Journey of Hope (1990)

Academy Awards, USA 1991

Won Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Switzerland.

Miramax
Directed by Xavier Koller
My rating: 4 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Netflix)

After receiving a postcard from relatives in Switzerland describing a "paradise over the mountains", a poor Turkish farmer decides to sell everything he owns to immigrate. Leaving behind all but one of their children, he and his wife take along the youngest for a long, grueling journey. Taken advantage of along the way by unscrupulous smugglers, they finally reach Italy only to face the daunting task of crossing a high mountain pass by foot in a snow storm. Emotionally devastating film, still every bit as relevant today. Haunting soundtrack by Manfred Eicher, Jan Garbarek and Terje Rypdal, incorporates ethnic Turkish music to great effect.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

Birdman [Blu-ray]

Academy Awards, USA 2015

Won Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Alejandro González Iñárritu John Lesher James W. Skotchdopole
	Best Achievement in Directing Alejandro González Iñárritu
	Best Writing, Original Screenplay Alejandro González Iñárritu Nicolás Giacobone Alexander Dinelaris Armando Bo
	Best Achievement in Cinematography Emmanuel Lubezki
Nominated Oscar	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Michael Keaton
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Edward Norton
	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Emma Stone
	Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Jon Taylor Frank A. Montaño Thomas Varga
	Best Achievement in Sound Editing Aaron Glascock Martín Hernández

Fox Searchlight
Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Fox)

A Hollywood actor is having a serious mid-life crisis. Michael Keaton, who became a worldwide celebrity by playing a superhero named "Birdman" in the movies, tries to find himself by writing, directing and starring in his first Broadway play. At the last minute he hires Edward Norton, who almost manages to wreck the play with his ego and unpredictability. Meanwhile his personal life is a mess: his daughter is just out of rehab, his girlfriend thinks she is pregnant and his ex-wife shows up in his dressing room. The stress has caused him to hear the voice of his former superhero role in his head, leading him to become delusional at best and suicidal at worst. Unfortunately, all of these characters are so self-obsessed that we don't really care what happens to them. Iñárritu strings together a series of unbroken shots in the style of Robert Altman, but it just seems like a gimmick here to call attention to itself. Other than a couple of scenes, a confrontation in a bar with a critic and a CGI-laced rumination on the emptiness of Hollywood action/superhero movies, it's a pretentious with a capital P mess.

The Ten-Year Lunch (1987)

Academy Awards, USA 1988

Won Oscar

Best Documentary, Features Aviva Slesin

PBS
Directed by Aviva Slesin
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Documentary about the literary and acting personalities comprising the "Algonquin Round Table", who met at the same NYC hotel/restaurant throughout the 1920s on an almost daily basis. They exerted great influence in magazines such as Vanity Fair, Life and eventually the New Yorker, started by one of their members. There are interviews with the few remaining elderly survivors, such as Ruth Gordon and Helen Hayes, who fondly recall the days spent sitting around trading witty remarks. Unfortunately it all comes off as rather self-serving today, with poorly delivered quotations rendering witticisms into eye-rolling one liners.

The Incredible Sarah (1976)

Academy Awards, USA 1977

Nominated Oscar	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Elliot Scott Norman Reynolds
	Best Costume Design Anthony Mendleson

Cinema International Corp. (UK)
Directed by Richard Fleischer
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

The early days of French theater legend Sarah Bernhardt are presented, from her first audition as a frightened, but determined, amateur to her later successes. Her unconventional lifestyle, raising a child out of wedlock, living in a mansion filled with exotic animals, is somewhat off-putting, but never boring. Glenda Jackson is perfectly cast in the title role and is convincing. The final scene where she faces a rowdy French audience as Joan of Arc and overwhelms them with her performance is a real gem.

Guest in the House (1944)

Academy Awards, USA 1946

Nominated Oscar

Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Werner Janssen

United Artists
Directed by John Brahm
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Anne Baxter, recently released from psychiatric care, moves in with her fiance's family. She falls in love with his brother Ralph Bellamy, an artist. Bellamy spends most of his time locked in his studio upstairs with a pretty model, whom Baxter plots to get rid of by spreading rumors. It works, and next she sets her sights on Bellamy's wife. A psychological melodrama in the vein of Hitchcock's Rebecca released only a few years earlier, complete with shocking final scene. Entertaining to be sure, but lacks the master's touch.

A Great Day in Harlem (1994)

Academy Awards, USA 1995

Nominated Oscar

Best Documentary, Features Jean Bach

Castle Hill Productions
Directed by Jean Bach
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Home Vision Entertainment)

The story of a photograph, taken in 1958 on the streets of Harlem, featuring prominent jazz musicians of the day. On-camera interviews with survivors are interspersed with vintage performances. The topic seems rather slight, but the passion of the music comes through intact as does the camaraderie between the musicians.

Minstrel Man (1944)

Academy Awards, USA 1945

Nominated Oscar	Best Music, Original Song Harry Revel (music) Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) For the song "Remember Me to Carolina".
	Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Leo Erdody Ferde Grofé Sr.

Producers Releasing Corporation
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Vaudevillian Benny Fields skips the birth of his daughter for opening night, only to learn that his wife died. Rather than face the pain, he lets his friends raise her and travels the world performing his popular black face routine. They are reunited when she appears on the stage herself as a teenager. Good songs and backstage atmosphere somewhat compensate for predictable plot, but beware there are more black face routines in this than any film I can remember.

Deep Waters (1948)

Academy Awards, USA 1949

Nominated Oscar

Best Effects, Special Effects Ralph Hammeras (visual) Fred Sersen (visual) Edward Snyder (visual) Roger Heman Sr. (audible)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed  by Hnery King
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Welfare worker Jean Peters places troubled young Dean Stockwell in a new home in a Maine fishing village. Her personal life is crumbling after a break up with local fisherman Dana Andrews. He becomes a father figure to Stockwell and comes to his rescue one stormy night on rough seas, in a well-done sequence that garnered the Oscar node for special effects. Later, he comes to his defense when he is sent away to reform school. Location shooting in Maine helps this enjoyable if routine little drama.

Pepe (1960)

Academy Awards, USA 1961

Nominated Oscar	Best Cinematography, Color Joseph MacDonald
	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color Ted Haworth William Kiernan
	Best Costume Design, Color Edith Head
	Best Sound Charles Rice (Columbia SSD)
	Best Film Editing Viola Lawrence Al Clark
	Best Music, Original Song André Previn (music) Dory Previn (lyrics) (as Dory Langdon) For the song "Faraway Part of Town"
	Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Johnny Green

Columbia Pictures
Directed by George Sidney
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Netflix)

Poor Mexican stable boy Cantinflas has his favorite horse sold to a famous Hollywood director. He follows them there with the hopes of reclaiming him, only to become involved in the director's personal and professional life. He falls in love with angry Shirley Jones, who works in a beatnik bar and hopes to become a movie star. They hang out in the director's dilapidated mansion while he mostly gets drunk. Needing cash for his next movie, they go to Las Vegas where Cantinflas wins it gambling. They travel back to Mexico to make it, straightening out their love life in the process. Overlong, to be sure, but also strangely entertaining, brimming with cameos and glimpses of the Columbia studio. Jones' moody beatnik bar and dance scene actually predates West Side Story by a year.

A House Is Not a Home (1964)

 

Academy Awards, USA 1965

Nominated Oscar

Best Costume Design, Black-and-White Edith Head

Embassy Pictures
Directed by Russell Rouse
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Life story of NYC madam Polly Adler, a Russian immigrant who started out in a sewing sweatshop. After she is raped by her brutal boss, a stranger takes pity on her and lets her stay in his extra apartment where he meets women. She soon learns that she can make wads of cash by setting up her pretty dance hall friends with men and turns it into a lucrative business. When she falls in love with a musician, she is too afraid to tell him what she does for a living. He leaves her when he finds out, but comes back years later hoping for another chance. She decides it's not worth it and carries on with the business. Shelley Winters is shrill and unconvincing as the madam. The blunt subject matter may have been shocking at the time but the dialogue just seems silly today. Look fast for Raquel Welch as one of the girls in her screen debut.

Kitty (1945)

Academy Awards, USA 1947

Nominated Oscar

Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White Hans Dreier Walter H. Tyler Sam Comer Ray Moyer

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Mitchell Leisen
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

An orphan in the London slums is caught stealing the shoes of the famous painter Thomas Gainsborough. He recognizes her natural beauty, cleans her up and paints her portrait. Socialite Ray Milland sees the opportunity to advance his own career by setting her up with a wealthy Duke, little realizing she is really in love with him. She marries a wealthy neighbor instead to bail him out of jail when he is arrested for gambling debts. When her husband dies unexpectedly, she inherits his wealth, but is also pregnant. So she marries the Duke and passes off the child as his own. He dies, she becomes even more wealthy, but still can't get his attention of Milland. She decides to marry his best friend to spite him, which finally sets him straight. Paulette Goddard is perfect as the rags to riches guttersnipe, injecting both warmth and humor to her character. Her performance alone overcomes the melodramatics and contrived ending.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close [Blu-ray]

Academy Awards, USA 2012

Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Scott Rudin
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Max von Sydow

Warner Bros.
Directed by Stephen Daldry
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Warner Bros.)

A boy tries to make sense of his father's death on 9/11 by embarking on a search for the lock that fits the key he found in his dad's closet. He gets help along the way from his grandfather, who hasn't spoken since WWII, and his mother, who works behind the scenes to make sure he is safe. A new clue leads him to the key's owner: a man who needs it even more than he does. The idiosyncratic Oskar carries the film with a balance of precociousness and emotion: his search is never boring and we empathize with his pain. Max von Sydow gives a remarkable performance as the grandfather, without ever uttering a word.

Omar (2013)

Omar [Blu-ray]

Academy Awards, USA 2014

Nominated Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Palestine

Adopt Films
Directed by Hany Abu-Assad
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Netflix)

A Palestinian teenager and his pals decide to murder an Israeli soldier one night. He eventually gets captured by a cruel police officer and is subjected to horrific torture. He reluctantly becomes their informant and helps them track down other wanted teens. His romance with a pretty girl who lives on the other side of the wall separating the West Bank from Israel is disrupted and eventually destroyed. Hard to find anyone to root for in this depressing, if well made, Palestinian drama. Sensationalized ending doesn't help.

Dark Victory (1939)

Dark Victory [Blu-ray]

Academy Awards, USA 1940

Nominated Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Actress in a Leading Role Bette Davis
	Best Music, Original Score Max Steiner

Warner Bros.
Directed by Edmund Goulding
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Warner Archive Collection)

Young socialite Bette Davis is diagnosed with a brain tumor after a series of accidents attributed to her failing eyesight. Her doctor, George Brent, decides to operate, but it is only a temporary reprieve from the inevitable. Doctor and patient fall in love and get married, deciding to never talk about her condition. Not as depressing as it sounds, but not as moving as the accolades would suggest either, too often resorting to the cliches that dominate this genre.

Lady of Burlesque (1943)

Lady of Burlesque (The Film Detective Restored Version)

Academy Awards, USA 1944

Nominated Oscar

Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Arthur Lange

United Artists
Directed by William A. Wellman
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Police investigate a series of murders backstage at a NYC burlesque show. Star Barbara Stanwyck and her wannabe boyfriend Michael O'Shea are just two of the possible suspects in the large cast. A passable whodunnit with some lively dialogue and entertaining classic burlesque and old vaudeville interludes.

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

Exit Through the Gift Shop [Blu-ray]

Academy Awards, USA 2011

Nominated Oscar

Best Documentary, Features Banksy Jaimie D'Cruz

Producers Distribution Agency
Directed by Banksy
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Netflix)

A compulsive videographer is introduced to an influential "street artist" and begins to follow him around as he plasters subversive art/graffiti in public places. Eventually he teams up with the mystery shrouded "Banksy" in London and the two become fast friends. He takes Banksy's advice to heart and puts down the video camera to become a street artist in his own right back in LA. The only problem is that he lacks talent and originality, a fact lost on the hipster LA art crowd where his opening is a huge hit and generates millions in profits. This multi-layered documentary has more plot twists and turns than a scripted movie. The possibility that it was all just a hoax by Banksy only gives more food for thought.

The Conquest of Everest (1953)

Academy Awards, USA 1954

Nominated Oscar

Best Documentary, Features John Taylor Leon Clore Grahame Tharp

United Artists
Directed by George Lowe
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Chronicle of the infamous 1953 Everest expedition led by New Zealander Edmund Hillary that finally conquered the world's highest mountain. Local Sherpas are hired to do most of the heavy work, while the foreigners do the planning and decide the best route through the treacherous landscape. The final few thousand feet prove to be the toughest, with blinding blizzards and lack of oxygen at altitude deadly threats. It's somewhat anticlimactic that the final moment is not captured on film, only by a photograph, but still some spectacular imagery.

Chocolat (2000)

Chocolat [Blu-ray]

Academy Awards, USA 2001

Nominated Oscar	Best Picture David Brown Kit Golden Leslie Holleran
	Best Actress in a Leading Role Juliette Binoche
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Judi Dench
	Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published Robert Nelson Jacobs
	Best Music, Original Score Rachel Portman

Miramax
Directed by Lasse Hallström
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Netflix)

Juliette Binoche and her daughter open a funky chocolate shop in a small, conservative French town circa 1960. They create and sell confectionery with a secret ingredient based on a Mayan legend. Those who eat it magically have their lives turned around for the better. The mayor of the town, feeling threatened by her unconventional lifestyle, leads a movement to have her banished after she takes up with some local gypsies. Wonderfully filmed, but takes no chances and as a result lacks conviction.

Radio Bikini (1988)

Radio Bikini DVD

Academy Awards, USA 1988

Nominated Oscar

Best Documentary, Features Robert Stone For episode "Radio Bikini".

PBS
Directed by Robert Stone
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Docurama)

In the months after the surrender of Japan, the US conducts a series of atom bomb tests near the remote Pacific island of Bikini. Through documentary footage and an interview with a living elder, we see the cruel relocation of the island natives by the Navy. As the test approaches, we see even worse footage of animals shackled near ground zero in order to see how they are impacted by the blast (not very well). Enlisted men are seen carelessly lounging on deck unprotected before and afterwards. In the final reveal, a surviving sailor, our narrator, is shown to be horribly disfigured by cancer decades later. Expertly edited, heartbreaking and essential look at the hypocrisy and lies told by our government to its most dedicated citizens.

The Sundowners (1960)

The Sundowners DVD

Academy Awards, USA 1961

Nominated Oscar	Best Picture Fred Zinnemann
	Best Actress in a Leading Role Deborah Kerr
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Glynis Johns
	Best Director Fred Zinnemann
	Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Isobel Lennart

Warner Bros.
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr are migrant workers in turn of the century Australia. He takes odd jobs herding and shearing sheep while she cooks and cleans for him and their teenage son. She longs to settle down while he values the freedom of their wandering lifestyle. She saves money to buy a nearby farm which he promptly loses by gambling. Will their marriage survive? The film is as easy going as its story: essentially an old fashioned western set down under. Mitchum's Australian accent is distracting and unconvincing.

127 Hours (2010)

127 Hours [Blu-ray]

Academy Awards, USA 2011

Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Christian Colson Danny Boyle John Smithson
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role James Franco
	Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay Danny Boyle Simon Beaufoy
	Best Achievement in Film Editing Jon Harris
	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score A.R. Rahman
	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song A.R. Rahman (music) Dido (lyrics) Roland 'Rollo' Armstrong (lyrics) For the song "If I Rise".

Fox Searchlight Pictures
Directed by Danny Boyle
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Fox)

True story of a mountain biker/hiker who falls into a slot canyon in remote Utah and has his hand pinned under a giant boulder. He spends the next 5 days trying to get it loose, talking to his camera, reviewing video of the two pretty girls he just met, conserving food and water. Eventually he starts hallucinating and decides to just cut his arm off. Nothing is left out in these excruciating, gruesome scenes. Danny Boyle's flamboyant style is ill-suited to the subject matter, featuring a loud soundtrack, fast editing and over-saturated colors.