How far would you go to protect a secret?

Starring: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Bruno Ganz, Alexandria Maria Lara, Lena Olin, Vijessna Ferkic, Karoline Herfurth

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ - great

"We're changing the order we do things. Read to me first, kid. Then we make love." - Hanna Schmitz

Why watch this? There are always complexities around affairs with strangers. This one is a doozie.

Plot Summary: In 1958, a 15-year-old German lad, Michael, meets a much older tram operator, Hanna. They soon become lovers and Hanna incorporates sessions where he reads his school books to her. This steamy affair is abruptly ended when Hanna leaves town due to a work promotion. Michael takes it hard, but eventually enrolls at Heidelberg University School of Law. As part of class, he attends a trial of several former Nazi SS guards for the murder of Jewish women and children locked in a burning church near Kraków, Poland.

Mirage Enterprises/Neunte Babelsberg Film;
The Weinstein Company

The thrill spectacle of the year!

Starring: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders, Albert Bassermann, Robert Benchley, Edmund Gwenn, Eduardo Ciannelli, Harry Davenport, Martin Kosleck, Ian Wolfe

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ - great

"I don't want any more economists, sages, or oracles bombinating over our cables. I want a reporter! Somebody who doesn't know the difference between an -ism and a kangaroo. A good, honest crime reporter." – Mr. Powers

Why watch this? This fast-moving, conspiracy-laden thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat!

Plot Summary: On the eve of World War II, an American crime reporter, John Jones, is sent to Europe to interview a Dutch diplomat, Van Meer, about the probability of war. At an event, he also falls for Carol, the intelligent and witty daughter of Mr. Fisher, spokesman for the Universal Peace Party. Jones gets a brief conversation with the pleasant Van Meer, only to later witnesses the man's assassination. Jones chases the culprit through Holland, tracking him to a massive windmill in the Dutch countryside.

Walter Wanger Productions; United Artists

The Book the World Could Not Lay Down is Now a Motion Picture

Starring: Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Oskar Werner, Georege Voskovec, Rupert Davies, Cyril Cusack, Peter van Eyck, Michael Hordern

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"What the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They're not! They're just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me: little men, drunkards, hen-pecked husbands, civil servants playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives." - Alec Leamas

Why watch this? There is always something smoldering deep within Richard Burton.

Plot Summary: Disillusioned British agent Alec Leamas is tasked with posing as a defector to East Germany. His mission involves spreading false information about a high-ranking East German intelligence officer, making him appear to be a double agent. As Leamas becomes embroiled in a web of plots and counterplots, the lines between friend and foe become increasingly blurred.

Salem Films Limited; Paramount Pictures

The year is 1766... The hunt for a killer has begun

Starring: Samuel Le Bihan, Vincent Cassel, Émilie Dequenne, Monica Bellucci, Mark Dacascos, Jérémie Renier, Jean Yanne, Édith Scob

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"Lies appear true when dressed in Latin." - Gregoire De Fronsac

Why watch this? It's a wonderfully dark French take on the werewolf legend.

Plot Summary: In 18th-century France, a military officer and his Iroquois companion investigate a series of brutal killings attributed to a mysterious beast in the province of Gévaudan. As they investigate, they discover that the creature is no ordinary animal and a larger conspiracy may be at play.

StudioCanal, Davis Films, Eskwad;
Metropolitan Filmexport

Houston, we have a problem.

Starring: Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan, Chris Ellis, Joe Spano, Marc McClure, Xander Berkeley

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"We've never lost an American in space, we're sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch! Failure is not an option." - Gene Kranz

Why watch this? It's important history, and so well done. I love that combo.

Plot Summary: Astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert facing a severe crisis when their spacecraft is crippled by an explosion en route to the moon. This incident forces NASA's mission control to abort the scheduled moon landing and work tirelessly to bring the crew back home. Faced with dwindling resources and technical challenges, the astronauts and the ground crew must rely on their ingenuity and teamwork to overcome the perilous situation and ensure their survival.

Imagine Entertainment; Universal Pictures

American Hustle (2013), Director: David O. Russell, rated R for language and sexual content

Everyone Hustles To Survive

Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K., Jack Huston, Michael Peña, Shea Whigham, Alessandro Nivola, Robert De Niro

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"She was the Picasso of passive-aggressive karate. She was better than any con artist I ever met, including myself, and she had me like nobody had me." – Irving Rosenfeld, narrating

Why watch this? A great plot and an incredible cast doing their best.

Plot Summary: A con artist and his seductive partner are forced by an ambitious FBI agent to participate in a sprawling and dangerous sting operation to catch corrupt schemers and politicians. As the plan to expose the fraudsters, power brokers, and Mafia gets more complicated, the con artist's unpredictable wife threatens to unravel everything. The film details the volatile alliances and shifting loyalties that arise as everyone tries to hustle their way to the top.

Columbia Pics, Atlas Ent., Annapurna Pics;
Sony Pictures Releasing

You get tough. You get tender. You get close to each other. Maybe you even get close to the truth.

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, John Hillerman, Darrell Zwerling, Diane Ladd, Roy Jenson

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"Let me explain something to you, Walsh. This business requires a certain amount of finesse" – Jake Gittes

Why watch this? Nicholson and Dunaway excel in this homage to noir film.

Plot Summary: In 1937 Los Angeles, a private investigator, Jake Gittes who specializes in divorce cases, is hired to expose an adulterer. His investigation into the affair of a prominent water engineer uncovers a web of deception, corruption, and ultimately, murder. He finds himself entangled in a vast conspiracy involving the city's water supply and the powerful figures manipulating it for their own gain.

Long Road Prod., Robert Evans Co.;
Paramount Pictures

The classic story of power and the press.

Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Everett Sloane, William Alland, Paul Stewart

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"You don't care about anything except you. You just want to persuade people that you love 'em so much that they ought to love you back. Only you want love on your own terms. Something to be played your way, according to your rules." - Jedediah Leland

Why watch this? This is Rags-to-Riches 101. Charles Foster Kane. Rosebud.

Plot Summary: Following the death of a publishing tycoon, a reporter investigates his life by interviewing former associates to discover the meaning behind his enigmatic last word, "Rosebud." Through a series of flashbacks, the film reveals the rise and fall of a complex man whose ambition and wealth created a massive empire but resulted in personal isolation. The investigation paints a portrait of a narcissistic yet lonely man, ultimately questioning whether his power and possessions could ever compensate for what he lost in his youth.

Orson Wells, Mercury Prod.; RKO Radio Pics

In wartime, the first casualty is always truth.

Starring: Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips, Michael Moriarty, Matt Damon, Scott Glenn, Sean Astin

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"Don't get in my crosshairs, because I'll have no compunction whatsoever about getting up to my neck in yo' ass. Do you understand me?" – Lt. Col. Nate Serling

Why watch this? A lot happens in war and it's not all heroic.

Plot Summary: A guilt-ridden US Army officer in the aftermath of Desert Storm is tasked with investigating a deceased officer's potential Medal of Honor nomination. As he interviews those who served with her, he uncovers conflicting accounts of the critical mission. The investigation becomes a journey to discover the truth, both about her actions and his own past.
 

Dad's Preview: This complex film covers a lot of topics: military justice, toxic masculinity, drug abuse, the toll war takes on survivors, friendly fire. It benefits from a nice, tight script, and some top-notch performances by all actors involved. Ryan and Washington never disappoint, but it was Lou Diamond Phillips who surprised me the most. His intense performance, as that one guy who's always riding the edge of sane and insane - right and wrong, stays with you.

Davis Ent., Joseph M. Singer Ent., Friendly Films,
Fox 2000 Pictures; 20th Century Fox

1917 (2019), Director: Sam Mendes, rated R for violence, language, disturbing images

Time is the enemy.

Starring: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"I'm not going to wait until dusk or for fog. I'm not calling back my men only to send them out there again tomorrow, not when we've got the bastards on the run! This is their last stand." - Col. Mackenzie

Why watch this? ... to be transported there, to endure it, and gain an appreciation.

Plot Summary: In April 1917, on World War I's Western Front, two young British soldiers, Schofield and Blake, receive a seemingly impossible mission. They must cross enemy territory to deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers, including Blake's brother. Time is of the essence, and they face great danger across No Man's Land in their race to save 1,600 lives.

DreamWorks Pics, Reliance Ent., New Republic Pics,
Mogambo; Universal Pictures

Who, in the name of God, is getting away with murder?

Starring: Sean Connery, F. Murray Abraham, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., Christian Slater, Ron Perlman

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"Laughter kills fear, and without fear there can be no faith because without fear of the Devil, there is no more need of God." - Jorge de Burgos

Why watch this? Sean Connery plays a crime-solving Franciscan friar... what's not to like?

Plot Summary: In the year 1327, Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and his novice Adso of Melk arrive at a remote Benedictine abbey in Northern Italy. They are there to attend an important theological conference, but their mission is overshadowed by a mysterious death that has occurred within the abbey walls. William, known for his deductive abilities, is asked to investigate a series of deaths that plague the abbey, navigating the secrets within its walls, including a forbidden library, which becomes central to the unfolding mystery. As William delves deeper into the investigation, he confronts institutional authority and a shadowy conspiracy within.

ZDF, France 3 Cinema, RAI, Neue Constantin Film,
Les Films De Ariane, Acteurs Auteurs Associes,
Christaldi Film, Nelson Ent.; Columbia Pictures

A Super Thriller!

Starring: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Walter Brennan, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Dean Jagger, John Ericson

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"I think somethin' kind of bad happened here, somethin' I can't quite seem to find the handle to." – John J. Macreedy

Why watch this? With a sparse desert backdrop, this is one tense film, a real nail-bitter.

Plot Summary: A stranger arrives in the small, hostile desert town of Black Rock, searching for a Japanese-American farmer. The townspeople are suspicious and want to keep a secret hidden, creating a dangerous situation for the stranger. As the stranger investigates, the hostility escalates into a fight for survival against the town and its leader.

Dore Schary; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Everything is suspect... everyone is for sale... and nothing is what it seems.

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, David Strathairn, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"If we're going to figure this out, we need to work together." - Ed Exley

Why watch this? This neo-noir crime film is as gritty as sandpaper.

Plot Summary: In 1950s Los Angeles, three LAPD detectives, each with their own contrasting methods and motivations, find their paths intertwined while investigating a brutal mass murder at an all-night coffee shop. As they delve deeper into the seemingly open-and-shut case, they uncover a shadowy world of police corruption, Hollywood glamour, and organized crime. Ultimately, the officers are forced to confront their own moral compasses and navigate the labyrinthine underbelly of the city to uncover the truth.

Regency Ent., The Wolper Org.;
Warner Bros.

If you come in five minutes after this picture begins, you won't know what it's all about!
When you've seen it all, you'll swear there's never been anything like it!

Starring: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury, James Gregory, Henry Silva, Leslie Parrish, John McGiver, Khigh Dheigh, James Edwards, Douglas Henderson, Albert Paulsen, Barry Kelley, Lloyd Corrigan, Madame Spivy, Reggie Nalder

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"I told them to build me an assassin. I wanted a killer from a world filled with killers and they chose you because they thought it would bind me closer to them." – Mrs. Iselin

Why watch this? This Frankenheimer thriller was certainly ahead of its time. I genuinely left me disturbed.

Plot Summary: The film opens in the Korean War with the capture of U.S. soldiers by Soviet/Chinese forces. Three days later the men return and are eventually sent back home. For their service, Sergeant Raymond Shaw receives the Medal of Honor, thanks to Captain Ben Marco's recommendation. Marco, and many of the men involved, however, are having horrible nightmares. In Marco's fever dreams he witnesses Shaw murder two fellow soldiers in front of communist military leaders. He convinces his superior office that something happened in Korea akin to brainwashing, and he feels that Shaw may be compromised.

M. C. Productions; United Artists

What is the cost of lies?

Starring: Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Adam Nagaitis, Emily Watson, Paul Ritter, Robert Emms, Sam Troughton, Karl Davies, Michael Socha

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ - perfect

"The truth doesn't care about our needs or wants, it doesn't care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait for all time. And this, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl. Where I once would fear the cost of truth, now I only ask: What is the cost of lies?" - Valery Legasov

Why watch this? This incredible mini-series realistically explores one of the world's most terrifying disasters.

Plot Summary: Initially, the story details the event itself, and the aftermath, as clean-up crews quickly descend upon the smoldering reactor. Workers and civilians are immediately exposed to lethal doses of radiation. It's gut-wrenching. The Soviet government sends in renown chemist, Valery Legasov, and deputy chairman, Boris Shcherbina, to assess (and deal with) the situation. This historically-accurate accounting leads to the final episode that explains exactly what caused the explosion and immediate meltdown.

Sky UK, Sister Pictures, The Mighty Mint,
Word Games; HBO

LYNCH LAW RULES THE MOB!

Starring: Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan, Frank Conroy, Anthony Quinn, William Eythe, Jane Darwell, Matt Briggs

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ - perfect

"You don't even care whether you've got the right men or not. All you know is you've lost something and somebody's got to be punished." - Donald Martin

Why watch this? This is a twist on the old West's posse - what if they catch the wrong people?

Plot Summary: In a small Western town, news arrives that a local rancher has been murdered and his cattle stolen. With the sheriff out of town, a posse forms to track down the perpetrators. When the posse finds three men with cattle bearing the rancher's brand, a heated debate ensues about whether to administer immediate justice or wait for the sheriff and a formal trial.

Lamar Trotti; 20th Century Fox

All the President's Men (1976), Director: Alan J. Pakula, rated PG

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein are about to ask you a few questions.

Starring: Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook , Jason Robarbs, Ned Beatty

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ - perfect

"It leads everywhere. Get out your notebook. There's more." - Deep Throat

Why watch this? This explains Watergate in a very interesting and suspenseful manner.

Plot Summary: Two reporters from the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, are assigned to what initially seems like a minor break-in at the Democratic Party Headquarters in the Watergate complex. As they investigate, they uncover a much larger political conspiracy, tracing the trail of illegal activity higher and higher within the Nixon administration, despite obstacles and threats to their safety. Their persistent investigative journalism ultimately aims to reveal the truth about the Watergate scandal and its connections to those in power.

Wildwood Enterprises; Warner Bros.

It's his most nerve-stretching thriller!

Starring: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Joan Chandler, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Constance Collier, Kenneth Lawrence, Edith Evanson

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ - perfect

DML Top 100 #94 - Dad's Full (Spoiler) Review and Deep Dive of Rope

"I've always wished for more artistic talent. Well, murder can be an art, too. The power to kill can be just as satisfying as the power to create." - Brandon Shaw

Why watch this? This is my favorite Hitchcock film. It's lean and twisted.

Plot Summary: Two intellectual young men, Brandon and Phillip, murder a former classmate as an act to prove their supposed superiority. They then host a dinner party, with the victim's body hidden in a chest within the same room, serving as a macabre challenge to mental acuity. As the evening unfolds, their former professor, Rupert, becomes increasingly suspicious at their odd behavior.

Transatlantic Pictures; Warner Bros.

It explodes in the no-man's land no picture ever dared cross before!

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris, Richard Anderson, Joe Turkel, Peter Capell

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ - perfect

"I apologize, sir, for not telling you sooner that you're a degenerate, sadistic old man. And you can go to hell before I apologize to you now or ever again!" - Colonel Dax

Why watch this? ... it's a superb war film set in the trenches of the first World War.

Plot Summary: Colonel Dax, a French officer in World War I, is ordered by his superiors to lead his men in a suicidal assault on a German position known as the "Ant Hill". The mission ends in disaster and the French General, in an effort to deflect blame from himself, demands that three soldiers be court-martialed and executed for cowardice. Dax, a former lawyer, volunteers to defend his men against the blatant injustice of the proceedings.

Bryna Productions, Harris-Kubrick
Pictures Corp.; United Artists

Notorious Woman of many Desires! Fateful Fascination! Bold Intrigue!

Starring: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, Leopoldine Konstantin, Reinhold Schunzel, Moroni Olsen

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ - perfect

"Every time you look at me, I can see it running over its slogans: "Once a crook, always a crook", "Once a tramp, always a tramp". Go on. You can hold my hand. I won't blackmail you for it afterwards." – Alicia Huberman

Why watch this? The building suspense within this film is quietly palpable.

Plot Summary: U.S. agent Devlin recruits Alicia Huberman, the daughter of a convicted Nazi spy, to infiltrate a group of Nazis hiding in Rio de Janeiro. Alicia agrees, but her mission becomes complicated when she falls in love with Devlin while being tasked with seducing a prominent Nazi named Alexander Sebastian, who was previously infatuated with her. This arrangement forces her into a difficult position, testing her loyalties and potentially putting her life in danger.

Vanguard Films; RKO Radio Pictures