotionally attached to anyone except the youngest son. The overall subject and production values kept the score from falling lower.

The Triplets of Belleville - 2003. This French language animated film is certainly different. From the preview, I expected a musical with catchy music illustrated with aging but stylish 1930s types. I watched the special features first to get an idea what I was going to see, and I learned that the creative force behind the movie was one man's vision of a certain look based vaguely on some people he knew, with no particular story in mind. The look is definitely individualistic and I did stay tuned for all 80 minutes, sometimes laughing and not being sure whether I was laughing at the 2.7 film or laughing at me for watching it. I would say it is worth seeing if you are interested in animation technique, for something more than a little different.

Fast Food Nation - 2003. Fast food hamburgers are made of a hodgepodge of ingredients from myriad sources, many of which are unhealthy, but fat and flavorings make them tasty. This 2.3 movie had a hodgepodge script that tried to cover too many story lines, and nothing was pursued satisfactorily enough to give it appeal.

Come Along With Me - 1982. I think I got this oldie because Joanne Woodward was the director, it was about an older widow and it was only an hour long. Thank God it was only an hour, because the story was a 2.2 dud. I think the problem was that it was based on an unfinished novel by a deceased author, and the script, also by Joanne, either did not finish the story or else ruined it. Joanne never wrote or directed another movie after this.

Marching through More Movies

Here is what I have watched on DVD since I posted my last list. They are listed in declining order as I rated them. The ratings I give are on my own number system as explained previously in this blog.

Each week I pick up a batch of movies the library is holding for me, and when I get home I consider slowing down and not putting more holds on for next week. But then I figure I have to go to the library to return this week's, so I might as well have more waiting for me then. Not watching movies would free up some time, but I don't want to leave too much time for chores and I don't quite feel like the movie watching is interfering much with other leisure pursuits.

How about letting us know if you have any comments regarding any of these films and about what you have been watching at home or in the theater?

The Way We Get By - 2009.  This PBS POV documentary about the senior citizens in Bangor, Maine who for six years have greeted over 900,00o troops coming and going to Iraq and Afghanistan via the Bangor airport is quite moving. Without taking a position on the politics of the wars, this 3.5 film showed three particular volunteers and their personal lives and what the service as troop greeters means to them. Regardless of one's attitude on war in general or these wars in particular, the humanity on display between the troops and the greeters and the appreciation for the dangers the troops face is bound to bring tears.

The Hurt Locker - 2008. The Oscar winner was an exciting action thriller movie about three members of a bomb disposal unit in Iraq. Kathryn Bigelow directed the film with a documentary feel that made us feel we were actually with this unit facing the perils. The interaction and character exploration of the three soldiers was a bit more limited than I like in a drama and interaction with others, especially Iraqis, was practically non-existent, except for one boy. Not my favorite genre, but still a 3.2 rating from me.

The Holiday - 2006.  I watched this movie because Nancy Meyers, the writer director is supposed to be very good at presenting the woman's point of view, yet she has not made that many films.  The only other film of hers I have seen in Something's Got to Give, which I liked a lot. Netflix predicted only a 2.8 for me, but I give it a 3.2. After the obligatory and uninspiring set up at the start, where an L. A. woman and an English one, both on the rebound from two-timers, agree to a two week house swap getaway for the Holidays, the movie has a sweet, yet smart, charm. You cannot help but like the two women and root for them. Cameron Diaz is a natural movie comedienne, and I agree with the Kate Winslet character when she says, "I like corny. I'm looking for corny in my life."

Up in the Air - 2009.  Corporate hatchet man George Clooney gets challenged by high tech firing and is given reason to question his own career status in this topical 3.1 film. Maybe having a fired worker as an equal character would have raised the rating. Susan did a better job than me of figuring where George's love life was heading.

La Vida Que Te Espera [Your Next Life] - 2004. This Spanish film about the killing of a dairy farmer and the involvement of a neighboring farmer and his daughters is beautifully filmed in the Cantabria area of Spain where these Pasiegos, who run small farms in scenic mountain valleys, are seeing government farming policies end their historic subculture. The relationship between the father and his daughters at first looks like they are his unpaid help, then like he is just a mean father and finally evolves into more nuance as the plot thickens. Meanwhile, the son of the decedent reluctantly returns and gets involved with the oldest daughter, to complicate things. Unfortunately, then ending, after finally getting us to feel the turmoil inside the oldest daughter, was a disappointment to me. I think the movie took too seriously it's ambiguous dialogue line, "What goes unsaid gets undone." But with the beauty of the cinematography and of the lead actress, efficient direction that holds attention, and good acting all around, especially from the young leading lady (Marta Etura) the film still earns a 3 rating from me.

The Southerner - 1945. The favorite of Renoir's films made in America during his WWII displacement from France, set in the depression era in the American south, this 3 rated film captures the grit of sharecropping and trying to resurrect a derelict farm as well as any documentary, while still having some of the Renoir poetic artistry. Beulah Bondi as Grandma is like the bedraggled old woman in a family heirloom photograph come to life. Except for a few black hands in a picking scene, the American Negro of the time and place is unfortunately left out of the movie.

Grey Gardens - 2009. Jackie Kennedy's kooky aunt and her daughter fell from high society to impoverished living in a dilapidated mansion in the late sixties, and were the subject of a 1976 documentary film of the same title as this 2.9  movie. Maltin's movie guide says the documentary would mean more if we knew the back story. This movie tries to give us some of that as well as revisit the territory covered by the documentary, but still could have told us more of the first part, so we could better develop sympathy for the women. Jessica Lange does a super job as usual and Drew Barrymore is surprising as a fifty something. I was wondering about the phoney sound of Drew's accent, util I watched the special feature excerpts of the real women. It might be helpful to watch the short special features first.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - 2007. I haven't read the book, but in the DVD special feature interview with the script writer, he points out that he only took a portion of the book and expanded that, concentrating on Sitting Bull and a Sioux boy who went to Dartmouth and became a medical doctor, with U.S. Senator Dawes being the paternalistic mentor of the boy and advocate for the Indians. Filmed in Canada, this 2.9 picture was well made, but even with the narrowing of the script and over two hours of movie, it still tried to cover too much and was not able to go as deep into the central characters as I would have liked. Won an Emmy for TV film, but could have done better expanded to mini series.

Little Children - 2006.  This movie started with some interesting characters that we started to get to know a little, and then it concentrated on how two of them got involved in an affair and went off on a few tangents, some with a little relevance and some with much less. Trimming some of the unnecessary and filling in some of the plot gaps, while overall shortening the length would have improved on my 2.9 score. The adults are sexually like the Little Children of the title and it is hard to care that much for any of them, but curiosity for what was going to happen to them kept me arounf until the end.

I Am David - 2004. An apparently faithful adaptation of Anne Holm's novel "North to Freedom", about an 11 year old boy who escapes from a gulag prison camp in Bulgaria in 1952, with a sealed envelope and instructions to make his way to Denmark by way of Italy and to trust no one on the journey. The boy has been raised in the camp and has no experience of the free world, so is almost like an alien. In spite of some hokey aspects to the story and execution of it, the performance of the young actor raises the film to a 2.9.

Sweet and Lowdown - 1999. Sean Penn's performance as a very eccentric depression era guitarist (the second best in the world), along with the musical score and the cute mute role of Samantha Morton are the reasons to check out this 2.9 Woody Allen picture. Not much plot or character development, just a bit of a tall tale caricature.

Young Girls of Wilko - 1979. This Polish Oscar nominee tells the story of a man who returns for some doctor ordered rest to the village he left fifteen years earlier and looks up the family of six young women and girls with whom he was involved but whom he has not seen since he left. The story is all told through dialogue, mainly between the man and the women, individually and in combination. As they reminisce, ruminate, reflect and regret we learn that the one of whom he was most fond has died and that the others all have their different stories and views on life. I may have given the film more than 2.9 if the dialogue was in English and could be followed better than with the sometimes awkward subtitles. Also, this is one movie where some flashbacks would have helped to let us know more about the relationships before he left.

Ride with the Devil - 1999. The start of the Civil War as played out along the Kansas Missouri border between the Jayhawkers and the Bushwackers is an interesting time in American history, but this Ang Lee film about those days, though stylish as expected, didn't seem to have a point of view beyond that the conflict, on an individual basis, was pointless. But it must have meant something beyond the thrill of violence and the call of revenge to those who lived it, and this movie would have been worth more than 2.8 if it had tried to show us that.

Coup De Grace -1976. I have seen almost a dozen German film by director Volker Schlondorff, but this may be my last. I enjoy the interviews with him on the special features where he explains much about the films. For this film he told about the movie and the book on which it was based, in much detail, but I still found the movie, which I rate 2.8, somewhat confusing and only vaguely interesting.

The Rising Place -2001. This tale set in Mississippi, told mostly in flashbacks tot he WWII era, looks to have been a TV movie, with mediocre production values, some anachronisms and a mostly unknown cast. The script had lots of holes, which I suspect were not in the source from which it was adapted, and the lead young white woman was quite self-centered and naive, though somehow still appealing. The characters all had an initial appeal that never seemed to progress, but still kept me watching. I could not say I disliked it enough to only give it 2 stars at Netflix, but at 2.6, it is hard to recommend it.

Why Do We Watch?

If films are made to educate and entertain us, are those the reasons we watch them? I certainly believe that's true. I love documentaries because I know I am going to learn something by watching them. But I also learn from dramas that expose people and their lives, making me think about their personalities and motives and how they handle the curves life throws at them. Comedies can be teachers too, sometimes they are just dramas with more laughs and a happier ending.

At two hours, a movie is an efficient way to absorb a story, while having a unique physiological experience in the process. I don't mean here to compare movies with books or the theater. Each art form has its own merits. DVDs have made movies even more efficient, unless you watch the special features and replay the movie with commentary. I do watch special features and always check the DVD first to see what they are (usually to the consternation of my viewing companions who fear I will play a special that spoils the plot -so I usually hold the special viewing until after the movie). If I really like a show, I may play it again with commentary, but now that I am watching more movies, I am less inclined to do so.

I remember in my school days, sometimes they had a morning movie on TV, and I always wished I could watch it before taking off for school. Our local TV station (KING) got access to scads of MGM movies from the 1930s and 1940s and I watched those all the time. When I discovered foreign films in college I fantasized about a career in movies, maybe as a director, or less ambitiously as an editor or script writer. Those fantasies long ago faded out, but now that I am retired and DVDs of thousands of movies are so readily available, I can indulge that desire to watch a movie whenever I want.

A couple years ago I lost some central vision clarity in my right eye. Fortunately, my brain works with my left eye to compensate and I can see fine with both eyes working together. But, if something were to happen to my left eye, my movie viewing would be significantly impaired, so that is another excuse for me to watch a lot of movies now.

I choose movies for a myriad of reasons, perhaps for the director, a star or the story, subject matter or locale. Maybe in some of my mini movie reviews I can include the reason I chose that film to watch.

It would be interesting to read why you watch movies and what kind of reasons lead you to particular films.

Why Are They Made?

Sometimes while watching a movie, usually one which is not very good, I wonder why it was made. People can have a good reason for making a movie, but then make it poorly. Talented people can do a good job with a movie that did not have much reason for being made in the first place. When people with no talent try to make a movie which never should have been made, the result is a bomb.

Pushing the envelope of still photography, inventors came up with moving pictures. One celebrated example is the machine that was made to prove that a galloping horse does at some point have all the feet off the ground. Another famous early film is the one of the belly dancer, and then there is the one with the rocket hitting the face of the man in the moon.

Commercial use of movies was first to titillate and entertain and maybe later to educate. The first nickelodeon theaters provided cheap entertainment to immigrants and also educated them about American culture, at least as filtered through the eyes of the movie makers. Nickelodeon operators learned early on that they could make more money selling popcorn than selling 5 cent movie tickets, so they pushed for the production of longer movies.

Entertainment and education can blend in a movie, with education coming in a variety of ways. I like to ask myself after watching a film, how I can relate the people and events in this movie to what I know and wonder about real life.  Sometimes it is hard to see much of a message in a film that seems just very entertaining, but I believe it is always there in a good film.

So many films are made, not because there is a need for a new message or a better delivery of an old message, but rather just because there is a whole industry that lives off making films and a whole bunch of people, more young than not, who love to go to the movies. Unfortunately the result is sometimes endless sequels, prequels and remakes.

Movies often disappoint us and sometimes pleasantly surprise us. To paraphrase a famous movie line, "Movies are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get."

No No Netflix

[UPDATE 3/10/10  - The problem at Netflix that prompted this article appears to be fixed. Checking the rating predictions today, they are back in line. Whatever caused the "growth spurt" in ratings has been taken away. I was not seeing UFOs - it happened right here on my same old computer that I was using exactly the same way as I always do to access Netflix. Now I do not have to waste time modifying my personal movie database file]


What's with Netflix?  A few days ago they changed the look of the details pages for the movies. Things are moved around on the page and it looks less colorful, but it still seems to have the basic info I want, so I did not think much about it. Then I started noticing the predictions for how I would like the movies seemed to be a lot higher all of a sudden. I don't follow news releases or similar information at Netflix, so I don't even know where to look for information about such a change. So I did a Google search and did not come up with anything from Netflix itself, but I did come up with some forum discussions by subscribers.

The people on the forum were overwhelmingly irritated with Netflix, but their complaint was that Netflix had made changes to the friends features which seemed designed to phase it out. The complainers also agreed Netflix was non-responsive to customer input and as an egregious example cited how their numerous complaint postings about the matter at hand are being systematically removed from the Forum by the Netflix moderator.  I did find one stray posting asking about predicted ratings jump ups, but the poster said he did not have a record of the prior predictions. Well I do.

Since the Netflix queue cannot be sorted by column (a glaring deficiency in my opinion), I maintain my own database of the queue for sorting purposes. When I enter a movie in my database, I put the date of entry and the Netflix prediction as of that date as part of the movie title. Then later, as I update the database, I change the entry date and put the current prediction in a separate column. I have been doing this for over two years, and I have never noticed the Netflix predictions changing much over time.

So now what I have done now is go through about 100 movies in my queue to see how much they have changed, and the changes are astounding. Of the 50 movies in my queue added most recently or up[dated within the last three months, 34 increased by up to almost one full star, 5 decreased mostly by just one tenth of a star, and 11 stayed the same (but one of these I had already rated and 5 were not predictions for me but rather all member predictions). The average increase for these 50 was .366 stars, quite significant for me since my own ratings usually only span from 2.7 to 3.5. Of the oldest 50 movies in my queue, last updated by me between May and November, 2009, 40 increased by up to 1.2 stars, 5 decreased by just one or two tenths of a star, and 5 stayed the same. The average increase for these 50 was .392 stars. For me personally, I will be discounting the Netflix predictions by .4 stars; my old cutoff for putting a movie in my queue was 2.8, but will now have to be 3.2.

Netflix has always skewed the features of its web site to encouraging rentals more than making the site useful to subscribers, but this unexplained, significant padding of the recommendation ratings is going too far. I read that the company stock has been running high, based on projections of adding new subscribers, but some financial analysts think the stock is overpriced. If the Netflix predictions of new subscribers re as inflated as their new projections of how I will rate movies, I think the analysts are right.

Through Oscar Night

Yes, I watched the whole Oscar show - after all, I am retired. It was the same old formulaic hodge podge of industry commercial, stand up comedy, celebrity roast, mutual love fest, celebrity worship and thanks by the winners to numerous people who are unknowns to us including the obligatory nods to parents, current spouse and acknowledged children. 

I use the award nominees as another list to check into to see if they might be films I want to watch. But I could do that by just going to the list on the Internet and not have to watch the awards broadcast. There was no particularly memorable moment last night. The tribute to those who died in the past year is always touching and should be expanded, perhaps into a separate show. In fact the awards show would be more useful to film lovers if it was made into several one hour shows: the tribute to deceased; actors and writers (more fathomable to the general public; English language films by genres; foreign films, documentaries and shorts; and technical awards including directing.

The line from an acceptance speech that most hit the nail on the head for me was one several years ago from a young Asian-American woman who had won the award for , I think, best documentary short, who said [I paraphrase], "You know something is wrong when my dress cost more to rent than my picture did to make."

Here is what I have watched on DVD since I posted my last list. They are listed in declining order as I rated them. The ratings I give are on my own number system as explained previously in this blog.

How about letting us know if you have any comments regarding any of these films and about what you have been watching at home or in the theater?

Elsa & Fred - 2005    I was quite pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this Spanish film about two octogenarians, a recently widowed quiet man and a quirky woman who lives in the apartment to which he just moved. This 3.5 film is somewhat like Harold and Maude with Harold more age appropriate. China Zorilla who plays Elsa is absolutely delightful.

The General - 1927.  This is Buster Keaton's favorite film and the one you should see before you typecast him. The General was a railroad locomotive that was hijacked from the Confederates in Georgia during the Civil War by a clever group of undercover Yankees, who were immediately chased by the determined engineer who overcame thrilling obstacles to get his engine back. Because of his comedy reputation, the State of Georgia refused to cooperate in the filming, so Keaton ended up making this 3.5 film in Oregon. As the excellent special features point out, this is not slapstick but an accurate looking drama with some moments of broad humor, some of subtle comic acting by Keaton and many examples of this trained acrobat's amazing stunts.
               
Every Stewardess Goes to Heaven - 2002. This Argentine film has a touching sweetness in spite of the fact it touches on death, suicide and unintended pregnancy. I still think its 90 minute length is ideal for a movie, with an economy of montage. Every minute of this 3.3 film is worth watching, the leads are engaging without rubbing glamour in our faces and the cinematography of Patagonia in the winter is beautiful and thematically appropriate. The minor characters all have charm and appeal, even the boorish pilots who act like fools on the ground to balance the seriousness of their airborne task.

Touching the Void - 2003. Filmed 18 years after the harrowing mountaineering experience that spawned the famous book, this 3.2 film combines interviews of the two climbers with re-enactments using them and also actors in their place. The result is an exciting drama and documentary mix that comes across as a full documentary. The Andes mountain scenery and the Alps where some was filmed are breatrhtaking.

Far from Heaven - 2002. This is sort of a film of a film, an homage to melodramas of the fifties and particularly those of director Doug Sirk, a director's director. While Mad Men recreates the fifties in what to me seems a heavy handed way, this 3.2 film creates the fifties the way people back then saw them, which I think is ultimately more accurate and more enjoyable. Dennis Quaid did well with the role of the crumbling executive and Julianne Moore as his wife did an excellent job.

Coming Home - 1998. Based on Rosamunde Pilcher's novel, this 1998 British production tells the story of an upper crust young girl living in a boarding school while her parents and younger sister are in the foreign service in Singapore on the eve of WWII. The girl is befriended by the family of a school mate and this 3.2 film follows her family and romantic developments, in the context of showing the affect of the War on the home front. The special feature interview with Pilcher shows her to be a very enjoyable woman.

Berkeley in the Sixties - 1990. This was a pretty good 3.2 documentary about the development of the protest movement on the Berkeley campus and spreading wider, starting with the Free Speech Movement, then moving into civil rights, Vietnam War protests, the Black Panthers, women's lib and some anarchy. Using archival footage and interviews with participants looking back, the film presented a picture of idealistic youth working within the system and then becoming disillusioned as the power structure met protest violence with greater institutional violence. These were turbulent times that led to worthwhile changes and also spawned a conservative backlash, both of which continue to this day.

The Wrestler - 2008.  Mickey Rourke inhabits this role as a washed up wrestler hanging on, because he is not capable of change. This 3.1film stays so intently focused on the hero (the most memorable exception being its exciting movement to watch Marisa Tomei's exciting movements as an exotic dancer) that everything we learn about him comes from him as the source and we end up almost feeling like we inhabit him too.

What Makes Women Laugh - 1997. In this Spanish film, three half-sisters have minor success as a trio of uninhibited singers, though one of them is actually happily married, only to find out after the death of her husband that he was a philanderer. This bit of a sex farce, complete with advice to the widow from the ghost of her husband, did not have any great morality or immorality to convey, other than to say in a 3.1 way, life is to be enjoyed and not taken too seriously

The Buddy Holly Story - 1978. The best thing about this movie is the liberal performance of the songs of Buddy Holly, whose short career fell entirely within my high school years. Gary Busey did a very good job in the title role, but the script was not much and the opportunities for character development and dramatic tension were almost non-existent. Other contemporary music is also played on the soundtrack and it is the music and the performance of Busey that got this my 3 rating. The DVD is not full screen width, which is always annoying.

Adam - 2009. This movie is about a young man with Asperger's syndrome finding love with a young woman writer who moves into his building. Well acted and an interesting showing of this newly identified form of autism, with a self-proclaimed subtle ending (in two barely distinguishable versions), I give it a 3, in spite of the lack of potential drama.

Her Name Is Sabine - 2007. For 25 years French Actress Sandrine Bonnaire filmed her younger sister, Sabine, who as a young girl was quite attractive and a free-spirited non-conformist. A bad experience in public school caused the family to keep her at home and she eventually became too hard to handle and was institutionalized, with devastating results. Finally diagnosed with autism and a sort of infantile non-development, Sabine was placed in a group home where she did better, but the life of separation anxiety and sedation medications has taken a sad toll. We must respect Sandrine for doing what she can to maintain a relationship Sabine and for using this 3.0 film to call attention to a need for better societal treatment of special needs people.

Sequins - 2004. In this French film the woman director uses an abundance of close ups and fine cinematography to tell a simple story of a bonding that begins between a young woman facing an unintended pregnancy and an older woman coping with the unexpected death of her son. Not much plot, and maybe too much embroidery for some, but a very watch worthy 3 rating.

El Alamein - 2002.  This Italian film tells the story of the desperate plight of a unit in the Italian army during the North African campaign in 1942. Unsupplied by Mussolini and all but abandoned by their officers, these men faced insurmountable odds and were ultimately overwhelmed. Though the performance of the Italian army in WWII is nothing to be proud of, this 3 rated film shows that there were individual soldiers who deserve to be remembered for their honorably brave service.

George Wallace -1997. This political biopic of the four (non-consecutive) time Alabama Governor, directed by John Frankenheimer, showed him to be an ego driven Southern politician of no depth, who learned to use racial discord to court white voters before blacks had been able to vote in effective numbers, and then, after being extensively disabled by an assassin's bullet, was "born again" and sought forgiveness from blacks, and of course, their votes. Fairly evenly done and earns my 3 rating, with the apology of Wallace, well played by Gary Sinise, appearing genuine.

The Servant - 1963. This British film about a valet who schemes to overturn the social tables on his employer, was not dark and brooding as I expected, nor was it particularly dated by its style, other than the music was a little blaring and eclectic. The adaptation screenplay by Harold Pinter and direction by black listed American Joseph Losey, which is what made me curious to finally see the picture, hold up well enough, as does the acting, to earn my 3 rating.

The Long Way Home - 1998.   This Hallmark presentation showed Jack Lemon was always good, even in the twilight of his career. Young Sarah Paulson did commendable with her role as a lonely rich girl who bonds with the elderly Lemon. The story did not actually have a lot to offer to lift it beyond a 2.9 for me, but the scene at the end where two people whose paths had crossed and who had formed an instantly deep bond went their separate ways, probably never to have contact again was evocative and effectively wistful. Far from Heaven had a similar scene. One always wonders whether renewal would verify the depth and durability of the bond.

The Invention of Lying - 2009.  Ricky Gervais is always interesting and fun, and he had an interesting premise for this movie, but it came across uneven and unsure of what it really wanted to say, so I only give it 2.8. In a world where everyone speaks with complete honesty ("I just had a really great poop. Have you ordered yet?"), Ricky's fabrication of the wonderful afterlife and its terrible alternative for evil doers, all as revealed to him by "the Man in the sky", had great satirical possibilities, which were barely explored. I often watch double bills with unintended connections, which occurred when I followed this film with "Adam", in which the "Aspie" speaks the blunt truth and fails to grasp irony, pun or the unexpressed feelings of others. Good fodder for a philosophical discussion of truth, morality and human relations.