Judge, Juror #2, and Executioner

Following in the vein of other epic adventure tales of the past, like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Lawrence of Arabia, ‘Aguirre, the Wrath of God’ and Apocalypse Now, writer/director James Gray’s adaptation of David Grann’s The Lost City of Z is a dangerously grand journey into the mysterious jungles of the Amazon. The 2017 feature is based on real life British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) – an Indiana Jones type, who, at the start of the narrative, is a military man with low standing due to his father’s previous actions (despite the fact Percy never met him). Looked down upon by the wealthy upperclassmen of the military, he is sent to the Royal Geography Society, where they try to persuade him to survey the border lines between Bolivia and Brazil (as the ever more desirable rubber plantations are leading towards war – the two governments have accepted the British institutions offer to do the job). Though wary, the Society members hint that this could be the perfect way to restore his good name, and Percy decides to take the position.

Though today, The Hollywood Ten sounds like a modern take on a superhero movie, for those who know the film history, it has a much darker meaning. Referencing the ten filmmakers who were subpoenaed for being possible Communist dissidents, thought to be subverting the hearts and minds of the American people, they refused to answer questions directly. Focussing on one of the ten, 2015's Trumbo follows the famed screenwriter through the trials and tribulations of this tumultuous time in American history. Directed by Jay Roach (Austin Powers trilogy; Meet the Parents/Meet the Fockers), Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) is a highly intelligent yet cantankerous writer, one of the best in the film industry, circa 1947. An ardent Communist who believes in better working rights and pay for those in Hollywood (as well as many other things), he is married to Cleo (Diane Lane), who, despite her soft spoken nature, is in many ways the strong backbone of the family. They have three children.

The story of a down-and-out boxer and his adorable son, 1931's The Champ, directed by King Vidor, is a tale of struggle and hardship as well as family, love and hope. The former champ, Andy Purcell (Wallace Beery – he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a rare tie with Frederic March), is for all intents and purposes, washed up. Though he is in the midst of training for his next bout, he continuously self-sabotages by turning to alcohol and then follows it up by playing dice, tossing the little money he has left away. His only saving grace is his young son, Dink (Jackie Cooper, one of The Little Rascals of the early sound era who went on to play Perry White in the first three Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve) – a child well beyond his years. A combination of tiny tramp and wise adult, he cares for his father like no one else. Trying to steer him away from booze and focus his wayward vision, he has a middling effect. Though his pleas reach his father, they do not stay his hand for long. The story is, in many ways, told through Dink’s eyes. The son of The Champ is usually followed by his trusty sidekick Jonah (Jesse Scott) and a plethora of other impoverished youths.

A very meta film about film making itself, François Truffaut’s 1973 romantic dramedy Day for Night transports us behind the scenes of a movie being made at the famed Victorine Studios in Nice, France (think classics like To Catch a Thief and Children of Paradise). The title itself is a reference to movie making, highlighting the term used when scenes are filmed during the day, only to make it look like they were done at night (by way of using filters). The Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film in 1974, Truffaut casts himself as the movie’s director, Ferrand, who is currently filming the tragic, if clichéd, melodrama "Meet Pamela" – not likely to be the next classic.

Sex and drugs and rock `n roll. . . (and marriage?) play a big part in the 2015 dramatic thriller A Bigger Splash. A quasi-remake of the 1969 film La Piscine (which has another sort-of remake in François Ozon’s 2003 picture The Swimming Pool), which itself comes from a novel of the same name (written by Jean-Emmanuel Conil under the pseudonym Alain Page), this very European feature is set on the lovely Italian island of Pantelleria. We first meet music icon Marianne Lane (Tilda Swinton – a perfect turn as an androgynous David Bowie-like rock `n roller), who is recovering from throat surgery, and her documentary filmmaker husband Paul De Smedt (Matthias Schoenaerts) as they enjoy the reclusive island, finding love and recuperation in its serene, picturesque setting. As they are frolicking in the waters of a secluded lake, they receive a call from Paul’s kind-of best friend and Marianne’s former lover/record producer, Harry Hawkes (Ralph Fiennes), who has tracked them down and invited himself for a visit. Director Luca Guadagnino both symbolically and literally interprets the rather rude interruption by having Harry’s incoming plane cast a long shadow and make a raucous noise just over their heads as they take the unexpected and unwanted call.