Twelve Again

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.

My Netflix queue is getting spotty, so it may be time to start checking out some library DVDs again. Netflix is especially slow on sending new releases, so maybe I should look into the Redbox kiosks for those.

La Buche – 1999. Often I find a movie is not what I expected. It does not help when the Netflix summary is wrong, as it was with this movie. I expected a Christmas Eve dinner from hell as three grown daughters tried to reunite their parents after 25 years of divorce. But this 3.3 movie was more like one of my favorites, Secrets and Lies, telling the stories of the divorced couple and their children by letting us in on the truth, while still keeping portions secret from each of them. Dean Martin crooning Christmas standards on the soundtrack added a touch of irony, as this family dealt with love/hate issues.

Brothers – 2009. This 3.2 remake of a Danish film tells the story of the effect on a marine of acute stress from military service in Afghanistan, and what it did to his wife, young daughters and brother and their relationships with each other. The two short special features are worthwhile and should be watched after viewing the movie. Though I do not quite remember it, my records show I watched the 2005 Danish version the year after it was made and rated it 2.7.

Precious – 2008.  This 3.2 movie shows us the depressingly oppressive life of an obese black girl who is verbally and sexually abused and has been passed over by the educational system, but who has an inner spirit that keeps her going in spite of it all, with encouragement from a motivated teacher in an alternative school program. Newcomer Gabourey Sibide does an excellent job in the title role, but Mo’Nique, who plays her horrendous mother, absolutely inhabits the nasty character, resulting in a much deserved best supporting actress Oscar.

Tokyo Sonata – 2008. When the father in this Japanese film loses his job, he does not tell his wife and sons and pretends like he still is going to work. We seem to have a movie of social commentary on the effect of economic change on the people of Tokyo, but then this 3.2 film also begins to show us what is going on in the lives of the man’s wife and sons and we see that while they are a family, they also are individuals and that they each have their own secrets about struggling to find out who they are and what they are going to do with the rest of their life.

Mademoiselle – 2001. In this modest French film, Sandrine Bonnaire attends a company conference out of town and is given a significant promotion. She seems comfortable with her professional life and apparently is happy with her husband and children, but as a colleague takes early retirement she begins to reflect. A chance involvement with the improve troupe that entertained at the conference provides an opportunity for a lark. This 3.1movie made me wonder how we can be sure what is a lark and what is reality.

Still Crazy – 1998. This British comedy finds a 1970s rock band which had disbanded in disagreement reuniting for a reunion tour 20 years later, with all members being more the worse for wear. Some enjoyable humor and passable music make up for the lack of much drama in this film which I rate a 3.

Rebecca – 1940. Hitchcock’s first film made in America is his only movie to win the Academy Award. Adapted from a Daphne Du Marier novel, this is a Victorian gothic tale moved into 1940. The direction is as good as expected and the acting holds up fairly well, but overall the dated feel is enough for me to hold it to a 3 rating. The DVD special features include some interesting materials.

The Yarn Princess – 1994. A mentally slow but very insightfully loving mother of six boys depends on her husband for practical organization in this 2.9 made for TV movie. But when schizophrenia brings him down, the welfare system decides she cannot cope and starts farming her sons out to foster care. Enter the ACLU to get her kids back home and obtain the help she needs to get to carry on her job. This film concentrates on the heroine and her relationship with the boys, and also on the interaction between the boys. The legal parts are abbreviated. Jean Smart, a fellow UW alum whose TV work is unfamiliar to me, did a fairly good job of provoking sympathy after the initial bemusement stage. The boy actors were a little better than the dialogue they were given.

Everybody’s Fine – 2009. Recently widowed Robert DeNiro is disappointed all four of his kids bailed out on a visit to him at the last minute, so he decides to travel and surprise each of them. We learn he retired from a life of steady blue collar work and that he always pushed his kids to succeed. He learns something about the lives of his kids he did not know and a little more about how to relate to them, but none of it adds up to more than a 2.8 rating. This is a remake of an Italian film of the same name from 1990, which may not have been any better and is not available at Netflix.

Going in Style – 1979. This film gave three old pros, George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg a chance to play together and commit a bank heist for excitement and some extra money to lift them out of their boring life on small fixed incomes. The movie had some comedy at first, then some pathos with plot, but nothing of enough consequence for me to raise it above 2.8. It was a little hard to find on DVD for a while, but then Netflix got it. George was 83 when he made this picture, and lived to be 100. Art was only 63 and lived to 85. Lee was 78 and died three years after the movie was made.

A Woman Called Moses – 1978. Cicely Tyson gave a typically heroic performance in this bio pic of Harriet Tubman’s work on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves. The film was not especially dated, but the print was not cleaned up for the DVD. The narration by Orson Welles is typically pompous, but fortunately sparse. The bravery of Harriet and those who helped runaway slaves escape is inspiring.  This 2.8 three hour film is a fairly good exposure to the subject.

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser – 1975. This eccentric German film by a young Werner Herzog was a vehicle for making commentary about society and established authority, both in the early 19th Century time period of the film and also by causing us to realize that not that much has changed in the meantime. The unlikely commentator is Kaspar, a man who was kept in total isolation until adulthood and then exposed to the world almost as if he were from another planet. The 2.8 movie starts a bit simplistic but becomes more interesting as Kaspar becomes more observant and conversational. The wide eyed Kaspar of the early film reminds me of Johnny Carson’s skits of the deer hunter being interviewed on TV and frozen in the camera lights.

From Netflix Only

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.

I'm still just getting movies from Netflix and giving the library video program a rest. Spring chores and integrating a new computer and some software are filling the partial movie void. This group has some newer movies, six from 2008 and 2009.

The Blind Side - 2009. A compelling true story, an effective performance by young Quinton Aaron and a better than normal performance from Sandra Bullock blend for some touching and encouraging moments in this 3.3 film. The bond between Michael and his foster family and foster mom in particular was the focus of the movie, so Michael's interactions with others was pretty much left out. It may have been possible to improve the script by including more Michael interaction with other people, probably by compressing or dropping some of the lesser elements like the college coach cameos and some of Sandra's non-essential scenes. I would like to have heard more from Michael during the telling of his story. It was disappointing not to have special features on the DVD about the real people.

The Horse Boy – 2009. There were two obvious subjects for learning in this 3.2 documentary – autism and shamanism, the national religion of Mongolia. A young American boy is taken by his parents to that country, to seek help in treating or alleviating his autism. But the film also showed the easy communication the boy had with animals, especially a horse, and the difficulty he had relating to other people, until he made his first friend, a young Mongolian boy. The boy and the Shamans also made a connection, and the final shaman said the boy could possibly be a shaman himself. The parents were an interesting couple, who showed us the extensive burden of having an autistic child [Susan and I agreed that next time we see a child throw a tantrum in a public place, we will not indignantly assume the parents don’t know how to discipline], but how the child also can enrich their lives.

An Education – 2008. This tastefully done 3.2 British film, set in 1961, tells the story of a girl who is hoping for imminent admission to Oxford, but whose otherwise boring life is stimulated by an older man who takes her under his wing. The education of the title is not the one received in academia, but rather in her personal life as she learns to deal with her parents, love, ambition and personal values.

The Affair - 1995. A WWII US Army base near a village in England includes African-American troops hoping to get the opportunity to leave menial tasks behind in exchange for combat in the impending invasion of Europe. While the troops are waiting, the villagers extend an invite to the African Americans to attend a dance, where a sensitive soldier and a proper lady whose husband is away in the British Navy start down the road which turns a casual relationship into a full blown affair. This 3.2 movie does an effective job of showing the institutionalized prejudice in the Army and the more subtle version among the rural British. The connection between the leads comes across as sincerely passionate, but the movie would have benefitted from more lovers talk to go along with the sex.

The Hairdresser's Husband - 1990. I have seen most all the available films of French director Patrice Leconte. He is one of the few directors who are their own cameraman, because he wants to see the frame as it is composed right at the point of view of the camera where he can be intimately involved with the actors. This movie is sort of poetic, reasonably short and holds interest even though there is not much in the way of plot. His movies always hold my attention and also hold their age well. The eroticism is soft and this 3.2 film leaves the viewer wanting to examine the feelings and thoughts it generated.

Away We Go – 2008. This easy going indie comedy with dramatic overtones is a pleasant 3.1 watch. It tells the story of a thirty something expectant couple traveling around to check out possible places to settle in for the rest of their lives. They visit friends and family who display a variety of parenting styles and then make their decision. The female lead, Maya Rudolph, has an appealing genuineness which hopefully will be seen in future movies.There is an interesting special feature about how the movie was produced in an environmentally friendly way.

Young Victoria – 2008. England has had some impressive queens, the longest reigning being Victoria. This 3.1 film covered her lesser know life as a child, teenage monarch and young bride. It jumped around a little at first but then settled in to show the deep connection between Victoria and Albert, well played by Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend, with good chemistry. They shared a profound sense of duty and concern for their subjects, especially those in lower circumstances, and this movie showed how that attracted them to each other.

Wonderful World – 2008. A simple film with a simple story simply told earns a simple 3 rating. I always like Mathew Broderick, and Sanaa Lathan is easy to watch. Being pessimistic is not attractive, but some pessimists are good people who are just overly realistic.

Stalingrad - 1993. This German production earned a 3 rating from me. It told the story of the WWII Battle of Stalingrad from the point of view of the German 6th Army, which was bogged down by the brutal Winter of 1942-43 and then surrounded by Russian forces. As morale plummeted and resentment of the officers welled in the enlisted ranks, the central characters tried to survive, fight despair and somehow realize their dream of returning home alive. Of about 450,000 troops in the 6th, only 6,000 ever accomplished that goal. This film at first seemed to indulge in graphic horror and then settled in to the more personal exploration of the main characters and their fight against the Russians and against personal despair. One purpose of this movie was to remind the German people how militaristic hubris can turn into monumental humiliation.

For Keeps –1988. Molly Ringwald gets pregnant just as she is finishing high school and she and the baby’s father try to keep their lives on track in the face of several obstacles. Starts a little weak and shows some age, but we gradually begin to empathize enough to earn the film a 2.9.

Zebrahead - 1992. This movie about kids in a Detroit high school centered on a romance between a white boy and an African American girl. Except for the leads, I thought the other roles were caricatures without much depth. The troubled kid role had some depth but was not developed enough. A sincere effort by a young film maker, but did not come together enough for me to give it more than 2.6.