Alfie (1966)

Academy Awards, USA 1967

Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Lewis Gilbert
	Best Actor in a Leading Role Michael Caine
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Vivien Merchant
	Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Bill Naughton
	Best Music, Original Song Burt Bacharach (music) Hal David (lyrics) For the song "Alfie"

Paramount
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Paramount)

Womanizer Michael Caine drifts through life with no commitments. A health scare lands him in a convalescent home where he makes friends with an older married man. Caine accepts a ride home with his wife and he promptly seduces her. They both forget it and Caine is soon living with pretty hitchhiker Jane Asher. He sends her packing when she can't forget about her boyfriend. The older woman turns up again, pregnant, and seeks his help in getting an illegal abortion, which is performed right there in his apartment. It deeply affects both of them. Caine, now seeking a family life, regrets his past failed relationships, but it is too late to do anything about it. He's left asking, "what's it all about, Alfie?", in the famous song by Cher. Fine film in the British "kitchen sink" tradition, though Caine's character is extremely unlikable and his frequent breaking of the fourth wall is distracting. Nice jazz soundtrack by Sonny Rollins. 

The Red Mill (1927)

Academy Awards, USA 1929

Won Oscar

Best Title Writing

MGM
Directed by Roscoe Arbuckle (as William Goodrich)
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Marion Davies is a bar maid in Holland, overworked by the harsh proprietor. She falls in love with a visiting playboy, winning him over in an ice skating race. However, when he returns to his home country she is left alone and goes back to her dreary life. In the spring, he returns but pursues a governor's daughter for her money. Davies exchanges identities with the wealthy girl to help her pursue her real love, which also gives her the chance to pursue hers. It all ends up in a spooky windmill and shootout. Davies does her best Charlie Chaplin impersonation and the final scenes are atmospheric, but it's all too predictable. The inter-titles are filled with humorous double entendres and are extremely well written, the only time and Oscar was awarded in this category. 

The Bridge (1959)

Academy Awards, USA 1960

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Germany

Allied Artists
Directed by Bernhard Wicki
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)

German teens in the waning days of WWII fantasize about going to war. They go about their daily lives dealing with various uninteresting personal problems. Eventually they are drafted and after only one day called into action. While marching out of town, their school teacher convinces their commander to let them guard the town's bridge, safe from harm. They begrudgingly follow orders, but are left alone when their commander is killed by local radicals. A US tank column and ground troops soon arrive, and the teens confront them despite overwhelming odds. A fierce ground fight ensues in which most of them are killed. Somewhat obvious war drama, made in Germany, but the first hour or so is bogged down in teenage melodrama, and even the final battle is marred by some unnecessary gore. 

Madagascar (2005)

DreamWorks
Directed by Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Dreamworks)

A bored zebra at the Central Park Zoo convinces his friends that they should escape and go to the wild. They follow some penguins with a similar idea, and soon the whole group, including a lion, giraffe and hippopotamus, is wandering around New York City. They are captured, tranquilized and sent by ship to an African reserve. The penguins take over the ship and the other animals are knocked overboard. They wash ashore in Madagascar where they eventually find a colony of lemurs living the high life. Alex, the lion, eventually starts craving meat and can barely resist his prey instincts. He is sent to the other side of the island to live with other predators, but his friends come to his help. Hilarious animated adventure filled with enough inside jokes to keep adults entertained as well, especially movie-lovers. 

Strange Magic (2015)

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Directed by Gary Rydstrom

My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4

IMDb Wikipedia

(DVD, Touchstone)

It's the story of fairy princess sisters who fall in love with the wrong people. One thinks she loves a gallant knight, but she finds him kissing another girl on the night before their wedding. Her sister is worse off, falling in love with every boy at the ball, but never noticing the elf who really loves her. On the other side of the kingdom lies the dark forest, where an evil Bog King rules a land devoid of love. He keeps the Sugar Plum Fairy prisoner, but the elf finds her in order to get a love potion to win over the princess. It all goes wrong and it is up to her sister to rescue them. She ends up falling in love with the Bog King. In the end, everyone gets paired with the one they love. George Lucas concoction almost sinks under the weight of classic rock songs redone in modern styles. However, it is bursting with imaginative characters, some of whom even acknowledge the horrible music, so maybe it's all just a joke. 

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2016)

Academy Awards, USA 2018

Nominee Oscar

Best Documentary Feature Steve James Mark Mitten Julie Goldman

PBS Distribution
Directed by Steve James
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Netflix)

New York decides to spend millions of dollars and years investigating a small bank in Chinatown for mortgage fraud. However, the family-owned bank decides to stand up for itself against impossible odds. By the end it becomes apparent the state was just looking for a scapegoat for the "financial crisis" and thought it had an easy target. The in-depth documentary explores how cultural differences may have played a role in the bank's lending practices that the law does not necessarily acknowledge. 

The Lobster (2015)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Nominee Oscar

Best Original Screenplay Yorgos Lanthimos Efthymis Filippou

A24
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
My rating: BOMB
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, A24/Lionsgate)

In the near future, Colin Farrell is a recently divorced man carted off to a hotel with society's other single people. They are given 45 days to find a mate or face being transformed into an animal (he chooses a lobster). They can hunt "loners" (escaped hotel guests) with a tranquilizer gun in the neighboring woods to earn extra days. They have to abide by strict rules, mostly sexual, or face severe punishments. Potential pairs must have something in common, and once found have a month to see if they are compatible. Farrell fakes heartlessness in order to be paired with another woman, but his true self is revealed and he is forced to escape to the woods and join the loners. They also live by strict rules, mostly opposite of those in the hotel. He falls in love with another loner (against the rules), and their clandestine relationship leads to more absurdities. The first scene in this film is the shooting of a donkey, and it just gets worse from there. A dog is beaten to death. Dead rabbits are shown. If you can somehow stomach all of that, there is the ridiculous plot. Dialogue is strictly monotone. Emotions are non-existent. I suppose it's supposed to be funny and witty. I found it to be the one of the worst movies I've seen in years. 

Weary River (1929)

Academy Awards, USA 1930

Nominee Oscar

Best Director Frank Lloyd No official nominees had been announced this year.

First National Pictures
Directed by Frank Lloyd
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Richard Barthelmess is a big city gangster who gets framed for shooting an innocent bystander. Convicted and sent to prison, he finds his calling conducting the all-prisoner orchestra. He even manages to write a song inspired by a prison sermon, which he croons no less than four times during the movie. He befriends the warden and eventually gets a pardon. Back on the streets, he finds limited success in his new profession as a musician, getting riled up when he hears audience members whispering "convict". He turns to his old gangster buddies, but when he gets dragged into a shootout the warden arrives just in time to stop him. Hybrid silent-talkie, but mostly talkie. Betty Compson is his dedicated moll. 

Au Revoir les Enfants (1987)

Academy Awards, USA 1988

Nominee Oscar	Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Louis Malle
	Best Foreign Language Film France

Orion Classics
Directed by Louis Malle
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)

A young boy at a French boarding school during the German occupation struggles to fit in. He fights with another boy, who turns out to be Jewish and hiding from the Nazis. They never quite become best friends, but they do learn to respect each other. A series of events occur at the school, ending with a visit from the Gestapo who identify the boy and take him away. Moving film from Malle, though it does spend too much time with school boy hi-jinks. 

Once Upon a Forest (1993)

Twentieth Century Fox
Directed by Charles Grosvenor
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Fox)

A road accident releases a noxious fume into a nearby forest, causing its small inhabitants to flee. It injures a young badger and kills her parents. She is rescued by her friends, a mole, wood mouse and hedgehog, who are taken in by an older hedgehog. He is versed in medicine and leads them on a trek to retrieve the necessary herbs to save the young injured girl. They arrive at a colorful meadow where they meet new friends. One of the ingredients they need grows only on a high cliff, so they use the older hedgehogs crude airplane invention to retrieve it, then fly back to their home. They encounter more humans cleaning up the accident, but they turn out to be friendly. Harmless animated film with a positive environmental message. 

Gumby 1 (1995)

Arrow Releasing
Directed by Art Clokey
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, NCircle Entertainment)

Gumby and his band The Clayboys decide to help out some farmers who are being foreclosed by holding a benefit concert. However, the Blockheads notice that Gumby's dog cries pearls while watching the concert and dog-nap him. The Blockheads create robot clones of the band hoping to get more pearls, but it doesn't work. Gumby and friends set out to rescue his dogs and stop the Blockheads from making more clones. Typically bizarre Gumby story with him teleporting in and out of storybooks. Music features guitarist Craig Chaquico, with the robot version of The Clayboys getting quite strange. 

Glory (1989)

Academy Awards, USA 1990

Winner Oscar	Best Actor in a Supporting Role Denzel Washington
	Best Cinematography Freddie Francis
	Best Sound Donald O. Mitchell Gregg Rudloff Elliot Tyson Russell Williams II
Nominee Oscar	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Norman Garwood Garrett Lewis
	Best Film Editing Steven Rosenblum

Tri-Star Pictures
Directed by Edward Zwick
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Sony)

Matthew Broderick is a captain in the Union army at Antietam, where he survives the massacre by playing dead. His family connections back in Boston get him promoted to colonel. He is assigned to command the first all-black regiment, with his best friend as second in command. The ranks consist of mostly illiterate former slaves eager to fight the southern rebels. However, the spend their time doing manual labor not that much different than their former lives. Broderick blackmails another officer and they get orders to see real combat, which despite some losses they easily win. Broderick next volunteers his unit to lead an attack on Charleston Harbor, even though he knows their will be heavy casualties. They bravely march into battle, finally earning respect. The ultimate movie for fans of Civil War re-enactments, the battle scenes are intense. Broderick may be slightly miscast. Denzel Washington steals every scene in which he appears. 

The Wild (2006)

Buena Vista Pictures
Directed by Steve "Spaz" Williams
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Disney)

Animals in a New York City zoo bide their time playing turtle curling. A bored young lion dreams of going back to the wild, and after a fight with his father manages to escape. Dad and friends go in hot pursuit, eventually ending up in Africa. An erupting volcano is causing the animals there to evacuate. However, his son is captured by a large group of wildebeests who live under the volcano. Their leader wants to change the food chain by eating a lion. Dad and son must defeat them by finding their "roar". Disney animated film doesn't always make a lot of sense, tends to be dark rather than funny, and then gets bogged down under the volcano with the wildebeests for far too long. 

Louisiana Story (1948)

Academy Awards, USA 1949

Nominee Oscar

Best Writing, Motion Picture Story Frances H. Flaherty Robert J. Flaherty

Lopert Films
Directed by Robert J. Flaherty
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Home Vision Entertainment)

Young Cajun boy lives and idyllic life in the swamps of Louisiana with his pet raccoon. Oil drillers convince his father to sign a lease and the haul in their derrick. The boy often visits with the friendly workers. His raccoon disappears one day while the boy is gathering alligator eggs. He assumes the gator has killed his pet. Meanwhile,the derrick strikes a pocket of natural gas and nearly explodes. They get it under control and eventually strike oil. The raccoon is found alive and the derrick eventually hauled away, leaving the environment as clean as when they first arrived. Beautifully filmed and edited, it has a rhythm all its own, but ludicrous "documentary" financed by the Standard Oil Company. 

First Love (1939)

Academy Awards, USA 1940

Nominee Oscar	Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Joseph A. Valentine
	Best Art Direction Jack Otterson Martin Obzina
	Best Music, Scoring Charles Previn

Universal Pictures
Directed by Henry Koster
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Universal)

Deanna Durbin graduates from an all-girls school, but being an orphan decides to move to New York City to live with an uncle who has financed her education. She finds a dysfunctional household with spoiled grown kids. She tries to befriend her uncle's daughter, but she is more interested in winning over eligible socialite Robert Stack. She sends Durbin to distract him, but she falls in love with him instead. When an opportunity to attend a ball arises, Durbin excitedly prepares but is left at home at the last minute. The house servants help her get there with a new dress and complete escort. She sweeps Stack off his feet but has to get back home by midnight. She loses a slipper which allows Stack to eventually find her. Another sticky sweet Durbin film, this time stealing directly from the Cinderella story, slipper and all. 

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (2015)

Academy Awards, USA 2016

Nominee Oscar

Best Documentary, Feature Evgeny Afineevsky Den Tolmor

Netflix
Directed by Evgeny Afineevsky
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Netflix)

A student protest in Kiev transforms into a revolution. It all takes place in the central square, where the number of protesters grow and they refuse to leave until the President of the country resigns. The Ukrainian government's decision to cozy up to Putin and Russia instead of the European union sparks the initial protest. The government sends in riot police, aided by paid thugs who don't hesitate to resort to violence. Soon, rubber bullets become real bullets. Absolutely harrowing account of a street-level revolution as it happens. 

14-18 (1963)

Academy Awards, USA 1965

Nominee Oscar

Best Documentary, Features Jean Aurel

The Rank Organisation
Directed by Jean Aurel
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Gaumont)

Informative French documentary on WWI, utilizing actual film footage spiced up with sound effects and narration. Starts with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and explains how Europe's existing alliances directly led to the war. The Germans joined with Austria-Hungary and Italy against the other alliance of France, England and Russia, and eventually the United States. German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm carelessly decides to invade neutral Belgium and then sets his sights on Paris. The French hold them, but the two sides get bogged down in trench warfare for many years. Meanwhile, Stalin organizes the Russian revolution and gives up, allowing the Germans to concentrate on France. The Americans arrive in full force just in time, overwhelming the Germans with personnel and tanks. A great introduction to WWI, with just the right amount of detail to not overwhelm the viewer. 

A Goofy Movie (1995)

Buena Vista Pictures
Directed by Kevin Lima
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Disney)

Goofy and his teenage son Max struggle to understand each other. After getting in trouble at school, Goofy decides to take him on a cross country vacation. This spoils Max's plans with his new girlfriend, so he tells her a lie about traveling to appear on stage at their favorite pop star's concert. Their first stop is Lester's Possum Park, a hilarious spoof of Disney's own Country Bear Jamboree. A misunderstanding there causes more problems and they are hardly talking to each other. Goofy allows Max to choose their route hoping it will cheer him up, but instead diverts them to the concert. After a few more misadventures, they end up on stage, impressing Max's girlfriend back home and reuniting the father and son. Dated by some bad music parodies of Michael Jackson, but still a lot of fun, with Goofy as good as ever. 

Over the Hedge (2006)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Tim Johnson, Karey Kirkpatrick
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, DreamWorks)

A raccoon steals food from a hibernating bear, but when he accidentally wakes him up the food is destroyed on a nearby highway. The raccoon makes a bargain with the bear to save his life, promising to replace food, mostly junk food, within one week. The raccoon finds a group of foraging animals nearby and decides to use them to get the food from a suburban development that sprung up over the winter. They have to outwit the homeowner's association president and her hired exterminator. It contains enough inside jokes and pokes at suburbia to overcome the predictable plot and the already aged CGI. 

Desperate Journey (1942)

Academy Awards, USA 1943

Nominee Oscar

Best Effects, Special Effects Byron Haskin (photographic) Nathan Levinson (sound)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Raoul Walsh
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

A British bomber is shot down over enemy territory during WWII. The survivors are quickly captured and questioned by Nazi officer Raymond Massey. One of them manages to knock him out with a single punch and they escape through a window with vital information. Determined to get it back to England, they decide to walk out of Germany. They kill a few more Nazis and steal their uniforms. They sneak on a train and hang out in Goring's private car. They single-handedly sabotage a chemical plant. They steal a truck for their final run into occupied Netherlands, but when it runs out of gas a truck full of fuel leads them to a hidden plane. They steal it and fly to England. Far-fetched, to say the least, with full-on propagandist dialogue and stupid comic relief from Alan Hale, Sr.  

Darwin's Nightmare (2004)

Academy Awards, USA 2006

Nominee Oscar

Best Documentary, Features Hubert Sauper

International Film Circuit
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Home Vision Entertainment)

Fishermen in Tanzania sell their hauls of huge Nile Perch to European markets via the cargo planes that land regularly at the nearby airport. Meanwhile, they live in extreme poverty and ironically suffer from a famine. Those who suffer the most are the children, who live miserably on the streets of Mwanza. Disarming documentary with some shocking footage and unbelievable interviews with both those who profit from the fish industry and those who languish in its unbreakable cycle of poverty. 

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Cody Cameron, Kris Pearn
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Sony)

A machine that turns water into food has left an inventor's home island in ruins. It is an overrun jungle populated by "foodimals", sentient food animals. The head of a giant food corporation wants to find the machine to enhance his best selling food bars. He hires the young inventor and sends him and some of his friends to the island to retrieve it. They discover the food animals are actually friendly, contrary to what they have been told. The corporate head arrives and fights them for control of the machine. Another fun idea, particularly the very imaginative food animals, if ultimately predictable. 

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Academy Awards, USA 1936

Winner Oscar	Best Picture
Nominee Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Clark Gable
	Best Actor in a Leading Role Charles Laughton
	Best Actor in a Leading Role Franchot Tone
	Best Director Frank Lloyd
	Best Writing, Screenplay Jules Furthman Talbot Jennings Carey Wilson
	Best Film Editing Margaret Booth
	Best Music, Score Nat W. Finston (head of departmment) Score by Herbert Stothart.

MGM
Directed by Frank Lloyd
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Warner Bros.)

Charles Laughton plays Captain Bligh, the commander of a British ship headed to Tahiti in the late 18th century. His first mate is Clark Gable, who is tasked with forcibly rounding up sailors for the 2-year journey. On board, Laughton rules with an iron fist, routinely doling out torture for minor offences. Gable objects but stays in line for the journey. On Tahiti, officers and sailors freely indulge in their freedom. Laughton tries to keep Gable on the ship, but relents to a local chief. However, on the journey back to England, Laughton employs his stern punishment again, this time causing a death. Gable has seen enough and help with they mutiny, casting off Laughton and his loyal men on a small ship. Gable and crew head back to Tahiti where they take up where they left off, while Laughton expertly guides his small ship to safety. Months later, Laughton shows up at Tahiti on another ship and arrests one of the officers, but Gable manages to escape. The officer is brought to England, tried and convicted for the mutiny, but an emotional speech about the tactics of Laughton earns him a pardon. Gable, meanwhile, finds another island to live on with his new Tahitian bride and friends. Laughton has never been better in his most famous role. Gable gets to act a little, but also succumbs to his romantic stereotype while cavorting with south sea girls. Franchot Tone gets the best lines with his final speech. 

Speaking in Strings (1999)

Academy Awards, USA 2000

Nominee Oscar

Best Documentary, Features Paola di Florio Lilibet Foster

Seventh Art Releasing

Directed by Paola di Florio

My rating: 2 stars out of 4

IMDb Wikipedia

(DVD, Docurama)

Violin prodigy Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg copes with mixed critical reception of her flamboyant, outgoing style in the world of classical music. She travels the country performing with orchestras, spending much of her time alone in hotel rooms. At some point she tries to commit suicide but the gun jams. She goes back to performing, thankful to have survived but apparently unfazed. Oddly moving portrayal of a tortured artist. There are some great musical performances, though. 

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Academy Awards, USA 2019

Nominee Oscar	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) David Rawlings Gillian Welch For song "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings"
	Best Achievement in Costume Design Mary Zophres
	Best Adapted Screenplay Joel Coen Ethan Coen

Netflix
Directed by Joel Cohen, Ethan Cohen
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Netflix)

Anthology of six vignettes whose overarching theme seems to be the cruelty of the old west. We've got a singing cowboy, a bank robber who finds himself in a bad situation, a traveling sideshow featuring a man with no arms or legs reciting literature, a gold prospector who is ambushed after striking the mother lode, a romance blossoming on a wagon trail trek across the prairie, and a philosophical stagecoach ride. It features incredible cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel who captures the old west like never before. However, its dark humor takes some adjustment, and the jarring, over-the-top violence threatens to negate everything good about the film. 

Big Hero 6 (2014)

Academy Awards, USA 2015

Winner Oscar

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year Don Hall Chris Williams Roy Conli

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Directed by Don Hall, Chris Williams
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Disney)

Bored teenager in the near future spends his time at backroom robot fights. His brother tricks him into visiting the university robotics lab where he works. The awestruck boy decides to enroll, but first must come up with an invention to impress the professor. He more than succeeds by coming up with "microbots" which he controls with his mind. However, a suspicious fire kills not only the professor and his brother, but all but one of the microbots. The depressed boy activates his brothers project, an inflatable healthcare robot, which leads him to suspect the fire may have not been an accident. The boy and the rest of the students at the university form an impromptu superhero team to track down the person responsible. Fast paced animation with an engaging story and likable characters, especially the bond between the boy, his brother, and the robot named "Baymax". However, it gets carried away a bit in the big action finale, where it succumbs to the expected cliches.

Azur & Asmar (2006)

Gkids
Directed by Michel Ocelot
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Genius Products)

Two children, one the son of a nobleman and the other of their servant, are raised as brothers despite their differences in social standing and skin color. They are separated by the nobleman when they grow older, with his son sent off to school in another city and the servant fired. The two brothers meet again in the city. They share a quest to find the "Djinn fairy" they were told about in their youth and marry her. They overcome their differences and set off together. They pass a series of traps and find the fairy, but she is only willing to marry one of them, but not sure of which. They eventually work it out. Animated fairy tale is a change of pace. It has colorful, often beautiful, backgrounds inspired by Persian art, but the animation of the humans leaves much to be desired. 

Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000)

Academy Awards, USA 2001

Winner Oscar

Best Documentary, Features Mark Jonathan Harris Deborah Oppenheimer

Warner Bros.
Directed by Mark Jonathan Harris
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

The kindertransport was a project by English authorities to bring Jewish children from Germany to England during the time the Nazis were gaining power. It ended when war broke out, but tens of thousand made it out. Interviews with the survivors, now elderly, tell the emotional stories of parting from the parents only never to see them again. Some found comfort with their new English families, others struggled. A very few were reunited with their parents at the end of the war, only to be strangers speaking different languages. 

We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Dick Zondag, et al
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Universal)

An alien turns prehistoric dinosaurs into friendly, talking ones by feeding them special cereal. The alien brings them to present day New York City and hopes to get them to the Museum of Natural History so kids can come experience them in person. They get sidetracked by the alien's evil twin brother who runs a dark circus in Central Park. He captures the dinosaurs and turns them back into their prehistoric states. A couple of New York kids befriended by the dinosaurs before they were captured help them escape. Surprisingly dark animated feature from Spielberg's Amblimation defies its reputation as a bomb, though it is a product of its time and is already showing its age. 

Cavalcade (1933)

Academy Awards, USA 1934

Winner Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Director Frank Lloyd
	Best Art Direction William S. Darling
Nominee Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Diana Wynyard

Fox Film Corporation
Directed by Frank Lloyd
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Fox)

Sprawling account of one British family, and their servants, during the first three decades of the 20th century. Time is marked by historical events, including the Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the flight of Louis Bleriot over the English Channel, the sinking of the Titanic, and WWI. In between all of these historical events the family endures separations, births, deaths, and marriages. The melodramatics are predictable and some of the historical references seem forced, with the scene on the Titanic particularly bad. The montages used to show the passage of time are now cliches. 

Antonia's Line (1995)

Academy Awards, USA 1996

Winner Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film The Netherlands.

First Look International

Directed by Marleen Gorris

My rating: 3 stars out of 4

IMDb Wikipedia

(Blu-ray, Film Movement)

Chronicle of four generations of women in The Netherlands. Antonia and her daughter return to the small village of her youth shortly after the end of WWII. Her mother is dying, or at least trying to, waking up in her casket during her funeral in one scene. Antonia and her daughter take up farming and gradually get to know her quirky neighbors. Her daughter eventually grows up and wants a child but not a husband. They go to the big city and she is hooked up with a young motorcycle rebel who gladly obliges. Her daughter grows up to have an unnatural fascination with  mathematics. She hires a tutor who becomes her lesbian lover. Her daughter grows up and also has a daughter out of wedlock. This one has a fascination with death, with many of the villagers providing ample opportunities for her to ruminate on it. Strange mix of fantasy, quirky characters and overt feminist themes is occasionally interesting, but you have to be in the right mood.