A Movie You Might Have Missed #100 — Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot

The fight for kids begins now. Inspired by a powerful true story, the film follows Donna and Reverend Martin as they ignite a fire in the hearts of their rural church to embrace kids in the foster system that nobody else would take. By doing the impossible--adopting 77 children--this East Texas community proved that, with real, determined love, the battle for America's most vulnerable can be won.

If you're not Christian, you'll likely scoff at this.

If you are Christian, you're going to recognize it. It tells a story of heroic struggle and redemption. The Christian journey following Christ is shown in a way that everyone who's ever gone through hard reality will know. The whole story is powerful but Donna's narration reflecting on her journey struck deep chords with everyone in the family — even my 90-year-old atheist mother who said, "Do a lot of people know about this movie? They should!"

I tend not to like Christian movies because they have bad scripts, bad directing, bad acting, and a blunt message that hits you like a hammer. Angel Studios has been a refreshing change with high quality scripts, directing, acting and production. This is my favorite of their movies thus far.

Based on what I've said above you know who you are. You'll either love this or hate it. I loved it.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #99 — Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

A bookish classics professor makes an inauspicious debut at the hallowed halls of Brookfield School for Boys but eventually finds his feet, ultimately becoming something of an institution at the school.

Robert Donat not only ages convincingly from young adulthood into doddering old age, he persuasively synthesizes the various stages of the character’s life, from diffident, humorless newcomer to endearingly eccentric absent-minded professor, into a well-integrated total portrait.

Stephen D. Greydanus, Decent Films review

A complete surprise. I've always had the impression that this is a namby pamby, sappy story. Au contraire. 

Watching it for our 1940 Oscar winner/nominees viewing, we were surprised at the subtlety of the storytelling. Not many movies extoll the virtues of the shy person who just needs a little encouragement. Mr. Chips doesn't become exactly outgoing but he does learn to go from being lonely to being able to give just the good humored inspiration that his students need. 

Absolutely lovely and Robert Donat earned his Best Actor Oscar with his nuanced portrayal of a shy, quiet man who blooms in later life.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #98 — Freaks (1932)

I'd always avoided this movie, worried that it would be too creepy and disturbing. We recently saw the episode of Malcolm in the Middle where the kids are saved at the carnival by a group of friendly sideshow performers. My daughter mentioned that it is amazing how Freaks still resonates through popular culture. She'd seen and liked the movie long ago. With Halloween just around the corner, it was time for me to face my fears.

I'm so glad I did because this was a really amazing movie. The plot is basic. A beautiful and conniving trapeze artist named Cleopatra seduces a carnival sideshow midget after learning of his large inheritance. His friends aren't going to let him be taken advantage of. The acting skills also can be rather basic also because the sideshow freaks are all portrayed by actual carnival performers. 

However, it was the sympathetic depiction of the true humanity and community that the freaks share behind the scenes that wowed my husband and me. Todd Browning's film feels as if it was way ahead of its time in overlooking the physical disabilities and recognizing each as a person. 

Also, just seeing them performing basic skills like eating dinner was often awe-inspiring. They were just living their lives and managing remarkably well in a way that we moderns wouldn't think possible. I wasn't surprised to see that Browning had worked in a carnival before he turned to directing. Looking up the accomplishments of these performers in real life was often revelatory about their abilities and the way they were able to enjoy life.

Freaks is billed as a horror movie, and I'm sure it felt that way when it came out. However, the only time it felt like a real horror movie to us was at the end where the community banded together to protect one of their own. Now that bit was riveting and terrifying.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #97 — Warrior

Warrior relies on many of the clichés that critics of the genre love to mock -- and it transcends them with gripping action, powerful acting, and heart. — Critics' Consensus, Rotten Tomatoes

Let's face it. The poster above would never get me to watch this film. Family conflict would put it even further down the list. Yet here we are.

I'd never even heard of it until Dave VanVickle from the Every Knee Shall Bow podcast said this was his favorite film, even if he was embarrassed to admit it. Rose heard that and felt vindicated in her fondness for it. She said it's hard to believe this movie is as good as it is.

And now, here I am to say that they're both right. This definitely is a movie most everyone has missed. 

Instead of a tale of two cities, we have a tale of two brothers. With Moby Dick generously woven through the story. Each is struggling with a burden from the past. Each looks to a future where winning a mixed martial arts contest gives them what they need to get their lives back on track. It does too. Though not in the way they imagined.

Warrior has excellent acting and direction, with a story that tells you just enough but doesn't talk you to death.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #99 — Cabrini

Italian immigrant Francesca Cabrini arrives in 1889 New York City and is greeted by disease, crime, and impoverished children. Cabrini sets off on a daring mission to convince the hostile mayor to secure housing and healthcare for society’s most vulnerable. With broken English and poor health, Cabrini uses her entrepreneurial mind to build an empire of hope unlike anything the world had ever seen.

This is a great bio-pic of the sort that Hollywood used to make so well. It is gorgeously shot, well framed, and compellingly told. The real payoff is in the last of the flashbacks of her near-drowning as a child which puts a new layer of perspective on the story. 

It received positive reviews from secular and religious film critics and you can see why. My book club watched it and our discussion afterwards went in a lot of tangents because Cabrini doesn't shy away from difficult topics. It's definitely a good movie worth watching.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #96 — The Good Earth (1937)

China, during the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The arranged marriage between Wang Lung, a humble farmer, and O-Lan, a domestic slave, will endure the many hardships of life over the years; but the temptations of a fragile prosperity will endanger their love and the survival of their entire family.

Wow, Louise Ranier definitely earned her Oscar! What a performance! She was also my favorite performer in The Zigfeld Follies for which she also earned an Oscar. To be fair, everyone gave top notch performances. This is the sort of movie that doesn't usually appeal to me - long dramatic sagas of families struggling to survive, especially since I'd read the book long ago and hadn't liked it much. This sold it though. By the end I was loving it.

I've seen plenty of negative comments about the fact that 1937 movie standards meant white actors portrayed Chinese characters, which would never be done these days. However, I've learned, as I read tons of old literature, that we have to keep the cultural ideas of the past in mind instead of rushing to judge by our standards. So let's just talk about the movie as it tells the story.

As I watched I kept thinking of the intended 1937 audience and how exotic and interesting this would have been to them. In fact, despite how it seems to dismissive viewers today, I feel it probably humanized the Chinese to Americans in a very positive way. Farmers certainly would've understood this family's struggles.

This was the last of the movies we viewed for the 1938 Oscar winner and nominees. It is the movie we'd have given the Oscar to, hands down. The winner, The Life of Emile Zola, is a movie that landed at the bottom of the list no matter what else we watched.

I'm really glad we embarked on Oscar project. I've seen so many movies I'd never have known I liked otherwise. This is one.

NOTE

Here's my list of all the Oscar movies we have watched. Here are the ones we liked so much that I reviewed them here to tempt you into trying them.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #95: Masquerade

15 DAYS LOST TO HISTORY.

Though it places his own life in danger, a look-alike commoner secretly takes the place of a poisoned king to save his country from falling into chaos.

This is based on the true fact that in the eighth year of King Gwang-hae's reign his Annals contain fifteen missing days. This movie comes up with a look-alike pauper covering for the prince who has been poisoned. It's set in 17th century Korea so there are fabulous costumes and a lot of court intrigue. Most of all there is the stellar performance by Lee Byung-hun. I can see why he's one of Korea's top actors.

I always enjoy a noble impersonation story, especially The Prince and the Pauper and The Prisoner of Zenda. This is the best I've ever seen. We know all the common twists and turns but this movie keeps you in suspense even as you fall in love with the imposter more in every scene.

I wouldn't have heard of this movie except that there's a very popular television series based on it. Now I can't wait to watch it. Don't you wait to try this one. It's really something special.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #94 — A Tale of Two Cities (1935)

THE IMMORTAL STORY OF LOVE AND INTRIGUE DURING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION!

The exciting story of Dr. Manette, who escapes the horrors of the infamous Bastille prison in Paris. The action switches between London and Paris on the eve of the revolution where we witness ‘the best of times and the worst of times’ - love, hope, the uncaring French Aristocrats and the terror of a revolutionary citizen’s army intent on exacting revenge.

This was the final movie in our 1937 Oscar winner/nominees viewing. 

We saved the best for last, without realizing it. What a fantastic movie! I have to admit that my reaction is colored by the fact that I love the book. They did such an excellent job of telling the story that I am going to have to reread the book very soon.

However, my mother didn't know the story and couldn't quit talking about it, saying the next morning, "That movie simply blew me away." So it isn't just Dickens fans who liked it.

Wikipedia says: The film is generally regarded as the best cinematic version of Dickens' novel and one of the best performances of Colman's career. I believe it. I've never seen Ronald Colman in anything but he was simply terrific. With his somewhat disheveled look and his subtle acting style, he seemed very modern. They say that he was so determined to play this role that he agreed to shave off his mustache. Wise choice. 

The movie that won in 1937 was The Great Ziegfeld. Until now we were ready to call that a good choice. No longer.

This is the movie that should have won the Oscar.

A (Time-Loop Thriller) Movie You Might Have Missed 93 — Maanaadu (Public Conference)

After flying in for a friend's wedding, Khaaliq stumbles across a plot to assassinate the Chief Minister  at a political rally (public conference). When he tries to stop it, Khaaliq is killed and unexpectedly wakes up on the airplane again. This second time around he's struck by a sense of deja vu and ultimately discovers that he's in a time-loop. Each time he comes across the plot from a different angle and struggles to stop the assassination attempt. And each time he is killed which returns him to the plane.

This is a really great time-loop thriller with fantastic action scenes and an unexpected twist that ratchets up the suspense and action.

As I was explaining this genre to my mother while we were watching, she asked, "But why is it happening?" And I realized that the time-loop genre doesn't bother to explain why. It is just how things are until the person is released. I mean, we all know why just from watching the story over and over. In Groundhog Day the person must mature. In Happy Death Day, she must figure out who murders her. And so forth and so on.

Maanaadu has an actual explanation that makes sense in the world of the movie (especially, one assumes, if you are Hindu). It gives all the more resonance to the reason Khaaliq wants to solve the problem and find his way to tomorrow.

I really enjoyed the pacing. Often time-loop films drag when they repeatedly show us what is happening or changing in each iteration of the day. This movie quickly gets you up to speed — and speed is the right word — because once we've gone through two or three versions of the day, the director begins each section right at the point where it went wrong before. It doesn't take long to catch on that this is happening and it speeds us right past all the repetitive bits.

The film is self aware enough to mention many time-loop movies and we especially enjoyed when one of the characters complained, "You are confusing me more than Christopher Nolan's Tenet." That Tenet was a confusing mess has never been more universally acknowledged than when it is zinged by a Tamil film. Thank you, Venkat Prabhu!

This is available now on Amazon Prime for $2.99 and it is money well spent.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #92 — Broadway Danny Rose

This is part of our mini-festival showing my mother our favorite Woody Allen movies. As with most of this list, hardly anyone has ever seen it so I'm giving you a heads up!

Danny Rose (Woody Allen), a hopeless New York talent agent, is a tireless workhorse for his eccentric, unimpressive acts. When Rose signs has-been lounge singer Lou Canova (Nick Apollo Forte), he knows he has to go to great lengths to keep his new client, which means escorting Canova's mistress, Tina (Mia Farrow), to the singer's shows. The only problem is that her ex-boyfriend is a jealous gangster who thinks Rose is her new man and wants revenge.

We saw this screwball comedy when it came out and upon rewatching I had only the vaguest memory of the stereotypical characters. What I forgot, or hadn't noticed the first time around, was the sheer humanity exhibited by Woody Allen and Mia Farrow at the end as their characters reach crisis and must deal with it. That raised it up a star in my estimation.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #91 — Imitation of Life (1934)

A struggling widow and her daughter take in a black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter. The two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.

This was the final movie we watched  from the 1935 Oscars as we work our way through Oscar winners and selected nominees. We were all surprised at how much we liked this tale of two mothers — one black, one white — who become good friends as they struggle together against the world in raising their daughters and earning a living. It tackled issues in a manner really surprising when you consider everyday life for black Americans in 1934.

I really love the 1935 winner - It Happened One Night - but we think Imitation of Life was robbed by not winning. I was especially interested to see Claudette Colbert in her third movie nominated for an Oscar that year. She was red hot that year and her performance here was good.

However, it was Louise Beavers who really stood out. We'd seen her previously in She Done Him Wrong, the Mae West film that was nominated for the 1934 Oscars. Beavers played a stereotyped, giggling, joking maid in that one. However, here she was allowed a role that was very unusual for any black actor of the time. Most definitely she was robbed by having no Oscar nomination for her performance, most probably because she was black as newspapers at the time noted.

I especially liked the portrayal of the friendship between the two women after reading that the book from which the story was adapted was inspired by a road trip to Canada the author took with her friend, the African-American short-story writer and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston.

This is one worth watching for a lot of reasons.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #90 - Father Stu

GOD WANTED A FIGHTER. AND HE FOUND ONE.

The true-life story of boxer-turned-priest. When an injury ends his amateur boxing career, Stuart Long moves to Los Angeles to find money and fame. While scraping by as a supermarket clerk, he meets Carmen, a Sunday school teacher who seems immune to his bad-boy charm. Determined to win her over, the longtime agnostic starts going to church to impress her. However, a motorcycle accident leaves him wondering if he can use his second chance to help others, leading to the surprising realization that he’s meant to be a Catholic priest.

This is that rare find, a well done Christian movie. Usually we avoid faith based films like the plague because they are terribly schmaltzy, poorly acted and produced, and painfully obvious. We gave this a chance because we were intrigued not only by the basic story but by Mark Wahlberg's dedication to getting it produced.

It definitely is made for a specific audience which includes our family and it has the familiar beats of such a story. However, they were done in so well that it hit the mark in a big way. We were all pleasantly surprised by the high quality of acting and production which accompanied this inspiring story.

Note: some Catholics are put off by the very vulgar language. We felt it told the story of Stu's background and how far he comes. However, there is a PG-13 version where the language has been cleaned up called Father Stu Reborn.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #89 — All Through the Night

It's been 12 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed. 

This is the last of the Movies You Might Have Missed ... until I come across another one!

I can't remember where I heard of this 1942 movie but the premise was intriguing. Humphrey Bogart is a gambler with a taste for only one bakery's cheesecake. When the baker is killed, he goes hunting for the murderer and unexpectedly stumbles upon undercover Nazi saboteurs. In New York City!

This movie is both humorous and dramatic, as with To Be or Not to Be or Night Train to Munich. I liked both of those movies better but we found it entertaining. And there were a lot of genuinely amusing moments and clever dialogue. I especially liked the opening when a group of gamblers are arguing WWII battle tactics based on their experience fighting rival gangs.

It features a star-studded cast including Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt (Major Strasser in Casablanca), Judith Anderson (Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca), William Demerest, Phil Silvers, and Jackie Gleason. All seemed to be having a lot of fun playing their parts to the hilt.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #88: Grand Hotel

It's been 12 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

Grand Hotel remains a classic masterpiece as the first all-star Hollywood epic with many high-powered stars of the early 1930s. The episodic film is set at Berlin's ritzy, opulent art-deco Grand Hotel, and tells of the criss-crossing of the lives of five major guests whose fates intertwined for a two-day period at the hotel. Its ensemble cast of stars were occupants of a between-wars German hotel, all struggling with either their finances, scandals, health, emotional loneliness, or social standing in multiple storylines.

Filmsite

This is the movie where Greta Garbo's famous "I want to be alone" line originated. An all-star cast acts their hearts out in this mother of all melodramas. Continuing our journey through early Oscar winners (Best Picture, 1932) and nominees, we thoroughly enjoyed this very good movie which can hold its own against stories of today. I especially enjoyed it as a look at life, from waiting for a new baby to someone preparing to leave this mortal coil. And lots of things in-between!

I will add that we were all quite concerned about the fate of Adolphus the dachshund.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #87: Manhattan Murder Mystery

It's been 12 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

The man in the apartment down the hallway is so awfully nice. He has one of those deep, expansive voices, and a face that breaks naturally into a smile, and the kind of big, disorganized body that's somehow reassuring. Therefore, obviously, he must be hiding something. And when his wife dies of a heart attack, it cannot be as simple as that. There must be more to it. Something deep, dark and ominous.

This is the way Carol's mind works. She can't help it; she was probably raised on Nancy Drew. She drives her husband nuts. He wants her to shut up and go to sleep, but all night and all day her mind is at work, threading together facts and possibilities into an obsessive theory: This nice guy has killed his wife, and unless she does something about it, he'll get away with murder.

Roger Ebert

What follows is a screwball murder mystery investigation, Woody Allen style. It stars Allen and Diane Keaton which tells you a lot about their dynamic if you ever saw Annie Hall. They work very well as a married couple.

I haven't seen this for about 10 or 15 years. It really holds up both as a tightly-plotted mystery and an examination of comfortable, middle aged marriage. I've always liked it but this time I was laughing out loud. In fact, I laughed out loud so many times that it got kind of embarrassing.

My mother hadn't ever seen a Woody Allen film. She liked this one a lot, which led to a minor Woody Allen festival of our favorites — most of which, it turns out, are movies practically everyone missed. I have featured many of them in the Movies You Might Have Missed series already right here.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #86: Tokyo Godfathers

It's been 12 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

Here's a Christmas movie that I reviewed way back in 2004 and can practically guarantee you have missed.

This Japanese tribute to John Ford's western "3 Godfathers" is fresh and original in a way that Western animation does not even consider. It centers on three homeless people: a middle aged drag queen, an alcoholic former bicycle racer, and a teenage runaway girl. Their discovery of a baby in a trash dump sends them off to find the baby's parents. They make unlikely guardians, of course, and along the way they grow, chiefly by confronting each other and themselves about the lies they've told each other about the past. Hana, the drag queen, names the abandoned infant Grace and insists that she has been sent by God. Coincidences and miracles happen increasingly throughout and seem surprisingly Christian for a Japanese film.

The juxtaposition of humor and drama are deft and play off each other in unexpected ways. At one point Hana is dramatically describing how he will commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. We have been primed by this time to find Hana's pronouncements quietly comic. Then the viewer realizes that someone in the background is taking the exact measures that Hana describes. Both humor and drama are in play as they also realize it a beat later and rush to stop the person from jumping. We never were disappointed. Although one expects an overall happy ending the plot twists on the way were original and unexpected.

It is rated PG-13 and some of the material is not suitable for children.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #85: U Turn (2016)

It's been 12 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

Rachana, a young reporter, is dismayed at the number of illegal u-turns and resulting traffic accidents, and she wants to write a story about it. In pursuing a lead, she finds herself in the middle of a police case dealing with a series of murders. While freeing herself of false accusations, she becomes part of the investigation process. What is behind the mysterious deaths and how are they are all connected to the flyover road?

This thriller is perfect for the wind up to Halloween. One of the most shocking things about it is something that Western audiences will find inexplicable — to have the divider between opposite sides of a highway made simply of large bricks which anyone can move so they can do a U-turn anywhere they feel like it. This blew our minds.

It is the number of U-turns which the young reporter, Rachana, is investigating. Her theory is that this leads to a lot of accidents and deaths. She's right, but not in the way that she originally thinks. Strangely tied to a number of deaths, the unfolding mystery was really intriguing and well told. Keep your eyes open for the number of "U"s showing up, including the beginning where we are upside down and do a u-turn to see the road right side up. 

I can see why this movie is on so many "must see" lists. It is a great thriller and since it is Indian, it is also not too gory.

Note: a "flyover" is what we would call an overpass. That took us a little while to figure out.

Streaming on Netflix now. This is the original which is in the Kannada language. It has since been remade in three other Indian languages.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #84 — The Admiral: Roaring Currents

It's been 12 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

Based on a true story, this is the astonishing tale of a legendary battle against overwhelming odds: the embattled Koreans with 12 ships against the invading Japanese navy with 300 ships. And also of the extraordinarily talented Admiral Yi  Sun-sin who masterminded a victory. 

We'd never heard of this admiral or battle because it is from halfway around the world and long ago. It's always nice to find another fascinating story from history while you're watching a great movie. 

It was well acted, directed, and edited so that I could not only follow the naval battles but tell apart key characters who, to my unschooled eyes, were hard to tell apart because of unfamiliar uniforms. I especially liked the Admiral's son who is learning tactics and whose reactions mirror ours. The spy and his wife also were favorites of ours, especially as their importance to the battle was revealed.

Hansan: Rising Dragon  came out recently which is a prequel of another of the younger Admiral Yi's lauded battles. And a third is planned. I'm on board for all of them. 

We got the dvd from our library which had subtitles so we got the all the actors' original intonations. I understand that it originally streamed with dubbed English. It's available to rent on Amazon.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #83: The Outfit

It's been 12 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

A gripping and masterful thriller in which an expert tailor (Mark Rylance) must outwit a dangerous group of mobsters in order to survive a fateful night.

This little film is like a puzzle in a box. Every time you think you know how the pieces fit, another twist comes up to throw the viewer (and our master tailor) for a loop.

I came for Mark Rylance and he didn't disappoint. The rest of the cast were perfect at being various "types" of gangsters needed. We've seen these gangsters before but not used precisely as they are here. We've not seen the tailor anywhere before. I liked the way the characters all had more than one dimension and could be almost likable at times.

I saw this described as an old school thriller and also as an unpredictable whodunit and both descriptions were right. Definitely worth a watch.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #82 — A Taxi Driver

It's been 12 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

In 1980, a foreign journalist hires a down-on-his-luck taxi driver to take him to Gwangju, South Korea. They soon arrive to find a city under siege by student protesters and the military. A Taxi Driver brings a ground-level perspective and a refreshingly light touch to a fact-based story with sobering implications.

I'd never heard of this 2017 movie which was wildly popular in Korea and was their entry to the Oscar foreign film nominations that year. Knowing only the brief description above and having a vague memory of Korea as having military dictatorship issues in the 1980s we launched into the movie.

As with the Indian movie Airlift, we were introduced to a piece of history we had never heard of. It turns out that the taxi driver, Mr. Kim, is the perfect character through whose eyes we should view the military lockdown of Gwangju. He also had no idea of the violence being perpetrated upon the protesters and innocent civilians. Following the reporter as he follows leads to the heart of the riots, the depth of the violence and oppression gradually unfold. We get to meet other taxi drivers as they help first with repairs and then with more important things. As the story goes on,  the driver begins seeing a bigger picture than just his own interest and that everyone, however seemingly insignificant, plays a part in others' lives. 

Based on a real event, this is a combination of fact about the photographer and fiction about the driver.  Kim's identity was unknown when the film was made so his story is fictional aside from his time with the photographer. Nevertheless, it is very effective and provides both a much needed lighter approach and "everyman" view which takes the audience along.

I came away grateful for good reporters determined to get the truth to the people. I also thought of the war reporters who have been dying in Ukraine. And I was reminded of how desperate the Ukranians' plight is, even as they fight with all they have. Those trends were personified in this movie.

As I mentioned, this reminded me of both Airlift and also of Argo. Fans of those movies will not be disappointed.