Twelve movies

[One to four stars. Four sentences each. No spoilers. Sources: Amazon Prime, Netflix, TCM, YouTube.]

Crazy, Stupid, Love (dir. Glenn Ficarra and John Recqua, 2011). Ovid would understand the premise: eros makes people do all sorts of things. The cast full of famous names — Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei — but nothing here amounts to very much. And plot elements that seem highly dubious in 2026 were just as dubious in 2011. A shark moves through the waters from early on, but wait for the mini-golf. ★★ (N)

*

Loose Ankles (dir. Ted Wilde, 1930). Ann, an heiress (Loretta Young, then seventeen at the most), is set to inherit a fortune, so long as she avoids scandal and marries someone of whom her priggish aunts approve. Ann isn’t having it and gets a man (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) with whom to create a scandal. Mayhem follows. Best moments: the drunken aunts in the company of two gigolos in the Circus Café. ★★★ (YT)

*

[Here’s “Loose Ankles”, by Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of Joy. Arrangement by Mary Lou Williams.]

*

The Irishman (dir. Martin Scorsese, 2019). I had avoided this movie because of its length (three and a half hours) and the use of CGI to deage the actors, but I gave in, and am happy to have done so. The real Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), who is here a Zelig-like presence in one crime scenario after another, was likely a bit player who created a grandiose past for himself, but that past makes for a compelling story. Funny and chilling, and the violence is blessedly brief. With Joe Pesci as a minor mob boss and Al Pacino as a hilariously unhinged Jimmy Hoffa. ★★★★ (N)

*

Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere (dir. Adrian Choa, 2026). Exactly what it sounds like: interviews with prominent influencers in the so-called manosphere. Their female partners are either silent or seemingly complicit; their male followers (one of whom spent time living in his car) appear sadly deluded about their own prospects for success. Theroux: “It struck me that the matrix [the influencers] rail against more accurately describes the algorithmic prison they’ve created for their followers, an illusion of wealth and power that actually only enriches a few at the top.” So many deluded men and women on display here. ★★★★ (N)

*

The Devil’s Mask (dir. Henry Levin, 1946). When I realized that we were watching a film in the I Love a Mystery series, I knew that we were in for a waste of time. The plot, concerning shrunken heads and a missing or murdered explorer/scientist, is preposterous, with nearly every character a suspect. Beautiful compositions in light and dark, reminiscent of Cat People, provide some redeeming value (the cinematographer here, Henry Freulich, is unknown to me). As a fan from childhood of Clifford Hicks’s Alvin’s Secret Code, I did like seeing a scytale carry the day. ★★ (YT)

*

Mr. Nobody Against Putin (dir. David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin, 2025). In the grim industrial town of Karabash (UNESCO calls it the most toxic place on earth), Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, videographer and events coordinator for a primary school, begins to document the transformation of curriculum and school culture as the “special military operation” against Ukraine takes shape. Teachers and students read from government-prepared scripts as Talankin documents it all for the regime and, sometimes, asks for retakes (a teacher stumbles over the Russian for “demilitarization,” and Talankin advises her to skip it and just say “denazification”). Most chilling scenes: the history teacher who speaks of his admiration for Stalin’s henchmen, and the Wagner mercenaries doing a presentation for the children about mines and weapons, followed by marching and shooting practice and grenade-throwing contests, all as former students are dying in Ukraine. Talankin is now somewhere in Europe, and the footage he was able to take out of Russia speaks an urgent message to those of us who wonder what one person might do in the face of fascism. ★★★★ (A)

*

The Booksellers (dir. D.W. Young, 2019). A documentary about the world of buying, selling, and collecting rare books. I realized at some point that the movie is structured like a bookstore: you just move from one topic (one shelf or one book) to another, but the randomness is hardly a problem; rather, it offers the joy of browsing. But there’s relatively little here about the joy of reading. One problem with watching this movie on Amazon Prime: you can’t hit Pause to the read the titles on spines without an advertisement taking over the screen (thanks, Jeff). ★★★ (A)

*

Erin Brockovich (dir. Steven Soderbergh, 2000). Nevertheless, she persisted. The title character (Julia Roberts), an unemployed woman with three children and considerable grit, talks her way into a clerical position at a law firm and ends up the prime mover in a multi-family multimillion-dollar case against rampant polluter Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The most interesting scenes are those that show American class distinctions at work: Erin facing down dowdy coworkers and a power-suited PG&E lawyer, Erin’s boss (Albert Finney) agreeing to stay around and have coffee and cake with a family that’s signed on to the complaint. The story is so inspiring that I can’t imagine anyone new to it taking it as fiction: it’s too good not to be true. ★★★★ (N)

*

Up the Down Staircase (dir. Robert Mulligan, 1967). We were reading A Tale of Two Cities, so we wanted to watch the scene in which Miss Barrett’s class engages in vigorous discussion of the best of times, the worst of times. And we ended up watching the whole movie again. Sandy Dennis shines as a rookie teacher who persists. Three of the teenagers who add a lot to the movie (and went on to appear in virtually nothing else): Lew Wallach (Lew), Ellen O’Mara (Alice), and Jose Rodriguez (Jose). ★★★★ (TCM)

[More sentences, from 2018, 2020, and 2023.]

*

The Others (dir. Alejandro Amenábar, 2001). Post-WWII, Grace (Nicole Kidman), whose husband went off to war, lives in a dark mansion on the island of Jersey with her two young photosensitive children and a newly arrived trio of housekeeper, mute maid, and gardener. One might say that there’s a ghost story just waiting to happen here. And there is, with strong overtones of The Turn of the Screw. But this story veers off in a different, even scarier direction. ★★★★ (CC)

*

We Were Strangers (dir. John Huston, 1949). Cuba, 1933, as a band of revolutionaries led by Tony Fenner (John Garfield) labor on an extravagant plot to bring down the regime of the dictator Gerardo Machado. The movie is short on suspense and long on scenes of conversation among the dirty, sweaty revolutionaries (whose plot requires the digging of a long tunnel). And there’s little chemistry between Garfield and Jennifer Jones, who plays the sister of a slain revolutionary. One unexpected element: an opportunity to see Ramon Novarro late in his career. ★★ (YT)

*

Street Girl (dir. Wesley Ruggles, 1929). A sweet pre-Code story, with homeless immigrant violinist Freddie Joyzelle (Betty Compson) finding a home with and doing housekeeping for The Four Seasons, a jazz band (Elaine immediately caught the Snow White connection). With Freddie’s help the band lands a gig in the swankiest restaurant in town. Compson is a fine comic actor and capable musician (though her playing here is dubbed); Jack Oakie (Joe Spring) and Ned Sparks (Happy Winter) are the faces I recognize among the Seasons. There’s considerable joy in the musical performances (see Jack Oakie dance!), with tunes credited to Oscar Levant and Sidney Clare, and there’s even a prince to complicate Freddie’s growing romance with Season Mike Fall (John Harron). ★★★★ (TCM)

Related reading
All OCA “twelve movies” posts (Pinboard)