Dirty Wars (2013)

Dirty Wars DVD

Academy Awards, USA 2014

Nominated Oscar

Best Documentary, Features Rick Rowley Jeremy Scahill

IFC Films
Directed by Rick Rowley
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Netflix)

Journalist Jeremy Scahill investigates claims that innocent women and children were killed in a night time raid in Afghanistan by American special forces, who then attempted to cover it up. He suspects that a special operations force under the direct command of the White House is involved, not just in Afghanistan but in terror hot spots around the globe. A rare glimpse of some of the most dangerous places in the world, in addition to Afghanistan he visits Yemen and Somalia. Some of the images are quite disturbing, particularly of children, but it is a story that must be told, and much of it has been subsequently verified.

Casbah (1948)

Academy Awards, USA 1949

Nominated Oscar

Best Music, Original Song Harold Arlen (music) Leo Robin (lyrics) For the song "For Every Man There's a Woman"

Universal International
Directed by John Berry
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(YouTube)

Untouchable criminal Pepe Le Moko thrives in the vast Casbah section of Algiers. If the police try to arrest him, such as the one played by Peter Lorre, the residents strong arm the police and get him free. Pepe sets his sights on the diamonds of a visiting French woman, played by the exotic Swedish beauty Marta Toren, but soon becomes interested in more than her diamonds. She becomes his femme fatale leading to his eventual downfall. Unnecessary second remake of the original French classic unwisely adds songs by leading man Tony Martin. However, the ecclectic casting still makes it worth a look.

Career (1959)

Academy Awards, USA 1960

Nominated Oscar	Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Joseph LaShelle
	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White Hal Pereira Walter H. Tyler Sam Comer Arthur Krams
	Best Costume Design, Black-and-White Edith Head

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Joseph Anthony
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(YouTube)

A young actor moves to NYC with hopes of becoming a star. He soon finds himself living in a cold apartment with barely enough to eat. He meets director Dean Martin who is just as broke. They become roommates while producing off Broadway plays. His old girlfriend shows up unexpectedly one day and they are soon married. However, she becomes disillusioned when he fails to find success as an actor. They break up and he starts a relationship with the daughter of an influential producer, leading to another short-lived marriage. When he finally finds the success he craves, he can't admit that the cost was too high. While the story (co-written by Dalton Trumbo) addresses the addictive narcissism of fame, it too often resorts to melodrama to advance the plot. 

You're a Sweetheart (1937)

Academy Awards, USA 1938

Nominated Oscar

Best Art Direction Jack Otterson

Universal Pictures
Directed by David Butler
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(YouTube)

A Broadway producer comes up with a gimmick to help promote his new show: a millionaire from Oklahoma buys out the house for the entire first week's run because he is in love with leading lady Alice Faye. A waiter stands in for the millionaire, but the impersonation soon gets out of hand and they must come up with money for the production. Familiar plot device is interspersed with elaborate dance numbers and comic relief from Andy Devine, who performs the 13x7=28 routine that Abbott and Costello made famous a few years later.

Going Places (1938)

Academy Awards, USA 1939

Nominated Oscar

Best Music, Original Song Harry Warren (music) Johnny Mercer (lyrics) For the song "Jeepers Creepers".

Warner Bros.
Directed by Ray Enright
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(YouTube)

Department store salesman Dick Powell poses as a horse jockey at a prestigious race as an advertising stunt. He promises to ride the horse of a pretty debutante to impress her, but instead is coerced into riding a wild horse named Jeepers Creepers by a couple of gamblers. Louis Armstrong and his band save the day, since the horse favorably responds to his trumpet playing. Silly story with outdated racial stereotypes, poor Louis Armstrong is forced to sing to a horse.

The Girl Said No (1937)

Academy Awards, USA 1938

Nominated Oscar

Best Sound, Recording A.E. Kaye (Grand National SSD)

Grand National Pictures
Directed by Andrew L. Stone
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(YouTube)

Bookie Robert Armstrong falls in love with pretty dance hall girl Irene Hervey. Despite spending lavishly on her, she keeps her distance. He decides to get revenge by posing as a Broadway producer and getting her to invest large sums of money in his ruse. He gets help from a kooky family of actors who want to revive Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. When she unexpectedly falls in love with him, he comes clean in the middle of a performance. Just enough sincerity from Hervey, and laughs from the acting troupe, to keep it interesting.

Thunderbolt (1929)

Academy Awards, USA 1930

Nominated Oscar

Best Actor in a Leading Role George Bancroft No official nominees had been announced this year.

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Josef von Sternberg
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(YouTube)

Lumbering gangster George Bancroft, whose punch has earned him his nickname, has his girlfriend Fay Wray followed home from a nightclub. He becomes incensed when he finds out she is living with a bank clerk. She sets him up for the police, who almost bungle the arrest, but he is sentenced to death row. He frames her boyfriend for murder and has him put in a cell next to him. Intending to murder him before his own execution, Fay shows up to convince him otherwise. Bancroft's monotone delivery makes his best actor nomination something of a head scratcher.

The Royal Family of Broadway (1930)

Academy Awards, USA 1931

Nominated Oscar

Best Actor in a Leading Role Fredric March

Paramount Pictures
Directed by George Cukor and Cyril Gardner
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(YouTube)

A famous and successful family of Broadway actors live an unconventional lifestyle in their luxurious mansion. Their matriarch has no regrets about her chosen profession, her daughter is dealing with an old boyfriend who unexpectedly shows up from South America, while her granddaughter want to get married an leave the profession altogether. Into this mix arrives her son Fredric March, a Hollywood lover on the run from his latest conquest, press in tow. March is entertaining but overacts in his first Oscar nominated role.

The Revenant (2015)

The Revenant (blu-ray)

Academy Awards, USA 2016

Won Oscar	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Leonardo DiCaprio
	Best Achievement in Directing Alejandro G. Iñárritu
	Best Achievement in Cinematography Emmanuel Lubezki
Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Arnon Milchan Steve Golin Alejandro G. Iñárritu Mary Parent Keith Redmon
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Tom Hardy
	Best Achievement in Film Editing Stephen Mirrione
	Best Achievement in Costume Design Jacqueline West
	Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Sian Grigg Duncan Jarman Robert A. Pandini
	Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Jon Taylor Frank A. Montaño Randy Thom Chris Duesterdiek
	Best Achievement in Sound Editing Martín Hernández Lon Bender
	Best Achievement in Visual Effects Richard McBride Matt Shumway Jason Smith Cameron Waldbauer
	Best Achievement in Production Design Jack Fisk (production design) Hamish Purdy (set decoration)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Fox)

Fur trapper Leonardo DiCaprio is viciously attacked by a grizzly bear. He is found barely alive, but his fellow trappers don't think he will survive for long. A couple of men, along with his half breed son, are paid to stay and give him a decent burial, but when he refuses to die one of them murders his son and tricks the other man into abandoning him. After witnessing the murder, DiCaprio is determined to track them down. He improbably survives alone, and gravely injured, in the cold wilderness, eventually befriended by an Indian and ending up at a fort where he finds the man. Incredible location shooting overwhelms just about every aspect of this film. There are a couple of obvious CGI moments, particularly the bear attack, that diminish the impact, but this is still an impressive, and obviously dangerous, shoot in perhaps the ultimate survivor story.

The Martian (2015)

The Martian [Blu-ray]

Academy Awards, USA 2016

Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Simon Kinberg Ridley Scott Michael Schaefer Mark Huffam
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Matt Damon
	Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay Drew Goddard
	Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Paul Massey Mark Taylor Mac Ruth
	Best Achievement in Sound Editing Oliver Tarney
	Best Achievement in Visual Effects Richard Stammers Anders Langlands Chris Lawrence Steven Warner
	Best Achievement in Production Design Arthur Max (production design) Celia Bobak (set decoration)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Ridley Scott
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Fox)

Astronauts exploring the surface of Mars are forced to abort the mission due to a severe wind storm that threatens to topple their lander. One of the crew members is struck by an antenna and left for dead. He wakes up after the storm buried in dust, but alone. His amazing improvisational skills and scientific knowledge, particularly in botany, allow him to survive, even thrive, in the harsh environment. He eventually manages to contact Earth and a rescue mission is planned using his old crew mates. Long but entertaining sci fi yarn, its dry scientific accuracy offset by equally dry humor from Damon.