42. Martha Marcy May Marlene* (2011) – Elizabeth Olsen, sister to the Olsen twins of sitcom and mini-mogul fame, here plays the title character. She is a lost and vulnerable young woman living on a commune that is run by a cult leader. Everyone farms, sleeps together and lives a peaceful existence – except for rapes by the cult leader and pillaging of the townsfolk for food and funds. Martha escapes and calls her estranged sister Lucy for rescue. But after living on the farm under what could only be described as bizarre conditions, Martha has great difficulty adapting to her sister’s middle class existence. She grows increasingly paranoid about the cult’s coming to find her. You can tell this is a psychological thriller by the music as Martha endures flashbacks and fear. Olson gives a terrific performance, but between the Blair Witch tendencies and the depiction of her existence pre-escape, I found the movie too disturbing. 3 cans.
43. Fall Into Grace* (2013) – Until Jim McGreevey outed himself as “a Gay American” and resigned as governor of New Jersey, he was best known as a ambitious, young politician with a big future. He stepped down from office because he was about to be blackmailed by former male lover whom he had placed in a key state position and who threatened to reveal their affair. Fast forward to today and you’ll find McGreevey has gone from the State House to the Big House – the women’s correctional facility in Hudson County, where the aspiring Episcopal priest counsels the inmates. The former governor has much in common with these women, because he, too, spent much of his life feeling like a prisoner, living a very public life and an entirely different private life that included two marriages, two children, and trying to deny the fact that he was gay. Still the consummate politician with a need to be adored, he is frank and empathetic to the women he guides, encouraging them while they are incarcerated and following them when they are released to help prevent them from falling back into the behavior that put them in prison in the first place. “Everyone should get a second chance,” urges McGreevey, who asserts that no one should be judged by the nadir of his or her existence. His work today is meaningful, his life improved with a loving partner, and this documentary, with which he cooperated extensively, paints a sympathetic picture of a man who is at last living “his own truth.” 3½ cans.
44. 42* (2103) – Before Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, and before Martin Luther King had a dream, there was Jackie Robinson, the first person of color to play major league baseball. When Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford with a set of bushy eyebrows and a scowl), head of the Brooklyn Dodgers, decided to integrate baseball, he needed a talented but tough player who would be strong enough not to fight back against the inevitable epithets, threats and disapproval – and Robinson (played by Chadwick Boseman) was his man. The two men had much in common – both loved baseball and both wanted commercial success. Jackie quietly controlled his temper and displayed the athletic gifts that made him one of the most dynamic players in the game. He joined the Dodgers in 1947, a time when black people were still referred to as Negroes, colored – or worse – and couldn’t eat in the same restaurants or stay in the same hotels as white players. His appearance on the field generated vile comments from fans, some of his teammates and opposing players and managers, but his performance and comportment helped win over fans and his own teammates. There is a moving scene when shortstop Pee Wee Reese, a native of Kentucky playing in a game close to home, intentionally stands next to Robinson and puts his arm around his teammate, illustrating his support. Robinson’s impact on the game is the stuff legends are made of, and this movie milks every moment. Jackie and his wonderful wife, Rachel, are almost too perfect, and the movie (especially the music) can be corny and overly dramatic, but the story is very real and a lesson worth learning or remembering. Here’s to you, Mr. Robinson. 3½ cans.
45. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) – Impetuous, impulsive, impish – but is he really insane? Randall Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is hardly crazy. A career petty criminal, he finds himself imprisoned in a psychiatric facility with the mother lode of mental patients and the meanest, toughest nurse under the sun – Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). He bristles at the rules and regulations and becomes the leader of this pack very quickly. He can defy authority all he wants, but, in the end, Nurse Ratched holds all the cards – the meds and the procedures – to render him useless to anyone. This classic movie gave Nicholson a chance to show every bit of his acting ability and won him the Oscar (along with director Milos Forman and co-star Fletcher in the Best Movie). What I have always admired about Nicholson is his ability to completely inhabit any role he takes on, and that he never cares what he looks like while doing it. His trademark killer smile is on full display here. 4½ cans.
46. Wimbledon* (2004) – When it comes to tennis, the word you don’t want to hear is “love.” Love means nothing in tennis, as in, “15-love.” But when the world’s 119th ranked player, Brit Peter Colt (Paul Bettany) falls in love with up and coming American Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst) during Wimbledon, his game gets sharper and more focused. Hers, however, goes in a different direction and her father is determined to break them up. Aside from admiring the lanky blonde Bettany, I didn’t find much to admire in this picture. Dunst plays Lizzie as controlling and bratty, so it’s hard to root for the romance even though you know Peter needs her to keep his winning streak alive. Love prevails in this British trifle, in a good way, that is, and Peter emerges a winner after all. 2½ cans of tennis balls and recommended only to the most diehard tennis fan.
47. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) – This movie is a touching love story of a man and his son and a realistic picture of the challenges of parenting and the difficulties of divorce on all parties. Dustin Hoffman is Ted Kramer, an advertising man, a busy, detached husband and father who largely ignores his young son (Justin Henry) and wife (Meryl Streep, in her first big role) as he focuses on his work and “bringing home the bacon.” His unhappy wife can’t take the loveless marriage (to which he is oblivious) and suddenly leaves him and her son Billy to save herself while they must fend for themselves. Two scenes best demonstrate the bond that develops between father and son as they make French toast. In the first scene, Ted is impatient, inexperienced and inept. In the second, they work wordlessly together, each handling another aspect of the prep work and expertly execute the task. Both leads won Oscars for this Best Picture, and Streep, with minimal screen time, shines as the distraught mother who is torn between loving her son and leaving him. Parenting is never perfect, as Hoffman deftly shows. 5 cans.
48. Bound for Glory* (1974) –This drama depicts the story of American folk singer Woody Guthrie, whose musical career took a long time to develop before he became known for the song that is the title of this movie. David Carradine is credible as the impoverished singer-songwriter, who, unable to get any kind of job in his native Texas, leaves behind his wife and kids and literally hops a train to California. The section about Guthrie’s journey and poverty seemed endless to me. Subsisting on no food, without even a guitar, Guthrie ends up in a group of day laborers who can only hope they have a chance to pick fruit for substandard wages. He meets a labor organizer-musician (Ronny Cox), borrows a guitar, and starts to write and perform, eventually landing on a radio show and sending for his family. Stubborn and determined to improve the plight of the poor, he most identifies with those people who want to make a living but are treated unfairly. This movie does make you understand the origin of folk music and the political causes espoused by the singers, but, in doing so, loses its appeal. I understand the egalitarian approach, but after a while, I just didn’t care. Not a terrible movie by any means, but not one I enjoyed or would ever see again. 2 cans.
49. The Maltese Falcon* (1941) – Once upon a time, a bunch of less than trustworthy people chased around after a ceramic bird statue. That would be the end of the story if we only examined the plot of this Dashiell Hammett tale. Humphrey Bogart is Sam Spade, slick private eye and the epitome of cool. He rolls his own cigarettes, wears a cocked fedora and double breasted suits and can disarm the bad guys with a single blow. When Miss O’Shaughnessy (Mary Astor) shows up on his doorstep to hire him, he and his partner are dubious, but they like the dame and her dough. That’s when people start getting bumped off while others give just nuggets of the story. Then the net widens to include the fat man (Sydney Greenstreet) and Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre, with inordinate amounts of product in his hair). Sam is a tough guy, takes nothing for granted, and is determined to get to the truth of the matter. If you like fast-talking characters, a complex plot and the whole film noir look and feel, you’ll love this classic. It’s the stuff that dreams are made of. 4 cans.
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