Some Better Movies

Here is what I have watched on DVD since I posted my last list. The ratings I give are on my own number system explained previously in this blog. This list has some better movies than my last batch.

I have now set up my living room HD TV with a Blu-ray player and wired Internet connection so I can stream Netflix movies. The quality is good and the connection steady. I can use it for older movies and TV shows for which enhanced sound is not that important. The stream does not include surround sound, but my home theater audio can be tweaked to pep it up a little if I want. Many such movies that I was getting from the library I can now stream from Netflix, and with my Netflix queue getting paltry, I can add newer movies to it, even though they are also fairly available from the library. So for now, I am still passing on library movies.

I thought I would start getting movies in Blu-ray format from Netflix, but since they charge 22% extra for that option even though less than 3% of their movies are available as Blu-ray, and since my 42 inch HD TV is only 720p, I decided it is not worth it.

Planet Earth – 2007.  (3.8)  This BBC documentary series boasts marvelous cinematography of the geography and fauna of our planet, organized according to types of features, such as mountains, fresh water and caves. The crew went to great extremes to capture extraordinary footage. If I could make one change it would be to spend a little less time on predatory chases and show more diversity within each type of feature. This was not intended to educate the viewer in an academic manner, but rather to leave us with our jaws dropped, which was where mine was. I have posted this review after watching three of the five disks, because I anticipate the last two,which I will be watching shortly, are of the same high quality.
[Added July 25th] The last disk of Planet Earth contains interviews with conservationists and sustainability advocates discussing environmental threats to the planet. They all demonstrate passion for their work, while differing somewhat in their assessments. The two interviewees less environmentally friendly views appeared ridiculous, especially the Bush administration official who urged oil drilling in ANWR because oil companies are so smart and know how to prevent problems to the environment.

Owl and the Sparrow – 2007.  (3.7) This impressive movie, written and directed by an American who was born in Saigon, was shot digitally on a micro budget in 15 days on location in Saigon, using an all Vietnamese cast and crew. It tells the story of three people, a ten year old orphan girl who runs away from a small factory where her uncle has put her to work somewhat oppressively, a disenchanted stewardess trapped in an affair with a married pilot and a shy zookeeper whose fiancée has broken their engagement. A fourth star is Saigon, which the director incorporates into the story almost documentary style. The young first time actress is a natural, and it is a naturalistic style that is used to tell the story. At first the close-up camerawork is a bit shaky, but then it settles down and the close-ups bring an intimacy which benefits the story. The characters are real people, not ideals, who are lonely with heart aches, but they maintain a degree of realistic optimism and are so appealing that you cannot help but wish them well. After the movie, watch the short featurette, and then if you really liked the movie, watch it again with the commentary from the director.

Colors Straight Up – 1997.  (3.6)  Netflix misled me on this documentary, making me think it would be another one of those films in which kids who are trouble makers join a new program and start spouting Shakespeare. In fact, there is only one line of Shakespeare, but a whole lot about what these kids from Watts feel about their lives. They have to be tough to survive, but they are so vulnerable and so in need of a loving hug. This Oscar nominee is bound to touch you strongly. Director Michele Ohayon is an excellent documentarian.

Martin Chuzzlewit – 1995.  (3.2) It is pretty hard to go wrong with a BBC miniseries on a Dickens piece, with lots of characters, all well acted, plenty of plot, well scripted, and all with the expected production values to put the viewer in the place and time.

Great World of Sound – 2006.  (3.1) I heard about this independent film from the Zoom In documentary I rated in my last posting. It got good reviews and the preview looked interesting. The story is about a young white man and older black man who start working for as talent scouts for a recording production scam company. The white man is naïve and the black man cynical, but they make an effective team and have an effect on each other. The people who audition were real wannabes and the movie had a feel of immediacy and some improvisation. Kene Holliday, who played the older man, is an absolute delight.

As It Is In Heaven – 2005.  (3.1) This Swedish Oscar nominee told of a renowned musical conductor who returned to his native village after retiring early for health reasons. The residents did not recall him from his early years in their village, because he has assumed a stage name. He was recruited to work with the church choir and the movie tells how that developed and affected the conductor and also many of the villagers, in particular a few of the women. This was a well done film but it covered so many characters and I wanted it to go deeper into some of them than time allowed. It could have done that as a TV miniseries.

Jesus of Montreal – 1989.  (2.9)  This French language film from Canada makes social commentary about religious hypocrisy by telling a story of an avant garde passion play put on by a group of young actors who want to go through with one final performance after the religious authorities reject this new telling of Christ’s death. The intensity of Jesus and the obstruction of his message by the authorities is well presented by this low budget production that holds its age well.

Christ Stopped at Eboli – 1979.  (2.9)  Another Italian film from Francesco Rosi, set in a peasant village in the hills of southern Italy at the time of Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopa, this social commentary on how the peasant needs are ignored by the authorities uses the vehicle of a political prisoner, a doctor from Turin who has been sent to the village under a form of arrest. The doctor experiences the peasant life first hand and comes to appreciate their simple approach to life and how the authorities exploit them.

Mandabi – 1968.  (2.9)  This movie from Senegal is like a trip back in time, because it was made by an African filmmaker with real people in the streets and buildings of the newly independent country. It tells the simple story of an illiterate man of modest means but strong Muslim faith, who receives a money order from a nephew in Paris, with the request that he use the money to pay some bills and make some other distributions and then keep some for himself, since the nephew says he knows his uncle is in need. Uncle then spends a couple weeks dealing with bureaucrats, con artists and spongers in a story that has some humor but more pathos.

I.O.U.S.A. – 2008.  (2.7)  This documentary about our Federal government’s dire fiscal situation was slickly done and had interviewees with good credibility, but somehow failed to come together for me. I think part of the problem was that it tried too hard to avoid appearing politically partisan and so did not contain any historical analysis and exploration of future ways to improve the current situation. Pointing out the seriousness of the problem and then simplifying it to a choice of either cutting expenditures or raising taxes is ultimately about as helpful as weight loss diets that say either burn more calories or take in fewer – they do not work in the long run.

Star Trek – 2009.  (2.4)  This movie is probably better than my rating, but I am not much for sci fi, especially with lots of action and special effects. Telling the back story of young Captain Kirk as a wise ass seemed a little irreverent to me. I don’t know how Trekkies took it. I got it because I thought someone else might want to watch it with me and because I thought I should give the genre another look, but nobody else was interested, and when I started playing it I realized I had already seen it when a friend brought it over.

How Low Can They Go?

Here is what I have watched on DVD since I posted my last list. The ratings I give are on my own number system explained previously in this blog. The three films at the bottom of this list confirm that I am scraping at the bottom of the barrel, as far as trying to find decent movies readily available from Netflix but not available from the library. I guess it would help me weed out some dogs if I again started reading the critic reviews at Netflix. Once the reviews were moved from the main page for a movie and put on a separate tab, I stopped looking at them.

My son Anthony made a suggestion I am adopting, starting with this list. I am putting my rating for each movie right after the title and date.  All my lists have had the movies rated in descending order of my rating, and where ratings were the same, the newer movie has been listed first, with alphabetical order the final tie breaker. But putting the rating up front makes it clearer. Thanks for the suggestion, Anth, which can also serve as a reminder that suggestions are always welcome.

Invictus – 2009.  (3.3)  The wisely dignified forgiveness of Nelson Mandela is inspiring and the performance of Morgan Freeman in this Clint Eastwood film did a good job of capturing it. Wrapping the story around the national embrace of the South African team in the white man’s sport of rugby was part of the purposeful avoidance of rehashing the past. In this case, we all know the back story, and the movie was rightly primarily about how Mandela demonstrated the leadership that took a racially traumatized nation from the past, into the present and positioned it for the future. The rugby team had a supporting role, as the vehicle of the unity movement, but maybe the film spent too much time on the matches themselves. The anecdotal connections between previously distant blacks and whites were not too sentimental, but I would like to have seen a few of them taken deeper.

The Lost Steps – 2001.  (3.1)  This Spanish (Argentine?) film tells a story of a young adult only daughter whose family moved to Spain during the reign of the repressive Argentine dictatorship when the girl was too young to remember. Now, twenty years later, a claim is being made that her father was one of the oppressors and her real parents were deceased victims. The movie does a good job of showing how the claim and the evidence tear at the young woman.

Life and Nothing But – 1989.  (3.1)  Stories about the end times of war, especially from the losing side, always fascinate me. This French movie was a different twist on that theme, telling a tale of an older French officer whose job it was to try to identify the 350,000 unidentified French soldiers of World War I. Almost two years after the war’s end, he is still at the task, while loved ones continue the distraught search for the dead or perhaps for a living shell of a man who does not know who he is. The officer is involved particularly in the search of two young women, one of wealth and one of modest means. The time is coming, the film shows, to choose an unknown soldier to bury under the Arc de Triomphe, and move on. Well scripted and acted, the movie holds it age well. Bernard Tavernier directed.

American Women – 2000.  (3.0) This Irish comedy was set in a small fishing village where the young single men decide to advertise in a Miami newspaper for American women to come for a romantic visit and maybe a match. I expected more farce and slapstick but was pleasantly surprised to find a more thoughtfully insightful script, with legitimate humor and some gently effective romance.

Seraphine – 2008.  (2.9)  This slow and quiet French film tells the story of a village chore woman whose primitive paintings caught the eye of a German art critic at the onset of the First World War. Her true story is curiously interesting and sad. Told straightforward, with gaps in time, the movie is somewhat sensual, but lacks much drama or character development other than in the title character, who though a bit strange throughout, does progress in her eccentricity.

The Village Barbershop – 2008.   (2.9) This simple independent film by a young writer director Chris Ford was a decent character study of a crotchety old barber and a spunky young woman beautician who are thrown together by circumstances. Admittedly without drama, it is still well enough done to designate Ford as a filmmaker to watch. Netflix calls it a comedy, but it is more of a dramedy.

Zoom In  – 2007.  (2.9)  I watched this one hour documentary on my new computer via Netflix. The transmission quality was fine except for a one minute stretch where it seemed to stutter a little as my Internet connection probably wavered. The movie covered the Gotham Awards for independent films in 2007, with interviews and award clips. It told a little about the realities of independent film making and how such films can be more individualistic. I have seen some of the films mentioned and was aware of a few others, but also got the names of about a dozen more, which I checked out and only found a couple of them likely candidates to watch. You can appreciate the drive and individualism of an independent movie maker, but that does not necessarily mean you will like the movie that gets made.

Three Brothers – 1980.  (2.9)  This Italian film was directed by Francesco Rosi, who makes movies with social messages. This tale of three brothers returning to their childhood village in the south of Italy on the death of their mother, was an allegory. The elderly father still lived on his farm, with his memories and peasant wisdom, which intrigued his 8 year old granddaughter, the only other family member who came with the sons. Each son represented social issues: the oldest a judge under death threat from terrorists, the middle son a counselor in a juvenile offender facility and the youngest, a labor agitator inclining toward terrorist tactics. Slow paced, as befits the locale, the movie mixed reality and dreams, but had no drama or character development, neither of which are needed for allegory.

A Woman in Berlin – 2008.  (2.8)  Anonymously published in 1959, this story of what a German woman did to survive the Russian occupation of Berlin at the end of WWII, caused an uproar in Germany as an insult to German womanhood. The author banned further dissemination during her life. This dramatization based on the diaries she kept and later showed her husband when he returned at the end of the war never grabbed me. Again, I felt I did not know enough about the background of the characters to better appreciate their feelings and actions. Production values and acting were good, but the script left me somewhat confused as to most of the characters.

Conviction – 2002  (2.8)  This fact based drama about a repeat offender street criminal who finally decides, encouraged by a volunteer teacher, to pursue educational opportunities in prison and turn his life around is well intentioned and fairly well done, but lacks drama and any in depth character involvement beyond the hero, well enough played by Omar Epps. We know where this movie is going, and it takes us there, but it could have been a much more interesting ride.

Magic of Fellini – 2002.  (2.8)  This documentary is just under one hour long and consists of a hodge podge of old interview and movie clips. Fellini talks a little himself and the others talk about working with him. The film could possibly whet the appetite of someone unfamiliar with Fellini’s movies, but there is not much here for those familiar with his pictures. The magic of the title is the way Fellini envisioned his movies from his own inner dreams and presented them like he saw and felt them, lyrically and surreal, while still being grounded in reality.

Daddy Nostalgia – 1991.  (2.7)  This French film told the story of a Brit (well played by Dirk Bogarde in his last movie) who had relocated to the French Riviera and was dying. His daughter (played by Jane Birkin, not the actress Netflix wrote) came and stayed a while with her parents and tried to better understand her father and mother and their relationship to each other and to her. Being of a nostalgia age myself, I was attracted to the subject, but I found it hard to relate to any of the characters. What was most interesting was how the film made living on the Riviera kind of unappealing. The director, Bertrand Tavernier, makes films that are not traditionally dramatic, some more appealing than others.

River Queen – 2005.  (2.4)  This British movie was beautifully filmed in New Zealand with Maori people portraying the 1850s time of native war against the colonials. The acting was good and the back story was told early – in fact in the first couple minutes of the movie. I am on the line on giving this 2 or 3 Netflix stars, but I really don’t want to mislead anyone by saying I liked it (which is what 3 stars at Netflix means), so I give it my 2.4, which rounded down means 2 stars at Netflix (meaning at Netflix I did not like it). However, if you really want to see New Zealand, the Maori or cute Samantha Morton, which is why I got it, then give it a try. The problem is that the movie has no sense of drama or dramatic pacing. Good opportunities for tension and anticipation are totally squandered or else not even provided by the script. The jerky camera pans in battle scenes are annoying and the music, though good in parts, seems confused in others.

The Sleeping Dictionary – 2001.  (2.4)  Another exotic location, and another film that is not very good. The plot lines are actually pretty good, but they are not well scripted and the dialogue and characterizations are pretty hokey. Hugh Dancy does well as the lead, a young Brit officer sent to Malaysia in the 1930s, where he falls in love with a half Malay half Brit girl whom he wants to marry, but that is forbidden. The plot has a potentially dramatic twist when the hero marries a British girl and returns to Malaysia, but as with most of the picture, this is a lost opportunity. The paltry ending is the capper for this unfortunate dud.

Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School – 2005.  (2.2)  I’m not sure what this movie was supposed to be. If a comedy, it had minimal humor. If a romance, it was feeble. If a drama, it was at first confusing, then boring and ultimately meaningless.

Seven Foreign Five Domestic

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 explained previously in this blog.

Netflix must be reading my blog. After I complained about it being hard to get new movies, I received It’s Complicated on the first day of its release. As of this writing, I have 70 movies in my Netflix active queue and 23 in the saved queue. There are 309 in my library queue which I keep on a spreadsheet. I just weeded out my library list by re-checking the Netflix prediction on all those predicted 2.7 or lower. I dropped any movie that was now under 2.7 unless I there was something about it to entice me. There were a handful whose prediction went up slightly, but about 40 that I dropped. I guess this either shows my rating tendency is getting lower or I am watching more marginal films and wondering why.

My top rated films this time around include several newer independent foreign films made on modest budgets. Three of them were produced with assistance from American producers who want to encourage the making of more such movies. This type of non-governmental foreign aid seems like a winner all around.

Captain Abu Raed – 2008. This Arabic language movie was made in Jordan by a young Jordanian writer-director whose family moved to America when he was 13. It patiently tells the story of an older widowed airport janitor whose neighbor children in their poor section of Amman believe that he is actually a pilot. An older child makes it his mission to disabuse the younger ones of the lie. This 3.3 film teaches about how life throws us curves that can upset our dreams and how mentors can arise in unexpected ways.

Moscow, Belgium – 2008. This Belgian film was a pleasant surprise. I saw a preview on another foreign film DVD, and was enticed. I don’t recall having seen another film in the Flemish language, which sounded Dutch to me. We have the story of a 41 year old separated mother of three who is pursued by a 29 year old truck driver with his own problems. The cheating husband of course decides he wants to come back and the woman must make a choice. We have seen this plot many times, but this 3.3 telling rings true throughout and the acting is great, especially Barbara Sarafian, who plays the lead. Apparently she does lots of TV in Belgium, but only has one other film at Netflix, some sort of sex romp bomb. The young director and the male lead only have this film at Netflix. I’ll have to look into other films from this overlooked country.

Revanche – 2008. This 3.2 German film is set in modern day Austria and tells the story of an ex-con who works at a brothel, falls for a young prostitute, tries a crime to raise money to liberate them from oppression and then … what did seem like an erotic action thriller turns into something else, first a suspenseful drama and then a reflective character study about redemption. I found the people interesting to follow and realistically confusing about whether I liked them or not. Using the old Gene Siskel test – “do you care about them” – I would say that I did, but I never got attached enough to root for or against any of them. That is not because they were boring, but more that they were nuanced.

Black Balloon – 2008. Another movie with Autism featured, this Australian film was better at 3.1 than Netflix predicted for me. The first film of writer and director Elissa Down, it tells the story of the mix of joy and trouble in a family with two teenage boys, the oldest with severe Autism. Elissa knows her subject, since she has two Autistic brothers. This is a sensitive and intelligent film, well directed and well acted, especially by the two boys, Rhys Wakefield and Luke Ford. The confusing mix of sympathetic love and repulsive rejection is effectively presented.

It’s Complicated – 2009. This Nancy Meyers romantic comedy about older folks also touches on the dealings of adult children with their divorced parents. It is a fun 3 rated movie that doesn’t really teach us much but does show us a little character development, Meryl Streep finally concluding after ten years of being divorced she is ready to move on, Alec Baldwin beginning to realize he actually does hurt people with his genial jerk personality and Steve Martin being willing to take a chance with his gentle vulnerability. As for the acting, Meryl skips any accent and tones down the hand gestures as the movie progresses, Steve doesn’t have that much to do and only gets to goof off once, while Alec shows throughout that he has mastered the somewhat charming non-maliciously self-centered jerk role that he plays on 30 Rock.

Crazy Heart – 2009. Jeff Bridges did a good job with his role as alcoholic somewhat has been country singer, Bad Blake (no relation), but the movie as a whole didn’t have much going on to lift it above 2.9 for me. Mickey Rourke’s role in The Wrestler was similar, but that movie had more drama. Not being a country music fan didn’t help my rating either.

Dancing at Lughnasa – 1998. During the Depression of the 1930s, life in Ireland was even more economically bleak than normal. Five diverse sisters eking out a living in their ancestral home in the countryside are the prime focus of this 2.9 movie. The four male roles are also diverse, the illegitimate young son of the youngest sister, his charming but irresponsible no show father, a husband whose wife has run away and who is after the mentally challenged sister, and the brother of the sisters, a priest newly returned from 25 years missionary work in Africa, where he clearly had less affect on the Africans than they did on him. As the oldest sister, Meryl Streep once again overdoes the accent and hand gestures. The rest of the roles were well played. When the no show Dad pops in for a visit on his way to fight in the Spanish Civil War, he tells his son’s mother that they should all go away together, a suggestion she dismisses as unrealistic, but by the end of the movie, you have to think he was probably right.

Cloud 9 – 2008. What was different about this German film is that the adulterous heroine was 60 years old and her lover was 76. Elderly eroticism doesn’t seem destined for box office boffo. Being in their age bracket myself, I still felt like I was watching my grandmother. The 2.8 movie had its own pace and variations which was done well for the story, but the problem for me was one about which I have written here before, the lack of a back story. In order to understand characters and their motivations, I need to know at least something about where they come from and what they have experienced.

Towards Evening – 1991. One of Marcello Mastroiani’s last films has him playing a retired professor, widowed, an intellectual Communist with a sort of beatnik son and bohemian daughter-in-law, and an engaging 5 year old granddaughter who gets left with grandpa when her parents split. As the daughter-in-law wends her way into and out of the early life of the little girl and the old man, he begins to re-examine his life under the challenge of his daughter-in-law. What way is best to live, set in your place and ways like him, or footloose and fancy free like her? Unfortunately the DVD transfer is quite poorly done, and in spite of good acting and locations, this 2.8 Italian film never gets deep enough into its characters.

Enemies, A Love Story – 1989. This 2.8 film about a Jewish man who survived the Holocaust and ends up involved with three women never quite jelled for me. It was a heavy story, but seemed to be treated a bit light at first. The complications of the plot were actually plausible, given the turmoil of the times and the affect events had on the characters. But I never felt I knew enough about their individual pasts to really be able to empathize with them. I expect reading the Singer novel would fill that void.

Too Tired to Die – 1998. I’m not sure how this 2.7 movie got into my queue and then made it to the top. A low budget New York indie with a Chinese director, the film was definitely clumsy, but still interestingly quirky enough to hold me. A mix of comedy and drama, it deals with the “what if you learned you only had X hours to live” question. The funniest thing is the shockingly terrible Italian accent of Michael Imperioli from the Sopranos.

Falling – 2006. This film by a young female Austrian filmmaker, Barbara Albert, tells a story of five thirty something former school mates reuniting at the funeral of one of their teachers. The expected aspects of a reunion movie are present, wrapped in noisy music and fairly disgusting debauchery, without ever generating much interest in any of the women, about whom the 2.4 film does not really tell us enough to make us care. Nevertheless, the actresses all seemed good and the direction showed talent. Too bad about

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.

Ten More

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.

There were a couple pleasant surprises in this batch, movies that Netflix predicted marginal for me, but which I liked almost a half star better. I have stopped getting movies from the library for a while, to free up some time, and am not sure when I will resume. But today we were in the mood to watch a movie and the only one I had on hand, from Netflix, turned out to be defective.
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?

Lies Boys Tell - 1994. The Netflix title for this made for TV movie sounds like an after school special for teenagers, but it is actually a multi-generational 3.5 road film, along the lines of Little Miss Sunshine. The IMDB lists it under the more accurately descriptive Take Me Home Again. I found it by checking out the filmography of the actress who played the Mom in My So-Called Life, and who does well with her supporting role here. Elderly Kirk Douglas (always underrated, in my opinion, and two years before his stroke in real life) is dying and calls his estranged son (perfectly played by Craig T. Nelson) to take him on his farewell tour. Nelson is giving some very witty lines that had me laughing and crying at the same time. Netflix was about a half star low on its prediction for me on this one. The surly handyman role is played by the writer of this fine script.

Whole Wide World - 1996. This true story was an early Renee Zellweger role and showed her talent for being tough and vulnerable simultaneously. Vincent D'Onofrio was also appealing in this 3.2 drama about a difficult romance in Texas during the Depression, between a successful pulp fiction writer and a school teacher who also had literary ambitions. Holds your interest throughout and then grabs you at the end.

Next Stop, Greenwich Village - 1976. Written and directed by Paul Mazursky, this movie about a Jewish kid in 1953 who moves from his Brooklyn parental home to his first place of his own in the Village, holds its age well, had lots of hoots and some drama. The young people who handg out together are sometimes not sure whether they are talented or just pretentious. Shelley Winters was a particular kick as his Mom, and the Brubeck, Parker and Desmond Jazz, as well as some snatches of opera and swing, all sound great. Better than I expected at 3.2. The male lead, Lenny Baker, died of cancer at age 27.

The Sensei - 2008. [Disclosure notice - my Godson, Bryan Frank, has a supporting role in this movie and does a good job. He also did the story boards and aret work]. This film, written, directed and co-starring Diana Lee Inosanto, tells the story of a gay high school boy in Colorado in the early 1980's who, after a beating by homophobes, receives martial arts training from the Diana character. This 3.1 movie has much less actual fighting stunts than I expected, and the martial arts action is presented in a realistic manner, rather than with slow motion and other stylistic treatments. The strength of the film is in the depiction of the struggle of gays, and also of non-gays who contract HIV-AIDS, to confront prejudice in these early days of awareness of the disease. Watch the brief documentary about the making of the movie before seeing the film itself to help in understanding the genesis of the plot.   

Love & Basketball - 2000. I chose this movie because Gina Prince-Blythewood wrote and directed it [Netflix credits her Gina Prince] and I liked her direction on The Secret Life of Bees. This earlier film showed she had talent, balancing sport and romance, somewhat like Bend It Like Beckham, which came two years later. This 3.1 story was divided into four quarters, 11 year olds, high school, college and careers and followed the very appealing leads, Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps, and their challenging romance, without much involvement of supporting actors, except for some early parental involvement, which seemed to disappear but then came back. Nicely done.   

My Voyage to Italy - 1999. Martin Scorcese made this extensive documentary about growing up watchiing Italian movies and how they affected his own movie making.  In this 3.1 film, Scorcese covers the films of Rosellini, DeSica, Visconti, Antonioni and Fellini., by discussing them at length with very extensive clips. He covers the techniques used and also covers the story lines fully, which some would call "plot spoilers". I have seen about half of the films he cites, so will probably be doing such catching up on these classics.

Ruffian - 2007. This ESPN movie about the undefeated three year old filly who participated in the last match race in America in 1975 was well made and told the story of this marvelous horse in a straightforward way, with apt criticism of the business side of horse racing, producing tears of sadness and a solid 3 rating.

Ossessione - 1943. This movie was arguably the first Italian neo-realist film. Visconti directed it during the War and the fascist government banned it after initial release because the adaption of The Postman Always Rings Twice was too scandalous. It holds its age quite well and all the scenes of real people on the streets and in the countryside are like a travelogue. Low key lighting and other realistic techniques were a counter to Hollywood. My 3 rating is well deserved.

Ruby Bridges - 1998. This Disney TV movie told the story of the six year old girl who was the first African American to attend a previously all-white school in New Orleans. The film was intended to educate audiences, including children, about that time of Federally mandated end to school desegregation and how such a young child played such a significant role, and the impact it had on her family. Because the target audience included youngsters, the treatment was somewhat simplistic. But there was enough meaningful content and the child actress was quite appealing, so even though the film at times looked like a moving version of the iconic Norman Rockwell painting it inspired, I give it my 2.9, but recommend it higher for young audiences learning about the subject.

La Pu.. & La Ballena [The Whore and the Whale]- 2004. This Spanish film had some intersting cinematography and lots of female full frontal nudity (while the copulating males usually kept most all of theit clothes on). The old ploy of trying to find the story behind some old love letters found by accident is what made me gice this a try, but it has usually been better done than in this marginal 2.7 movie. The subtitles flash so fast I had to replay many of them to understand the dialogue, and I never did feel like I got the whole story. But I don't think I missed anything particularly worthwhile, as none of the characters had much appeal, including the leading lady fighting breast cancer.

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.