Coming Home (1978)

Academy Awards, USA 1979

Winner Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Jon Voight
	Best Actress in a Leading Role Jane Fonda
	Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Nancy Dowd (story) Waldo Salt (screenplay) Robert C. Jones (screenplay)
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Jerome Hellman
	Best Actor in a Supporting Role Bruce Dern
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Penelope Milford
	Best Director Hal Ashby
	Best Film Editing Don Zimmerman

United Artists
Directed by Hal Ashby
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Kino Lorber)

Military wife Jane Fonda adjusts to life without her husband who goes to Vietnam. She moves into a beach house with the freewheeling girlfriend of another enlistee she just met. They volunteer together at the local VA hospital where wounded vets recuperate from their physical and emotional wounds. She meets paraplegic Jon Voight. After an antagonistic beginning, her patience wins him over and they become friends and eventually lovers. Things get complicated when her husband returns. The subject matter alone makes this an important film, and there is an immense amount of talent involved. However, it veers uncomfortably into melodrama, and Dern in particular cannot overcome his stereotyped sadistic tendencies in a contrived ending. Nonstop soundtrack of sixties hits distracts from rather than adds to the atmosphere.

The Horse with the Flying Tail (1960)

Academy Awards, USA 1961

Winner Oscar

Best Documentary, Features Larry Lansburgh

Buena Vista Distribution
Directed by Larry Lansburgh
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Walt Disney)

A golden palomino horse from the wild west is rounded up, broken by cowboys, trained by a patient young girl, then sold as a show horse. He is mistreated by one owner who doesn't feed him enough, but finds his calling in jumping competitions. He ends up on the US Equestrian team and is flown overseas to participate in prestigious shows, including in front of the queen in London. Pseudo-documentary from Disney takes quite a few liberties with the facts, including the Thoroughbread breeding of the real Nautical. The finale at the London horse show tries but fails to generate some drama. Somehow won a best documentary feature Oscar.

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

Academy Awards, USA 1986

Nominee Oscar

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Woody Allen

Orion Pictures
Directed by Woody Allen
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, MGM)

Waitress Mia Farrow, unhappily married to abusive drunkard Danny Aiello, loses herself in the movies. She becomes particularly enthralled with the latest offering, going to see it almost every day. One of the characters on the screen notices her, and breaks the fourth wall by stepping out of the screen and into her life. The character professes unconditional love for her, which she desperately seeks, but is naive to the ways of the world. He has only movie money, not real money, and can't pay for their meal at a lavish restaurant. He can't fathom religion or God, an irresistible topic for Allen who gets a couple of good jokes out of it. Meanwhile, the real actor who plays the character shows up to see what is going on. Worried about his career and reputation, he confronts his character and implores him to return to the movie. He seems to fall in love with Mia at the same time, setting up one of the strangest love triangles ever. He convince her that he really loves her and that his character is fake, but then dumps her afterwards. The heartbroken Mia mopes for awhile, but then finds solace in the new Astaire and Rogers film Top Hat, starting the cycle over again. Cute, gimmicky, but somehow manages to stay on track thanks to the sure hand of writer director Allen.

Little Children (2006)

Academy Awards, USA 2007

Nominee Oscar	Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Kate Winslet
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Jackie Earle Haley
	Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay Todd Field Tom Perrotta

New Line Cinema
Directed by Todd Field
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, New Line)

Suburban housewife Cate Winslet falls for suburban househusband Patrick Wilson at the local playground. They start a torrid love affair that threatens to destroy both of their lives. One of his friends likes to taunt the neighborhood sex offender. He takes it too far one day resulting in the death of his elderly mother. Cate and Patrick plan to run away together, but it is spoiled when he goes skateboarding instead and gets injured. Meanwhile, the sex offender kills himself in a public park. Exceptionally unpleasant story seems to be playing for laughs. A running narration, completely unnecessary, seems to mock everything that happens on screen.

Georgia (1995)

Academy Awards, USA 1996

Nominee Oscar

Best Actress in a Supporting Role Mare Winningham

Miramax Films
Directed by Ulu Grosbard
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Miramax)

Punk rocker Jennifer Jason Leigh struggles to live under the shadow of her older, talented sister who is a popular folk singer. She finally gets a regular gig as a backup singer in John Doe's band, but her alcohol abuse eventually gets her kicked out. She marries a grocery delivery boy who is infatuated with her, but his clean life style conflicts with her's. When he announces that he is leaving to visit his sick mother, she is sent into a spiral of heroin addiction that lands her in rehab. She lives with her sister while recovering, giving them the opportunity to both reconnect and vent long standing frustrations. Leigh gives an astounding performance as the troubled young girl with a yearning for fame but lacking the talent to realize it. Her cringe-worthy live performance of a Van Morrison song is unforgettable. Might be the most overlooked film of the 90s.

The Invitation (1973)

Academy Awards, USA 1974

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Switzerland.

Janus Films
Directed by Claude Goretta
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(rarefilmm.com)

Meek office worker inherits his mother's house, then sells it for an estate in the country. To celebrate, he invites his coworkers out for a house warming party. The alcohol flows freely on a warm sunny day, and as inhibitions erode their real feelings about each other begin to emerge. The pretty young girl dances with the office clown, upsetting his girlfriend. When she strips, it offends an older conservative man who fights with another man, accidentally punching the host of the party. As he recovers, the party goers slowly leave, reflecting on the events of the day. On Monday, they are back in the office as if nothing happened. Character driven little film filled with insights on the emotions that lurk just below the surface of everyday life in a typical work place.

Rain Man (1988)

Academy Awards, USA 1989

Winner Oscar	Best Picture Mark Johnson
	Best Actor in a Leading Role Dustin Hoffman
	Best Director Barry Levinson
	Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Ronald Bass (screenplay) Barry Morrow (screenplay/story)
Nominee Oscar	Best Cinematography John Seale
	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Ida Random Linda DeScenna
	Best Film Editing Stu Linder
	Best Music, Original Score Hans Zimmer

United Artists
Directed by Barry Levinson
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, MGM/Fox)

Shady car salesman Tom Cruise gets called away to his father's funeral in Cincinnati. Hoping to get a multi-million dollar inheritance, he is disappointed to only receive a vintage car. He learns that the bulk of the estate has gone to a trustee taking care of a brother he never knew he had in a nearby mental institution. Dustin Hoffman is Raymond, an autistic savant who lives by strict routines but is unable to take care of himself. Cruise kidnaps him and they take a cross country trip back to California in the vintage car. The two brothers slowly get to know each other over the course of the next week, with Cruise's initial disgust turning to appreciation and perhaps even love by the time it ends. They stop briefly in Las Vegas where Cruise uses his brother's unique math abilities to count cards and win enough money to pay off his creditors. In Los Angeles, they meet with doctor's and Cruise realizes that Raymond needs to go back to the institution for his own safety. An amazing performance by Hoffman anchors this classic road trip movie.

Frozen (2013)

Academy Awards, USA 2014

Winner Oscar	Best Animated Feature Film of the Year Chris Buck Jennifer Lee Peter Del Vecho
	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song Kristen Anderson-Lopez (music and lyrics) Robert Lopez (music and lyrics) Song: "Let It Go"

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Disney)

In a rushed opening, two young sisters live a privileged life in a castle as daughters of the King and Queen. Th elder sister possesses some kind of magical power which she struggles to control, leading to her inadvertently injuring the younger sister. She is admonished by her parents to conceal the power for the rest of her life, effectively ending the relationship with her sister. As young adults, they still struggle to connect, even on the day the older sister is to be crowned the new queen. They get into a tiff over her new boyfriend, unleashing an unending winter on the entire country and sending the queen into hiding in the mountains. The younger sister goes after her, getting help from a friendly mountaineer, his reindeer and a goofy living snowman. They find her but quarrel, with the younger sister's heart being turned to ice that only an act of "true love" can reverse. They rush her back to her boyfriend for a life-saving kiss, but he turns out to be a heel. She thinks she might love her mountaineering friend, but instead sacrifices herself to save her sister, thus fulfilling the act of true love and thawing her heart. Her sister also learns to control her powers and frees the country from its icy grip. Over-plotted bad sister versus good sister nonsense, with terrible comedy relief and songs that belong on one of those reality TV competition shows.

Wild Is the Wind (1957)

Academy Awards, USA 1958

Nominee Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Anthony Quinn
	Best Actress in a Leading Role Anna Magnani
	Best Music, Original Song Dimitri Tiomkin (music) Ned Washington (lyrics) For the song "Wild Is the Wind"

Paramount Pictures
Directed by George Cukor
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(rarefilmm.com)

Anthony Quinn is an Italian rancher and widow in Nevada who brings over his sister-in-law from the the homeland to be his new wife. She happily accepts her new role in the boisterous home. However, his drunken outbursts come to a head when he repeatedly calls her by her sister's name, especially in front of the entire family celebrating their upcoming marriage. Meanwhile, a ranch hand and adopted son of Quinn falls for her, and they end up sleeping together while he is away for business. Quinn returns home and the fireworks fly, but he ends up begging her to stay anyway. Overacted by both Quinn and Anna Magnani despite their nominations. Virtually unseen in decades, probably because of an unedited scene of a sheep giving birth which is totally unnecessary to the plot.

The Wacky World of Mother Goose (1967)

 
Embassy Pictures
Directed by Jules Bass
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Anchor Bay)

Animated Rankin/Bass production attempts to pull together various characters from Mother Goose rhymes into a coherent story. While Mother Goose is away visiting her ailing sister, the Crooked Man tries to take over Mother Goose Land by enslaving the men of the kingdom. Little Jack Horner along with Mary and her little lamb set off on a trek to find Mother Goose to stop him. Clunky animation and piecemeal story make this one of the lesser Rankin/Bass films.

Mulan (1998)

Academy Awards, USA 1999

Nominee Oscar

Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score Matthew Wilder (music) David Zippel (lyrics) Jerry Goldsmith (orchestral score)

Buena Vista Pictures
Directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Disney)

When the Huns invade China, one male member of each family is forced to join the army. A teenage girl poses as a boy to take the place of her aging, and wounded, father. She goes to boot camp, along with an outspoken dragon as a protector,  and somehow manages to avoid revealing her sex, even while swimming naked. Later, she saves the entire army with a well-placed cannon shot which causes and avalanche. Injured, her real identity is revealed and she is shunned by the very people she just saved. However, back in the city she is celebrated as a hero, but must defeat a few surviving Huns who launch a surprise attack. An uneasy mix of songs and adventure, not to mention the annoying antics of Eddie Murphy as the dragon, threaten to sink this animated Disney film.

Volver a Empezar (1982)

Academy Awards, USA 1983

Winner Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Spain

20th Century Fox International Classics
Directed by José Luis Garci
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Rarefilmm.com)

An aging writer returns to his hometown in Spain shortly after winning the Nobel Prize for literature. He visits familiar places from his childhood, eventually looking up an old flame. They rekindle their romance for a few days and reminisce some more about the past. He confides to an old friend that he is dying and only has a few months to live. He says some goodbyes and returns to his home at a college in California. Simple, slow, old-fashioned story that explores mortality without becoming morose. Overuses the Pachelbel canon, but I suppose that is forgivable.

Inherent Vice (2014)

 

 

Academy Awards, USA 2015

Nominee Oscar	Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay Paul Thomas Anderson
	Best Achievement in Costume Design Mark Bridges

Warner Bros.
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Warner Bros.)

Joaquin Phoenix is a private detective in LA who operates out of a doctor's office and lives in a beach house. He lives the typical hippie lifestyle, taking drugs and wearing strange clothes. His ex-girlfriend goes missing after confessing that she was approached by her wealthy boyfriend's wife to participate in a scheme to get him sent to an asylum. He is also hired by an ex-heroin addict to find her missing husband. Tips from the police and others lead to an international drug cartel. His police contact tries to frame him by planting heroin in his trunk, but instead he arranges to return it to the drug cartel in exchange for the missing husband. He reunites with his missing girlfriend when she shows up unannounced at his beach house. Much like the Thomas Pynchon novel on which it is based, this is a long, rambling, mostly incoherent but never boring story of sex and drugs set in the 1970 underground stoner culture of southern California.

The Salesman (2016)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Winner Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Iran

Amazon Studios
Directed by Asghar Farhadi
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Cohen Media Group)

A man returns to his apartment to find his wife bloody in the bathroom shower. She unknowingly let a man in with the buzzer, thinking it was her husband. She survives, but it is unclear exactly what happened, especially whether or not she was raped. They do not report it to the police because she is too embarrassed. So instead, he follows up clues to find the assailant. A pickup truck leads him to a bakery where it is used for deliveries, with access by multiple people, but concludes that one young driver has been using the truck. He talks the man into coming to his former apartment in an abandoned building where he plans to confront him, but his older father-in-law comes instead. Much to his surprise, the elderly man with a heart condition ends up being the attacker. Barely restraining himself, he locks the man in a room and calls his wife and son, planning to humiliate him in front of his family with a forced confession. It does not go as planned. Entertaining, if far-fetched, Iranian film examining themes of reality and illusion, much like the play Death of a Salesman in which the husband and wife are appearing as actors during the events of the film.

Hugo the Hippo (1975)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Bill Feigenbaum
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

When sharks interrupt the commerce of a busy harbor in Zanzibar, the Sultan comes up with the idea that hippos will keep them away and sends his Sultan to capture some on the nearby mainland. He brings back a dozen or so hippos, including the young Hugo. They defeat the sharks and the people rejoice by giving them lots of food. However, after awhile they are forgotten and the starving hippos raid the nearby farms. The Sultan's evil assistant kills all the  hippos except Hugo, who escapes back to the mainland. He is befriended by a young boy and some other children, but their parents object and Hugo is left alone to fend for himself again. After raiding a farm, he is captured and put on trial, but the children, with the help of the Sultan, save him. This Hungarian animated film is filled with psychedelic imagery straight out of the 60s. There are songs by Marie and Jimmy Osmond, as well as Burl Ives, who also narrates. Somehow, against all odds, it works.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Academy Awards, USA 1930

Winner Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Director Lewis Milestone
Nominee Oscar	Best Writing, Achievement George Abbott Maxwell Anderson Del Andrews
	Best Cinematography Arthur Edeson

Universal Pictures
Directed by Lewis Milestone
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Universal)

German youth are riled up by the patriotic fervor of their professor and run out of the classroom to sign up for the war. After being subjected to an abusive commander during basic training, they are sent to the front lines where the horrors of trench warfare await them. Most die on the battlefield, the survivors while away the days in boredom, starvation, illness or killing the rats. One survivor returns home for a few days on leave, where he visits the old classroom and the professor, still spouting his patriotism, where he tells the current class the ugly truth about warfare. They kick him out as a coward, and the dejected boy returns to the front lines. He finds an old buddy and they reminisce for a short time before meeting their fates. The scenes on the battlefield are tremendous, with Arthur Edeson's fluid camerawork catching the chaos as never before on screen. Where it falters somewhat, however, is the down time, with long, boring interludes that seem to never end. An important, and very good film, if beginning to fade a bit with time.

The Assault (1986)

Academy Awards, USA 1987

Winner Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Netherlands.

Cannon Films
Directed by Fons Rademakers
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia

In the waning days of WWII in the Netherlands, a family struggles to survive the harsh winter. One night, a Nazi collaborator is shot in the street outside their house. They witness neighbors move the body in front of their house, and when the occupying Nazis show up they blame the family for the killing, arrest them and several others, then set the house on fire. Everyone in the family is killed by the Nazis except for a young boy, who is brought to a nearby police station and put in jail. His cell mate, a woman, comforts him, and later turns out to be involved in the murder of the collaborator. The boy grows up, goes to college, gets married and starts a family. However, that long night still haunts him. He meets a man who knows most of the story of who killed the collaborator and why, and the woman in the cell with him turns out to have been his wife. More years pass, and now in the early 1980s he participates in an anti-nuke march. There in the vast crowd, by some wild coincidence, he meets the woman who moved the body of the collaborator and she explains her motives. Occasionally moving story but falters in the bigger connections it tries to make between Nazis, Vietnam and the anti-nuke movement. The plot relies too much on implausible coincidences.

Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)

Academy Awards, USA 1936

Winner Oscar	Best Dance Direction Dave Gould For "I've Got a Feeling You're Fooling".
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Writing, Original Story Moss Hart

MGM
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Eleanor Powell shows up in the office of Broadway producer Robert Taylor, a high school sweetheart. He doesn't recognize her, so she decides to earn a part in his new show by auditioning. He recognizes her at the audition, but doesn't hire her to keep her out of the business, despite obviously falling for her romantically. He sends her back home by train, but she secretly adopts the personality of a fake French actress and tries again to get the part. Meanwhile, gossip columnist Jack Benny spars with Taylor over his public and private life, inventing the French actress persona as bait for Taylor. Everything works out in the end, of course, with plenty of stops along the way for singing and Powell's amazing tap dancing.

The Wind Rises (2013)

Academy Awards, USA 2014

Nominee Oscar

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year Hayao Miyazaki Toshio Suzuki

Toho
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Touchstone)

Animated biopic of Jiro Horikoshi, who designed the famous Japanese Zero fighters used in WWII. Rejected as a pilot in his youth because of his eyesight, he instead pursues engineering, inspired by his hero Italian designer Giovanni Caproni, who appears to him in dreams. As a college student, he experiences and earthquake and personally saves a young girl and her maid, carrying one on his back to safety, then leaves without so much as leaving his name. After a few early failures in aircraft design, he is sent to Germany to get details on their new planes. He is promoted back home to chief designer, but that plane also fails. The dejected Jiro goes to rest at a resort, where he meets and falls in love with the girl he saved years earlier in the earthquake. However, she has tuberculosis and is in frail health. A German at the resort tries to help their romance, but his association causes Jiro to go into hiding. Jiro diligently works on a new design, while his fiance struggles with her health at home. He eventually finds success with the Zero, while she returns to the resort, apparently to die. A strange choice by Miyazaki for an animated film, it plays more like the storyboard for a much better live action film. The animation is crude, though the backgrounds do occasionally come to life. The legions of Miyazaki fans around the world will love it, the rest of us just scratch our heads and wonder why.

My Dog, the Thief (1969)

Buena Vista Distribution
Directed by Robert Stevenson
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Disney)

St. Bernard escapes from the pound and steals a lunchbox containing a stolen necklace. The real thieves chase him into a nearby field, where the dog stashes the lunchbox then stows away on a helicopter belonging to a traffic reporter for a radio station. The dog causes chaos in the cockpit, which gets listeners attention, increases rating and the pilot a promotion. He also has to adopt the dog, who causes more chaos in his pet-free building and with pretty next door neighbor Mary Ann Mobley. The thieves continue to pursue them, eventually kidnapping them and forcing them to take the helicopter back to the field. The St. Bernard, of course, saves the day. Innocuous, if somewhat irritating, made-for-TV Disney fare, with Dwayne Hickman giving a one-note performance. Familiar character actors like Joe Flynn, Elsa Lanchester and Charles Lane can't save it.

The Reivers (1969)

Academy Awards, USA 1970

Nominee Oscar	Best Actor in a Supporting Role Rupert Crosse
	Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) John Williams

National General Pictures
Directed by Mark Rydell
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Kino Lorber)

A shiny new car arrives in a small turn-of-the-century Mississippi town and is coveted by almost everyone, including a couple of out-of-work buffoons who eventually steal it (Steve McQueen and Rupert Crosse). They are let off by the owner if they agree to stay away from it, but that doesn't last long. McQueen "borrows" it for a weekend trip to Memphis, taking along his young teenage friend and the other thief as a stowaway. After the long drive to Memphis, they stay at an upscale bordello where McQueen reconnects with an old "friend" while the young teenage boy learns just exactly what happens at a bordello. Meanwhile, the other thief trades the car for a horse, believing they will win it back in a horse race. The teenage boy is talked into being a jockey, learning more life lessons along the way. McQueen is miscast in this failed adaptation of a William Faulkner story. Instead of focusing on the coming-of-age story of the teenage boy, it spends most of its time trying to be a slapstick comedy, and McQueen is not a comedian. Good period feel and John Williams soundtrack do little to make up for the deficiencies.

The Reluctant Dragon (1941)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Alfred Werker, et al
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Disney)

Robert Benchley, a henpecked husband, is convinced by his wife to drive to the Disney Studios and convince Walt himself to make their favorite children's book, The Reluctant Dragon, into a movie. While she goes shopping, he incredibly gets a pass at the gate to do just that. He wanders around the studio escorted by an uptight teenager who tries, unsuccessfully, to keep him in sight. He hides in the storyboard department where a group of storymen pitch their latest to him as the partially animated Baby Weems. Later, he watches Disney animators working on a Goofy short titled How to Ride a Horse. Finally, he meets Walt Disney himself in a screening room, where he is sitting down to watch, what else, The Reluctant Dragon. Interesting for an inside look at the Disney studios, and getting to match faces with names of people like Ward Kimball, Wolfgang Reitherman, Clarence Nash (the voice of Donald Duck), and more of you watch closely. The cartoon segments are somewhat disappointing, especially the titular segment, though Baby Weems uses an interesting combination of hand drawings and animation.

On the Riviera (1951)

Academy Awards, USA 1952

Nominee Oscar	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color Lyle R. Wheeler Leland Fuller Joseph C. Wright Thomas Little Walter M. Scott
	Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Alfred Newman

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Walter Lang
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Fox)

Danny Kaye is a nightclub impersonator who gets hired to impersonate a famous pilot to whom he has an uncanny resemblance. He attends a swanky party as the other man, fooling everyone including his wife. However, he can't fool his girlfriend, who schemes to get even with him. The real pilot shows up, confusing things even more. The conversation between Kaye the impersonator and the wife of the real pilot, who thinks they slept together, is quite an eyebrow raiser. Third remake of the predictable story is for Kaye aficionados only, others beware.

Pooh's Grand Adventure (1997)

Walt Disney Home Video
Directed by Karl Geurs
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Netflix)

Pooh and friends set off to find Christopher Robin, whom they mistakenly believe to have been kidnapped and taken to a place called "Skull". They trek across the Hundred Acre Wood with the help of a map drawn by Owl, which is completely bogus. They encounter various obstacles and imaginary attackers, soon becoming completely lost. They take shelter in a cave, then mistakenly think it is the place where Christopher Robin has been taken. Luckily, he shows up and sets everything right again. Uncharacteristically dark Pooh story, not all bad, but the story does tend to drag a bit in the middle. Animation, music and voice characterization, however, are up to par with any of the previous Pooh movies from Disney.

Babel (2006)

Academy Awards, USA 2007

Winner Oscar	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score Gustavo Santaolalla
Nominee Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Alejandro G. Iñárritu Jon Kilik Steve Golin
	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Adriana Barraza
	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Rinko Kikuchi
	Best Achievement in Directing Alejandro G. Iñárritu
	Best Writing, Original Screenplay Guillermo Arriaga
	Best Achievement in Film Editing Douglas Crise Stephen Mirrione

Paramount Vantage
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Paramount)

An American couple's vacation in Morocco is rudely interrupted when she is shot on a tour bus. Two local kids testing out their new rifle's range are the culprits, and they are hunted down by the police. Their distraught father tries unsuccessfully to save them. Meanwhile, back in California the tourist's young kids are brought to Mexico for a wedding by their irresponsible nanny. They end up abandoned in the desert when the nanny's drunk, irresponsible nephew runs from the border police upon re-entry. Finally, in Tokyo the daughter of the man who originally owned the rifle used in the tourist shooting takes drugs and acts out in sexual frustration by flashing in public and trying to seduce a policeman. Another pretentious, depressing and ridiculous film from Inarritu. Character's actions make little sense and the intention seems to be to put as many young children in peril as possible in one movie.

Curious George (2006)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Matthew O'Callaghan
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Netflix)

A guide at a bankrupt museum goes to the jungle in search of an idol he hopes will save it. Instead, he finds a three-inch tall idol and a mischievous monkey, who stows away on the boat back home. He has to deal with the expectations of a huge monument which the owner has advertised, and gets kicked out of his apartment because of the monkey. Despite all this, the two develop a friendship and he discovers that the real monument is indeed huge and they go back to Africa to get it. Drew Barrymore overplays her role as the romantic interest, but Dick Van Dyke is good as the crotchety old museum owner. The main problem, though, is George, who has little personality. The traditional animation does a good job at capturing the feel of the original books. Soothing soundtrack by Jack Johnson.

Julius Caesar (1953)

 

 Academy Awards, USA 1954

Winner Oscar	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White Cedric Gibbons Edward C. Carfagno Edwin B. Willis Hugh Hunt
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture John Houseman
	Best Actor in a Leading Role Marlon Brando
	Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Joseph Ruttenberg
	Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Miklós Rózsa

MGM
Directed by James L. Mankiewicz
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

A group of conspirators led by Brutus plot the assassination of Julius Caesar, who they fear will become King. They carry out the deed in a bloody group-knifing near a statue of Pompey, his adversary in a civil war. The conspirators are met by Mark Antony a friend and faithful supporter. He brings the body to the steps outside the great hall where the public gathers with increasing anger. Antony gives a speech further inciting them. The conspirators flee, with Brutus regrouping to lead a rebel army against the Roman legions now led by Antony. They are ambushed in a canyon and have no chance against the much superior Romans. Faithful adaption of the Shakespeare play is impeccably acted. Marlon Brando as Antony dominates every scene in which he appears and threatens to take sympathy away from Brutus, in fact he won mine, which is not the intention of the play. It is stage-bound and un-cinematic, as are so many films based on plays. Only the final battles scenes get outside the cramped confines of Rome.

The Apostle (1997)

Academy Awards, USA 1998

Nominee Oscar

Best Actor in a Leading Role Robert Duvall

October Films
Directed by Robert Duvall
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Universal)

Southern preacher Robert Duvall murders his wife's new boyfriend during a drunken rage on a baseball field. He ditches his car and identification and starts a new life in nearby Louisiana. He befriends a retired preacher who eventually gives him a rundown rural church. He renovates it with help from the community and slowly expands with the help of radio. The broadcasts also alert the authorities to his whereabouts and they show up to arrest him during one of his sermons. Hot, sweaty, charismatic performance by Duvall which vividly captures life in rural south Louisiana. Drags at times, but never boring.

Belle of the Yukon (1944)

Academy Awards, USA 1946

Nominee Oscar	Best Music, Original Song Jimmy Van Heusen (music) Johnny Burke (lyrics) For the song "Sleighride in July"
	Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Arthur Lange

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by William A. Seiter
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, MGM)

Gypsy Lee Rose and her girls arrive by steamboat in the remote Yukon for their new gig at a large, popular saloon owned by Randolph Scott. In between song and dance numbers, she fans the flames of her old romance with Scott; the saloon manager's daughter Dinah Shore gets involved with the piano player; and breaks up a scheme to rob the town of their gold dust! The Technicolor may be brilliant, but the plot, acting and songs are anything but.

Land of Mine (2015)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Denmark

Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by Martin Zandvliet
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Sony)

Young German POWs are forced to clear mines on a Danish beach after WWII. They are handed over to a brutal sergeant who treats them with contempt. After training, they work on the beaches all day with little or no food for days at a time. Eventually, of course, one of the mines goes off with devastating consequences. The sergeant begins to soften his stance towards the boys, even stealing food for them. However, when his beloved dog is killed by a mine that was missed he returns to his old ways. More boys are killed leaving only a few survivors, who are sent off to another beach for more hazardous work. The sergeant, having promised to send them home when they were done, drives them to the border and releases them. Roland Møller is excellent as the sergeant. His transformation from Nazi-like commander to a more sympathetic father-figure carries the plot. Naturally, any movie involving the defusing of bombs will be tense, and there are the predictable jump moments when one explodes.

The Heiress (1949)

Academy Awards, USA 1950

Winner Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Olivia de Havilland
	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White John Meehan Harry Horner Emile Kuri
	Best Costume Design, Black-and-White Edith Head Gile Steele
	Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Aaron Copland
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Actor in a Supporting Role Ralph Richardson
	Best Director William Wyler
	Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Leo Tover

Paramount Pictures
Directed by William Wyler
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Universal)

Olivia de Havilland is the shy, plain daughter of a wealthy New York daughter. She lives under the shadow of her dead mother, a beautiful, outgoing woman whom her father never stops talking about. Although she stands to inherit a fortune, she has no prospects for marriage until Montgomery Clift sweeps her off her feet in a whirlwind romance. Her suspicious father deduces that he is only after her money and forbids their pending marriage. He whisks her away to Europe for six months, but Clift is waiting for her when they get back and they plan to elope. However, he leaves her waiting and disappears to California, leaving her heartbroken. When he returns several years later, she finds a way to get back at him in a memorable ending. Well-made, well-acted melodrama, is entertaining, if implausible.

THX 1138 (1971)

Warner Bros.
Directed by George Lucas
My rating: 4 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD,  Warner Bros.)

In a dystopian 21st century, the population is controlled by a combination of drugs and religion. They work at dangerous factories where accidents and deaths are common. Video cameras monitor every moment of their lives. LUH works at one of the monitoring stations and is the roommate of factory worker THX. She secretly switches his drugs, causing him to undergo confusion at work and have a sexual encounter at home with LUH, which is strictly forbidden. Authorities arrest both of them. He is convicted and sent to prison, a sort of white nothingness with spare furniture. LUH briefly visits, tells him she is pregnant, then disappears for good. THX and another prisoner decide to escape and explore the boundaries of the white nothingness. In one exhilarating moment, they break out into the mass confusion of the city commute. They eventually steal some futuristic vehicles and take to the freeways, pursued by the ever-present android police. THX manages to break out of the city and witness a sunset for the first time ever. Lucas' feature debut, an expansion of an earlier student film, is like Star Wars on drugs. The sound collage of computerized voices, soothing religious phrases and public announcements is as mesmerizing as it is disorienting. An opening sequence from H.G. Wells' 1936 film Things to Come (replaced by a Flash Gordon serial in the 2004 director's cut) are his obvious cinematic inspirations. Add a heavy dose of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and some Kafkian bureaucracy, and you've got Lucas' masterpiece. Still waiting for the original, unaltered version to become available, but meanwhile the 2004 director's cut apparently does not make any major changes to the story.

The Emigrants (1971)

Academy Awards, USA 1973

Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Bengt Forslund
	Best Actress in a Leading Role Liv Ullmann
	Best Director Jan Troell
	Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Jan Troell Bengt Forslund

Warner Bros.
Directed by Jan Troell
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)

Poor Swedish farmer Max von Sydow, suffering from years of drought and poor land, decides to take his family to America and start over. He picks up a few local stragglers, and the large group sells everything to pay for passage on an overcrowded wooden ship. The months-long trip takes its toll on the passengers, who endure all types of illnesses. The survivors then take another trip, this time by train, to reach their final destination: a dilapidated barn in the middle of nowhere, Minnesota. However, the land is good, and that is all that really matters to these farmers. Well, at least until the sequel. Extremely detailed and authentic but painstakingly slow, and ultimately melodramatic, with so many people dying, mostly kids and babies, that it becomes emotionally blunted. It will make you appreciate your ancestors, though.

The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

Buena Vista Distribution
Directed by Ron Clements, et al
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Disney)

When a toy maker is kidnapped by a bat from his shop, his young daughter searches for a famous detective to help find him. Becoming lost herself, she gets help from a passing gentleman who escorts her the rest of the way. The reluctant detective mouse, living in the same building as one Sherlock Holmes, eventually realizes her father has been kidnapped by Ratigan, a master criminal he has been seeking, and agrees to help. They follow clues to a toy shop where the girl is kidnapped. Basil and his sidekick find more clues which lead them to Ratigan's hideout, but are ambushed and left to die in an elaborate trap. They manage to escape and pursue Ratigan through the air on a dirigible, crashing into London's Big Ben clock for the final confrontation. Winning Disney entry with Vincent Price particularly enjoyable as the villain Ratigan. Famous clock sequence made very early use of computer assisted graphics.

The Crucible (1996)

Academy Awards, USA 1997

Nominee Oscar	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Joan Allen
	Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published Arthur Miller

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Nicholas Hytner
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Kino Lorber)

Teen girls caught dancing in the forest are accused of witchcraft in the religiously-charged hysteria of 1692 Salem, Massachusetts. They are put on trial, but easily convince their prosecutors that they see large birds or other such nonsense. One of the girls accuses the wife of her ex-lover of witchcraft, leading to her arrest. However, instead of winning back the husband she incurs his wrath. He is eventually arrested as well, convicted for witchcraft and sentenced to death. The executioner offers to spare his life if he will sign a confession, but he refuses and goes to the gallows with other's falsely accused. The crowd eats it up in their religious furor. Rather disappointing adaptation by Arthur Miller of his own play, with Winona Ryder particularly unconvincing in her crucial role. The setting rarely opens up beyond the small town, giving it a stage-bound, un-cinematic feel.

Benji (1974)

Academy Awards, USA 1975

Nominee Oscar

Best Music, Original Song Euel Box (music) Betty E. Box (lyrics) For the song "Benji's Theme (I Feel Love)"

Mulberry Square Releasing
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Mill Creek)

Friendly stray mutt Benji makes his daily rounds for food by visiting various human companions, but he seems to like it best at the home of a doctor and his two young children. The kids want to adopt him, but the doctor won't allow it, so Benji continues to freely roam the streets, but ends the day at an abandoned mansion that he enters through a broken window. One day he finds some teenagers breaking in and they plan to use the house for some kind of illicit plan. It turns out they kidnap his two favorite kids and bring them to the abandoned mansion. It is up to Benji to convince the police and their father that he knows their whereabouts. Extremely likeable kids flick, filmed almost entirely from a dog's point of view with some inventive camerawork. The plot is well-worn, though, and entirely predictable. Might be the best Disney movie Disney never made.

Saludos Amigos (1942)

Academy Awards, USA 1944

Nominee Oscar	Best Sound, Recording C.O. Slyfield (Walt Disney SSD)
	Best Music, Original Song Charles Wolcott (music) Ned Washington (lyrics) For the song "Saludos Amigos".
	Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Edward H. Plumb Paul J. Smith Charles Wolcott

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Norman Ferguson, et al
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Walt Disney)

Walt Disney and a group of his artists and musicians travel to South America for inspiration and friendship. Lake Titicaca inspires a segment with Donald Duck as a tourist; their air travel inspires an anthropomorphic airplane that must overcome obstacles to deliver the mail across the Andes; gauchos in Argentina inspire a Goofy cartoon; and the Brazilian parrot inspires a new character named Jose Carioca. It's a hit or miss affair, with the watercolor backgrounds of the final segment the only standout. The live action connecting footage provides and opportunity to spot Walt continuously smoking and the appearance of some of the more obscure names in Disney lore such as Mary Blair and Pinto Colvig, the original voice of Goofy. An accompanying bonus feature has even more of this footage.