Ups and Downtons

Ups and Downtons – My Imaginary Life in Downton Abbey

With Downton Abbey debuting its latest season on PBS this month, I am excited to return to Lord Grantham and the family and see the upstairs/downstairs drama that lies ahead.  Will Lady Mary’s new bob bring forth an army of suitors, or will she finally decide on the two contestants left over from last season?  Will Lady Edith really give her illegitimate daughter to the local farmer to raise, and does he have a good lawyer to enforce child support?  And, after the near sex scene in the finale of season 4, will Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes do more than just hold hands at the beach?  Oooohhh, that’s like 50 Shades of Grey for this gang.

Though I am generally not given to fantasy of any kind, the return of DA inspired me to think about actually living on the estate.  I wonder if my life would be like this…

I am Lady Tina Knowes Best, and I live in Downton Abbey in 2015.  Here is an account of my life so you will understand that being titled and wealthy for generations is no picnic.  I find it quite taxing at times. 

The first sound I hear in the morning is my ladies maid, Hilda, who awakens me gently with a friendly, “Are you awake, Milady?”  I am, of course, but it is her job to open my eyes.  I cannot be expected to do everything for myself.  And I find it ironic that “Milady” sounds so close to “malady.”

We exchange pleasantries, discussing the key issues of the day, such as what will I wear, where and with whom shall I dine, and what taxing chores await me.  She helps me dress, carefully buttoning, zipping, and cajoling me into my Milady Spanx.  Again, I cannot be expected to do everything for myself.

This day we select a riding outfit, complete with boots, hat and something that looks appropriate in the back of the convertible.  Sometimes I even get to drive it.  They say you need something called a license, but I’m not sure what that is or how one goes about getting one so I haven’t bothered.  Mostly the staff chauffeurs me around.  I’ll go to the local village, stop by to visit one of the many local charities I support, or occasionally venture to a store – arranged in advance, of course – to see what cute little numbers I need to supplement my wardrobe.  We change clothes on the estate many times in one day, you know, so that 30% off at Kingdom Kohl’s comes in handy.  There are day outfits, evening outfits, many black ensembles for when we are in mourning (which is very often, it seems) and the clothes we wear for dinner.

Believe me, the staff has it easy compared to those of us who own the estate.  The head of the staff, Mr. Butler, is tough but fair.  The staff gets to wear uniforms, they live in the house rent-free, eat their meals at no cost, and get to call us “Milady” or “Your Lordship,” while we have to decide what to wear every day and actually remember their names.  And every few years they change – not the names, the people – so we have to learn new names.  I find this very taxing.  It’s not that we don’t look at them as individuals or have a relationship with them.  Some family members in the past have even run off and married staff, though they nearly always died as a result, which tells us what a bad idea that can be.  I try to ask about them.  For instance, once Hilda’s predecessor – What’shername – came in to wake me and I noticed when she opened my eyes that she was on crutches.  I was concerned and immediately asked, “How are you going to take care of me while you are hopping around on those things?”

Things have changed here over the years.  My grandfather, Lord Knowes, came close to losing the estate due to his mismanagement of the finances, so we retained the services of a prominent local firm, Dewey Cheetum and Howe, to advise us on how to capitalize on the property.  The galling thing is that we now have to allow tourists to visit.  They come in, mouths agape, and want to engage us in conversation.  I mean, really, what could I possibly say to a woman from someplace called New Jersey?  Most have hair bigger than my hats!  We are unfailingly polite and attempt to address them as a group, providing some historical background and insights, while they are only interested in the location of the restrooms, snacks and an on-site gift shop.  I keep waiting for them to leave me a gift, but no one has yet done so.

The house itself is very large, so every day I am forced to deal with the difficult decision of where I should sit.  There’s the drawing room, the library, the sitting room, the parlor, the conservatory.  Once I caught a visiting educator, Professor Plumb, in there with a lead pipe.  I still don’t know what he was planning.  So I have to decide where to sit in my finery and which book Hilda should fetch from the shelf while I ring for tea.  If you don’t drink tea, you are drummed out of the family.  There’s the little-discussed incident with my cousin, Heaven Knowes, who took to something called a diet and refused to drink tea.  She’s now living in some foreign land called Brooklyn, where she works as a barrister or a barrista or something that brings great shame to the family just because she works and doesn’t drink tea. 

We live together as a family.  My father, Hugh Knowes, is the Lord of the Manor.  My mother is Mother Knowes.  My younger sister is more progressive.  Her name is Beyonce Knowes, though she is not related to some singer from the United States.  My late husband, Mr. Best (that's why I am Lady Tina Knowes Best), lived with us for a while, but he had an unfortunate accident when his meat was not cut finely enough and he choked on a rather large hunk of it.  We dismissed but graciously did not hang the servant responsible for this transgression because, truth be known, I probably would have poisoned the annoying SOB anyway.  He wanted to move off the estate and start a business, but that sounded too much like work, and I found just the thought of it far too taxing.

Every now and then we have a large soiree here and invite the toniest of the tony people.  Sometimes we even watch the Tony Awards.  I particularly like that Neil Patrick Harris, mostly because he has three names and that makes him sound like a Noble.  At most of these parties we stand around and hold cocktails and discuss our money.  I have many suitors, but have found them unsuitable for a long-term relationship after enduring nearly 18 months with my husband, so I remain unattached.  I am working on an appropriate ad for richpeopleonestates.com, but am having trouble describing my many fabulous attributes in the allotted space.  Besides, I find the whole process too taxing.  My requirements will be hard to match for anyone, I fear, so it looks like Hilda will be my constant companion, changing the channels and treating me like the lady I am for the foreseeable future. 

Meanwhile, feel free to come by and visit the estate (please bring beaucoup bucks), visit us on Twitter @richbitch or like our Facebook Page:  Facebook/UpsandDowntons.  And I’ll ring for tea.  And little cakes.  And if we don’t have any, someone will whip them right up.  I don’t like to wait.  I find that too taxing.

Tina's December 2014 Movies and Annual Summary

December saw 14 movies added to my list, bringing the year's total to 168.  First you will see just the movies I watched in December.  That list is followed by a short list of the Best Movies of the Year and finally by the entire 2014 list, in case you are wondering what you may have missed.  Remember that this list is entirely subjective and my version of what is good may differ greatly from your personal opinion.  As always, movies are rated on the basis of cans of tuna, with 5 cans being the top rating.  Movies not seen previously are indicated with an asterisk and the numbering picks up from the previous month. Here's to another year of exploring the magic of the movies.

December 2014
155.  Conrack (1974) – Jon Voight brings his boyish good looks and a sunny disposition to the role of Pat Conroy (the author of the book on which the movie is based), the earnest young teacher assigned to an all-black school off the coast of South Carolina.  He and the principal (Madge Sinclair) are the only teachers, with the man she calls “Mr. Pat Roy” in charge of the older students.  He is chagrined to discover that few of them can read or write, that they don’t know history or even, in some cases, their own birthdays.  He ventures outside the classroom to give them life lessons in hygiene, swimming, music, baseball and the world beyond their tiny, impoverished town.  Naturally, the educational administrators disapprove of his tactics, despite the clear progress his students make and the fact that they learn to love him and learning.  I hadn’t seen this movie in years, and I had forgotten how truly inspiring – yet disheartening – it was.  It is sad to think that this story, which takes place in 1969, could be repeated in many places today.  Voight is wonderful in the role, and this is a movie of hope and the love of learning, subjects about which we need to be reminded every now and then.  4 cans.
156.  St. Vincent* (2014) – Vincent (Bill Murray) is a slovenly guy who drinks, smokes, gambles – and babysits.  He is about the last guy with whom to leave a child, but his new neighbor Maggie (Melissa McCarthy, for once not completely audacious) is desperate for someone to keep an eye on her pre-pubescent son Oliver (Jaede Lieberher).  Vincent exposes Oliver to new things – like dive bars, the track and “ladies of the night” (Naomi Watts as a pregnant prostitute) – as the two form an unlikely (in real life unlikely; in movie life, perfectly likely and completely predictable) friendship.  Oliver sees redeeming values in the crotchety neighbor and extolls them in his school project on saints.  This movie has a very good cast, and Murray is perfect as the reprobate neighbor, a Viet Nam veteran whose past is better than his future.  I liked the last third more than the rest of the movie, and Murray and the kid were terrific.  3½ cans for the whole movie, 4 for the last third. (Does that make mathematical sense?)
157.  Miracle In The Rain (1956) – A friendly soldier, a lonely spinster, lots of rain and an abundance of corniness.  Even so, the first time I saw this movie, about 50 years or more ago, I could not stop crying.  I’m older now and don’t burst into tears at seeing it anymore, but this romance will always have a special place in my heart.  Van Johnson is Art Hugenon, the soldier who meets Ruth Wood (Jane Wyman) during a torrential New York City rainstorm.  He charms Ruthie, as he calls her, and, in just a few days, they fall in love as they spend time exploring the city together.  But it is wartime, and Art is sent to the front after declaring his intention to marry her.  The inevitable happens, and Ruth is devastated.  She turns her attention to St. Andrew in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where she prays for a miracle.  I need to watch this movie once a year just to believe that true love never dies.  3 cans.
158.  Love, Actually (2003) – Usually when a movie is a conglomeration of stars there is little or no plausible thread to keep our interest and the actors are there for their own moment on screen and little else.  But this perky pastiche provides enough connections between actors and stories and has a major thread, as it looks at love in all of its forms.  A grieving father and the pre-teen son who is in love with a classmate; the man in love with his best friend’s new wife; the husband about to cheat on his long-time spouse and the wife who figures it out by seeing the meager Christmas gift SHE got while the OTHER WOMAN gets an expensive necklace.  The mostly British cast carries on and carries forth, giving us moments of genuine pathos, warmth and humor.  Even the Prime Minister of England (Hugh Grant) gets a scene similar to the classic Tom Cruise dance in “Risky Business” as he cuts loose at 10 Downing Street.  Along for the delightful ride are Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Keira Knightly, Laura Linney and many more.  It is safe to say that I actually love “Love, Actually.”  4 cans.
159.  Auntie Mame (1958) – Rosalind Russell is the mapcap aunt to orphaned Patrick Dennis.  A wealthy and eccentric woman living in New York in a magnificent Beekman Place apartment, Mame takes in her young nephew and is determined to expose him to life and not restrict him to the impositions of the trustee who manages his inheritance.  They survive the “ups and downs” of the stock market and the turbulent 20s as they establish an unbreakable bond that is tested in the penultimate act.  The genuine affection and absolute loyalty between the aunt and her young charge and between Mame and her staff is heartwarming throughout this sometimes overly-long movie, which was later made into a miscast musical with my beloved Lucille Ball in the title role.  I’ve always tried to throw a pinch of magical Mame into the mix with my nephew, too.  After all, life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.  4 cans.
160.  The Sting (1973) – And the Oscar goes to this clever caper about two conniving con men with a raffish ruse to swindle a mobster out of his money.  Paul Newman and Robert Redford make the movie come alive, aided by Eileen Brennan, Ray Walston and the mark, Robert Shaw.  It’s a bit convoluted, but well worth the investment of time. 4 cans.
161.  A Christmas Story (1984) – What Christmas would be complete without the annual airing of Jean Shepherd’s hilarious stroll down Memory Lane?  I’ve seen this movie every Christmas Eve-Christmas Day for years, and it never fails to amuse.  The leg lamp, the Chinese restaurant, the kid with his tongue frozen to the pole, Ralphie in those absurd pajamas and almost shooting his eye out with his Red Ryder BB Gun – what could be better?  A Christmas classic.  4 cans.
162.  Unbroken* (2014) – There’s nothing like a movie about war and torture to see on Christmas.  Instead of our usual Christmas movie fare, my family and I selected this heavy-handed war movie that is based on the book by Laura Hillenbrand and directed by Angelina Jolie.  It is the story of Olympic runner Louis Zamperini (Jack O’Connell), who served in the Army Air Corps as a bombardier in WWII.  His rickety plane is sent on a rescue mission and crashes in the Pacific, where he and another man manage to survive in shark-infested waters for 47 days, only to be captured by the Japanese and sent to a POW camp.  There, because of his status, he is singled out by the barbaric young corporal for special attention – in the form of beatings and other torture.  The movie offers flashbacks that show how his character evolved from a kid in trouble to a strong and accomplished athlete.  The story is one of the human spirit overcoming inconceivable adversity, but, despite its length and detail, the movie fails to provide the complete story.  The end of the movie supplies text about Zamperini’s later life, but we don’t know how he was able to survive in later years after the torture he had to endure and why he ultimately was able to forgive his captors.  Instead of “Unbroken,” the title should have been “Incomplete.”  3½ cans.
163.  Somewhere in Time* (1980) – I had to suspend my usual disdain for fantasy to watch this romance about a playwright from 1979 who becomes obsessed with an actress from 1912.  At a party in the 1970s, Richard Collier (the handsome, young Christopher Reeve) is approached by an elderly woman who gives him a pocket watch and says, “Come back to me.”  He becomes obsessed with learning more about her and is determined to meet her by time traveling back to 1912.  Despite this considerable obstacle, he manages to find the woman, a young and beautiful actress named Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour), and he embarks on a relationship with her over the objections of her controlling manager (Christopher Plummer).  The beauty of the film and its leads and the magic of the story were intriguing enough for me to enjoy it, but it is impossible to watch Christopher Reeve in anything and not feel despair for the accident that disabled and ultimately killed him.  Such a handsome and winsome actor, and such a tragedy to lose him so young.  3 cans.
164.  Art and Craft* (2014) – Mark Landis is a talented artist.  He is also schizophrenic with psychotic tendencies and a whole host of other mental conditions.  Oh, one more thing: His works are copies of famous works of art, ranging from Picasso to Disney.  This documentary tells the story of Landis, one of the most prolific art forgers in history, but one who doesn’t profit from selling his work.  Instead, he poses as a philanthropist, weaving stories about liquidating his mother’s estate, or about his non-existent dead sister or other tall tales of how he came into possession of great works of art.  This continuing ruse fooled galleries all over the United States, as Landis “donated” his artwork and they gratefully accepted it and added it to their museums.  Landis is a clever guy, buying supplies on the cheap from Hobby Lobby, Walmart and Lowes, and using such simple methods as aging wood by staining it with coffee, and even going to the office supply store and photocopying works that he then painted over to show brush strokes.  But Matthew Leininger, an art registrar for a museum, is one man as obsessed as Landis when he uncovers the cycle of deceit and he is determined to build a case against Landis to make him stop.  The obvious question in this documentary is why Landis, who is clearly a very talented artist, doesn’t just create his own originals.  The depth of his mental illness probably prevents him from doing more than copying other people’s work, but he is able to book his travel, maintain his schedule, pose as a Jesuit priest and somehow survive living in a cramped apartment, where he “creates” his art while watching old movies and TV shows.  This intriguing movie casts questions on the true value of art, the ability of otherwise qualified people to recognize forgeries and execute their due diligence, while, at the same time, showing how someone lives with defined mental illness.  I found it fascinating.  4 cans.
165.  Foxcatcher* (2014) – This is my second movie in as many days about a mentally ill man with delusions of philanthropy.  An unrecognizable Steve Carell plays John DuPont, scion of the real-life DuPont family, a man who grew up in wealth and privilege but without friends and social skills.  He is a wrestling aficionado, and he builds a training facility on his estate so promising wrestlers can come and prepare for world championships.  He gets Olympic medalist Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum, all beefed up and playing the lug to perfection) to agree to live there and attract other wrestlers.  For Mark, it is a chance to get out from under the shadow of his big brother, David (Mark Ruffalo), a fellow Olympian, and be his own man.  Though Mark and John grew up under entirely different circumstances, they are both lonely and focused on wrestling.  But for John, who aspires to be a leader, a coach, a mentor and an incredibly generous supporter, wrestling becomes an obsession that ultimately leads to a falling out with Mark.  Can he go on and win another Olympic Gold Medal?  Can he possibly lose 12 pounds in 90 minutes?  Carell is outfitted with the biggest nose this side of Jimmy Durante, a proboscis so large he walks with his head back, as if holding his head normally would propel him forward.  He gives a serious, credible performance as the strange and sick DuPont.  Tatum and Ruffalo earn their gold as well.  This isn’t a fun movie to watch, and I remembered reading about the real-life events on which it is based, but it is delivered with bone-crushing realism.  3½ cans.
166.  Prayer for a Perfect Season* (Not sure of year) – If you know anything about sports in New Jersey, then you have probably heard of the high school basketball rivalries that produced America’s best teams – Paterson Catholic, St. Benedict’s, St. Anthony’s and the focus of this documentary, St. Patrick’s.  All Catholic schools have suffered financially in recent years, and many of them, including Paterson Catholic and St. Pat’s, have closed.  This film follows the 2010-11 season of powerhouse St. Patrick’s, led by intense coach Kevin Boyle.  The kids he and his rivals coach graduate from high school and many earn scholarships to notable colleges.  A number have gone on to play professionally.  While the schools often don’t have gyms large enough for the crowds to attend games (so they play at other facilities), and while they are constantly under the threat of closing, they somehow manage to tote a bunch of basketball players and coaches around the country seeking to prove their mettle against nationally-ranked opponents.  Although I don’t expect anyone reading this review to actually seek out this movie, I’ll keep the end to myself, but I will reveal one post-script:  Boyle ended up leaving St. Pat’s for a very lucrative deal with first-rate facilities in Florida, coaching at a private school where he can recruit players on a national basis, and where he probably has more control that he would have at many colleges.  He’s a tough guy working under tough conditions in this movie, but his young charges at St. Pat’s had even more to overcome with economic and family hardships.  To me, if a kid can be pushed to excel and get an education, that’s a winning season.  3 cans.
167.  Wild* (2014) –Let me get this straight: You’re telling me that the road to redemption from alcohol abuse, heroin use and promiscuity is to take a 1000 mile hike through treacherous terrain with a backpack that weighs as much as you do?  If I didn’t know that this movie was based on Cheryl Strayed’s true story, I would never have believed it.  An inexperienced hiker, Strayed doesn’t even check her equipment or read the directions before setting out on this journey.  She even carries books to read along the way.  She has little money and walks alone, occasionally encountering friendly fellow hikers but also a few scary people, snakes and animals on her journey to self-fulfillment.  I knew this movie was not going to be a good choice when they flashed “Day 5” on the screen and my companion asked, “How many days is this trip?”  Much of the story is told through flashbacks, as Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) recalls her loving mother (Laura Dern) and the hardships they endured as a family before her mother’s young death from cancer.  That loss sent her over the edge, into self-destructive behavior, and she determined that walking alone in ill-fitting hiking boots would save her.  Witherspoon’s massive blue eyes are so big that she could have starred in “Big Eyes,” the movie about the artist that painted those creepy, big-eyed girls.  Though Reese will get an Oscar nomination for her stoic portrayal of a woman wearing no make-up, that alone wasn’t enough to make me like this movie.  It’s safe to say I wasn’t wild about “Wild.”  3 cans of dried food that you have to heat with a stove you don’t know how to work.
168.  Mister Roberts (1955) – This was my third WWII-related movie this month, but this one is by far the best.  Mr. Roberts is the cargo officer aboard a ship in the Pacific at the end of the war.  He is beloved by the loyal crew because he stands up for them against the tyrannical captain (James Cagney).  But Mr. Roberts longs to get into the action and not stay stuck on a ship going nowhere.  The interplay of the men, the lunacy of Ensign Pulver (Jack Lemmon) and the sheer boredom they all must endure demonstrate that war IS hell.  I modeled my management style after Mr. Roberts, who wanted the men to do the job well and be rewarded for their efforts.  I love this movie so much that I decided to end the year with it.  If you haven’t seen it, find time in 2015 to enjoy it.  4½ cans.

Best Movies of the Year:
1.  12 Years a Slave –  Well done, if difficult to watch.
2.  The Lunch Box – A subject about which I knew nothing, learned much and enjoyed it all.
3.  Gone Girl – Yes, I read the book, but by the time the movie came out, I didn't remember the end anyway.  Ben Affleck is very good, and there are plenty of twists you never saw coming.
4.  Whiplash – J. K. SImmons gives what may be the best performance of the year NOT in "12 Years a Slave" as an intense and cruel music teacher.
5.  Jersey Boys (because I liked the music) and The Judge.  I still can't believe Clint Eastwood directed "Jersey Boys."

MOVIE LIST 2014

1.  Easy Money (1983) – Noel Coward surely never wrote anything like this.  Rodney Dangerfield is the twitchy Monty Capulet, a man of simple interests:  He likes to smoke, drink, gamble and curse, and he loves hanging out with his equally low-brow friends like Nick (Joe Pesci).  When Monte’s wealthy mother-in-law dies, he will inherit her $10 million fortune if he can clean up his act in a year.  Easy money?  Hardly for Monty, who is reduced to eating salads and giving up beer.  Dangerfield is perfectly cast as a “regular guy,” and while this comedy will never be known for its highbrow values, it is nonetheless an amusing look at class differences and lifestyles.  Though I prefer Rodney in “Back to School,” this one is easy to watch.  3½ cans.

2.  The Purple Rose of Cairo* (1985) – The affable Jeff Daniels has a dual role in this ingenious Woody Allen movie.  He plays Tom Baxter, a pith-helmet wearing actor in a movie watched repeatedly by lonely Cecilia (Mia Farrow).  When Tom breaks through the 4^th wall and leaves the screen to meet Cecelia, the actor who plays him on the screen, Gil Shepherd (also Jeff Daniels), shows up to stop Tom from ruining his career.  What is real and what exists only in the movies?  Poor Cecelia is torn between Tom and Gil, both of whom want her to be in their respective worlds, while the cast of the abandoned movie continues to exhort Tom to come back to the screen.  A very clever and winning movie and one without Woody as an actor (he never would have fit in).  3½ cans.

3.  Lars & the Real Girl* (2007) – Lars is almost the perfect boyfriend.  He is kind, thoughtful, polite – and delusional.  A lonely and quiet man, Lars (Ryan Gosling) eschews company and cannot bare to be touched.  But when one of his porn-loving co-workers shows him a website that offers life-like dolls, he orders Bianca, who comes into his life and the lives of the indulgent town folk.  Everyone – not just Lars – treats Bianca as real.  She gets a “job” modeling in a store window, “reads” to children at the hospital and is elected to the school board.  At first, his brother and sister-in-law are reluctant to play along, but they begin to see a real relationship develop between a man with little emotion and a “woman” with even less.  This movie is quirky, no doubt, but there is a tenderness here, particularly displayed by the people surrounding the reluctant Lars, that is very sweet.  Any movie that can make Ryan Gosling NOT look like a doll himself has to have some magic.  3½ cans.

4.  Manhattan (1979) – I’m still on a Woody Allen kick, leftover from last year, and I decided to revisit this romantic comedy/drama.  Forgetting the plot and the dialog for a moment, I have to say this movie is gorgeous to view.  Manhattan has never looked better, richly shot in black and white, with its characters sometimes shot solely in silhouette, accompanied by the symphonic strains of George Gershwin.  As for the plot, Woody Allen plays Issac, a 42-year old writer who is dating beautiful 17-year old Tracy (Mariel Hemingway, in a notable screen debut).  Knowing his off-screen story makes this relationship a little creepy for me, so when he starts dating Mary (Diane Keaton, naturally), the ex-girlfriend of his married friend Yale (Michael Murphy), the pairing seems more natural.  I have trouble believing that a man who looks and acts like Woody Allen would have women like Keaton, Hemingway and Meryl Streep, who plays his lesbian ex-wife, show even the remotest interest in his neurotic, insecure character.  The story is about love, when you know, who is best for you and having a little faith in people.  And who can forget that stunning shot of Keaton and Allen in the lower right part of the screen, sitting and conversing while gazing at the Queensboro Bridge?  Seeing it again, I realize this is one of Woody’s best works.  I’ll take Manhattan.  4 cans.

5.  On the Mat* (2012) – Every year, I seem to find a sports documentary to watch that I haven’t seen before.  This one is about Lake Stevens High School, about an hour north of Seattle, and its wrestling team.  Wrestling is a sport where any kid can participate, no matter how big or small.  So the 103-pound kid who is lying motionless on the mat one week can come back and vie for a state championship.  The sport relies on mental toughness, discipline and the ability to “make weight.”  These kids starve themselves to qualify in a particular weight category.  Like all other sports movies, this one has the kid who is the outsider, who brings the drama, and kids for whom wrestling is everything.  There is the coach who is determined to use wrestling to teach life lessons to his young charges.  And there is the staple of all sports films, the ultimate test of prowess – in the case, the state tournament.  Would any of these hard-working kids become a state champ?  Win or lose, would they pile up enough points to help their school claim the state title?  Would this film be released if they didn’t?  It may be cliché, but it is a winner.  3 cans. 

6.  August: Osage County* (2013) – My sister and I eagerly awaited the latest Meryl Streep movie as our Christmas choice and were highly disappointed when it didn’t open widely until this month.  So with a chip on our shoulders, we went to see it, hoping Meryl would redeem her tardiness with another Award-winning performance.  As my sister insists, Meryl never disappoints, and here, as Violet, she is a mean and ornery woman dealing with cancer, a failing marriage, drug addiction (hers) and a litany of family issues.  When her three daughters descend upon the family home in desolate Oklahoma during a crisis, they all bring their worst behavior and put the fun in dysfunctional.  There is plenty of vitriol over past transgressions, accompanied by swearing, food tossing, plate throwing and a knock-down, dragged out tussle between Meryl and Barbara (Julia Roberts).  And this film is supposedly a comedy.  We all have family issues, but this family has a few creepy surprises that I didn’t see coming.  The movie has its moments of levity – most of which you can catch in the trailers – and overall it is well-done, but in the same uncomfortable sense as “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf.”  4 cans, mostly because of the cast, which also includes Dermot Mulrooney, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Chris Cooper, Sam Shepperd and Julianna Nicholson.

7.  Her* (2013) – What are the chances I will see two movies in one month about men who fall in love with inanimate objects (see # 3 above)?  Writer-director Spike Jonze creates a world where people are so dependent on their devices that they rarely interact with each other.  Instead, they are dependent on a SmartPhone or computer for everything from checking their mail to ordering food to building relationships.  So when Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with Samantha, his new operating system (sexy voice courtesy of Scarlett Johansen), this behavior isn’t unusual, it is accepted.  After all, Samantha is the perfect girlfriend.  You don’t need to dress up – or even shower – to go out on a date with her, she’s always available, and you are only paying for yourself.  Odd doesn’t begin to describe this movie – complete with sex scenes – but the thing that drove me crazy was that Theodore simply had to press the button on his ear piece to summon her.  Doesn’t she have to be charged?  And who among us hasn’t had our operating system crash?  Yes, she did shut down once for a system update, but that was the only part with which I could identify.  Well-thought out and clever, with excellent performances by all the players (including Amy Adams), but a little too bizarre for my more basic tastes.  3 cans.

8.  Our Vines Have Tender Grapes* (1945) – Edward G. Robinson is cast against type as the Norwegian father of a family in Wisconsin in this look at life in simpler times.  Young Margaret O’Brien steals the show as his curious and lovable daughter.  There’s not much here in the way of plot beyond Papa’s desire to build a new barn, but the feeling is one of heart.  Still, way too dull for my taste.  2 cans.

9.  Radio Days (1987) – And the Woody Allen Film Festival continues with this nostalgic trip back to the 1940s, where writer-director-narrator Allen recalls his youth.  The family depicted is large, encompassing parents, aunts and uncles, etc., and, despite bickering and living modestly, they all appreciate each other and live vicariously through the people whose lives they hear about on the radio.  The radio broadcasts of the era are the genesis of the story, but it is the strength and warmth of the family that touches the viewer.  Allen being Allen, there are moments of levity, but this one is more heart-warming than laugh-inducing.  The usual Allen troupe shows up – Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts and others, including my personal fave, Brenda Morgenstern herself, Julie Kavner.   A mostly sweet and leisurely stroll down Memory Lane.  3½ cans.

10.  The Remains of the Day (1993) – If you enjoy Downton Abbey, you’ll probably like this look at life in an English manor home.  Anthony Hopkins is Stevens, the butler of Darlington House, where he serves Lord Darlington in the 1930s.  Though there is ample political talk here, as Lord Darlington advocates positions prior to the war that would be later frowned upon, the central story is about the relationship between the butler and the housekeeper, Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson).  They disagree on many issues, the biggest of which is expressing their opinions.  Kenton doesn’t hesitate to state her views, but the circumspect Stevens’ focus is strictly on serving the house.  He prefers not to listen to the views of the important people who visit Darlington in favor of making sure everything is in perfect order for whomever is on hand.  Hopkins and Thompson are brilliant, and we so want them to get together here.  No spoilers, please.  One more thought – it is jarring to see a robust Christopher Reeve playing an American Congressman, knowing what would later happen to him in real life.  So sad.  4½ cans.

11.  Salinger* (2014) – Is there anyone out there who doesn’t know the story of Holden Caulfield, poster boy for disaffected youth, or his creator, famously reclusive author J.D. Salinger?  (If you don’t, please don’t fess up, or I will be forced to defriend you)  This PBS documentary on American Masters takes a long look at Salinger, from his desire to be published in The New Yorker to his days fighting in WWII through his marriages and his notoriously quiet existence in New Hampshire, where he fended off journalists and photographers but periodically invited strangers – mostly young women – into his life.  His publication of “The Catcher in the Rye” in 1951 had a profound effect on its readers and generations of people who eschewed phonies and saw themselves through Holden’s eyes.  Thought he didn’t publish anything for many years before his death in 2010, Salinger remained busy writing away in his little cottage outside his home.  His works are scheduled to be released starting in 2015, when a new generation will have a chance to experience his style while the rest of us wonder if we will feel the same way we did when we first read Catcher.  Salinger is a fascinating but flawed man and this documentary gave me new insights into his life.  4 cans.

12.  The Place Beyond the Pines* (2012) – The decisions you make and the actions you take can affect your life and the lives of others for generations.  If you don’t believe that, watch this gripping drama.  It starts off as an action-adventure, then goes into a story about moral decisions and then progresses on to a tense conclusion.  The movie was not at all what I expected, and to say more would ruin the plot.  I watched it largely because of its stars – Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes and Bradley Cooper – all of whom give top-notch performances.  To learn more, look it up on-line, or, even better, watch it for yourself.  3½ cans.

13.  The Heart of the Game (2005) – With the possible exception of “Hoop Dreams,” there is no finer documentary about basketball (or sports, in my opinion) than this 7-year look at Coach Bill Resler and his Roosevelt High Rough Riders.  A college tax professor, Resler takes on the hapless high school girls basketball team and uses his unconventional approach to urge the girls on to victory.  He tells them they are a pack or wolves or tigers, and they abandon traditional offensive sets and swarm the opposition on defense.  When the gifted Darnellia Russell shows up (a year after the documentary starts), she brings her considerable basketball skills and sometimes an attitude to match to challenge Resler.  Will they win the state championship?  Will Darnellia overcome her own problems to stay on the team?  I know the outcome and yet I watch this movie every time thrilled at each basket, each pass, and each game.  If you like sports and enjoy documentaries, you’ve gotta have “Heart.”  4½ cans.

14.  A Walk on the Moon (1999) – Pearl Kantrowitz (Diane Lane) is a bored housewife, spending the summer in the Catskills with her teenaged daughter, young son and mother-in-law (Tovah Feldshuh, who is fabulous in the role), playing mah jongg with the other ladies of summer while the men return to the city for their jobs and see how fast they can make the trip back up to the cottages on weekends.  So when the “Blouse Man” (Viggo Mortenson, looking just like tennis player Bjorn Borg) offers her a bit more than something to wear, she sheepishly sheds her abandon.  The summer of 1969 was a huge time of change in music, culture and mores, with Woodstock just around the corner from their summer home.  Pearl sees in the Blouse Man a different world, a different life – and different sex from what the routine she and husband Marty (Liev Schreiber) practice.  Her m-i-l knows right away she is “schtupping” someone else, and the reality of dealing with a sexually awakening teenager while she herself is awakening presents a real dilemma for Pearl.  When I first saw this movie, I liked it immediately.  The references to the period seem completely authentic to me, as does every other aspect of the movie.  Oh, and men actually do land on the moon, in a moment Pearl is unlikely to forget.  Years before she became “Unfaithful” to Richard Gere, Lane portrays a woman with a similar moral dilemma and just a little less agony and ecstasy.  4 cans.

15.  Postcards from the Edge (1990) – A drugged out actress (Meryl Streep) is literally dumped at the ER by the man she’s been with (Dennis Quaid) and wakes up, stomach pumped, to find herself in rehab.  The only way she can get work is to agree to live with her alcoholic mother (Shirley MacLaine), a noted star herself who is enough to drive anyone to drink.  The acerbic wit of writer Carrie Fisher is sharply on display in this story that is based on Fisher’s relationship with star/mother Debbie Reynolds.  Streep and MacLaine are memorable in their strained exchanges, though any amateur analyst can see how their relationship has devolved over the years.  As if she wasn’t a considerable enough actress, Streep shows off her singing prowess here, too.  And MacLaine, whose character is much larger than life, belts out the Broadway tune “I’m Still Here,” just to again take the focus off her daughter.  All this, and comedy to boot.  This is my 3^rd Meryl movie of the month. You can’t get too much Meryl.  4 cans.

16.  The Help (2011) – I loved this movie when it was first released and decided to see it again.  It is the moving, amusing and enlightening story of a group of women housemaids in Jackson, Mississippi, and the exasperating and cruel junior league women who employ them.  When aspiring writer Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone) decides to write about the maids, she has to first earn their trust.  Skeeter isn’t like the snobby young women with whom she was brought up, and she forms a bond with Aibileen (Viola Davis, who lost out on the Oscar only because Meryl made yet another movie), a strong and loving woman who has raised many children for her employers only to see them become just as insensitive as their mothers.  And if you think Abi has stories to tell, wait til you hear Minnie’s (Octavia Spencer, who did win an Oscar).  Skeeter, who goes toe-to-toe with Miss Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard), head snob of the town.  This is a rich and rewarding movie, which, like the book upon which it is based, should not be missed.  4 cans.

17.  Heartburn (1986) – Meryl Month continues in the Gordon household with this Nora Ephron story based on her marriage to Watergate writer Carl Bernstein.  Considering it co-stars Meryl and Jack Nicholson, Ephron wrote the book, Mike Nichols directed and Carly Simon did several songs, overall, this is a disappointing effort.  Maybe it is that the story is based on the flawed marriage between the main characters.  He cheats and she tries to deal with it.  There are amusing moments, but much of the movie just felt padded and empty.  I remember not liking this one much in the 80s, and it didn’t get better with age.  2½ cans.

FEBRUARY

18.  Return to Me (2000) – I started February with this romantic charmer.  Bob (David Duchovny) loses his wife in a car accident at the same time that Grace (Minnie Driver) goes into the hospital to have her failing heart replaced.  You’ve already guessed that she ends up with the wife’s heart, right?  While he has trouble recovering from the loss of his wife, Grace is mending quite well.  One day they meet at the Irish pub run by Grace’s grandfather (Carroll O’Connor) and his buddies, but of course neither of them knows about matters of that particular heart – at first.  The relationship between the shy couple is a joy to watch, as each grows in new ways.  I won’t spoil the movie but I will encourage anyone who hasn’t seen it to rent it, buy it, record it – just watch it.  It is a delight.  4 cans.

19.  Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) –  Mr. Chipping (Robert Donat) is the straitlaced new teacher at the Brooking School, a venerable British boys school during the early 1900s.  He arrives full of hope and promise and is soon overrun by his energetic young charges.  He adopts a strict veneer, which softens over time as he grows close to generations of young students.  Helping soften him is the unexpected arrival of Kathy, played by the beautiful and classy Greer Garson, who immediately ingratiates herself at this all-male institution.  Donat is perfect as the unsure young teacher and later as the friend and mentor to the boys, as he ages 63 years.  If you like action and adventure, don’t even bother to tune into this leisurely tale.  But if heartwarming is your cup of tea, you’ll fit right in.  4 cans.

20.  Enough Said* (2013) – Sadly, there was not enough said – or the time to say it – for actor James Gandolfini, who plays divorced regular guy Albert in this movie opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Eva).  Albert may not seem attractive at first, but get to know him and he has a lot of wit and charm.  He’s a good father and a pretty good boyfriend, but, according to his ex-wife Marianne (Catherine Keener), he was no bargain as a husband.  When Eva starts dating him (unbeknownst to either Eva or Marianne that he is Marianne’s ex), they are both facing the forthcoming departures of their daughters to college.  They fall quickly into a comfortable relationship, but, contrary to the title of this movie, there is way too much said by the ex to Eva, her masseuse/friend, who finally realizes Albert is the man they have in common.  Gandolfini looks like a tough guy but he’s really a mush, and his vulnerability and comfort in himself is very much on display here.  This was the last movie he made before his untimely death, and his performance here makes his loss that much more poignant.  3½ cans.

21.  The Gabby Douglas Story* (2014) – You may recall Gabby Douglass as the exuberant and athletically gifted young gymnast who won the Gold Medal as Best All-Around in the last Olympics.  End of story, right?  Well, this biopic, though as lightweight as young Gabby herself, details the struggles her family – particularly her mother (Regina King) – had to endure and the sacrifices they all made in helping Gabby achieve her dream.  Gymnastics is grueling, and aside from all of the training, there are a lot of costs – travel, outfits, coaches, etc. – that are necessary to get to the top level of the sport.  Just getting the best coaching required young Gabby to leave her mother and siblings and move to Iowa – her choice, mind you.  You already know the end before you see the first frame of this Lifetime biopic, but, particularly in the month of the Winter Olympics, I was impressed with the dazzling talent and sheer determination of this tough and spritely young woman.  No gold medal, but I’ll give the movie the bronze.  2½ cans.

22.  Missing (1982) – Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek are two actors whose work is almost always outstanding, and this political thriller has them at their finest.  Spacek is married to Lemmon’s son Charlie (John Shea) and living in a South American country whose government has just been overthrown.  People are getting arrested at random, there are shootings in the street, and leftist-leaning but politically naïve Charlie is caught in the midst of it.  One day he just goes missing and Spacek cannot find him by herself.  Riding in on his white horse, full of skepticism about his son’s capabilities and politics, comes New York businessman Lemmon, certain that with the contacts he has made he can prevail upon local American officials to solve the mystery and bring Charlie home.  The American Consulate there is unfailingly polite but mainly useless, and Lemmon and Spacek are left to do their own investigation.  They butt heads, eventually bonding over the inevitable outcome of their efforts.  Lemmon, much like his performances in “The China Syndrome” and “The Paper Tiger,” starts out a reasonable, establishment guy, but grows increasingly frustrated with the authorities and with the reality that he may not see his son again.  Hats off to Lemmon in particular for the nuances in his performance, and applause for the director (Costa-Gravas) for keeping the situation taut and compelling throughout the movie.  4 cans.

23.  Miracle (2004) – It seemed appropriate in the midst of watching the Winter Olympics to take time out for this dramatization of the 1980 US Men’s Hockey Team, which won the Gold Medal in Lake Placid.  Taciturn coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) picks his players as much for their hearts and minds as their hockey skills.  Over a long training period, his “boys” bond together as a family – even if their bond is partly because they are dubious of Brooks’ methods and madness.  He isn’t there to be their friend.  Having been the last cut on an earlier US Olympic Hockey team, he keeps his eyes firmly on the gold.  We all know the outcome, as a bunch of college hockey players (this was before professionals from the NHL dominated the Olympic teams) take on the all-powerful Russians, with sports and politics all playing a role.  And though we know who wins, it’s still hard not to feel the thrill of Mike Erruzione’s winning goal, or to tear up as goalie Jim Craig scans the stands to find his father.  This movie is one of the best sports films ever in my opinion, as it depicts what might be the defining moment for the US in the Olympics (you cannot nudge Jesse Owens from the top spot).  Do you believe in miracles?  Yes!  4 cans.

24.  The Monuments Men* (2014) – Prior to and during World War II, the Nazi regime stole untold pieces of artwork from private collections of Jews and they raided art museums to compile a collection Hitler intended to put on display in the elaborately planned Fuehrer Museum.  “The Rape of Europa” is a documentary that tells the story of the stolen art and the extensive efforts made by art experts, mostly from the US, to find it, authenticate it and get it back to its rightful owners, where possible.  This movie is director/star/producer George Clooney’s attempt to make that story entertaining by introducing a cast of characters (Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, among others) who served as “The Monuments Men,” working with the Allied Forces so they could locate and preserve some of the world’s most prized pieces of art.  The film is earnest and yet has a wry sense of humor as these experts have to peel the layers back on the mystery of what happened to the art.  Clooney makes them look like the heroes they were, yet the movie struck me as a bit self-serving, possibly because I have so much admiration for the documentary, which is one of the finest I have ever seen.  Still, if you don’t know the story, see it and learn something about the importance of art in our lives and the brave and daring mission of men to create and celebrate it.  3½ cans.

25.  The Ides of March (2012) – A better Clooney movie is this scathing look at politics through the eyes of a tough-minded but idealistic young press secretary (Ryan Gosling) who works for a presidential candidate who seems above reproach.  So we know where that’s going, eh?  Clooney is the candidate, the late and lamented Philip Seymour Hoffman is his campaign manager, whose demand for loyalty among the staff comes into play with one decision made by Gosling’s Steven. I really enjoyed this movie when it first was released, probably because I’m so skeptical of all politicians and expect them to have flaws and because Gosling is just so tasty to see on screen.  4 cans.

26.  Crazy. Stupid. Love (2011)  – And speaking of how good Gosling looks on screen, here he is Jacob, a slick talking, confident ladies man who befriends sad sack Cal (Steve Carell), cleans him up and gets him ready for love after Cal’s wife (Julianne Moore) tells him she is having an affair with a co-worker and wants to end their marriage.  To provide more details would spoil the plot, so I’ll just say that the everyone in the movie is terrific, the comedy is funny and Emma Stone does a sensational job as the young woman who is more than just a one-night stand.  Funny, insightful, fresh and with some twists you won’t see coming.  4½ cans.

27.  Dallas Buyers Club* (2013) – This Matthew McConaughey film is based on the true story about Ron Wood, a homophobic AIDS patient in Dallas who takes on the disease and the medical establishment to prolong his life.  McConaughey gives a strong performance, refusing to give in to the disease or to the doctors who insist on promoting AZT trials for AIDS patients.  He builds a business with a transvestite named Rayon (Jared Leto, who is sensational in the part) importing alternative treatments that he provides for members of his Dallas Buyers Club.  Forced to fight the disease and the authorities, Wood withers away right before our eyes.  McConaughey is gaunt to the point of being almost unrecognizable here, but his steely resolve gives him strength and courage to fight his battles.  Jennifer Garner plays a sympathetic doctor.  I always have some hesitation about movies that paint all big business – especially the pharmaceutical business – as evil-doing money grabbers, but, that aside, the real Ron Wood took on a mighty challenge in a battle he was destined to lose.  4 cans.

28.  Random Harvest* (1942) – And now for something completely different.  Charles Rainier (Ronald Colman) is injured in World War I and loses his memory.  He is sent to an asylum, but escapes as the war ends and finds himself in a local bar in Liverpool where he discovers the Beatles – no, I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.  Actually, he discovers Paula (Greer Garson), who takes him in, eventually marrying him, despite his lack of any recollection of his former life.  When he leaves town for a job interview, an accident jars him out of amnesia but he can no longer recall her or that part of his life.  He returns to his original wealthy family and goes on to fame and fortune without her.  Not that the plot is spellbinding, but I don’t want to ruin it.  This film was considered one of the best of the year, and, in my opinion, just seeing Greer Garson, a gracious and gorgeous actress, adds value to any movie.  If you can rise above the corny, this is a good Oscar-month movie to see.  3½ cans.

29.  12 Years a Slave* (2013) – With its various Oscar nominations, this movie was one I felt I must see.  Like the classic TV mini-series “Roots,” the drama – based on a true story – depicts the harrowing lives and inhumane treatment of slaves in the decades leading up to the Civil War.  This story focuses on one black man, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor in an Oscar-worthy performance) of Saratoga, NY, who is kidnapped and sold into slavery.  In addition to the sheer brutality of the men who claim ownership of him, Solomon must hide his education and feign ignorance for fear of being singled out and killed.  Just a wrong glance or a word is enough to provoke a severe whipping.  Solomon, called Pratt by his masters, must fight to maintain his dignity and hope of reuniting with the family he left behind so abruptly and against his will.  He befriends Patsy (Lupita Nyong’o), a young woman who is a particular target of the cruel plantation owner Epps (Michael Fassbender).  What the slaves endure here is difficult to watch and unbearable to endure.  Brad Pitt, one of the producers, gives himself a small but important role as the one white man who believes all men are created equal.  Strong performances and a display of courage make this intense movie worthwhile seeing, though, like Holocaust movies, I know I will never watch it again.  4 cans.

30.  Blue Sky* (1994) – Jessica Lange gets to show off her acting chops and her voluptuous body in this drama about a manic-depressive woman and her military husband (Tommy Lee Jones).  The story is explosive in several ways:  There is the manic Lange, dancing and dressing provocatively as she lusts after the base commander (Powers Boothe) at the post in Alabama where her husband works as an engineer, measuring and determining radiation from nuclear devices.  There is the combustible relationship between Lange and Jones, and there are actual detonations and explosions along the way.  About three quarters of the way through, the movie turns from the relationship between man and wife to an expose of military cover-ups that Jones has discovered, and the tables turn distinctly.  Lange won an Oscar for this showy role in a year when competition was relatively weak (and didn’t include Meryl Streep).  3 cans.

MARCH

31.  Election (1999) – A young Reese Witherspoon is perfection as Tracy Flick, an energetic and ambitious high school student with her sights set on being Student Body President.   Matthew Broderick is a teacher in her school and a bit skeptical of her motives, so he persuades a football player (Chris Klein) to run against her.  Various hijinks ensue as this story skewers the brown-noser types like Tracy, high school life in general, laconic teachers, and, most of all, elections.  3 cans.

32.  In the Heat of the Night (1967) – This movie was named Best Picture of 1967, something I would dispute (see next review).  Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) is merely passing through a small Southern town when he is hauled in to the sheriff’s office merely because he is black.  While verifying his identity as a police officer from Philadelphia to local authorities, he is roped into solving the murder of a local businessman.  Tibbs must contend with discrimination and stereotypes while peeling back the layers of the crime, examining aspects that the local yokels have ignored or misunderstood.  Rod Steiger as the sheriff treats him with disdain yet recognizes he needs his expertise.  Tibbs manages to outwit, outplay and outclass everyone.  Nice bits from Lee Grant as the murdered man’s wife, and Poitier and Steiger play their parts with grit and relish.  4 cans.

33.  The Graduate (1967) – This, in my not-so-humble opinion, is the best movie of 1967.  In fact, it is my favorite movie of all-time.  The anti-establishment theme appealed to me as a 17-year old trying to understand the expectations of society for someone just coming of age – and I mean not just Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin Braddock, but also me.  “Plastics,” “Oh, no, it’s completely baked,” “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me” are just some of the classic lines from this serious yet extremely funny movie.  It was very contemporary for 1967, and it still holds up well after all these years.  Anne Bancroft is the ultimate cougar as Mrs. Robinson and Katherine Ross is the beautiful Elaine, her daughter, who meets Benjamin and gives him a purpose in life.  Kudos to Bancroft for deftly playing the seductress and the mother of Ross when she was only a few years older than Hoffman.  Mike Nichols directed this hit, and it helped establish him and Hoffman as major players in Hollywood.  I love this movie and always will.  5 cans for the film itself and another 5 for its legendary Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack.

34.  Moonstruck (1987) – This irresistible movie is more about moments than plot.  Loretta Castorini (Cher, who won the Oscar for Best Actress)) is a dowdy widow (who cleans up well) resigned to marrying her long-time boyfriend Johnny Cammereri (Danny Aiello) even though she feels she has no luck in love.  When she is told by Johnny to invite his estranged brother Ronny (Nicholas Cage) to the wedding while he flies to his dying mother’s bedside in Palermo, sparks fly between Loretta and Ronny.  There are great scenes with her parents in Brooklyn (Vincent Gardenia and Olympia Dukakis, who my friend Dy will insist to her dying day is miscast despite her Oscar for the role), with her confused grandfather, her aunt and uncle, her father’s secret girlfriend (Anita Gillette) and a would-be lothario professor (John Mahoney).  Why do men chase women?  Because they fear death, we learn.  But Loretta  declares that one day Johnny will die and she’ll come to his funeral wearing a red dress.  Throw in some table slapping, a night at the opera, a little Vicki Carr music and you have a pastiche of life Italiano, oddly enough written by John Patrick Shanley.  The shot of Cher coming home on the “walk of shame,” kicking a tin can down the street with her red patent leather heels is priceless.  I love every minute.  4½ cans.

35.  Downhill* (2014) – This ESPN documentary focuses on the rise and fall of US Olympic skier Bill Johnson.  The brash Johnson won the first-ever gold medal of the US in the downhill at the 1984 Olympics.  An outsider to the ski team, Johnson was his own man.  When asked what winning the gold meant to him, the 23-year old said, “Millions.”  Alas, his outspokenness and penchant for partying did not sit well with corporations who love to lavish money on the athletes who have the golden image, and his endorsement prospects failed to materialize.  He made personal appearances and continued to ski, but ultimately an ill-conceived comeback in preparation for the Olympics in Salt Lake City nearly killed Johnson, and his health has continued to decline.   Johnson was the golden boy of skiing, but while he was a whiz on the slopes, his real life is a cautionary tale of too much, too soon.  This is a sad story about a guy who could have had it all.  3½ cans.

36.  Indiscreet* (1958) – There’s not a lot of substance in this Stanley Donen movie, but the enchanting leads (Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman) make it worth enjoyable.  Bergman’s Anna is an actress in London who falls for diplomat Philip, who confesses he is married.  They are indiscreet anyway, though Anna wonders why he can’s just get a divorce and marry her.  Well, that’s because he isn’t married.  A confirmed bachelor, Philip has lied to the women in his life to avoid a long-term commitment.  In the last third of this stylish show, Anna finds out Philip isn’t married at all and tries to turn the tables on her paramour.  Worth watching just to see the clothes and sets.  Really, has anyone in the movies ever worn a tuxedo better than Cary Grant?  3½ cans.

37.  Apollo 13 (1995) – I think I watch and review this movie every year, and yet it continues to engage me.  So many things went wrong with the 1989 launch of Apollo 13, destined for the moon but crippled by an explosion.  As badly as the flight goes, that is how well the movie goes.  Having recently visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston, I felt even more connected to the story.  And although I know the ending, I still hold my breath until the capsule splashes down.  5 cans.

38.  The Bad & the Beautiful (1958) – Kirk Douglas is bad and Lana Turner is beautiful in this tale of an ambitious Hollywood producer who will ruin lives to achieve success.  In his rise to the top he uses an erratic actress with a drinking problem and cheats a writer who aspires to be a director from making the film he imagined.  Turner is well cast as the troubled actress with minimal acting ability and Douglass is cold as ice as the ruthless producer.  If you like to see Hollywood excoriated, tune in.  3 cans.

39.  About a Boy (2002) – Since I have now watched several episodes of the NBC TV program based on this movie, I thought I should go back and revisit the movie itself.  The story is more about a man than a boy, a self-centered man who refuses to grow up and commit to anything or anyone.  Hugh Grant is Will, a skirt-chasing bachelor whose path crosses with awkward 12-year old Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), a fatherless child living with a mother who always is on the verge of a breakdown.  Will actually joins a group for single parents just to meet women, and the woman he is dating is friends with Marcus’ mother.  The kid keeps coming around, hoping for an adult friend who can be counted on, but Will’s not that guy.  Still, Marcus doesn’t fit in with the kids his age, and he can sit and watch TV with Will and avoid going home to the house of depression.  Their friendship blooms, and Will teaches Marcus to be more accepted even as Marcus teaches Will to let people become more than a passing part of his life.  Ultimately, Will comes to the rescue when Marcus needs him most.  Grant is at his befuddled and charming best and has never looked better, the kid is off-center but irresistible, and Toni Collette is the mother whose haircut alone would send me into a deep depression.  The TV show is amusing, but the movie is better.  3½ cans.

APRIL

40.  Big Night (1996) – Tony Shaloub and Stanley Tucci (who co-wrote and co-directed) are perfectly cast as Primo and Secondo, two Italian immigrants operating a restaurant.  Primo is an exacting and brilliant chef who will not compromise to give his customers what they want if he doesn’t agree with their choices.  Secondo knows the business is failing, and he proposes one big event to garner publicity and save the restaurant.  However, their friend fails to deliver special guest Louis Prima and all the people who gather for the best meal of their lives aren’t paying customers.  I viewed this film early in the morning, which was a good idea since my mouth watered just a little less watching the dazzling array of food included in this banquet.  There are plenty of names to drop here – Isabella Rossellini, Minnie Driver, co-producer/director Campbell Scott, Allison Janney, among others – but it is the relationship between the uncompromising Primo and his hopeful but desperate brother that adds to the recipe.  3½ cans, though Primo would never serve anything out of a can.

41.  The Lunch Box* (2013) – Well, here’s a topic about which I knew nothing.  For decades, hot lunches have been prepared in home kitchens in the suburbs of Mumbai and delivered by dabba wallahs – delivery men using bikes, trains and other forms of transportation to get the meals to office workers in the city (a very different form of Meals on Wheels for sure).  The system is highly efficient and widely praised, but once in a while, things go wrong.  In this drama, an older man, a lonely widower who has a dull office job and who is planning to retire accidentally gets a delicious lunch that is not intended for him.  The young woman who is the cook and whose husband doesn’t even realize he isn’t eating her food begins corresponding with him.  Each day they put notes in the tin that is used to transport the food.  They begin a relationship via these notes, building an intimacy that leads them to want to meet.  It’s hard to provide more detail without revealing spoilers, so I’ll just say that this movie reminded me of the lovely “84 Charing Cross Road” with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins, but this movie is about food, not books.  Viewers will get a lot of insight into the India culture here, and the performances by the main characters (Irrfan Khan as the office worker who really looks forward to lunch, and Nimrat Kaur as the unhappy housewife who can really cook) are winning.   Skip your fast food lunch and see this movie instead.  4 cans.

42.  The Buddy Holly Story (1978) – Long before he posed for some notorious police mug shots, Gary Busey won wide acclaim (and an Oscar nomination) for his portrayal of rock ‘n roll legend Buddy Holly in this biopic.  Holly’s shot at fame was almost derailed by the prevailing notion that he should eschew rock in favor of the country, “hillbilly” music of his native Lubbock, Texas, but Holly marched to the beat of a different drummer. Together with his band, the Crickets (Don Stroud and Charles Martin Smith), he went from playing at the local roller rink to the height of fame before a tragic accident took his life.  His place in the pantheon of rock ‘n roll legends was often cited by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as an early influence on their work.  Just listening to Busey perform Holly’s songbook reminded me of how prolific and talented Holly was during a tragically short career.  4 cans.

43.  Draft Day* (2014) – Kevin Costner in another sports movie cannot be bad, right?  After all, this is the man who brought us “Bull Durham” and “Field of Dreams” in baseball and “Tin Cup” from the world of golf, among many others.  Now he tackles football (pun intended) as Sonny Weaver, Jr., the general manager of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, on the tensest day of the year – Draft Day.  No pressure:  Just draft and develop the best college players into top pros and win the Super Bowl.  Evaluate the talent, consider the proposed trades, check in with the owner and coach to make sure they are on board with your choices…well, maybe Sonny isn’t about to cede his power to anyone else.  The man has a gut feeling, and he goes with it.  The movie is visually intriguing, as director Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters” and other classic comedies) uses split screens and overlapping shots to show us conversations.  I loved the flyovers of all of the real NFL stadiums and the trash talk among the men in charge.  Jennifer Garner is aboard as Sonny’s salary cap expert, a lawyer whom he has been secretly seeing outside of work, a secret that everyone knows.  While she doesn’t have a great part, she does get the best line in the movie:  “Sometimes the correct path is the tortured one.”  This wasn’t a great movie, but it was worth a 3^rd round draft pick.  3½ cans.

44.  The Address* (2014) – This is a Ken Burns documentary, so you know that the address isn’t going to be “1313 Mockingbird Lane.”  No, this is about a boys’ school in Vermont, where middle school and high school boys have to memorize and deliver the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln’s two-minute oration from 1863.  This small school caters to boys with learning issues.  Many are ADHA or dyslexic or have speech impediments or emotional problems.  They have been bullied in many cases and feel either stupid or incapable of learning. Yet there are also musicians and Rubix Cube phenoms among the population, and, when challenged to do something they considered impossible, they rise to the occasion.  The impact of this exercise is significant in the boys’ lives, and it’s clear that Lincoln’s speech is as meaningful to them and to the thoughtful, skilled teachers who encourage them, than Lincoln himself could have imagined.  4 cans.

45.  The Remains of the Day (1993) – If you love “Downton Abbey,” this classic Merchant-Ivory production about an English estate and the staff that runs it is for you.  Anthony Hopkins shines more than silverware as Mr. Stephens, the butler, whose mission in life is to make everything at Darlington House perfect.  He is aided by Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton, the housekeeper, whose interest in Stephens goes beyond place settings.  Stephens is wedded to service, and carefully masks any emotions he may harbor.  The movie takes place in the decade prior to World War II, with Lord Darlington convening other gentlemen and political figures at the estate to discuss the changing political situation.  A virile and impossibly handsome Christopher Reeve is an American Congressman who realizes these men are amateurs when it comes to resolving world issues.  But the real story here is the relationship between Mr. Stephens and Miss Kenton, which is beautifully played out.  Rent it, borrow it – please, just watch it.  4½ cans.

46.  Made* (2001) – There is undeniable chemistry between director-writer Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn, both of whom starred in Favreau’s earlier “Swingers.”  There they were on the make for “honeys,” and here they are on a mission they know nothing about to get money for a mob guy in LA (Peter Falk).  The plot is minimal and the dialog is fast and furious.  Favreau’s Bobby is the responsible one, while Vaughn’s Ricky is a fast-talker who can be charming when he isn’t driving everyone around him crazy.  If you love the actors, you might like the movie, but I’ve had my fill of these two buddies.  2 cans.

47.  Inside Llewyn Davis* (2013) – I’m not sure I want to know Llewyn Davis.  A talented musician but an irresponsible man who crashes on the couches of friends, Davis is always broke and cannot get out of his own way.  He can’t even take care of a friend’s cat.  The story takes place in New York in 1961, just at the birth of the folksinger movement that Davis disparages even as he emulates it.  All he needs is one big break, but he’s doing so badly he’s resigned to going back into the Merchant Marines.  He can’t even succeed at that.  Unusual for a Coen brothers movie, this film lacks a sense of the absurd they do so well.  Oscar Issac is good in his thankless role as Llewyn, and I liked the music, though not enough to download it.  I was told I probably wouldn’t like this movie, and my friends were right.  2½ cans.

48.  The Way Way Back* (2013) – Poor Duncan (Liam James) is a misfit.  He’s 14 and stuck living with his divorced mother (Toni Collette) and her insufferable boyfriend (Steve Carell) for a vacation at the beach.  Sullen and lonely, he turns up at a local water park, where he is befriended by the wacky staff, particularly by Owen (Sam Rockwell).  This movie had shades of “Lifeguard,” “The Flamingo Kid” and “Stand By Me,” all coming-of-age movies of a sort.  Duncan is overlooked by his mother and bullied by her boyfriend.  But Owen is friendly and funny and makes him feel like a normal kid, or at least better about himself.  I wanted to love this movie because it had all the hallmarks of that kind of experience, but I will settle for slightly better than average.  3½ cans.

49.  Laura* (1944) – A film noir murder mystery, Laura is the story of a smart and popular woman (Gene Tierney) who is killed.  Her murderer could be any of the people in her life – Shelby, the man she is supposed to marry (Vincent Price, not looking at all like Vincent Price); Diane, her rival for Shelby; and her older friend, Waldo Lydecker (a great name, here played by Clifton Webb), a wealthy man who squires Laura around town.  Red herrings are everywhere as Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) pours through Laura’s letters and personal effects trying to establish a motive and nab the killer.  Everyone – including her maid – loves Laura, so who would want to kill her?  McPherson is enamored with her portrait and her life, and is determined to solve the crime.  Otto Preminger directed this slick and suspenseful film, and I’m glad I finally caught up with it.  4 cans.

50.  Goodbye Columbus (1969) – Ali McGraw plays spoiled Brenda Patimkin, a rich bitch Radcliffe girl enjoying her summer at home in Westchester.  She meets a boy from the Bronx, Neil (Richard Benjamin), who is decidedly beneath her social status – much to the dismay of her parents (Jack Klugman and Nan Martin).  He is unambitious, not impressed by money and totally smitten by Brenda, despite his utter disdain for her family’s nouveau rich lifestyle, where, if you don’t like your nose, you get it fixed, etc.  This comedy-drama takes on societal mores and class differences that you know ultimately will doom the Brenda-Neil coupling.  She’s rich, he feels inferior and insulted most of the time.  It has been a long time since I last watched this movie and I relished it.  The scenes from the wedding of Brenda’s dim-witted but good-natured brother are spot on: The crazy relatives out on the dance floor, the decapitation of chopped liver in the shape of a rooster, the uncles in the carpet business pacing off the size of the banquet room – all are priceless.  This was McGraw’s first movie, and she made a memorable debut.   Welcome back, Columbus.  4 cans.

51.  M*A*S*H* (1970) – As soon as you hear the opening verse of the song “Suicide Is Painless,” you know that this is no conventional war movie.  The irreverent surgeons, nurses and staff of the 4077 Army medical unit engage in a myriad of outrageous hijinks.  They aren’t there to fight the war but to stop the bleeding, to make fun, not war, and to try and find coping mechanisms that will get them through the blood and gore that they face daily.  Nothing is off limits for these far-from-regular soldiers during the Korean War.  The merry band of lunatics is led by surgeons Captain Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and Captain John McIntyre (Elliot Gould, sporting a mustache that should have gotten its own billing).  They like women, drinking and generally poking fun at anything or anyone who reeks of authority.  Director Robert Altman specializes in episodic movies with large casts, and he manages this talented group with aplomb (Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Tom Skerritt and the original and only Radar O’Reilly, Gary Burghoff).  Though I liked the TV show better, that is because it was on the air so long that we really got to know these people and see the value of human life in more depth.  4 cans.

52.  Leaving Las Vegas* (1995) – I’m not much of a Nicholas Cage fan (the only movie he’s made that I like is “Moonstruck”) but I’ll give him credit for being able to gulp down mass quantities of liquid in his role as alcoholic writer Ben.  Ben is lonely, horny and desperate enough to decide to leave Hollywood and drink himself to death in Las Vegas.  I’d be OK with his plan, but his progress toward that end is somewhat interrupted when he meets Sera (Elisabeth Shue), a prostitute with not quite the proverbial heart of gold, but who inexplicably (because they are both desperate and lonely) falls for him.  How she can get near him after he’s been drinking for hours is puzzling to me.  Shue looks too wholesome to be a hardcore hooker, but Cage looks desperate enough to do anything.  This movie was well reviewed when it was released, but there’s not a lot here that’s likeable, so I’ll give it 3 cans for the acting and not the distasteful story. 

MAY

53.  The Astronaut’s Wife* (1999) – This movie may sound like it should star Don Knotts, but it is actually a suspense film that starts out like “Apollo 13” but morphs into “Rosemary’s Baby.”  Charlize Theron, sporting Mia Farrow’s short hairdo from the latter film, is Jillian, the title character.  Her astronaut husband Spencer (Johnny Depp) has an accident in space with his partner and loses contact with earth for two minutes so she, naturally, is relieved when both men are saved.  But something is a bit off with the almost-doomed astronauts.  Jillian begins having strange dreams that only get worse when she finds she is pregnant with twins.  The story takes on scary tones, with elements of the movies mentioned above and even a bit of “The Sixth Sense.”  This kind of drama is not my cup of tea, but I wanted to hang in there to see if we had lift-off.  I think I would have preferred if the real title was “Lost in Space.”  2 cans.

54.  We Could Be King* (2014) ­– I’m always amazed when documentaries start with a broken down whatever and the subject person or team triumphs in the end.  The filmmakers had no way of knowing the eventual outcome, and they spend a lot of time documenting something that could turn out to be useless for their dramatic purposes.  This movie is an example of the former, the story of an inner-city Philadelphia high school, Martin Luther King, that is forced to take in the students of nearby Germantown High School when budget cuts lead to the closing of the latter.  The two football teams, former bitter rivals, are now one, and are led by a volunteer coach since there is no budget to pay one.  Combine that situation with King’s recent record – no victories in two years – and it looks like a long season ahead.  The kids have their own issues.  Some have college potential but not the grades, and one is jailed after being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  In the end, they triumph, on and off the field, but it is never easy.  Sports and the arts have an important place in education, sometimes being the only things that keep kids in school at all.  So the winning here isn’t confined exclusively to the field of play.  3½ cans.

55.  All About Ann – Governor Ann Richards* (2014) – In 1988, Ann Richards made a name for herself with an unforgettable keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention.  The state treasurer of Texas, where she saved the state billions, Richards lambasted fellow Texan George Bush on route to becoming a national figure.  Known as a firebrand with a passion for women’s rights and education, Richards started off as a housewife and rose to the governor’s mansion, one of only two governors in the history of the state, and opened the doors for other women and minorities in the state and country.  This loving look at her includes plenty of memorable moments behind the podium, where she got her points across with wit and charm.  At her funeral, columnist Liz Smith said she had known Mother Theresa, Katherine Hepburn and Eleanor Roosevelt but considered Richards the greatest woman she had ever known.  High praise indeed.  3½ cans.

56.  Come Blow Your Horn (1963) – When I was 13, Frank Sinatra was the coolest guy around (this was before the Beatles nearly made him obsolete).  In this movie version of an early Neil Simon play, he is Alan, a swinging bachelor, complete with tricked out NY pad (that even features a remote control for the stereo) and multiple babes on his arms.  He is a disappointment to his parents (Lee J. Cobb as his blustery father refers to his unmarried son as a “bum” and Molly Picon) and barely holding up his part in the family’s waxed fruit business.  But to his young brother Buddy (an adorable Tony Bill), he is a hero, and when Alan gives refuge to Buddy when his younger brother flees the family home for life in the big city, Alan transforms the inexperienced young man into a younger version of himself.  Buddy adjusts quickly to his new life, but he’s cramping Alan’s style and Mom and Dad want him home.  Let’s just say that comedy and many hats ensue.  This is early Neil Simon, but with the family relationships and the stereotyped Jewish parents, you can see into his future as a playwright.  3 cans.

57.  Coming Home (1978) – When they say “war is hell,” that sentiment extends beyond the combat to its aftermath.  In this poignant drama, the Vietnam War is hell on the battlefield and on the home front.  Jon Voight is Luke, a Marine combat veteran and paraplegic, who meets hospital volunteer Sally (Jane Fonda), the straight-laced wife of Bob (Bruce Dern), a Marine captain stationed in Vietnam.   The two strike up first a friendship and then a way to deal with their loneliness.  Sally goes from pageboy hairdo to literally letting her hair down, much to the chagrin of her returning and visibly changed husband.  The tenderness of the scenes between Luke and Sally contrasts with the awkwardness between Bon and Sally.  There are plenty of people who still resent Fonda for her antiwar activities, but this movie is her best statement to decry the uselessness of war.  She and Voight won Oscars for their performances, as they dignify the physical, emotional and practical tolls suffered by those who serve their country and their loved ones.  The soundtrack here is one of the best, with Richie Havens, the Rolling Stones and the Chambers Brothers providing the contemporary work of the late 1960s.  4 cans.

58.  Where the Heart Is* (2000) — Not to be confused with “Places in the Heart” or countless other movies with the word heart in their titles, nor to be confused with “Anywhere But Here” (another Natalie Portman movie), this quirky comedy-drama has a lot of heart.  Natalie is Novalee Nation, and any movie with that name for the lead character doesn’t take itself too seriously, though there are serious tones and situations throughout.  Novalee is 17, pregnant, and abandoned by her boyfriend on a trip to California when she stops at a WalMart in Oklahoma to buy shoes.  With no money and no way out, she simply moves into WalMart, carefully noting everything she appropriates from the store.  She delivers her baby girl with the help of the erstwhile the handsome but odd town librarian, who falls in love with her.  The people of the town are a quirky but compassionate lot (Stockard Channing and Ashley Judd, among others) who take her in and help her with her child.  It is hard to imagine this sweet young woman as the tortured ballerina in “Black Swan,” since Portman pulls off sincerity, naiveté and strength all at the same time.  I always wanted to see this movie but never seemed to catch it until now.  You gotta have heart.  3 ½ cans.

59.  The Big Lebowski* (1998) — Take one laid-back, pot-smoking, bowling surfer dude named Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski (a paunchy and unkempt Jeff Bridges) and throw in a disabled millionaire with the same name, a best buddy with anger issues, kidnappers, thugs, erotic artists and a host of other bizarre characters and you have this Coen Brothers pastiche of a plot.  Picture Jeff Spicoli several decades removed from his fast times at Ridgemont High and you’ll see the Dude, as he seeks revenge for strange men ruining his rug.  This is a strange brew indeed, and while it hardly ranks in the pantheon of classic, crazy comedies (where “Animal House” and Blazing “Saddles” rule), I can see its appeal to a younger generation.  For me?  Not so much.  3 cans.

60.  Prisoners* (2013) — If you thought Hugh Jackman was intense as Jean Val Jean in “Les Miz,” you should see him here.  He plays Keller Dover, a husband (to Maria Bello) and father whose Thanksgiving with neighbors (Viola Davis and Terrence Howard) is abruptly disrupted when their respective young daughters disappear.  There is one local man who police think may have been involved, but when he is arrested and questioned, he refuses to talk so the charges are dropped.  Keller continues his pursuit of the young man and the search for the girls, taking drastic, desperate measures that put him at odds with his friends, family and the dogged detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is working the case.  Just when you think you know what is happening here, the music gets spookier and the direction changes.  This is an old-fashioned thriller, well played and plotted, that you don’t want to watch before you go to bed.  There is enough creepiness to give you nightmares.  3½ cans.

61.  The Pilot’s Wife* (2002) — Since I started off the month watching “The Astronaut’s Wife,” I figured this movie would be a good companion piece, although these movies have little in common.  The one thing they do have in common is mystery.  What really happened to the men these women married?  In this case, Jack, the pilot (John Heard) is killed in a plane crash as the movie opens.  His grieving wife, Katherine (Christine Lahti), is in shock and buttressed by a representative of the pilot’s union, played by Campbell Scott.  For all intents and purposes, the crash is just a tragic accident, but that wouldn’t give us much of a movie, would it?  It turns out that Jack’s life included much more than his wife and daughter, and getting to the truth will take time and courage.  Though many people have read the Anita Shreve book from which this movie is adapted, to say much more would spoil the plot.  It is safe to say you don’t know Jack. 4 cans.

62.  Parkland* (2013) — This drama is an engrossing look at the events surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963.  Having recently visited the museum in the Book Depository in Dallas, I found it extremely compelling.  The actual assassination, filmed by amateur movie maker Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giammatti) quickly becomes central to the case.  The heroic doctors (Zac Efron and Colin Hanks) and nurse (Marcia Gay Harden) try to treat the president with dignity as they fight in vain to save him while his young wife, clad in that blood-stained pink suit, looks on.  The subsequent identification of Lee Harvey Oswald, his arrest and then his own assassination are all tastefully included.  The role of his brother was one with which I was not familiar (he knew nothing about Lee’s plans and tries to reel in their publicity-seeking mother).  The events depicted here, and the years of speculation that followed, are a time of demarcation for many of us.  Where we you when Kennedy was assassinated?  4 cans.

63.  The Horse Whisperer (1998) — Short version: Young girl and her horse have a horrific accident so mom hires a trainer with a unique approach to help the horse heal.  But there is nothing short in this languorous ode to time and patience, to allowing the healing process to play out for the young girl (Scarlett Johansson), her driven mother Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas) and the man who rescues them all (Robert Redford, who also directed).  This movie is visually stunning, replete with silhouette shots of riders against the big Montana sky, vistas of hills and creeks and not a 7-Eleven anywhere in sight.  The accident, shown in graphic detail, takes a part of the girl’s leg and breaks her spirit and that of the nearly dead horse, but Tom Booker (Redford, looking older but handsome with his blond hair still lit by the sun) has an unconventional approach.  He is full of subtlety and quietude, which, it turns out, heals more than the girl and her horse.  This movie has overtones of one of my favorite films, “The Bridges of Madison County,” and the growing relationship between the horse trainer and the NY-based (and married) magazine editor would seem to be dead on arrival.  Don’t watch this movie if you cannot sit quietly for 3 hours, because the pace reflects Tom’s approach.  Tom may be good with horses, but when he puts his hand on Annie’s back while they dance, it’s clear that he’s pretty good with humans, too.  4 cans.

64.  The Normal Heart* (2014) — This adaptation of Larry Kramer’s Broadway play is a searing look at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s.  Hedonism among the gay community gave way to panic, as young men started falling victim to what was initially called the “gay cancer.”  Many in society felt the deadly virus was retribution for a lifestyle of debauchery of which they did not approve.  But the men who lost loved ones realized that this disease — previously unknown — would result in countless deaths without government support of research, so they banded together to provide information and get the government involved.  Ned Weeks (Mark Ruffalo), the oldest and most vocal, presented a more radical, public view, attacking politicians and seeking as much publicity as possible to hold officials accountable.  His histrionics annoyed the politicians and his fellow activists, the other men who had formed the Gay Men’s Health Crisis organization in his living room.  The acting here is uniformly superb, with Julia Roberts playing the lone doctor who agreed to treat these men while collecting as much research as possible as the deaths mounted.  Matt Bomer as Ned’s lover transforms from a tall, dark and handsome young man to a gaunt, dying skeleton of a human, looking like a Holocaust victim.  The men won’t be dissuaded from giving up sex, as Roberts’ doctor urges them, even as they see their friends pass away.  With remnants of the classic “And the Band Played On,” this drama puts the crisis in perspective: It wasn’t just homosexual men who were afflicted, as the closing credits reveal that 36 million people have died of AIDs since it was identified 30 some years ago.  4 cans.

65.  Masquerade (1998) — I saw a lot more of the beautiful young Rob Lowe here than in his memoirs, “Love Life,” and I liked the view better.  He plays Tim, a young but accomplished yacht captain who in spending the summer in the Hamptons among the rich and toney folks as he gets his employer’s yacht ready for the racing season.  There he meets Olivia (Meg Tilly), a lonely, quiet young woman who just happens to be the wealthiest person in the area.  Who wouldn’t fall for young Lowe?  He’s gorgeous and charming, though we soon see him as a two-timing creep with plans that won’t end well for Olivia.  Doug Savant plays the local cop, Mike, who secretly loves Olivia.  Everyone knows everyone in this Hamptons town, yet nobody really knows who to trust.  This suspenseful film has plot twists that I won’t reveal here, and while Rob Lowe isn’t and will never be Robert DeNiro, he certainly carries off the charm.  4 cans.

66.  Office Space (1999) — Pete (Ron Livingston) and his fellow office drones sit in their cubicles thinking of ways NOT to work.  Pete hates his job, the 8 bosses he reports to, the memos, meetings and all the trappings of a big, impersonal office environment.  Pete and his buddies come upon a scheme that they figure no one will notice that will net them a little money by rounding numbers and depositing the difference in an account they set up.  Really, if these slackers put anywhere near the effort into actually working than they do into the scheme and not working, their lives would be noticeable better.  Oh, and Ron dates Jennifer Anniston, a waitress who hates her job, too.  I’m not sure why I watched this unfunny movie, but thanks, Mike Judge (writer and director), for reminding me how glad I am to be retired.  2 cans.

67.  Taking Chance (2009) — I thought it only fitting to watch this moving and patriotic movie on Memorial Day, a day meant for appreciation of the men and women who have served our country in the armed forces.  Kevin Bacon plays stoic Marine Colonel Mike Strobic, an analyst for the government who has missed out on his chance for real action.  When he learns about the death of Private Chance Phelps, a 20-year old Marine from Strobel’s home town in Colorado, he volunteers for the role of escort, the Marine who is assigned to bring the body home to the family.  Along the way, he encounters civilians and service people alike who pay homage — officially or in some personal way — to the young Marine and his escort.  Bacon is dignified and noble as he takes his assignment to heart, often fighting back tears as he recognizes the respect with which Private Phelps is treated and as he comes to know more about the young man.  This is a touching movie and a good reminder of the dedication of the members of the armed forces and how we all need to respect them and their families for their sacrifices.  4 cans.

68.  Broken City* (2012) — I only watched this movie because I like Mark Wahlberg and his stoicism (and his body, but you don’t get to see him shirtless here).  He is Billy Taggert, a disgraced former policeman who is hired by the Mayor of NY (Russell Crowe) to tail the mayor’s wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) to see who she is having an affair with.  The task is too easy — which only means Taggert got the wrong guy.  And the wrong guy, the campaign manager for the Mayor’s opponent in the election in a few days, is in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Turns out, the whole exercise is a cover-up for a power play by the Mayor in a construction deal.  Crowe is my idea of a bad actor.  He mumbles, putting forth some vestige of an American accent that is unidentifiable and unintelligible, and his bad performance is surpassed only by his bad wig.  I just thank God that he didn’t sing, since he ruined “Les Miz” with his inferior crooning.  I kept thinking this story would get better, but I was wrong. 2 cans.

69.  Tootsie (1982) — Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is a pain in the ass.  A mostly unemployed actor, he is zealous about his craft.  The guy needs the right motivation and backstory to play a tomato, which is why his agent (played by Sydney Pollack, who directed the film) can’t get him work.  When Michael’s friend Sandy (Teri Garr) fails to get a part on a soap opera, Michael tries out for it, dressed as Dorothy Michaels, who may just be the most unattractive woman of all time.  The director (Dabney Coleman) can’t stand her, but her co-star, Julie (Jessica Lange, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress) builds a friendship with Dorothy that Dorothy, thinking like the Michael Dorsey that she really is, thinks is something more.  Like all cross-dressing comedies of stage and screen, comedy ensues.  Except here, Dorothy’s popularity grows as she makes her character into a strong woman who demands respect.  As Michael eventually comes to realize, he is a better person as a woman than he could ever be as a man.  This sweet and funny comedy is enhanced by the presence of Bill Murray as Michael’s roommate, whose droll sense of humor begins to fail as Michael decries Dorothy’s wardrobe and the things that make “her” look “hippy.”  Since Michael isn’t Dorothy, eventually the charade is bound to end, but how will his/her relationships fare?  Hoffman is manically good in the role, and Michael/Dorothy show us a few things about how to be better people.  Just not in Dorothy’s wardrobe.  4 cans.

JUNE

70.  My Kid Could Paint That* (2007) — Really?  Then why is your kid’s artwork on the refrigerator when 6-year old Marla Olmstead’s paintings are hanging in art galleries and the homes of collectors?  This fascinating documentary looks at the prodigious work of young Marla, who appeared to be a wunderkind of the art world — that is, until “60 Minutes” aired an examination of her creative process and cast doubts on how much of the abstract art was actually created by the budding artist and how much was either coaxed or completed by her father.  The family, which had banked upwards of $300,000 selling Marla’s work, suddenly became the object of doubt and derision not only in their hometown of Binghamton, NY, but nationwide.  To assuage the doubters, they recorded her creating a painting from start to finish, showing her working all on her own.  This film questions not just the authenticity of the art, but raises the question of what is art anyway?  Can genuinely valuable paintings be created by a 6-year old?  Maybe you had better take a second look at what is hanging on your refrigerator.  You could have the next Marc Chagall.  3½ cans of paint.

71.  Roman Holiday* (1953) — It’s not easy being Queen…or, in this case, a European princess.  Dazzling Audrey Hepburn brings a fresh new face to the screen as Princess Anne, the young princess who, on a tour of European capitals, rebels against the boredom of her strict schedule, clothes and everything that dictates her existence.  One night in Rome, she escapes from the eyes of her minions and finds herself on the streets, passing out from medication and rescued by American journalist Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck).  He takes her in, and then, after learning her true identity, takes her around town with his photographer friend (Eddie Albert) in tow, figuring he can write a story about the mysterious young royal.  Neither of them knew they would fall in love (even if the audience could have guessed as much).  The princess gets her hair hacked off, outwits, outlasts and outplays the palace guard and the polizzia.  Within 24 hours, the fairytale is over, but will Bradley capitalize on what turns out to be a romantic adventure?  When in Rome…3½ cans.

72.  Broadway Danny Rose (1984) — Danny Rose (Woody Allen) is a manager of strictly D-List talent (balloon artists, bad comics, nightclub signers) whose biggest act, a lousy lounge singer named Lou (Nick Apollo Forte) refuses to go on stage unless Danny can convince his girlfriend Tina (a gum chomping Mia Farrow) to come to the show.  But Lou is married, so Danny has to bring her as his date.  The problem is that Tina is married, too, and her husband’s brothers are hot after the two, thinking Danny is her lover.  Woody is his usual nebishy self, tossing off funny lines and generally wondering what is happening to him as he tries to outrace the thugs.  2½ cans.

73.  Stripes (1981) — This classic Bill Murray comedy is predictable, but with John Candy and Harold Ramis along for the ride and Ivan Reitman directing, it is also predictably funny.  Murray is a laconic cab driver who loses his job, his apartment and his girlfriend in the same day.  His solution is to join the Army, and he drags his buddy (Ramis) along for the ride.  Before you know it, he has irritated everyone above him in rank — and that’s pretty much everyone on the Army base — and is forced to do push-ups in the rain and mud.  But you also know he will somehow lead the troops in triumph at the end — if that’s what you call it.  This is not my favorite Murray movie (“Caddyshack” or “Groundhog Day” are much more amusing), but Murray is too slick to pass up. 3 cans.

74.  Broadcast News (1987) — James L. Brook’s terrific movie look at network news is about integrity — and flop sweat.  Albert Brooks is Aaron Altman, a skilled writer and reporter with no charisma on camera.  William Hurt is Tom Granick, who admittedly is a lightweight intellectually but has a persona ideally suited for the camera.  It is inevitable that he will rise up the ladder of network news, even if he is dumb enough not to realize it.  But the glue factor here is Jane Craig (Holly Hunter), the dynamic writer-producer who barks commands that belie her slight frame and who steers the nightly broadcast with supreme confidence in her abilities, even if she does go through a crying jag every day.  Jane knows Tom is over his head, just as she knows Aaron is a talented writer who deserves a chance to anchor the news.  But one weekend stint as a substitute anchor that results in an epic case of flop sweat takes Aaron out of contention.  Jane is caught between the two newsmen romantically.  Could someone of her superior intellect really fall for a pretty boy who is nowhere near her level?  This film is a great look at the production of news and yet brings a real personal touch.  My favorite line is when the head of the news division asks Jane what it’s like to always think you are the smartest person in the room.  She knows she is, and it is never easy.  Broadcast this: 4½ cans.

75.  Footloose (1984) — This exuberant tale of a fish out of water stars Kevin Bacon in his breakout role as Ren McCormick.  Ren and his mother move from Chicago to the little town of Beaumont, where Ren, with his spiked hair and narrow ties, looks nothing like the other kids in high school.  They like to race trucks while Ren likes to — GASP — dance.  But dancing and loud music is forbidden in Beaumont and the restrictions are proselytized by Reverend Moore (John Lithgow), father of high school hot girl Ariel (Lori Singer).  Soon Ren is teaching his awkward buddy Willard (Chris Penn) to get his groove on.  Sara Jessica Parker is the adorable girlfriend of Willard, there is a rivalry between Ren and the local tough guy Chuck, and, at the end, there is much dancing.  Considering that this town prohibits such exhibitions, there are sure a lot of great dancers.  I love the music here and the joy of free expression and dance.  4 cans.

76.  Bull Durham (1988) — And the 80s Film Festival continues with one of my favorite Kevin Costner baseball movies (he also starred in “Field of Dreams” and “For the Love of the Game”).  Here he is Crash Davis, a veteran catcher who suddenly finds himself demoted to A ball, the lowest level in the minor leagues and a far cry from “the show,” as he refers to the majors.  He is sent to Durham, NC, specifically to tutor phenom Ebby Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh (Tim Robbins), a young pitcher with a million dollar arm and a 10 cent head.  Crash gives Nuke a crash course in how to pitch, handle himself and deliver sports clichés to the press, while local baseball fan Annie (Susan Sarandon) teaches him some of the finer facts of life.  Crash is going nowhere, while Nuke is full of potential.  The depiction of baseball in the minor leagues is priceless: Long, boring bus trips, clubhouse pranks, awkward conversations on the mound and more chewing and spitting than you would think humanly possible.  Crash is much more suited for the mature Annie (she’s not only older, but she listens to Edith Piaf), but not while she is interested in schooling young Nuke.  Costner’s speech about what he believes in is worth the price of the movie.  And wow, he looks great here.  4 cans.

77. Breaking Away (1979) — And now we venture back to the 70s for this charmer about four high school graduates unsure what to do with their lives.  Dave Stoler (Dennis Christopher) rides bikes and dreams of joining the Italian racing team – so much so that he speaks Italian around the house and drives his “Papa” (Paul Dooley) crazy.  Dave is one of the “cutters,” the town kids in Bloomington, Indiana, who aren’t college students and aren’t really the men who cut limestone in the local quarries, like their fathers did.  Mike (Dennis Quaid) was a high school quarterback and longs for his glory days.  Cyril (Daniel Stern, in essentially the same role he played later in “Diner,” but this time without the benefit of a college education) is goofy and funny and cannot get along with his father.  The fourth musketeer is the runt of the litter, Moocher (Jackie Earle Haley), the almost forgotten one.  These guys don’t have enough ambition to actually break away from their hometown.  They just want to defeat their college rivals in the “Little 500” bike race, and Dave wants to win the college girl who thinks he actually is Italian.  This warm, sweet movie unexpectedly won an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, losing out to “Kramer vs. Kramer.”  3½ cans.

78.  Notes on a Scandal (2006) — I finally moved back to the 21^st century with this taut drama about a scandalous affair between an attractive, married and inappropriately older teacher, Sheba (Cate Blanchett) and a 15-year old student (Andrew Simpson).  But the real relationship is between Sheba and a fellow teacher, Barbara (Judi Dench), a dour, lonely spinster who has designs of her own on an increasingly vulnerable Sheba.  Barbara stumbles upon the teacher and student affair and uses that bit of information to build a close bond with Sheba that she thinks is something more.  Outstanding Oscar-nominated performances by Blanchett and Dench elevate the story to more than a soap opera, and it held my interest to the end.  4 cans.

79.  Thelma & Louise (1991) — Thelma and Louise (Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon) have men problems, money problems, and, after a girls’ weekend goes terribly awry, murder problems.  When a lout in a bar tries to rape Thelma, Louise shoots him and the girls take off, trying to get away with murder.  Along the way to Mexico, through rural Oklahoma and on the run, they ramp up the fun with armed robbery and by picking up a young Brad Pitt, whose movie feature debut is a memorable one.  This romp is a buddy movie, a road movie and a fun flight for two women who have put up with plenty of crap from the men in their lives.  Call it revenge for past transgressions if you will, but the girls just want to have fun.  The iconic last scene is the female version of the ending of “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid.”  4 cans.

80.  Labor Day* (2013) — If you have the choice of A) Renting this movie from Red Box for $1.20; B) Watching it for free; or, C) Skipping it altogether, go for option C.  Josh Brolin is an escaped con who cons his way into the car, house and lives of depressed single mom Kate Winslett and her adolescent and moony-eyed son (Gattlin Griffith).  He needs a place to hide while on the lam, so he forces them to take him in and, of course, turns out to be a great guy who can do everything from household repairs to throwing a baseball or making a mean peach pie.  Actually, making the peach pie turned out to be the best part of the movie, which should tell you why you should just go bake a pie and skip the movie. 1 can of peach pie filling, though they only use fresh in the movie.

81.  Nonstop* (2014) — Liam Neeson again plays a guy very much in charge in this suspenseful movie that takes place on an airplane.  Someone knows he is an air marshal and keeps sending him threatening e-mail messages about killing passengers every hour if $150 million isn’t transferred to an off-shore account.  Julianne Moore is sitting next to him, amused by his fear of flying, but she is soon full of fear herself, as strange things keep happening on that plane.  Although this one is billed as an action/adventure, that didn’t stop me from dozing off more than once.  All I know is that with Neeson’s record, I want his name to be my emergency contact when I travel.  It’s never easy, but he gets the job done.  3 cans.

82.  Starting Over (1979) — Seeing this erudite comedy was better than ever for me (to quote a line from one of the songs).  Burt Reynolds underplays his role as Phil Potter, a man whose wife Jessie (the always stunning Candice Bergen) dumps him and then tries to get back into his life just as he establishes an attachment to teacher Marilyn (the late and much lamented Jill Clayburgh).  Potter is basically a good guy, a little buttoned up (as evidenced by his ever-present trench coat that is actually buttoned up), but he is skittish enough about his new relationship that he has an anxiety attack in Bloomingdales while buying a couch with Marilyn.  And when Jessie reappears in his life to win him back, he is in a quandary.  Jessie is a singer whose belting is the equivalent of Elaine Benes’s dancing on “Seinfeld,” and Bergen, to her credit, plays it to the hilt.  Reynolds is deadpan as his character with just a bit of the arched eyebrow and askance look when appropriate, and Clayburgh is endearing as she tries to trust the relationship she and Reynolds have established.  There are witty lines throughout the script, as one would expect from screenwriter James L. Brooks.  So happy I got to see this adult comedy again.  4 cans.

83.  Big (1988) — Tom Hanks caused a splash in “Splash,” but he really hit it big here.  When 13-year old Josh Baskin visits a carnival and goes to the Zoltan machine, he wishes he were bigger.  The next day, his wish is granted and Josh wakes up in Hanks’s body.  Aside from the obvious problems of clothes that don’t fit and hair that has suddenly sprouted on his now-manly body, Josh needs to find that Zoltan machine and wish for his old life back.  Accompanied by his best buddy, Billy, he heads to NYC to track down the Zoltan machine at the next carnival.  While there, he realizes he needs a job to live and he gets one — at a toy company.  Hanks is brilliant in the role, awkward and physically unfit for this new body and naïve and sweet as a 13-year old who is now treated like a man — especially by co-worker Elizabeth Perkins.  Will he find true love or will he find Zoltan and go back to the real Josh and his family?  Penny Marshall directed this movie with a deft touch, and Jared Rushton as Billy is terrific, but it is Hanks who seals the deal.  The scene of him dancing on the floor piano in FAO Schwartz is priceless.  4 cans.

JULY

84.  The Case Against 8* (2014) — HBO is airing an engrossing documentary this month about the four-year fight to overturn California’s Proposition 8, legislation that banned gay marriages in the state.  For two couples – one waiting to marry (Jeff & Paul) and already-married lesbians (Chris & Sandy) – the fight was personal, since both gay couples had to agree to be plaintiffs in the case with the ultimate hope that they would be able to marry and receive the same rights and benefits as heterosexual married couples.  An equal rights organization in California and an all-star legal team made convincing arguments that led to the banning of Prop 8, but the legal battle continued through various tactics and appeals all the way to the US Supreme Court.  Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled against the Defense of Marriage Act and said it would not rule in the Prop 8 case, thereby allowing the lower court’s decision to overturn it to stand.  Sadly, marriage between same sex couples is still banned in 31 states.  This absorbing look at the case and the principals sheds new light on the whole issue of equal rights under the Constitution.  I love a happy ending. 

3½ cans.  

85.  Rocky (1976) — Who isn't familiar with the story of Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), a lovable loser and club fighter who gets the chance to go up against the World Champ Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in a championship match?  Who doesn't get a thrill out of seeing Rocky sprint up the stairs of the Philadelphia Art Museum with the iconic theme song playing in the background?  This is the classic story of the underdog who beats (almost) the odds. Just seeing the faces of Rocky, Adrian (Talia Shire), Paulie (Burt Young), Mickey (Burgess Meredith) and Apollo again was like seeing old friends.  When Adrian goes from mousy with glasses to dolled up with beret, we get yet another thrill.  Give Stallone credit: A Hollywood underdog himself with little of note on his resume, he wrote "Rocky" and refused to sell it unless he could play the lead.  He parlayed the role into a veritable franchise.  Someday we'll see Rocky wheeling down the halls of a nursing home, calling out to Adrian, in Rocky 115. But until then, this inspiring story is to be cherished and loved. 4½ cans.

86.  Rocky II (1979) — After vowing to retire from the ring, the almost-champ finds himself with a new house and car and no way to support his family.  There is way too much story about Rocky not being able to find work.  A pregnant Adrian returns to her job at the pet store, but only after almost losing Adrian does Rocky agree to take on Apollo Creed again — with Adrian’s blessing.  Once again he trains in earnest and sprints up those iconic steps.  The sequel has a longer and less authentic boxing sequence, but Rocky is still the lovable lug we can’t help rooting for.  3½ cans.

87.  Rocky III (1982) — Please, someone, stop the madness!  In this second sequel to the original, Rocky now has a much better house and haircut, he has traded in his pork pie hat and leather jacket for form-fitting, custom-made suits, and he appears on everything from the cover of Newsweek to “The Muppets Show.”  He and Adrian have a big house, a couple of kids and a better life.  He takes on and beats all the contenders now that Apollo Creed has retired from boxing, but, like Apollo himself once took Rocky for granted, he overlooks a ferocious and hungry fighter named Clubber Lang (Mr. T, at his snarly best) who has everything to gain by going up against the champ.  Can Rocky pull off another championship bout?  What about his trainer, Mickey?  And Yo, Adrian?  And that expensive haircut?  Maybe I’m just getting Rocky-ed out, but I am starting to lose the eye of the tiger here.  Luckily, Rocky doesn’t.  3½ cans.

88.  An American President (1995) — Andrew Shepherd is a regular guy.  He’s a handsome widower with a 12-year old daughter who falls in love with an unmarried professional woman, and all would be fine except that she is a lobbyist and he happens to be the President of the United States.  Michael Douglas has made plenty of movies, but none that I like him in more than this Rob Reiner charmer.  Annette Bening is the woman who creates controversy just by dating him — that, and they happen to be on opposites sides of a piece of environmental legislation and Shepherd is facing political opposition from a Senator running for president (Richard Dreyfuss).  Aaron Sorkin’s smart script divulges the details of the inner workings of the White House, where presidential privacy is virtually non-existent.  Michael J. Fox as a George Stephanopolis-type aide and Martin Sheen as the President’s right hand man lend their own appeal to the mix here.  This is just a feel-good movie about two adults falling in love, and I did — with the movie and with the characters.  This American President gets my vote.  4 cans.

89.  Entrapment* (1999) — In this clever caper, Catherine Zeta-Jones is Jen, an insurance investigator checking out a master art thief, Mac (Sean Connery), who pilfers things like Rembrandt paintings.  She goes undercover to work with Mac to protect the insurance company from having to pay out claims for stolen works of art, as they plot intricate schemes to outwit the elaborate security measures standing in the way of the heist.  Or, she isn’t working for the insurance company at all, but is, as she tells Mac, a master thief herself.  In any case, she and Mac work very well together and are able to execute their plans to perfection.  This is a suspenseful and interesting movie, but it seems so completely unbelievable that I had to suspend my sense of reality to enjoy it.  Oh, and someone tell Sean Connery to stop wearing that bad rug, please!  3 cans.

90.  Tammy* (2014) — You have to hand it to Melissa McCarthy: She is not afraid to tackle anything, no matter how bad she may look or how outrageous the situation.  In this story, which she co-wrote with her husband (Ben Falcone, who also directed) she is the title character, a braggadocios loser whose car and marriage expire on the same day.  Time to hit the road, destination unclear, with granny’s car and bankroll — and Granny, herself (Susan Sarandon, in a bad wig and even then not looking nearly old enough to be the mother of Allison Janney or grandmother of Melissa McCarthy; see previous movie for problems with bad wigs and suspending my sense of reality).  OK, buying the premise, we see the two plunge nearly Thelma and Louise-like into a series of misadventures, picking up men (Granny and Gary Cole), drinking (Granny again, though Tammy isn’t exactly sober), blowing things up and committing crimes.  A road trip/buddy movie never really has a significant plot, and this one is no exception.  McCarthy’s predilection for risk-taking and her knack for physical comedy are reminiscent of Lucille Ball — on a much more physical scale.  This movie will never be mistaken for the great comedies of our time, but it continues McCarthy’s streak of mouthy, over-the-top characters who amuse theatergoers.  Or was that just me?  3½ cans because it is NOT a great movie, but I did like it. 

91.  The University of Sing Sing* (2011) — There is an eager bunch of students attending classes taught by Mercy College professors in New York State.  They do all of their readings, hand in their work on time, participate fully in class discussions and truly value their education.  For the men convicted of violent crimes who are serving their sentences in the correctional facility in Ossining, New York, education is a form of freedom, a way to escape from the despair they have caused themselves, their families and the victims of the crimes that put them in prison for long stretches.  This moving documentary shows the real meaning of education provided by Mercy through a program called “Hudson Link.”  The men acknowledge their past but see education as hope for their future, not only to help them get jobs once they leave prison but to help them think, reflect, and become better, more fully realized individuals.  The success of the program can be measured by the recidivism rate, which is only 2% for the Hudson Link graduates, compared to 45% for all others who leave Sing Sing.  I defy anyone who sees this movie not to get a huge lump in the throat watching graduation day.  4 cans.

92.  Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) — Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) passes out at her 25^th high school reunion and wakes up back in high school, surrounded by the trappings of her teenage years and looking for a way to change the course of her future life.  With shades of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Back to the Future,” this Francis Ford Coppola fantasy reminds us of the things we did as teenagers that dictated the course of whom we became as adults.  In Peggy Sue’s case, it was “going” with Charlie (Nicholas Cage), a typical teenage boy of 1960, with a big pompadour hairdo and dreams of becoming the next Fabian.  Peggy Sue herself knows she and Charlie will marry and get divorced, so she wants to change the course of her story.  The details here make the movie fun to watch — Peggy Sue and her high school friends, in her old bedroom, with the lectures of her parents and with a bit of cynicism about the hopes and dreams of everyone around her.  In school, she tells the math teacher that algebra will make no difference in her life, and it’s hard to argue with that logic.  Turner and Cage do fine work here, and, to Coppola’s credit, he doesn’t try to make the women actually look like teenagers, which would not have worked.  Look for Coppola’s daughter, Sophia, now a director herself, in a small role as Peggy Sue’s much younger sister.  3½ cans. 

93.  I Was a Jet Set Stewardess* (2014) — There was a time, back in the age of “Mad Men,” when traveling was glamourous.  People got dressed up and sat happily on board new jet planes, smoking and being served excellent food by specially selected and trained stewardesses.  These women were college educated, beautiful, young and unmarried — because those were the job requirements.  Oh, yes, and they had to wear girdles (count me out).  Their tailored outfits were designed by respected fashion designers and they were proud to put on the uniform.  The job of stewardess was coveted and the women who took on the responsibilities could often speak more than one language and wanted to expand their horizons.  As one former stewardess recalls in this documentary, there weren’t as many flights, so they could fly to Tahiti and stay there for a week waiting for their assignment home.  The tales about stewardesses and pilots and stewardesses and passengers hooking up might have been exaggerated, but they weren’t untrue.  All that ended when the first jets, the Boeing 707s, were replaced by the new generation of larger planes, like the 747, with 500 passengers and no opportunity for the flight crew and passengers to establish a rapport beyond fastening their seatbelts when told.  Eventually the changes in the industry and the discriminatory practices by the airlines led to the changes in service that we experience as travelers today.  But while they lasted as stewardesses, the women in this film loved almost every minute.  3½ cans.

94.  Jersey Boys* (2014) — I’ve been a fan of The Four Seasons (no, not Vivaldi) since I got my first transistor radio (a pink Sears Silvertone) in 1962 and the number one song in America was “Sherry.”  Dozens of hits and radios later, I’m still surprised at the depth of the group’s catalog of well-known songs, most of which are performed in the course of this movie, which is the story of the NJ-born and bred Frankie Castaluccio — before he changed it to Valli — (John Lloyd Young) and his semi-mobster pal Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) and their struggle to make it in the music biz and what happens when — as we all know — they hit it big.  It isn’t until singer/producer/songwriter Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen) joins the group that they begin to soar as high as Frankie’s falsetto.  Director Clint Eastwood makes a faithful adaptation of the huge Broadway hit, incorporating the technique of “breaking the fourth wall,” where the actors slip out of the action to speak directly to the audience.  The stage version of any musical brings more energy than the screen version can muster, so the last scene — a big production number — comes across a bit flat.  The struggles, mistakes in judgment and eventual break-up of the group are recounted against the growing catalog of their songs, which always seem appropriate to the plot.  On the downside, the film firmly supports every negative Italian and New Jersey stereotype that ever existed.  But in the end, this is a musical, and the music takes center stage.  4 cans.

95.  Mask (1985) — This movie was Cher’s first venture into “Serious Acting” and she shows she has the chops to pull it off.  Here she is a single mother who hangs out with bikers, uses drugs and is generally what you would describe as a “free spirit,” which means she has a foul mouth and a bad attitude.  Her sweet teenaged son (Eric Stoltz) is a normal kid who collects baseball cards, excels in school and just happens to have a disease that has left him with a horribly disfigured face.  Neither mom Rusty or son Rocky allow Rocky’s appearance to define him, though he realizes his limitations more than she does.  One of my favorite actors, Sam Elliott, plays Gar, Cher’s on-again-off-again biker boyfriend, and Estelle Getty of “The Golden Girls” has a small role as Rusty’s mother.  This movie is based on a true story.  Rocky really packs a punch.  4 cans.

96.  Tin Cup (1996) — Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy (Kevin Costner) is a failed golfer with a sweet swing and a laid-back attitude who runs a dilapidated driving range in the Middle of Nowhere, Texas.  When classy psychologist Molly (Rene Russo) turns up for golf lessons, he is intrigued, despite the fact that Molly is dating pro golfer and arch rival David (Don Johnson).  Tin Cup decides he needs a few treatments on his head while she learns to swing, and he ends up entering and contending for the title in the US Open golf tournament.  Roy is smug, David is arrogant and Molly is torn between them.  This highly unlikely story tries hard to turn on the charm and get you to like it, but it is no better than the 4^th best sports movie made by Costner.  Here he is less appealing than he was as Crash Davis in “Bull Durham,” despite trying to win us and Molly over.  3 tin cans.

97.  Chef* (2014) — Jon Favreau (who wrote and directed) plays Carol, a chef who loves to cook.  Unfortunately, the owner of the restaurant where he works (played by Dustin Hoffman) is afraid to serve his loyal customers anything not on the tired old menu, and when a food critic comes (Oliver Platt) and blasts Carl for his unadventurous, dated cuisine, it sets off a Twitter war that leads to Carl’s demise.  He takes the advice of his ex-wife (Sofia Vergara, who really tones down her usual screen persona) and starts a food truck operation, driving from Miami back to California with his loyal sous chef (John Leguizamo) and young son Percy, with whom he doesn’t spend much time as a divorced dad always at work.  Everyone bonds, the people in each city love the food and everyone is full and satisfied.  There’s nothing too exciting here, but either the film is well edited or Favreau has mad knife skills, because watching the chef at work is thrilling.  One caution:  Don’t go to this movie hungry.  The beauty shots here all involve delicious-looking, well-prepared food, much more than one person could possibly consume, though you will want to do just that.  3½ cans.

98.  Mystic Pizza (1988) — Who could resist the movie that gave us Julia Roberts in her first starring role?  But Julia is not the only young actress to captivate the viewer in this coming of age story of three young, lower middle class women working as waitresses in the aptly named Connecticut pizza joint, Mystic Pizza.  Anna Beth Gish is Roberts’ idealistic, Yale-bound sister, and Lili Taylor is their commitment-phobe friend who is head-over-heels in love with her boyfriend (Vincent Dinofrio) but isn’t sure love is really forever — or for her.  The relationship between the girls seems genuine, as is the affection which they share with the pizza parlor owner (the underrated Conchata Farrell, one of my favorite actresses).  The secret lies in the pizza sauce, but, in this movie, it is the binds we make when we are young that get us through the ups and downs of young adulthood and beyond.  If you haven’t seen it, order a pizza and enjoy the show.  4 slices.

99.  Erin Brockovich  (2000) — Speaking of Julia Roberts, she’s come a long way in this movie, based on a true story of a single mom looking for work who talks herself into a job with a lawyer and ends up uncovering rampant and dangerous chemical pollution in the water of a small California town.  Roberts’ title character is just a little too brash and dresses a little too provocatively for most of the folks she encounters, but her earnestness wins them over.  It doesn’t hurt to have a neighbor as beefy as Aaron Eckhart next door.  Albert Finney is terrific as Erin’s boss, and Conchata Farrell (see above) has a small role as his assistant.  Roberts earned the Best Actress Oscar for this performance, and it is easy to see why (or maybe Meryl wasn’t nominated that year?)  If you are in for a dogfight, you’d want Erin in your corner.  4 cans.

100.  36 Hours (1964) — I watched this movie mostly as a tribute to the late, great James Garner, the laconic star who passed away in July, but I had forgotten how good a movie it is.  Garner plays Major Jeff Pike, who is high up enough in the military to be intimately acquainted with plans for D-Day, the Allied invasion at Normandy that is days away in June, 1944.  The Germans manage to slip him a mickey and he ends up in what he thinks is a US Army hospital 6 years after the end of the war.  A clever German doctor (Rod Taylor) has devised a scheme to convince Pike the war is over and that he has amnesia.  His treatment includes discussions of events Pike remembers, all to gather information about the coming invasion.  There is plenty of intrigue, as Pike’s nurse (Eva Marie Saint) plays a pivotal role in the ruse.  This movie doesn’t give Garner the ability to charm the viewer, but his performance in a captivating story is excellent.  Pay attention to the first 2 minutes for an incident that plays a critical part later in the film.  4 cans.

101.  Sharknado 2: The Second One* (2014) — There is blood in the streets and there are sharks in the air in this sequel to last summer’s campy surprise hit, “Sharknado.”  This time around, hero Fin (the luckiest actor in the world, Ian Ziering) and his ex, April (Tara Reid, barely breathing) land in New York — literally, they crash land in New York in the midst of “a storm of biblical proportions” with sharks raining down at 2 inches per hour (or so says Al Roker).  Fin has to find his sister and her husband, so he goes to Citi Fields to catch them at the Mets game, but snow wipes out the game.  And then there are the sharks.  April’s hand is ripped off by a shark, and she ends up in the hospital, where, despite being left with a bloody stump, she manages to dress in what looks like a Chanel suit, complete with a necklace that I couldn’t fasten with two hands.  The stump comes in handy (so to speak) later, when she attaches a circular saw to it to fight the flying fish.  Fin fights the enemy with the help of his other ex, played by Viveca A. Fox, and decides he will have to blow up a building this time around to defeat the storm.  People are beheaded, smacked around by the sharks, and Fin manages to play “Frogger” as he literally jumps the sharks.  Cameos include Robert Hayes of “Airplane” fame (and little else) as the pilot of the plane headed to New York, and Judd Hirsch, the star of the old sitcom “Taxi,” as a cabbie driving Fin to battle.  Al Roker and Matt Lauer, in what we can only hope is his first and last dramatic role, play themselves, as do Kelly Ripa (who kills a shark with her spike heels) and Michael Strahan.  The rest are too numerous to mention.  Fin’s chain saw has reached biblical proportions, and he manages to slice a flyby shark in half in what looks like the middle of Times Square.  When he needs a helping hand, he just reaches into the mouth of a shark and pulls out one that happens to be holding a gun so he can shoot down his prey.  In the end, Fin (get it?) saves the day, which can only lead one to the conclusion that the Sharknado franchise will live to see another sequel.  Foolish, silly and irresistible, this movie was actually sponsored on Syfy by a seafood restaurant, Joe’s Crab Shack.  The only thing that would have made it better would be if Steve Sanders’ old pals from “Beverly Hills 90210” were cast.  I’d love to see a shark rip off Brenda Walsh’s head.  Stick your tongue firmly in your cheek and go for the ride.  It’s so bad it’s good!  4 cans.

102.  Waterloo Bridge* (1940) — Talk about eclectic taste in movies!  This movie could not be more different in tone, taste, style and substance than the last entry.  It is the ill-fated story of love — boy meets girl, they fall in love and plan to marry and things never go quite the way they plan.  In this case, British Army officer Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor, looking like the definition of dashing) meets dancer Myra Lester (a radiant Vivien Leigh) and they fall madly in love.  But he’s about to ship out for World War I (which they didn’t know would have a number, but that didn’t happen til later and doesn’t matter here…) so she breaks her curfew to stay with him and gets bounced out of the dance company by the mean ballet troupe leader (Maria Ouspenskya).  He has to ship out earlier than planned, so they cannot marry, and she is left to take care of herself without a job or money.  While the movie doesn’t show exactly what she does to make ends meet, she hangs out at Waterloo Station and on Waterloo Bridge with people with Cockney accents and looks pretty upset most of the time, so you get the idea that she’s finding a way to deal with her dire straits.  Is Roy alive or dead?  Will he come back to her?  Will they still get married?  No spoilers here.  After “Sharknado,” this was a welcome change of pace.  3½ cans.

AUGUST
103.  City by the Sea* (2002) — Life isn’t easy for junkie Joey Nova (James Franco).  He has a girlfriend and a baby and a nasty drug habit.  When he and his buddy get into a fight with a dealer, Joey ends up stabbing the guy to death.  The cop who catches the case is his estranged father, Vincent LaMarca (Robert DeNiro), who abandoned his son after divorcing his mother (Patti LaPone).  Will father catch son?  Will he help him or bring him in?  I would not have watched this movie had DeNiro and Frances McDormand, who plays the cop’s girlfriend, not been the leads.  It was a taut cop story and worth seeing.  3½ cans.

104.  Boyhood* (2014) — Growing up is never easy, and surviving the upheaval of divorce only complicates things for the children, as this drama poignantly demonstrates.  The mother (Patricia Arquette) tries to build her vision of a real family for her son (Ellar Coltrane and daughter (Lorelai Linklater, the director’s daughter), but keeps marrying abusive losers who only make life worse for everyone.  Continual money problems and constant moving means the kids change schools and have to make new friends, and spend much of the time trying to figure things out on their own since the mother has to deal with her own problems.  The hook here by director Richard Linklater is that he filmed this movie over a 12-year period, so you see the actual actors actually age, none so obviously as the main character, Mason, who evolves from an innocent 6-year-old to a high school graduate on his first day of college.  Linklater teams with his star from “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset,” Ethan Hawke (as Mason’s father), once again.  Let me say that I really wanted to like this movie, but instead found it just as dull as I found the aforementioned Linklater works.  Mason is a good kid, but, because of the upheavals, he doesn’t get too close to anyone.  The family has communications issues and cannot relate to each other in a genuine way (I’m not saying the dialog is not authentic, it’s just gloomy).  In the end, I just didn’t really care about these people.  I can recommend it only to those with the patience to sit through three hours of not much happening.  3 cans.

105.  Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion* (1997) — Romy and Michelle (Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow) are sweetly vapid young women approaching their 10-year high school reunion without decent jobs or men in their lives.  Best friends forever, the two somehow survived the horrors of high school — which this movie depicts with stereotypical accuracy — without even realizing that they were not in any clique.  They went to the prom together, dressed like Madonna, and while Romy pined for the high school jock, Michelle was worshipped by the geek who would later become rich and famous (Alan Cumming, without a trace of his Scottish accent, like a very young Eli Gold).  When they decide to attend their high school reunion, they create a story that depicts them as hugely successful their success, claiming that Romy invented “Post-It” notes.  About to be ostracized yet again, they manage to turn the tables on the perky prom queen and her court.  Kudrow and Sorvino play their parts to the hilt, all blond, long legs, short skirts and eye rolls.  This is no “Citizen Kane,” but it is a pleasant enough diversion that was almost worth waiting 17 years to see.  I can probably go another 17 before I see it again.  3 cans.

106. China Moon* (1994) — If you are a fan of “Body Heat” or the old Barbara Stanwyck-Fred MacMurray classic, “Double Indemnity,” this film noir is right up your alley.  I think “film noir” is French for “sexy lady gets man to do something for her he shouldn’t do,” which generally means to murder or help murder her husband.   In this suspenseful movie, Ed Harris is Kyle, a cop known for his ability to crack a case, but this time he falls for the murderer.  Madeline Stowe is married to a mean, abusive and very rich banker (Charles Dance) when she meets detective Kyle in a bar.  He pursues her, and soon she is plotting for a way to knock off hubby and be with him.  Can she pull it off with his help?  How far is he willing to go for the woman he loves?  Will the cops turn the tables on him?  My only criticisms of this movie are that it takes a while to get going, and that the title really has nothing to do with anything.  Though “Body Heat” (with sexy Kathleen Turner and sweaty William Hurt) may be more sultry, “China Moon” is just as suspenseful.  4 cans.

107.  Seeking a Friend for the End of the World* (2012) — It is the end of the world as we know it, as an asteroid hurtles toward the earth it will ultimately destroy.  Seems like a good time to reassess your life, no?  Steve Carrell is Dodge, a hapless, morose guy whose wife bails out.  His young neighbor, Penny (Keira Knightley), breaks up with her boyfriend, and Dodge and Penny hit the road to find Dodge’s true love, his high school girlfriend, before the apocalypse.  This is an unusual road movie for sure, but, to me, it dragged on and on.  How long will it take before these two realize that they are meant for each other and that time is of the essence?  About 2 hours.  The ending is sweet, but getting there was a long, strange trip.  3 cans.

108.  The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone* (1961) — Karen Stone (Vivien Leigh) is an aging American actress whose wealthy husband dies of a sudden heart attack on their way to Rome following a failed Broadway show.  In Rome, the sad and lonely actress is introduced to Paolo, a handsome, much younger man (Warren Beatty, with a terrible Italian accent) whose “services” are booked by the Contessa (Lotte Lenya).  The lonely widow, ever so proper and afraid of what others may think of her, embarks on a relationship with the gigolo.  Beatty does his best James Dean, head cast downward, looking innocent yet calculating (probably adding up Mrs. Stone’s money in his otherwise empty head) as he enjoys the fruits of his “labor” — custom made clothes, dinners at the best restaurants, etc.  She clearly cares for him, but does he really want a woman more than twice his age?  The sad thing here is that Leigh herself was an aging actress by then.  In looking this movie up, I found another version with Helen Mirren and Oliver Martinez that I may just have to watch next.  3½ cans.

109.  The Hundred-Foot Journey* (2014) — Last month I saw “Chef,” another movie about food, and I was glad that I ate before I saw it.  The temptation of Helen Mirren, rapidly becoming one of my all-time favorite actresses, and food was irresistible.  Here she is Madame Mallory, the irascible owner of a hoity-toity restaurant in the French countryside who is dismayed when an Indian family builds a much less formal Indian place directly across the road in her tiny town.  She is the doyenne of diners, a celebrated restaurateur with a Michelin star to her credit.  But the Indian family has young chef Hassan (Manish Dayal), who has exactly what it takes to be an outstanding chef.  He also has a crusty and charming father (Om Puri) with whom Madame eventually builds a peaceful coexistence.  Meanwhile, Hassan strikes up a relationship with Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), who works for Madame and is no slouch in the kitchen herself.  This movie has no surprises, but, in the hands of director Lasse Halstrom, and with engaging performances by the key players, it offers a tasty treat.  3½ cans.

110.  Grand Central* (2014)  — This documentary tells the story of the rise, fall and rise again of Grand Central Terminal in New York, the largest train station in the world and one that was built over 100 years ago.  With tremendous foresight and planning, the building functions as well today as its creators originally envisioned.  Although Grand Central fell into disrepair in the 1970s, the New York power elite, mourning over the loss of the once great Penn Station, fought to save it.  People like Jacquelyn Kennedy Onassis, Bess Myerson and Mayor Ed Koch pushed not only to restore the beaux arts beauty to its grandeur.  Today it is a spectacular, thriving space where people eat, meet, greet and travel.  I love a happy ending.  3½ cans.

111.  Remember the Day (1941) — Way back before present day scandals involving unseemly relationships between teachers and students, it was possible to have a teacher demonstrate warmth and caring.  Here Claudette Colbert is Miss Trinell, an 8^th grade teacher whose young student, Dewey Roberts, has a crush on her.  They bond over his love of boats.  Also with a crush on Miss Trinell is Mr. Hopkins (John Payne), a fellow teacher who sweeps her off her feet.  It is scandalous for the two unmarried adults to consort with each other (this movie takes place in 1914), so one of them will pay the price.  We start the story as an elderly Miss Trinell goes to a rally for presidential candidate Dewey Roberts many years after their initial encounter, and flash back to that special time of growing up.  This is an endearing and sweet movie that could not be made today.  3½ cans.

112.  Wordplay (2006) — What is a 10-letter word for something that captivates the mind?  How about engrossing?  Will Shortz, The New York Times Crossword puzzle editor, is the creator of a national crossword championship, held every year in Connecticut, that attracts people who are crossword fanatics.  Leading up to the tournament, we meet many of the contestants as well as celebrities from President Bill Clinton to comedian Jon Stewart who are dedicated to the Times’ puzzle.  The contestants practice all year, timing themselves, and can complete a Monday or Tuesday puzzle in just a few minutes — in ink (the puzzles get progressively harder during the week).  People who enjoy language (and obscure words) and who like to solve problems are attracted to these puzzles.  We see how they are constructed (the puzzles, though we can see how the players are wired, too) and by whom.  I love language but my brain is not wired to do puzzles or even to play Scrabble all that well, so I can admire these intelligent people and their mastery.  4 cans.

113.  Longtime Companion (1990) — The timeline of movies about the AIDS epidemic begins with this drama, continues with 1993’s “And the Band Played On” and leads to the recent airing of HBO’s “The Normal Heart.”  These moving dramas have much in common, as they all portray groups of young men whose world is suddenly rocked by what is first characterized as a virus of unknown origin affecting gay men.  In this movie, as in the others, the group slowly diminishes in size as men lose their partners and friends to the dreaded disease.  Where the other movies work in the activism in the fight against AIDS, this one concentrates on the relationships between the men, with Bruce Davison in the lead.  Other actors include Campbell Scott and Dermot Mulroney.  Movies like this can never and will never have a happy ending until the disease is eradicated, but just seeing the fear of the people involved as they try to understand what is happening is very powerful.  3½ cans.

114.  Stayin’ Alive (1983) — Tony Manero (John Travolta) hauls out the white suit and the attitude in this sequel to “Saturday Night Fever” that was directed by Sylvester Stallone.  Tony has crossed the bridge from Brooklyn and now lives in a dumpy Manhattan hotel, where he auditions and gets rejected from plenty of Broadway shows in his quest to be a professional dancer.  He falls for the lead dancer in a new show, a haughty Brit played by Fionnola Hughes, who considers him beneath her in talent and social standing.  If the show in which they star opened on Broadway, it would close by intermission.  Stallone overstages and overpowers everything, dousing it liberally with Rockyesque music largely performed by his brother, Frank, with some BeeGees tunes thrown in for good measure.  The dance sequences are like boxing rounds.  This movie is “Sharknado,” but at least in “Sharknado,” the players got the joke.  Here they don’t understand how preposterous the whole Broadway show is and play it straight.  Travolta, while he’ll never be a Broadway dancer, gamely tackles the whole thing with zero body fat and occasional flashes of the charming /angry guy we loved in the original.  “Barely Alive” might have been a better title.  1 can.

SEPTEMBER

115.  The Young Philadelphians (1959) — Anthony Judson Lawrence (Paul Newman) is raised as the scion of a Mainline Philadelphia family with a Princeton education and a career as a lawyer.  He falls in love with an equally privileged young woman (Joan, played by Barbara Rush), but is persuaded to delay their marriage by her father, who makes him a better offer.  It seems as if every Mainline person in Philadelphia knows everyone else, and all the old men look like the pictures on the “Community Chest” and “Get Out of Jail Free” cards in Monopoly.  Tony’s family secrets and his way of life are put on trial when he has to defend his college roommate (Robert Vaughn) in court against a charge of murder.  This drama has a great courtroom climax and enough of a plot to overcome its soap opera tendencies.  Newman is terrific and very handsome, the women are sophisticated and haughty, and Billie Burke, as a wealthy if somewhat ditsy client, is delightful.  I am guilty as charged of loving this movie.  4 cans.

116.  Spencer’s Mountain (1963) — I recall being more enamored by this family movie when I first saw it at age 13, but now it seems pleasant enough but more dated and corny.  Henry Fonda plays Clay Spencer, patriarch of a family of nine children, one of whom, Clay Jr. (James MacArthur), is graduating from high school.  Poppa and his wife Olivia (Maureen O’Hara) are proud but poor folk, living in beautiful Wyoming.  He wants to build a dream house up on Spencer’s Mountain, while she is just trying keep that brood fed.  Clay Jr. dreams of going to college, but can’t afford it.  Will he win a scholarship?  Can the family afford to let him leave the farm or will he end up working in the quarry with the rest of the Spencer clan?  MacArthur is way too old to be believable as a high school student/graduate, and Fonda channels characters from his other movies, such as “Mr. Roberts” and “On Golden Pond,” showing his gruff but loving side.  This movie is from writer Earl Hamner Jr. and was the basis for the long-running TV show, “The Waltons.”  2 cans, not because it was bad, but it moves slowly and seems a bit corny to me now.

117.  Harry & Son* (1984) — Paul Newman, who also directed, is Harry in this bittersweet story of an aging father and the son who can’t please him.  Harry is a widower, living with his son Howard (soft-spoken Robby Benson), the son who can’t hold a job and who aspires to be a writer.  Harry only knows hard work.  He’s been in construction for years and now demolishes buildings, but he gets spells where he can’t function properly.  As he tells his son, “I want to work and can’t.  You can and don’t want to.”  They are both frustrated with each other, but there is obvious caring and love between them.  The unlikely casting of a very young Ellen Barkin as a former girlfriend of Howard’s who is now pregnant, and Newman’s real wife, Joanne Woodward, as the local pet store owner who has an eye for Harry, round out the cast.  Newman is good as a man losing his grip and aspiring to better things for his son, and Benson is quiet and effective as hapless Howie.  3½ cans.

118.  When the Game Stands Tall* (2014) — I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for sentimental sports movies, even though they are generally riddled with clichés even if they are based on real stories.  From “Brian’s Song” to “Rudy” to “Remember the Titans,” these movies typically have the obligatory health scare or death scene of someone dying far too young.  They normally have the underdogs positioned to come from behind and take home the big prize, even if that prize is — as in the case of “Rudy” — just getting into the game.  Here, too, Jim Caviezal plays real life high school football coach Bob Ladouceur, coach of the DeLaSalle Spartans, owners of a remarkable 151 game winning streak.  The team hasn’t lost in years but we know it wouldn’t be much of a movie without the drama of the streak being threatened.  Ladouceur works hard — almost tragically hard — not just to coach his team, but to help them develop into responsible young men who would do anything for each other and the team.  There is a lot of pressure on the players to uphold the standard set by each previous year’s team, and the town — and the parents — add to that burden, even as Ladoucer does not.  The movies isn’t as sentimental as some others I’ve seen, and, though it has heart, it doesn’t pack quite the dramatic punch as they do, either.  Let’s give it a field goal — 3 cans.

119.  Rudy (1993) — And speaking of “Rudy,” I couldn’t resist watching this classic when I spotted it on TV tonight.  If you don’t get a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye watching the diminutive Rudy finally get his chance to play football for Notre Dame, then you have no heart.  Sean Astin puts his all into playing Rudy, a kid determined to get into Notre Dame and even more determined to play football.  Despite being “5 foot nothing,” Rudy’s willingness to do anything for the team endears him to the other players (at least the ones who don’t feel that he is showing them up with his all-out effort at every practice), who insist to the coach that Rudy be allowed to dress for the final game of his senior year.  With only seconds left on the clock and the chant “Rudy, Rudy, Rudy,” reverberating around the stadium, the coach reluctantly lets Rudy into the game, his first time playing real football for Notre Dame.  This heartwarming movie, based on a true story, shows us what determination and persistence mean, and how sometimes dreams really do come true.  4 cans.

120.  Good Job: Stories of the FDNY* (2014) — Actor and former firefighter Steve Buscemi sits down with active and retired members of the New York Fire Department to discuss how they view and do their jobs.  The tough but touching documentary reveals the dedication and the trauma of fighting fires, of losing friends, of seeing the first loss of life, of noticing that the sheets on a child’s bed are the same as the sheets on your own child’s bed.  These brave men and women were born to do this job, or didn’t know what else to do with their lives.  Some women and African Americans entered hostile work environments among the 90% white male workplace, but they proved their mettle more than the “probies,” the probationary firefighters, and most cannot imagine doing anything else.  Many are now suffering the symptoms of illness directly related to the job or have watched their comrades die during or after the biggest loss of firefighters in the history of the FDNY, on September 11, 2001.  This is not a group of people prone to sharing their stories — even with their loved ones — but here they open up and enlighten all of us about their lives and what they do to serve the people of New York.  An excellent HBO documentary is the result.  4 cans.

121.  Beverly Hills Cop (1984) — Can it really be 30 years since Eddie Murphy brought brash and clever cop Axel Foley to the screen?  Here he is the proverbial fish out of water, a Detroit cop who goes to Beverly Hills in search of the killer of his childhood Detroit friend.  He can improvise his way through any situation, and, though the Beverly Hills Police Department is strictly a by-the-book precinct, he eventually wins their support, too.  There is comedy, drama and great 80s music here, and Murphy brings plenty of life to Axel Foley.  I hadn’t seen this movie in years, but it was well worth revisiting.  4 cans.

122.  Nixon By Nixon: His Own Words* (2014) — While there might be debate over what President Richard Nixon knew and when he knew it about Watergate, this much is clear:  He and several of his key aides knew of the existence of a recording system in his office, on his phone and on their own phones and they proceeded to speak candidly about Watergate and every other issue anyway.  It appears Nixon either forgot he was being recorded when he told Counsel John Dean that getting a million dollars to pay off the men involved in Watergate would be easy or that he felt that he, as President, could protect the recordings from ever being released.  Whether he was ordering the monitoring of Henry Kissinger’s phone calls, trying to collect dirt on Teddy Kennedy through the Secret Service, banning all reporters from the Washington Post from the White House or referring in a pejorative way to Jewish people and others, everything he said was recorded.  As we know from the tapes released at the time of Watergate as a result of a ruling by the Supreme Court, Nixon and his staff were deeply involved in the Watergate cover-up that led to his resignation as President.  This documentary provides a fascinating account of Nixon, not only from the recordings, but from interviews he conducted after he left office.  Who among us would want our private conversations made public?  But Nixon’s hubris led him to believe he could do or say anything with impunity because he was the president.  Now we know it’s not the crime, it is the cover-up that gets you in the end.  And we know that recordings — today video, then audio — will relay the truth.  These recordings, released in 2013, reveal much about the abuse of power.  Fascinating and sad.  4 cans.

123.  Blow Out* (1981) — This movie is neither the sequel to “Shampoo” or the prequel to “Hairspray.”  John Travolta plays Jack, a sound engineer who is out one evening recording sounds when he sees a car careen off a bridge after what sounds like a gunshot — not a blowout.  He jumps into the river and rescues a young woman who was a passenger in the car.  The police seem curiously uninterested in the woman (Nancy Allen) since they are trying to protect the reputation of the dead driver, a political candidate, a married man who wasn’t supposed to be with the woman in the first place.  But Jack can’t let it go, since he knows the accident wasn’t an accident.  John Lithgow and Dennis Franz play the bad guy and a mercenary photographer who staged the incident to blackmail the candidate.  This movie has its share of suspense but seems a little hard to believe at times.  Still, director/writer Brian DePalma knows how to grab our attention, and Travolta gives what I’d call a “sound” performance.  Get it?  3 cans.

124.  The Roosevelts: An Intimate Portrait* (2014) — This Ken Burns documentary occupied much of my time this month with its 7-part, 14-hour airing on PBS.  The rich history of the Roosevelts — from Theodore to Franklin and Eleanor — is lushly documented, replete with thousands of photographs and hundreds of film clips on the two presidents and one of the most famous women of the 20^th century.  Their family histories and political ambitions are thoroughly explored against the culture and tenor of the times in which they lived.  Teddy was surely a “rough rider,” a man who loved to hunt and kill animals but who also set aside massive tracts of land for preservation.  He built the Panama Canal and fought in the Battle of San Juan Hill, perversely proud that his regimen suffered the most causalities.  Franklin and Eleanor, distant cousins to each other and related to Teddy, had far different upbringings but married young and stayed together despite his infidelities, which might have ruined his political aspirations.  Eleanor, meek and abandoned as a child, grew into her own social consciousness and added her views to Franklin’s plans to bring the country out of the Great Depression upon his election as President in 1932.  She forged her own life as he continued to serve as president through World War II and until his death just after he was elected to an unheard-of fourth term in 1944.  Much of this story is known, but no one can document a story and make a grand tale seem intimate better than Ken Burns and his collaborators.  This series is a “good deal.”  4½ cans.

125.  To Catch A Thief (1955) — When a cat burglar targets wealthy women vacationing along the French Riviera, suspicion naturally points to “retired” burglar John Robie (a dashing Cary Grant).  To prove his innocence, Robie must catch the real thief, while simultaneously warding off the police and the doubts of beautiful young heiress (Grace Kelly).  With Grant and Kelly as the leads and the backdrop of the gorgeous French Riviera, who even cares about the plot?  The story is satisfying, even if it is not that difficult to figure out whodunit.  3½ cans. 

126.  Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010) — In light of the recent passing of comedy icon Joan Rivers, I thought it was the right time to view this documentary again.  Bawdy and profane, Joan Rivers was one of the few women to do stand-up comedy and to hold her own against the countless men commanding the stage and TV shows.  Once the chosen one as permanent guest host of Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show,” Joan became persona non grata when she accepted Fox’s offer of a show of her own.  Johnny never spoke to her again, her show was quickly cancelled and her husband Edgar committed suicide.  All of these events are covered here and lend a sense of sadness to Joan’s life of desperation, as she tried to keep her “”book” filled with nearly any kind of gig that is offered to her.  She maintained a sumptuous lifestyle, living in an apartment she described as one where Marie Antoinette would live.  She shows us the myriad of card catalogs containing virtually every joke she ever wrote and performed.  She was tireless, fearless and ruthless — about other people and about herself.  She was, as the title says, a piece of work.  And very, very funny.  3½ cans.

OCTOBER
127.  The Rule* (2014) — I don’t know anything about Benedictine monks or private schools in Newark, New Jersey, so this documentary about St. Benedict’s was eye-opening.  I knew the reputations of St. Benedict’s accomplished athletic teams, but the school provides so much more — a safe, nurturing environment where kids can learn academics and self-worth, even while they navigate the sometimes scary streets of Newark.  The monks follow the principles of St. Benedict himself, which focus on community, trust, connectedness and other qualities that are foreign to many of the students.  The monks are a dedicated but realistic lot, ceding responsibility to the students to police themselves and giving them leadership responsibilities that they can use later in life.  Any educational institution that can claim a high graduation rate and where most of the students go on to college is a successful one in these turbulent urban areas, and St. Benedicts has achieved that record.  I was impressed.  3½ cans.  

128.  Love Is Strange* (2014) — There actually is nothing strange about this love story between George (Alfred Molina) and Ben (John Lithgow).  The couple has been together for 39 years when they decide to get married.  Immediately, George loses his job as a music teacher at a New York Catholic high school because his marriage defies the teachings of the church.  He and Ben are forced to sell their beloved New York City apartment and, because their friends and relatives live in small places of their own, they have to split up, George living with hard-partying friends and Ben bunking —literally — in the bottom bunk in the room of his teenaged great nephew.  Both feel displaced and in the way, interfering in the lives of their new landlords and missing their private time together.  This is a poignant story that illustrates the complications of life together and apart — and of living in the city.  Molina and Lithgow underplay to perfection.  While I did not agree with the title, I was captivated by the Chopin music used liberally throughout the score.  I haven’t liked non-musical movie music this much since the soundtrack from “Cinema Paradiso.”  It made me want to find Chopin on my iPod once again.  3½ cans.

129.  My Old Lady* (2014) — I think THIS movie should have been called “Love Is Strange,” because in this movie, it sure is.  Kevin Kline plays Mathieus Gold, who has inherited an apartment in France from his late father.  When he goes to claim it so he can sell it, he finds the formidable 92-year old Madame G. (Maggie Smith) living there.  Apparently there is an odd practice in France where one buys an apartment but cannot take ownership of the property until the present owner dies.  While Smith may not be buying green bananas, she nonetheless is destined to outlive us all.  This sounds like a comedy, but it isn’t.  Mathieus learns things about the father he hardly knew and meets Smith’s daughter Chloe (Kristin Scott Thomas), while we wonder about whether they may be related since her mother had a long affair with his father.  Kline’s Mathieus is a sad sack, bereft of money, friends and self-esteem.  Normally I find Kevin Kline so charming and engaging that I kept picturing a more appropriately sardonic Bill Murray in this role.   Love may be strange here after all, but I didn’t find this movie either uplifting or compelling despite the presence of Maggie Smith in the title role.  2½ cans. 

130.  Driving Miss Daisy (1989) — An old Jewish woman falls in love with an old black man.  OK, that’s not how this story is billed, but the bond that develops between the persnickety Miss Daisy (Jessica Tandy) and her obliging chauffeur Hoke (Morgan Freeman, in my second favorite Morgan Freeman movie, after “The Shawshank Redemption”) is a special friendship.  Miss Daisy is a southern lady living in a large house by herself, getting by with the help of her son (Dan Ackroyd) and staff.  She doesn’t want to give up driving herself to the Piggly Wiggly, but after she crashes the car one too many times, her son hires Hoke to drive her around.  At first she won’t give him anything to do and won’t even get in the car, but, over time, the ice melts and she comes to trust and appreciate him.  This story is about love and respect that is hard-won.  I love this movie.  4 cans.

131.  Young Victoria (2010) — It’s not easy being queen.  Just ask 18-year old Victoria, who ascends to the throne in England as the only descendent of her uncle the king and his brothers.  But Victoria (Emily Blunt) is pushed and pulled by her mother the duchess and her advisor, both of whom want her to turn over her powers until she is older.  The poor young woman is like a prisoner in a very lavish jail where she is not permitted to attend school or even to descend a staircase without a helping hand.  But Victoria is stronger than she looks, and she’s not about to give it all up for her self-centered mother and her power-hungry advisor.  Besides, she is in love with Albert (Rupert Friend), a distant cousin from Germany who may have his own aspirations.  Lavish sets and costumes make this a dazzling vision of royalty at its best and worst.  3½ cans.

132.  Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955) — Jennifer Jones plays the title character, a taciturn school teacher who we can disparagingly call an “old maid.”  She is devoted to her students and her craft, as we see through a series of flashbacks that show her first as an active young woman who is forced into a life of work that was unplanned.  Along the way, her students become police officers, doctors and mothers.  I remember first seeing this movie when I was a teenager and admiring Miss Dove’s devotion, but I have to admit that now it seems so stiff and outdated.  Still, there is always room for movies about characters who behave with honor as they try to elevate the standards of those around them.  2½ cans.

133.  Gone Girl* (2014) — This review will be very short so I don’t spoil the story for you.  Ben Affleck and Rosamind Pike are Nick and Amy Dunne, an attractive young couple seemingly in love with each other and living a comfortable and happy life in the Midwest.  Suffice to say that things are not always as they seem.  If you have read the book, you’ll find this movie to be a faithful rendering the Gilliam Flynn’s story (since she wrote the screenplay), complete with twists and turns.  Don’t try to figure it out, just go along for the ride.  Well worth seeing.  4 cans.

134.  Up in the Air (2009) — Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a man with almost no baggage.  Even the suitcase he carries on his nearly daily business flights is exceedingly well thought out.  He leaves no room for ambiguity in his life, which revolves around his job, working for a firm that specializes in firing people for companies who cannot or will not pull the trigger.  He has virtually no personal life, which suits him just fine.  His big aspiration is to get to 10 million flight miles and get a special gold card from the airline.  All that is fine until he meets Alex, the female version of himself (Vera Farmiga) and suddenly he has to juggle his schedule to spend time with her.  Meanwhile, he is training a young woman (Anna Kendrick, looking too young to work at anything other than a lemonade stand) to be as detached as he is as they deliver life-changing news to emotionally overwrought soon-to-be former employees.  The social commentary in this is stunning, as the diminished value of people and their work is at the forefront.  Oh, the humanity — or lack thereof.  Clooney is perfect as Bingham, charming with Alex, unyielding as the executioner.  And many of the people depicted being fired are real victims of unemployment, so their presence lends an air of authenticity.  4 cans.

135.  Stakeout (1987) — It is probably not a good idea for a police officer to fall in love with the person he/she is supposed to be staking out, but that’s what happens with Chris (Richard Dreyfus) and Maria (Madeliene Stowe).  Maria’s ex (Aidan Quinn) has just escaped prison and the cops are assigned to keep an eye on her lest the bad guy show up.  So Chris and his partner Bill (Emilio Estevez) hole up in the house across the street to check her out.  This film is part buddy movie (and Dreyfus and Estevez have great chemistry), part action movie (check out the sequence near the beginning at a fish processing plant) and part inadvertent love story.  Stowe and Dreyfus are charming together, and Dreyfus’ Chris is a clever guy.  This movie came out around the same time as two similar ones that I also liked very much: “Running Scared” with Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines and “Midnight Run” with Robert DeNiro as a bounty hunter and Charles Grodin as his prey, who almost drives the hunter crazy.  Three fun films, fans.  3½ cans.

136.  Hoosiers (1986) — With basketball season about to start, what better movie to enjoy than this quintessential sports classic about the disgraced coach who leads the small-town underdog team to the state championship game?  Gene Hackman is a memorable Norman Dale, a tough coach whom the townsfolk don’t appreciate at first.  In the beginning Coach Dale barely has enough players to take the court, and the best player in school won’t even come out for the team.  Yes, the story is riddled with the usual sports clichés, but this tale, based on the true story of an Indiana team in the early 1950s, will win your heart as much as they win their games.  And from a basketball standpoint, these guys look like they can actually play.  4 hoops and a holler.

137.  When the Garden Was Eden* (2014) — Speaking of basketball, this documentary from ESPN’s “30 for 30” series examines the rise of not only the new Madison Square Garden in the 1960s-1970s, but also its inhabitants, primarily the New York Knicks.  Until the NBA really began rolling nationally, it seemed that only the Boston Celtics won the Championship each year, often at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers.  But in the late 60s and early 70s, the Knicks moved into the new Garden at Penn Station and, with the move, came the such unique players as Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Dave Debusschere, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Jerry Lucas, Cassie Russell, Phil Jackson, future Senator Bill Bradley — who deferred his basketball career for two years so he could be a Rhodes Scholar — and Willis Reed, whose walk onto the floor for the 7^th game of the 1970 Championship, despite what seemed like a devastating injury, became the stuff of legend.  Before the rise of the Knicks, the Garden was the raucous home of college basketball and the cigar-smoking, betting men who followed the game.  But the Knicks brought glamour and winning and attracted the stars to courtside.  The team that emphasized teamwork won championships in 1970 and 1973 and hasn’t won since.  But it was great while it lasted.  This film was a labor of love for actor/director Michael Rapaport, a native New Yorker who wasn’t even alive back in the Knicks heyday but grew up steeped in their lore.  If you know anything about pro basketball, you probably know this story, but to relive it was a real treat.  4 hoops.

138.  The Fault In Our Stars* (2014) — Any movie that starts off with the protagonists meeting in a cancer support group for teenagers cannot end well, but we are willing to come along for the all-too-brief ride because the characters of Hazel Grace (Shailene Woodley) and Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) are just so appealing.  Hazel is going to die someday from lung cancer that has almost killed her once, but Gus, who has already lost his lower leg to cancer, looks healthy and recovered.  The two share witty texts, become fast friends and head out to Amsterdam to catch up with her favorite author (Willem Dafoe) to find out what happened to the characters in the book she loves.  They enjoy a romantic dinner and imbibe in champagne as they fall in love.  Gus is cute as can be, and Hazel, sporting a cannula for oxygen, reluctantly falls for him since she knows one of them will end up alone.  This movie is a good example of the book being better than the screen adaptation.  Something about the dialog just made it pop off the page, where, when delivered by the characters on screen, it seems contrived.  It is little corny, a little sad, and probably intended as “Love Story” for a generation 40 years younger than me.  Read the book instead.  3 cans.

139.   The Judge* (2014) — Smug Chicago lawyer Hank Palmer (Robert Downey, Jr.) has a challenging client, an irascible, elderly judge who is being tried for murder in a small Indiana town.  The client, Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall) doesn’t want to take his attorney’s advice, and, in fact, treats him such disdain that it hamper’s Hank’s trial strategy.  Add the fact that Hank is his son, and the matter becomes that much more complicated.  Long-festering emotions spill out even as Hank is forced to care for his father in ways he never imagined.  As you can imagine, father and son begin to look at each other with new respect and less venom.  I’ve never been a big RDJ fan, but he holds his own against crusty Duvall.  Vera Farmiga plays Hank’s former high school sweetheart and adds a twist to the story.  I suspect that when Oscar time rolls around, at least Duvall will hear people say, “Here comes the Judge.”  4 cans.

140.  The Best of Me* (2014) — The Nicholas Sparks formula is getting a tad too familiar:  Young, attractive, star-crossed lovers get together, break apart, reunite years later, something BIG happens, etc.  I don’t want to give away the plot, but I did find this outing better than the other Sparks movies I’ve seen, at least since the classic tearjerker, “The Notebook,” which I love.  I really enjoyed this one, too, with a very handsome James Marsden as Dawson Cole, the boy from the wrong side of the tracks (played as a young man by a very handsome Luke Bracey, with echoes of Ryan Gosling in “The Notebook”) and Michelle Monaghan as Amanda (younger version by Liana Liberato), the rich girl who doesn’t care about Dawson’s trashy and dangerous family.  The knight in shining armor is Gerald McRaney as Tuck, the local man who takes in young Dawson and becomes a surrogate father to the troubled teen.  When Tuck dies, Dawson and Amanda are summoned by his lawyer to dispose of his ashes and his things, reuniting after 21 years and many unhappy memories.  But do you ever really get over your first love?   And is love alone enough to make the relationship endure despite obstacles?  This is probably not a movie to which to drag the man in your life, but it is one I can imagine myself binge watching when it hits TV and someone airs it incessantly.  It wasn’t the best of Sparks, but it was close enough.  4 cans.

141.  The Departed (2006) — Moles, rats, mobs and tons of blood populate this suspenseful drama by Martin Scorsese.  Billy (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a young state trooper recruited by police (Mark Wahlberg and Martin Sheen) to go undercover with the mob in Boston, which is led by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson, looking a bit demented, like the character in “The Shining”).  His counterpart is Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), raised and planted in the police department to be the rat by Costello.  Each man knows someone on the other side has infiltrated their respective organizations, and each scene draws them closer to figuring out who is whom.  Just when you think one of them will be unmasked, there is a twist.  The tension stays at a high level throughout the story, and, by the end, you don’t know who is legit and who has sold his loyalties to the highest bidder.  This film is also my third with Vera Farmila this month, as she plays a police psychologist involved with both Billy and Sullivan.  4 handguns.

NOVEMBER

142.  The Caine Mutiny (1954) — We’ve all had bosses or co-workers we thought were off their rockers, but few of us have seen the likes of Philip Francis Queeg (Humphrey Bogart).  Captain Queeg is put in charge of the old ship the Caine, where he brings a career in the Navy and a by-the-book attitude to go with his insecurities and paranoia.  Queeg is so hung up on details, he fails to recognize that the ship is traveling in circles because he is too busy berating a sailor for not having his shirt tucked in.  Queeg is the perfect example of “The Peter Principle” — someone rising to his level of incompetence — which is dangerous when you are commanding a ship in World War II.  Officer Keefer (Fred McMurray), a glib author who thinks he is smarter than everyone else, plays amateur psychologist, diagnosing the Captain with paranoia and urging first officer Maryk (Van Johnson) to inform the chain of command, but then Keefer refuses to back him up.  The real tipping point in this engrossing drama comes during a typhoon, when Queeg demonstrates his incompetence by insisting on the wrong approach that may sink the ship — until Maryk feels compelled to relieve him of his duty and take over command.  Maryk saves the ship but goes on trial for mutiny.  Will his Navy lawyer (Jose Ferrer), who has nothing but disdain for Maryk and his men, be able to defend the underling without completely destroying the career and reputation of Queeg?  And who is the real villain here?  It’s always hard to eat strawberries and not think of this movie.  Bogart IS Queeg.  4 cans.

143.  Dave (1993) — This is my kind of Kevin Kline movie.  He plays Dave, who looks so similar to US President Bill Mitchell that he is drafted by Mitchell’s men to impersonate the president after the latter suffers a devastating stroke.  That scheme enables the Presidential advisors (Frank Langella and Kevin Dunn) to retain power, rather than — as constitutionally required — to have the vice president (Ben Kingsley) take over.  Dave is initially scared to death, but he gradually becomes more comfortable in his role as the pseudo-president, even as he has to deal with the First Lady (Sigourney Weaver) who can’t stand her husband.  My favorite scene is when Dave summons his accountant Murray (Charles Grodin) to the White House to go over the budget and save enough money to fund homeless shelters.  This film is a sharp critique of the men in power but the charm exuded by Kline as the neophyte politician surpasses everything else.  4 votes for Dave!

144.  Something’s Gotta Give (2003) — Harry (Jack Nicholson) is an aging lothario who suffers a heart attack at the home of the mother of the very young woman he is dating (Amanda Peet).  He is too weak to be moved, so he is stuck staying with the mother, the much chagrined Erica (Diane Keaton), a successful playwright who is not amused with the way this plot is evolving.  They spar and can’t stand each other, which only means that they will eventually recognize their true feelings and admit that they are in love.  But, of course, complications ensue, primarily that they are equals in age and accomplishment, and that Erica is pursued by Harry’s young doctor (Keanu Reeves).  There is a lot to like in this movie, particularly in the byplay between the leads.  Nicholson doesn’t care if his butt is hanging out of a hospital gown and his hair looks like Albert Einstein’s.  Not the best way to meet a soul mate but certainly amusing for those of us who get to observe.  3½ cans.

145.  Disclosure (1994) — When Tom Sanders (Michael Douglas) is passed over for a promotion that instead goes to his former girlfriend Meredith (Demi Moore), that’s just the start of a really bad day.  Meredith invites him to her office for a late night rendezvous, where she proceeds to sexually assault him.  Tom is married and reluctant at first, and denying himself the sexual pleasure takes all the strength he can muster but he eventually extricates himself from the proceedings.  Meredith, a gorgeous and aggressive woman in every sense, reports the encounter to her bosses the next day, claiming that Tom attacked her, and Tom is about to lose his job and his marriage before he realizes he needs to fight back.  Though a good example of “he said, she said,” the movie examines sexual assault from the unusual perspective of the male, but it is no less damaging to him than to her.  This story is set against the tableau of ruthless business people, which makes the sexual aggressiveness fit in perfectly.  3½ cans.

146.  Cocoon (1985) — A group of elderly residents at a retirement community stumbles upon the fountain of youth in a nearby pool on property that is owned by aliens.  I don’t normally go for fantasies, but this early Ron Howard movie is hard to resist, as the old folks get increasingly frisky while they frolic in the not so still waters.  Would you want to live forever if it meant leaving your loved ones and your earthly life behind?  I guess it would depend on who would be with you on the journey.  The oldies but goodies are Oscar-winner Don Ameche, Hume Cronyn, Maureen Stapleton, Gwen Verdon, Jessica Tandy and Wilford Brimley, looking as hot as Wilford Brimley can get.  Youth really is wasted on the young.  3½ cans.

147.  Whiplash* (2014) – “Who would think that a movie about a music school could be this intense and have blood, sweat and tears?” queried my sage sister upon seeing this film.  Young Andrew (Miles Teller) is a would-be Buddy Rich, a talented 19-year-old drummer with dreams of greatness.  He attends a prestigious NY music college, where he is thrust into the hands of a maniacal music instructor named Fletcher (J. K. Simmons), a man so foul of language that his insults and epithets would make former Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice blush.  Fletcher looks like the devil himself – bald head, taut muscles and piercing, dangerous eyes – and dealing with him is like being in Hell.  Andrew pushes himself to practice until his hands bleed.  But Fletcher cannot be satisfied by anyone.  Does he push his students because he believes they need the motivation to excel?  Or is he merely power mad and abusive?  Teller is astonishing in his role, and Simmons – who is one of those character actors you know you have seen before but you can’t name a single movie he’s been in – is all coiled, ruthless energy, ready to pounce at any time.  Exhausting, but worth experiencing.  4 cans.

148.  The Goodbye Girl (1977) — Neil Simon puts a twist on his “Odd Couple” story by teaming mismatched roommates Paula McFadden (Marsha Mason, his wife at the time) and Elliott Garfield (Richard Dreyfus, in his Oscar-winning performance).  Paula is an aging (33) dancer who lives with her precocious 10-year old daughter Lucy (Quinn Cummings in a memorable debut) and her boyfriend, who dumps her and leaves a note and a tenant to sublet the apartment they shared without telling her.  Paula is enraged when smug actor Elliott shows up on her doorstep with lease in hand, but they work out an agreement to share the place while he appears Off-Off Broadway in the worst production of “Richard III” that has ever been staged.  Their insecurities and differences are evident, as is the fact that, eventually, they will strike up a relationship.  But can Paula depend on yet another actor?  She has trust issues with good reason.  Witty Simon dialog is delivered by perfectly cast performers (including Cummings) in this entertaining oldie.  4 cans.

149.  The Lucky One (2012) — This movie is my second Nichols Sparks story this month and I have met my quota — not that I didn’t like it.  Handsome Zac Efron is Logan, an Iraqi War veteran who feels he survived thanks to a good luck charm — the photograph of a pretty woman he found on the ground after a battle.  Once he returns to the States, he is determined to find her, and he walks from Colorado to Louisiana and does just that.  This is where the movie turns into science fiction to me.  Walking to Louisiana and finding the woman, Beth (Taylor Schilling, now the star of NetFlix’s “Orange Is the New Black”) seems completely preposterous to me.  Nevertheless, Logan shows up and starts working for Beth at her dog care place, helping repair her boat and ramshackle house, and becoming a fixture in the family with her grandmother (Blythe Danner) and her young son, Ben.  Her menacing ex lurks around, unhappy about this development, and Logan, despite numerous opportunities to tell Beth what drew him there, fails to do so.  The characters are too beautiful and perfect and you just know that the Big Dramatic Moment will have to take place.  Still, this couple is easy on the eyes and who among us doesn’t like a romantic story once in a while?  My once in a while is done for now.  3½ cans.

150.  Doc Hollywood (1991) — Ben Stone (Michael J. Fox) is a hotshot young plastic surgeon on his way to an interview with a lucrative practice in Beverly Hills when he loses control of his prized sports car and destroys a fence, his car and his plans in a small South Carolina town.  He is sentenced to community service, replacing the town’s crotchety doctor (Barnard Hughes) while the local mechanics try to piece together his roadster.  The town is full of colorful characters.  He has to read letters to one pregnant couple who can’t read, pull toys out of boys’ ears and deal with a stern nurse and a spirited ambulance driver, Lou (Julie Warner, who matches Fox in height, which is to say she is suitably short).  One of the locals gives him a pig to pay him for his medical work, while the mayor (David Ogden Stiers) tries to persuade him to stay and his daughter (Bridget Fonda) puts on an all-out flirt.  But Ben Stone only has eyes for Lou, his car and his future in Hollywoodland.  Of course you know it won’t quite work out the way he planned.  This movie gives us the youthful, earnest and somewhat smug Fox at his best, just before he started experiencing the symptoms of the Parkinson’s disease that has affected his career.  He is utterly charming, whether walking his pig, turning down the advances of the mayor’s daughter, or verbally sparring with Lou’s suitor Hank (Woody Harrelson, when he still had hair).  A light and appealing movie, and just what the doctor ordered.  4 cans.

151.  A Civil Action (1998) — In the beginning of this courtroom drama, Jan Schlichtmann (John Travolta) is a stereotypical personal injury lawyer, literally handing out his card at the scene of an accident and anxious to win his clients’ cases so his firm can get its cut.  Even when a case comes along that involves pollution so bad that it causes children in a Massachusetts town to get sick and die, Jan isn’t interested in taking the case because he can’t find anyone at fault whom he can sue for a big payday.  That’s until he gets a speeding ticket in the town and notices factories nearby which may be to blame.  He stakes his case, his reputation and the assets of his firm on being able to prove negligence by two very large corporations, one of whom his represented by Jerry Facher (Robert Duval, nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor).  As the narrator tells us, going to court takes too long and costs too much, so the aim is to settle.  But that is not about to happen here, and Jan puts his firm and his partners’ families at risk by going all in.  Will he be able to win the case, save the firm and somehow compensate these poor families for their tragic losses?  This movie is based on a true story and acquits itself quite well.  Along for the ride are Travolta’s partners, played by the always reliable William H. Macy, Tony Shaloub and Zeljko Ivanek.  4 cans.

152.  Mr. Dynamite – James Brown* (2014) — James Brown was called “The Godfather of Soul” for a good reason.  His rise in the music business coincided with the evolution of music from Gospel to jazz to R&B and soul, with plenty of funk thrown in along the way.  With horns blaring, drums beating and the sax wailing, Brown commanded center stage with an uncanny ability to dance, scream, shout and conduct the orchestra, which was comprised of polished musicians who kept a careful eye on their demanding leader.  Mick Jagger produced this documentary, which includes plenty of interviews from music mavens and Brown’s musicians, all set within the symphony of rock & roll and the rise of the Civil Rights movement.  James Brown was known as “the hardest working man in show business” and this film bares testament to that description as Brown not only dazzles as a performer but excels as he manages his own band and destiny.  A fascinating story of a life force in a cape.  4 cans.

153.  Slap Shot (1977) — Full disclose: I love all things Paul Newman.  Whether he is a con artist (“The Sting”), a hustler (think about it), a bank robber (“Butch Cassidy”) or a prisoner (“Cool Hand Luke”), Newman brings a certain attitude to his roles.  Here he is washed up hockey player-coach Reg Dunlap, presiding over a rag-tag group of journeymen athletes in a small town in a rinky-dink league, and his franchise is about to fold when the local steel mill shuts down.  Ah, but Reg floats a rumor about the team being bought by a senior citizens’ community and moving to Florida.  Along the way, we see what life is like for professional athletes on the road, full of humor, hard times, too much booze, too many women.  In the case of hockey, throw in a brutal amount of violence, much perpetrated by the three Hansen Brothers, goons put into the game to stir things up and draw fans to the seats.  Ned (Michael Onktean) is a Princeton man who decries the violence and simply loves the game, while his miserable young wife (Lindsay Crouse) wants out of the hockey wife life.  Newman is great, full of cunning, as Reg tries to stay afloat, but, alas, he is treading on thin ice (come on, you knew that one was coming…) as the team is ready to fold.  I love the story (George Roy Hill, Newman’s collaborator on “Butch Cassidy,” wrote and directed the film), the actors and the great ‘70s music (thank you, Maxine Nightingale, for “Get Right Back to Where I Started From”).  This might not go down as one of the best sports movies ever, but as a comedy sports movie, it is worth of the Stanley Cup.  4 cans.

154.  Lost in America (1985) —Advertising exec David Howard (Albert Brooks, who also co-wrote and directed) gets passed over for a promotion and protests so vehemently that he gets fired.  He and wife Linda (Julie Hagerty) decide to cash in their nest egg and travel the country in a Winnebago, first stopping in Las Vegas to renew their marriage vows.  In this case, we’re happy that what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas — except for the next egg, that is — because Linda spends the night gambling away the family fortune, leaving them destitute and driving a gas guzzler.  How are two Yuppies who think they have “dropped out,” as in “Easy Rider,” going to survive?  Brooks’ clever comedy pokes fun at all the things we think of as important (“Mercedes leather,” anyone?), and his gift for dialog (check out the scene with Gary Marshall — yes, the director of so many other movies, but not this one — when David tries to talk the casino boss into simply returning their money as an advertising campaign to promote the casino) add enormously to the plot.  There are too many great lines to quote here, but I, for one, cannot hear the term “nest egg” without thinking of this brilliant comedy.  4 big stacks of chips. 

DECEMBER

155.  Conrack (1974) – Jon Voight brings his boyish good looks and a sunny disposition to the role of Pat Conroy (the author of the book on which the movie is based), the earnest young teacher assigned to an all-black school off the coast of South Carolina.  He and the principal (Madge Sinclair) are the only teachers, with the man she calls “Mr. Pat Roy” in charge of the older students.  He is chagrined to discover that few of them can read or write, that they don’t know history or even, in some cases, their own birthdays.  He ventures outside the classroom to give them life lessons in hygiene, swimming, music, baseball and the world beyond their tiny, impoverished town.  Naturally, the educational administrators disapprove of his tactics, despite the clear progress his students make and the fact that they learn to love him and learning.  I hadn’t seen this movie in years, and I had forgotten how truly inspiring – yet disheartening – it was.  It is sad to think that this story, which takes place in 1969, could be repeated in many places today.  Voight is wonderful in the role, and this is a movie of hope and the love of learning, subjects about which we need to be reminded every now and then.  4 cans.

156.  St. Vincent* (2014) – Vincent (Bill Murray) is a slovenly guy who drinks, smokes, gambles – and babysits.  He is about the last guy with whom to leave a child, but his new neighbor Maggie (Melissa McCarthy, for once not completely audacious) is desperate for someone to keep an eye on her pre-pubescent son Oliver (Jaede Lieberher).  Vincent exposes Oliver to new things – like dive bars, the track and “ladies of the night” (Naomi Watts as a pregnant prostitute) – as the two form an unlikely (in real life unlikely; in movie life, perfectly likely and completely predictable) friendship.  Oliver sees redeeming values in the crotchety neighbor and extolls them in his school project on saints.  This movie has a very good cast, and Murray is perfect as the reprobate neighbor, a Viet Nam veteran whose past is better than his future.  I liked the last third more than the rest of the movie, and Murray and the kid were terrific.  3½ cans for the whole movie, 4 for the last third. (Does that make mathematical sense?)

157.  Miracle In The Rain (1956) – A friendly soldier, a lonely spinster, lots of rain and an abundance of corniness.  Even so, the first time I saw this movie, about 50 years or more ago, I could not stop crying.  I’m older now and don’t burst into tears at seeing it anymore, but this romance will always have a special place in my heart.  Van Johnson is Art Hugenon, the soldier who meets Ruth Wood (Jane Wyman) during a torrential New York City rainstorm.  He charms Ruthie, as he calls her, and, in just a few days, they fall in love as they spend time exploring the city together.  But it is wartime, and Art is sent to the front after declaring his intention to marry her.  The inevitable happens, and Ruth is devastated.  She turns her attention to St. Andrew in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where she prays for a miracle.  I need to watch this movie once a year just to believe that true love never dies.  3 cans.

158.  Love, Actually (2003) – Usually when a movie is a conglomeration of stars there is little or no plausible thread to keep our interest and the actors are there for their own moment on screen and little else.  But this perky pastiche provides enough connections between actors and stories and has a major thread, as it looks at love in all of its forms.  A grieving father and the pre-teen son who is in love with a classmate; the man in love with his best friend’s new wife; the husband about to cheat on his long-time spouse and the wife who figures it out by seeing the meager Christmas gift SHE got while the OTHER WOMAN gets an expensive necklace.  The mostly British cast carries on and carries forth, giving us moments of genuine pathos, warmth and humor.  Even the Prime Minister of England (Hugh Grant) gets a scene similar to the classic Tom Cruise dance in “Risky Business” as he cuts loose at 10 Downing Street.  Along for the delightful ride are Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Keira Knightly, Laura Linney and many more.  It is safe to say that I actually love “Love, Actually.”  4 cans.

159.  Auntie Mame (1958) – Rosalind Russell is the mapcap aunt to orphaned Patrick Dennis.  A wealthy and eccentric woman living in New York in a magnificent Beekman Place apartment, Mame takes in her young nephew and is determined to expose him to life and not restrict him to the impositions of the trustee who manages his inheritance.  They survive the “ups and downs” of the stock market and the turbulent 20s as they establish an unbreakable bond that is tested in the penultimate act.  The genuine affection and absolute loyalty between the aunt and her young charge and between Mame and her staff is heartwarming throughout this sometimes overly-long movie, which was later made into a miscast musical with my beloved Lucille Ball in the title role.  I’ve always tried to throw a pinch of magical Mame into the mix with my nephew, too.  After all, life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.  4 cans.

160.  The Sting (1973) – And the Oscar goes to this clever caper about two conniving con men with a raffish ruse to swindle a mobster out of his money.  Paul Newman and Robert Redford make the movie come alive, aided by Eileen Brennan, Ray Walston and the mark, Robert Shaw.  It’s a bit convoluted, but well worth the investment of time. 4 cans.

161.  A Christmas Story (1984) – What Christmas would be complete without the annual airing of Jean Shepherd’s hilarious stroll down Memory Lane?  I’ve seen this movie every Christmas Eve-Christmas Day for years, and it never fails to amuse.  The leg lamp, the Chinese restaurant, the kid with his tongue frozen to the pole, Ralphie in those absurd pajamas and almost shooting his eye out with his Red Ryder BB Gun – what could be better?  A Christmas classic.  4 cans.

162.  Unbroken* (2014) – There’s nothing like a movie about war and torture to see on Christmas.  Instead of our usual Christmas movie fare, my family and I selected this heavy-handed war movie that is based on the book by Laura Hillenbrand and directed by Angelina Jolie.  It is the story of Olympic runner Louis Zamperini (Jack O’Connell), who served in the Army Air Corps as a bombardier in WWII.  His rickety plane is sent on a rescue mission and crashes in the Pacific, where he and another man manage to survive in shark-infested waters for 47 days, only to be captured by the Japanese and sent to a POW camp.  There, because of his status, he is singled out by the barbaric young corporal for special attention – in the form of beatings and other torture.  The movie offers flashbacks that show how his character evolved from a kid in trouble to a strong and accomplished athlete.  The story is one of the human spirit overcoming inconceivable adversity, but, despite its length and detail, the movie fails to provide the complete story.  The end of the movie supplies text about Zamperini’s later life, but we don’t know how he was able to survive in later years after the torture he had to endure and why he ultimately was able to forgive his captors.  Instead of “Unbroken,” the title should have been “Incomplete.”  3½ cans.

163.  Somewhere in Time* (1980) – I had to suspend my usual disdain for fantasy to watch this romance about a playwright from 1979 who becomes obsessed with an actress from 1912.  At a party in the 1970s, Richard Collier (the handsome, young Christopher Reeve) is approached by an elderly woman who gives him a pocket watch and says, “Come back to me.”  He becomes obsessed with learning more about her and is determined to meet her by time traveling back to 1912.  Despite this considerable obstacle, he manages to find the woman, a young and beautiful actress named Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour), and he embarks on a relationship with her over the objections of her controlling manager (Christopher Plummer).  The beauty of the film and its leads and the magic of the story were intriguing enough for me to enjoy it, but it is impossible to watch Christopher Reeve in anything and not feel despair for the accident that disabled and ultimately killed him.  Such a handsome and winsome actor, and such a tragedy to lose him so young.  3 cans.

164.  Art and Craft* (2014) – Mark Landis is a talented artist.  He is also schizophrenic with psychotic tendencies and a whole host of other mental conditions.  Oh, one more thing: His works are copies of famous works of art, ranging from Picasso to Disney.  This documentary tells the story of Landis, one of the most prolific art forgers in history, but one who doesn’t profit from selling his work.  Instead, he poses as a philanthropist, weaving stories about liquidating his mother’s estate, or about his non-existent dead sister or other tall tales of how he came into possession of great works of art.  This continuing ruse fooled galleries all over the United States, as Landis “donated” his artwork and they gratefully accepted it and added it to their museums.  Landis is a clever guy, buying supplies on the cheap from Hobby Lobby, Walmart and Lowes, and using such simple methods as aging wood by staining it with coffee, and even going to the office supply store and photocopying works that he then painted over to show brush strokes.  But Matthew Leininger, an art registrar for a museum, is one man as obsessed as Landis when he uncovers the cycle of deceit and he is determined to build a case against Landis to make him stop.  The obvious question in this documentary is why Landis, who is clearly a very talented artist, doesn’t just create his own originals.  The depth of his mental illness probably prevents him from doing more than copying other people’s work, but he is able to book his travel, maintain his schedule, pose as a Jesuit priest and somehow survive living in a cramped apartment, where he “creates” his art while watching old movies and TV shows.  This intriguing movie casts questions on the true value of art, the ability of otherwise qualified people to recognize forgeries and execute their due diligence, while, at the same time, showing how someone lives with defined mental illness.  I found it fascinating.  4 cans.

165.  Foxcatcher* (2014) – This is my second movie in as many days about a mentally ill man with delusions of philanthropy.  An unrecognizable Steve Carell plays John DuPont, scion of the real-life DuPont family, a man who grew up in wealth and privilege but without friends and social skills.  He is a wrestling aficionado, and he builds a training facility on his estate so promising wrestlers can come and prepare for world championships.  He gets Olympic medalist Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum, all beefed up and playing the lug to perfection) to agree to live there and attract other wrestlers.  For Mark, it is a chance to get out from under the shadow of his big brother, David (Mark Ruffalo), a fellow Olympian, and be his own man.  Though Mark and John grew up under entirely different circumstances, they are both lonely and focused on wrestling.  But for John, who aspires to be a leader, a coach, a mentor and an incredibly generous supporter, wrestling becomes an obsession that ultimately leads to a falling out with Mark.  Can he go on and win another Olympic Gold Medal?  Can he possibly lose 12 pounds in 90 minutes?  Carell is outfitted with the biggest nose this side of Jimmy Durante, a proboscis so large he walks with his head back, as if holding his head normally would propel him forward.  He gives a serious, credible performance as the strange and sick DuPont.  Tatum and Ruffalo earn their gold as well.  This isn’t a fun movie to watch, and I remembered reading about the real-life events on which it is based, but it is delivered with bone-crushing realism.  3½ cans.

166.  Prayer for a Perfect Season* (Not sure of year) – If you know anything about sports in New Jersey, then you have probably heard of the high school basketball rivalries that produced America’s best teams – Paterson Catholic, St. Benedict’s, St. Anthony’s and the focus of this documentary, St. Patrick’s.  All Catholic schools have suffered financially in recent years, and many of them, including Paterson Catholic and St. Pat’s, have closed.  This film follows the 2010-11 season of powerhouse St. Patrick’s, led by intense coach Kevin Boyle.  The kids he and his rivals coach graduate from high school and many earn scholarships to notable colleges.  A number have gone on to play professionally.  While the schools often don’t have gyms large enough for the crowds to attend games (so they play at other facilities), and while they are constantly under the threat of closing, they somehow manage to tote a bunch of basketball players and coaches around the country seeking to prove their mettle against nationally-ranked opponents.  Although I don’t expect anyone reading this review to actually seek out this movie, I’ll keep the end to myself, but I will reveal one post-script:  Boyle ended up leaving St. Pat’s for a very lucrative deal with first-rate facilities in Florida, coaching at a private school where he can recruit players on a national basis, and where he probably has more control that he would have at many colleges.  He’s a tough guy working under tough conditions in this movie, but his young charges at St. Pat’s had even more to overcome with economic and family hardships.  To me, if a kid can be pushed to excel and get an education, that’s a winning season.  3 cans.

167.  Wild* (2014) –Let me get this straight: You’re telling me that the road to redemption from alcohol abuse, heroin use and promiscuity is to take a 1000 mile hike through treacherous terrain with a backpack that weighs as much as you do?  If I didn’t know that this movie was based on Cheryl Strayed’s true story, I would never have believed it.  An inexperienced hiker, Strayed doesn’t even check her equipment or read the directions before setting out on this journey.  She even carries books to read along the way.  She has little money and walks alone, occasionally encountering friendly fellow hikers but also a few scary people, snakes and animals on her journey to self-fulfillment.  I knew this movie was not going to be a good choice when they flashed “Day 5” on the screen and my companion asked, “How many days is this trip?”  Much of the story is told through flashbacks, as Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) recalls her loving mother (Laura Dern) and the hardships they endured as a family before her mother’s young death from cancer.  That loss sent her over the edge, into self-destructive behavior, and she determined that walking alone in ill-fitting hiking boots would save her.  Witherspoon’s massive blue eyes are so big that she could have starred in “Big Eyes,” the movie about the artist that painted those creepy, big-eyed girls.  Though Reese will get an Oscar nomination for her stoic portrayal of a woman wearing no make-up, that alone wasn’t enough to make me like this movie.  It’s safe to say I wasn’t wild about “Wild.”  3 cans of dried food that you have to heat with a stove you don’t know how to work.

168.  Mister Roberts (1955) – This was my third WWII-related movie this month, but this one is by far the best.  Mr. Roberts is the cargo officer aboard a ship in the Pacific at the end of the war.  He is beloved by the loyal crew because he stands up for them against the tyrannical captain (James Cagney).  But Mr. Roberts longs to get into the action and not stay stuck on a ship going nowhere.  The interplay of the men, the lunacy of Ensign Pulver (Jack Lemmon) and the sheer boredom they all must endure demonstrate that war IS hell.  I modeled my management style after Mr. Roberts, who wanted the men to do the job well and be rewarded for their efforts.  I love this movie so much that I decided to end the year with it.  If you haven’t seen it, find time in 2015 to enjoy it.  4½ cans.