Movies 15-21 watched in June:

93. (630.) Black Orpheus (1959)
This is fundamentally the same story as the French Orpheus. It won an Academy Award and a Palme d'Or which I find amazing because it is so very boring. If I'd been in charge, there would have been less dancing and more mystery.

94. (631.) They Only Kill Their Masters (1972)
This movie is a very laid back murder mystery, and therein lies its charm. If you get the chance to see James Gardner play a small town policeman puzzling out a mystery built around a doberman named Murphy, watch it.

95. (632.) Destination Moon (1950)
The highlight of this moonshot informercial is the embedded Woody Woodpecker cartoon. I'm sure that I know more about space travel than the average viewer, but I found these astronauts completely unprepared for spaceflight.

96. (633.) A Majority of One (1961)
Everything about this dramedy is great except for Alec Guinness. He's usually so good, but he should not have been cast in the yellow-face role of a Japanese businessman. Suspension of disbelief only goes so far.

97. (634.) Rooster Cogburn (1975)
Katherine Hepburn and John Wayne? Yes, please. It's Hepburn's movie, and she makes the most of it.

98. (635.) Marooned (1969)
Doesn't NASA put their astronauts through a psyche profile? In this precursor of the Apollo 13 debacle, only one of the stranded men seems capable of keeping his head together, and he's not a pilot but the scientist. (I think roles like this are why I didn't like Gene Hackman while I was growing up. Or maybe it was just his Lex Luthor.) It's not a great film, but it is captivating to pretend that it is a real event.

99. (636.) Knowing (2009)
I'm mad at this movie. It sets up a very suspenseful and intriguing mystery steeped in the supernatural, physics, and philosophy, then it fumbles the ball on the goal line with a ridiculous conclusion that makes everything that came before it a frustrating exercise in random pointlessness. Grr. You got me again, Nic Cage!

Nine more movies remaining before we finish off June. We'll get to them next week.

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