The Last Station (2009)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
2010	Nominated	Oscar	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Christopher Plummer
			Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Helen Mirren

Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by Michael Hoffman
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Encore)

A story of two love affairs, one just beginning and the other ending. Leo Tolstoy is a cult hero in Russia. His followers live on a commune while Tolstoy lives down the road in a mansion. A young "Tolstoyan" arrives, an idealist who meets his hero but soon discovers the man and his writing are not the same. Meanwhile his celibacy is threatened by pretty Kerry Condon. He gives in, they fall in love, while at the same time he is privy to the disintegrating marriage between Tolstoy and his wife of nearly 50 years. A little too self-conscious in the beginning, but gets better as it goes along. The director is overly fond of sweeping camera movements to the point of distraction.

The Kansan (1943)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1944	Nominated	Oscar	Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Gerard Carbonara

United Artists
Directed by George Archainbaud
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Instead of a sidekick and hero, this western features a reluctant sheriff of a dusty Kansas town dealing with a corrupt banker and his gang. It's more adult than the B-westerns of the time, but not nearly as much fun. The story plods along with few breaks for action until a final shoot-out and chase across a bridge which is blown up with dynamite. Jane Wyatt is a hotel owner and love interest. Academy Award nominee for the music score, which is a real head scratcher because it was completely unmemorable.

Stand by for Action (1942)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1944	Nominated	Oscar	Best Effects, Special Effects A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic) Donald Jahraus (photographic) Michael Steinore (sound)

MGM
Directed by Robert Z. Leonard
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Retired WWI destroyer is refurbished and sent into action against the Japanese. Her crew includes Robert Taylor as a skeptical officer and Walter Brennan as a veteran who served on the ship in the first war. At sea, they are summoned to protect the flank of a convoy, but get sidetracked rescuing a lifeboat filled with babies and pregnant women. The plot almost sinks in the ensuing cuteness, but a final naval battle pits the rag tag destroyer against a Jap battleship and saves the day.

The Madness of King George (1994)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1995	Won	Oscar	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Ken Adam Carolyn Scott
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Nigel Hawthorne
			Best Actress in a Supporting Role Helen Mirren
			Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published Alan Bennett

Samuel Goldwyn
Directed by Nicholas Hytner
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Encore)

Nigel Hawthorne gives an over-the-top performance as King George III. Suffering from a nervous disorder at a time in which medicine was primitive at best, he is sent away by a son to be cured by a "doctor" who resorts to torture. In his absence the son, the Prince of Wales, attempts to gain control of the government by appointing himself regent, king in all but name. Helen Mirren is the queen, loyal to her husband through it all. Wonderful music by Handel and impeccable period detail boost this above mere costume drama, but the plot does tend to dwell on the more insignificant details of the king's medical condition and often relegates the more interesting political drama to the background.

Man on Wire (2008)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
2009	Won	Oscar	Best Documentary, Features James Marsh Simon Chinn

Discovery Films
Directed by James Marsh
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Sundance)

A French street magician and tightrope walker decides to walk across the newly built World Trade Center towers in NYC. He enlists the help of his friends and girlfriend, who recall the event over 30 years later. Philippe Petit, the walker, claims his motivation is to "do something beautiful", but after watching the film it seemed more a like a self-centered stunt. Petit and friends find immense pleasure in sneaking into the towers, hiding from security guards and thwarting the police. Only the actual act, or at least the description of it by friends, elicits any kind of emotional reaction. The rest of it seemed like a bunch of kids on drugs doing very risky, very dumb things. If he had fallen and died, he would not be a hero, but an idiot, possibly a murderer if he had landed on someone.

The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
2010	Won	Oscar	Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Argentina.

Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by Juan Jose Campanella
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Starz)

A rape and murder that happened over 25 years ago haunts the lives of all involved. An attorney assigned to the case, now retired and writing a book, recalls the event in detail. The film shifts from the past to the present in a rather confusing narrative structure. It tends to get bogged down in the day-to-day relationships in the attorney's office, the central mystery of the story getting lost for long stretches of time. It also seems unnecessarily graphic, did we really need to see the suspect take his pants down? The film does finally gain some momentum in the end when it settles down in the present day, leading to a not unpredictable plot twist.

Sally (1929)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1930	Nominated	Oscar	Best Art Direction Jack Okey

First National Pictures
Directed by John Francis Dillon
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

A familiar plot in which Marilyn Miller is an aspiring dancer working as a waitress waiting for her big break on Broadway. A secret admirer who watches her through the window turns out to be a wealthy society man and helps her get her first big break. She goes incognito to a society dance as a fictional Russian princess. Spotted by a Broadway producer, she ends up in the Ziegfeld Follies. Skimpy on plot, which provides the basic framework for numerous song and dance routines, including one in badly faded and battered Technicolor. Joe E. Brown nearly steals the film as Grand Duke Connie, particularly his hilarious scenes as a waiter.