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SAINT RALPH (Canada)

Funny, sweet, inspirational. One of those rare “feel good movies.” “A triumph!” said another critic, and I totally agree. People who saw it in theaters applauded. A skinny misfit 14-year-old boy at a Catholic school (his soldier father was killed before the movie begins) gets into every innocently sinful (and funny) mischief possible. Then he tries to get on God's good side by winning the Boston Marathon. He thinks it would be a miracle if he won, and he needs a miracle that will bring his gravely ill mother out of a coma. Along the way he has a war with the school’s headmaster priest who objects to him running, and tries his darndest to get a kiss from a reluctant classmate who wants to become a nun. Wonderfully written and directed by new Canadian filmmaker Michael McGowan. Very winning Adam Butcher plays Ralph to perfection, assisted by Campbell Scott as a priest who befriends him, and Gordon Pinsent as the obstacle-putting headmaster. The music is beautiful, by the way, from Gord Downie. Made by Alliance Atlantis Communications and Amaze Film and Television, released by Samuel Goldwyn Films and Sony Pictures.

Max’s rating: Two paws up and lots of tail wags.

MARCH OF THE PENGUINS (France)

A fantastic documentary following the incredible journey of Emperor Penguins in the Antarctic from birthing place to breeding ground. That may not sound very exciting, but it sure is. An amazing adventure from director Luc Jacquet. In accompanying documentaries, cinematographer Jerome Maison tells how this extraordinary nature movie was researched and filmed, and National Geographic shows a penguin with a camera strapped on its back to take us into its underwater world. From Warner Home Video.

Max’s rating: Two paws up and lots of “Woo woos!” (hoping I don’t scare the little feathered darlings in white tie and tails.)

Best Picks of 2005

I don’t include the classics released last year on DVD such as GONE WITH THE WIND, THE WIZARD OF OZ, the 1937 version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and the collections by Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, Gary Cooper, Greta Garbo, etc., but they sure are great to see in restored picture and sound. It’s no accident that most of the best picks I chose are foreign films, from England, Canada, Europe, and Mexico. U.S. filmmakers may be able to make such wonderful films, but they just don’t. I suspect it’s mainly because they think only teenagers go to the movies or buy DVDs. I think there is a big audience for quality movies in the United States, if Hollywood would only make them, as they did a few decades ago. My new favorites are not in any order. They are all terrific -- worthy of your viewing and my highest rating of two paws up, tail wags, and “Woo woooos!”

PERFECT STRANGERS (Great Britain)
Brilliant British playwright Stephen Poliakoff scores big in this fascinating story that aired on British television in 2001. Michael Gambon, one of the finest actors in movies today, stars as the slightly kooky head of a family in a role that won him the British TV Best Actor award. Incredibly talented and beautiful Lindsay Duncan co-stars as a loving surrogate mother to three beautiful children whose lives are adversely changed by a tragedy that befalls one of them. Handsome young newcomer Matthew Macfadyen (now playing Heathcliff in the new PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) more than holds his own as Gambon’s impressionable son who is eager to fall in love and also to solve some very puzzling family mysteries. It all takes place on a weekend family reunion in London during which members who may not know each other discover secrets of their and each other’s past. It’s totally original, engrossing, enormously entertaining with clever dialog and characters who always keep our interest. The only problem is, neither a DVD nor a video is available of this exceptional film in the United States. My master searched Google and got a DVD of it from a London online store. The two discs are in Region 2 DVD which can only be played on a U.S. DVD player that will convert the signal. Such a player is the Philips DVP642 DVD player, which my master recently bought. It sells for only about $50 at U.S. stores or online, and it plays DVDs from anywhere in the world. It’s well worth buying, just to see PERFECT STRANGERS, but it also will open up for you a world of wonderful foreign movies on DVD that are not available in this country. Also known as ALMOST STRANGERS, from BBC Worldwide Ltd.

HEIMAT (Germany)
More than just a movie, it is an experience. HEIMAT: A CHRONICLE OF GERMANY is the 15-hour saga of a family in the fictional village of Schabbach from 1919 to 1982. Like the rest of the German people after World War I, the Simon family struggles with postwar poverty and the rise and fall of Nazism and World War II. Edgar Reitz’s monumental 1984 film has been likened to the American family saga, ROOTS, but it is its own masterpiece. My master saw HEIMAT on the Bravo cable channel about 20 years ago and can hardly believe how great it is to see it again, this time in a beautiful digitally restored 6-disc DVD edition. If you only see one movie this month or the rest of the year, see this one. It will remain with you forever. From Facets Video.

 

THE TALES OF HOFFMANN (Great Britain)
My master said he was at Michigan State University in 1954 when he saw this 1951 movie based on the Jacques Offenbach opera, and it blew him away because it was so beautiful a musical and visual experience. Robert Rounseville plays the poet Hoffmann who falls in love with three disparate women, one after the other: a flirtatious ballerina (Moira Shearer), a gorgeous but deadly courtesan (Ludmilla Tcherina), and a consumptive opera singer (Ann Ayars). Made by British film geniuses Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger right after their acclaimed THE RED SHOES, this more than holds its own against that ballet classic. The new DVD restoration is as fantastic as the opera’s glorious music, with the London Philharmonic conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, and its lush sets and costumes. From The Criterian Collection.

 

LADIES IN LAVENDER (Great Britain)
Two of Britain’s top actresses, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, team up in a gem of a heartwarming comedy-drama written and directed by the very talented actor, Charles Dance (JEWEL IN THE CROWN). The ladies play sisters who find a handsome young Polish man washed ashore at their coastal beach home in pre-World War II England. Nursing him back to health evokes maternal instincts in Smith, while Dench experiences a longing for a life not lived. Very talented new German actor Daniel Bruhl is the young man with a gift for playing the violin which actually is in the hands of wonderful Joshua Bell playing some very beautiful classical music on the soundtrack. “An unexpected joy!,” said critic Rex Reed. “Touching… a warm and literate film with charm, sweetness, and class.” Who could expect less from Dench, Smith, and Dance? From Sony Pictures.

 

 

MOTORCYCLE DIARIES (Mexico)
It’s no pun to say you’ll be moved by this unique and acclaimed Mexican movie about a life-changing motorcycle odyssey. It is the real-life eight-month, 8,000-mile journey on worn-out bike and tired foot through Latin America of Argentinean Ernesto “Che” Guevara with his fellow med student friend in 1952 that changed Che’s passion from becoming a doctor to a legendary social revolutionist. Mexico’s exciting young actor, Gael Garcia Bernal, lives the part of Che, projecting a caring for socially and politically victimized peasants of the Latin Americas while lightening the load with charm, warmth, and good humor. If you see only one movie this month, make it this one. “One of the great films of this, or any year,” says critic Jeffrey Lyons, and he got that right. From Universal.

THE RETURN (Russia)
A terrific film from Russia that has deservedly won international acclaim. Two young brothers wonder why their father suddenly returns to them and their mother after being mysteriously away for seven years. The movie follows the boys’ fishing trip with their returned father, but to tell more would be to spoil the mystery and discovery for you. The boy actors are amazing, especially the youngest, Ivan Dobronarov. Watching him trying to understand why his father left and then returned is great drama. In Russian with English subtitles. From Ren Film, released in the U.S. by Kino International Corp.

 

 

EDGES OF THE LORD (Poland)
The Warsaw parents of a 12-year-old Jewish boy send him to live with Catholic peasant farmers in a remote village, hoping he can escape the Nazis during World War II. Haley Joel Osment plays the boy well, but a Polish boy his same age, played by Liam Hess, steals the show from him in an incredible performance. Willem Dafoe plays a village priest who knows the newcomer’s secret and helps him to become a nominal Catholic in public through what you learn are the “edges” of the Lord. The movie was never released in the U.S. because distributors didn’t think it had commercial possibilities. Movies of this stature rarely show at the malls, which is why I believe American moviegoers are stuck in a “smut and stupid” rut. From Canal+, the DVD is distributed in the U.S. by NuImage.

 

 

ZELARY (Czech Republic)
Also set during World War II, this film is about a woman resistance fighter in Prague who hides from the Nazis by becoming the wife of a peasant in Zelary, a remote village. There is romance in how the woman, at first a reluctant bride, comes to return the love of the husband who agrees to marry her in order to save her life and give her sanctuary. Besides a strong story, the Czech scenery is gorgeous. From Wellspring.

 

 

 

LIAM (Great Britain)
Liam is a boy living during the Great Depression in Liverpool in the 1930s. The British film tells what happens to a middle-class family when the father loses his job and falls under the influence of fascists. It is very atmospheric, recreating those times, and be warned that a tragedy in the family creates violence that comes as a shock. But still I highly recommend it as an excellent movie. A nude scene makes me unfortunately only recommend the movie for adults, but it is essential to the story. From Lions Gate Films.

BEING JULIA (United States)
A thoroughly delightful movie. I would have given the best actress Oscar to Annette Benning for her multi-layered performance as a stage star in 1920s London who has it all but is unhappy with it, so she puts her marriage to Jeremy Irons on hold and takes up with a handsome years-younger American. Her friends think her pretty toy boy is probably a gold-digger, but we’re not totally sure. Based on a novel by master story-teller Somerset Maugham, it keeps you guessing about everything and, despite some high drama, it ends happily and hilariously. From Sony Pictures Classics.

 

In Good Company (United States)
A rare movie about corporate greed and power and their effects on employees. Dennis Quaid is outstanding as a family man and top sales rep for a sports magazine which is taken over by a mega corporation. He has to train a much younger man with no experience who is given his job. Topher Grace is hard to like as the job usurper, but he does a very good job in the role. I won’t tell how it all ends, but it’s a story worth following. See if you don’t recognize yourself or someone you know in any number of the corporate jobs that fly out the window because of mergers and acquisitions that result in downsizing, a condition more commonly known as “You’re fired!” From Universal Studios. Some reviewers didn’t like the ending, but my master and I did.

 

 

KEYS TO THE HOUSE (Italy)
I stand up on my hind legs and cheer for this Italian movie, and think you will too. I picked it off a DVD rental store by chance and discovered not only one of the best movies of the year, but two of the best performances. Kim Rossi-Stuart, a new star discovery, plays a man whose wife dies in giving birth to an autistic son. Kim can’t cope, so he lets his brother and sister-in-law raise his boy. When his son is 15, Kim decides he wants to see him, to test the waters as to whether he could bear to have the boy in his life. I won’t tell more, except that Kim reminds my master of a young Montgomery Clift, in being that handsome and also in the sensitivity he brings to a difficult role. Andrea Rossi plays the boy to such perfection, you’d think he really was autistic. Look out, Dustin Hoffman, Rossi did it even better than you did in RAIN MAN and he’s a lot younger. The film won prizes at the Venice Film Festival and was Italy’s official selection for best foreign film in last year’s Oscars. It should have won. See this one. It will move you like no Hollywood movie has in years. In Italian with English subtitles (don’t let that turn you off) from Lions Gate.

 

 

RIPPING YARNS (Great Britain)
Every British schoolboy grew up reading derring-do adventure stories about Brits who did brave deeds in the four corners of the world. Two of the Monty Python comic geniuses, Michael Palin and Terry Jones, spoofed the stories in a laugh-a-minute television series they co-wrote called RIPPING YARNS. Now it’s on DVD in a two-disc boxed set containing nine half-hour comedies. Palin stars in each episode, with Jones supporting in several, and fellow Pythons John Cleese and Eric Idle in cameo appearances. “Tomkinson’s Schooldays,” about the proverbial private school and its resident bully; “Murder at Moorstones Manor,” and “Across the Andes by Frog” are some of my favorites, but you’ll have more, I’m sure. Jolly good show, this set, from Acorn Media.

 

 

THE DUCHESS OF DUKE STREET (Great Britain)
Gemma Jones stars as Louisa Leyton who, through hard work and culinary magic, realizes a dream of rising out of the servant class to become the finest cook in 1890s-1900s London and own her own hotel with the best restaurant in England. The Masterpiece Theater series was a sensation on PBS Television in 1976 and Season One is finally on DVD in a beautifully restored 5-disc boxed set. The other seasons are to follow. Based on the true story of Rosa Lewis who became owner of the esteemed Cavendish Hotel, the first season takes us through 781 minutes of romance and intrigue in the Edwardian era. The TV series was created by John Hawkesworth of UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS, and among the co-stars is Christopher Cazenove as Louisa’s main love interest. This is story-telling at its finest, beautifully recreating a period in costume, sets, cars, etc. From Time-Life and Acorn Media.

CRUTCH (United States)
A 15-year-old boy’s mother is a suicidal alcoholic, his father gives up and leaves home, his older brother and sister drop out of the dysfunctional family, and he tries to cope at home. At school, his handsome young male drama coach turns on to him and makes him wonder about his identity when he’s too young to handle it. Rob Moretti shows and tells all in his autobiographical first movie as writer, director, co-producer, and editor, and also stars as the coach who made him confront his sexuality while also introducing him to drugs. Orson Welles couldn’t have tackled a more complex and challenging project, but independent American filmmaker Moretti boldly goes where very few Hollywood types would dare. It is the most “European” American movie I’ve seen in years, in that it bravely tackles relationships with a very raw edge. Not a pretty movie, not a “feel-good” movie, sometimes a roller-coaster ride of emotions, but a very good, honest, and important yet barely known film. Eben Gordon plays Moretti as a teenager in a very effective performance. The New York Times called it “A nicely structured drama… a note of real anguish.” A very brave film worth seeing, from Ardustry.

FOYLE’S WAR (Great Britain)
Quite a few British television series were among my favorites on DVD last year, but this was my very favorite. You can easily become addicted to this superior series of World War II mysteries set in England and written by Anthony Horowitz who scripted the POIROT and MIDSOMER MURDERS BBC television series. Set three released on DVD last fall continues the tradition starring Michael Kitchen as the veteran detective who delves into mysteries on the home front in southern England as the war rages over Europe. “For mystery fans, Foyle is a must-see,” says the Houston Chronicle, and we agree heartily. >From Acorn Media.

 

DOGGY DAY CARE (United States)
Last but not least, I may be a bit prejudiced, but one of my favorite DVDs of last year is this one-hour disc to keep me, and other dogs, entertained, relaxed, and happy while we’re home alone. I went bonkers like a cat at night in its crazy hour when my master first played this on his big-screen home theater set-up in the living room. I saw dogs I’d never seen before, not even at the park where I play with a dozen of them every Sunday morning. They were running and rassling and barking and having a great time in the woods, on the beach, and up mountain roads. I felt like I had a vacation without leaving the house. And all the profits from sale of the disc goes to animal charities, to help less fortunate animals. It makes a great Christmas gift for any dog in your life. From Big Imagination Group and the web site www.doggydaycareDVD.com

The column has run long this time, so I will skip a tribute to a supporting actor this month and try to do two for February.

 

Bones To Pick

 

 

Two of my least favorite movies on DVD last year were THE WAR OF THE WORLDS and THE POLAR EXPRESS. The former was just two interminable hours of mindless, senseless violence, and the latter was a dark, dreary, over-wrought and wrong-spirited hymn to the commercialism of Christmas. Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks, and Chris Van Allsburg, you ought to make movies like my best picks from 2005. You could still make tons of money, which apparently is your main reason for making movies, but also get what Rodney Dangerfield said he always wanted: a little respect.

I bet you didn't know, but besides reviewing movies, I sing opera. Click here to see and hear me rehearsing the Barcarolle from "Tales of Hoffman."

Maybe you would like to visit my master's web site with highlights of his huge collection of old movie magazines, Bijou Follies
Two more web sites I recommend are: Errol Flynn and Jeffrey Hunter