Movies for July 2025: Operation Odessa and The Zone of Interest

      Carl Carlson will host our July 9, 2025, meeting at noon at his home with a Zoom option, and the movies we will discuss are: 

Operation Odessa (2018)

     In the early 1990s, three friends set out to hustle the Russian mob, the Cali cartel and the DEA for the score of a lifetime.

     Director: Tiller Russell

     Stars: Ludwig Fainberg, Juan Almeida and Nelson Yester

The Zone of Interest (2023)

     Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoss and his wife, Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden beside the concentration camp.

     Director: Jonathan Glazer

     Writers: Jonathan Glazer and Martin Amis

     Stars: Christian Friedel, Sandra Huller and Johann Karthaus

How to find streaming services for movies:

Justwatch.com

Scores for June 2025 movies:

Capernaum (2018) 8.9 (7 votes)

September 5 (2024) 8 (7 votes)

Films of Merit

Janis Ian: Breaking Silence (2024)

Ludwig, a series (2024)

Munich (2005)

Dept. Q, a series (2025)

The Man in the High Castle, a series (2015-2019)

     

     

Movies for June 2025: Capernaum and September 5

      Don Nugent will host our meeting at his home with a Zoom option at noon on June 11. We will discuss:

Capernaum  (2018)

     While serving a five-year sentence for a violent crime, a 12-year-old boy sues his parents for neglect.

     Director: Nadine Labaki

     Writers:  Nadine Labaki, Jihad Hojeily and Michelle Keserwany

     Stars: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw and Boluwatife Treasure Bankole

September 5  (2024)

     During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, an American sports broadcasting team must adapt to live coverage of the Israeli athletes being held hostage by a terrorist group.

     Director: Tim Fehlbaum

     Writers: Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum and Alex David

     Stars: Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro and Ben Chaplin

How to find streaming services for movies:

JustWatch

Scores for May 2025 movies:

Fitzcarraldo (1982) 7.8 (8 votes)

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) 5.4 (8 votes)

Films of Merit

Common Ground (2023)

Wolf Hall, a series (2015-2025)

Sinners (2025)

Grizzly Man (2005)

Turning Point (2025)

Sarah's Key (2010)

Movies for May 2025: Bad Lieutenant and Fitzcarraldo

      John Cleary will host our meeting at his home with a Zoom option at noon on May 7. We will discuss:

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)

      Terence McDonagh is a drug-and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants. 

     Director: Werner Herzog

     Writers: William M. Finkelstein

      Stars: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes and Russell M. Haeuser

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

     The story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.

     Director: Werner Herzog

     Writer: Werner Herzog

     Stars: Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale and Jose Lewgoy

How to find streaming services for movies:

Justwatch

Scores for April 2025 movies:

Anora (2024) 5 (6 votes)

Mulholland Drive (2001) 6.5 (6 votes)

Films of Merit

The Residence, a series (2025)

Last Breath (2025)

Prime Target, a series (2025)

A Million Miles Away (2023)

No Other Land (2024)

The Studio, a series (2025)

The White Lotus, a series (2021-2025)

Wolf Hall, a series (2015-2025)

Neither Confirm nor Deny (2020)

Project Azorian, an episode of Spy Ops, S1.E8 (2023)

Movies for April 2025: Anora and Mulholland Drive

      Jon Lee will host our meeting at his home with a Zoom option at noon on April 2. We will discuss:

Anora (2024)

    A young escort from Brooklyn meets and impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairy tale is threatened as his parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

     Director:  Sean Baker

     Writer: Sean Baker

     Stars: Mikey Madison, Paul Weissman and Yura Borisov

Mulholland Drive (2001)

     After a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.

     Director: David Lynch

     Writer: David Lynch

     Stars: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring and Justin Theroux

How to find streaming services for movies:

http://justwatch.com

Scores for March 2025 movies:

A Complete Unknown (2024) 7.5 (8 votes)

I'm Still Here (2024) 7.9 (8 votes)

Films of Merit

The Mallorca Files, a series (2019)

Hard Times, also known as Holy Water (2009)

The Newsroom, a series (2013-2014)

The Damned United (2009)

1923, a series (2022-2025)

1883, a series (2021-2022)

Flow (2024)

The Pitt, a series (2025)

 

Movies for March 2025: A Complete Unknown and I'm Still Here

      Bill Triest will host our March meeting at his new home in Forest Grove at noon on March 5 with a Zoom option. We will discuss:

A Complete Unknown (2024)

     In 1961, an unknown 19-year-old Bob Dylan arrives in New York City with his guitar and forges relationships with musical icons on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking performance that reverberates around the world.

     Director: James Mangold

     Writers:  James Mangold, Jay Cocks and Elijah Wald

     Stars:  Timothee Chalamet, Edward Norton and Elle Fanning

I'm Still Here (2024)

     A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family's life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence during the tightening grip of a military dictatorship in Brazil, 1971

      Director: Walter Salles

      Writers:  Murilo Hauser, Heitor Lorega and Marcelo Rubens Paiva

      Stars: Fernanda Torres, Fernanda Montenegro and Selton Mello

How to find streaming services for movies:

http;//justwatch.com

Scores for February 2025 movies:

The Brutalist (2024) 5.8 (5 votes)

The Last Showgirl (2024) 6.1 (7 votes)

Films of Merit

Hard Truths (2024)

In the Heart of the Sea (2015)

The Only Girl in the Orchestra, short (2023)

Mr. Malcolm's List (2022)

Here (2024)

A Real Pain (2024)

       

       

Movies for February 2025: The Brutalist and The Last Showgirl

      Nic Bentley will host our meeting at noon on Feb. 5 at his home with a Zoom option. We will discuss:

The Brutalist (2024)

           

     When a visionary architect and his wife flee post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild their legacy and witness the birth of modern United States, their lives are changed forever by a mysterious, wealthy client.

     Director: Brady Corbet

     Writers: Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold

     Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce

The Last Showgirl (2024)

     A seasoned showgirl must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run.

     Director: Gia Coppola

     Writer: Kate Gersten

     Stars: Pamela Anderson, Brenda Song and Kiernan Shipka

How to find streaming services for movies:

http;//justwatch.com

Scores for January 2025 movies:

Wild Target (2010) 4.7 (9 votes)

The World's Fastest Indian (2005) 7.6 (9 votes)

Films of Merit

Churchill at War, a series (2024)

Baby Girl (2024)

Slow Horses, a series (2022)

Loudermilk, a series (2017-2020)

My Donkey, My Lover and I (2020)

Shrinking, a series (2023- )

Back Doves, a series (2024)

The Day of the Jackal (2024-)

Thelma & Louise (1991)

A Complete Unknown (2024)

     

     

Movies for January 2025: Wild Target and The World's Fastest Indian

    Dean Hiser will host our January meeting, which will be a week later than usual at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 8, because New Year's Day falls on the first Wednesday.  The meeting will be at Dean's house with a Zoom option, and we will discuss:

Wild Target (2010)

     A hitman tries to retire, but a beautiful thief may change his plans.

Director: Jonathan Lynn

Writers: Lucinda Coxon and Pierre Salvadori

Stars: Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt and Rupert Grint

The World's Fastest Indian (2005)

      The story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years rebuilding a 1920 Indian motorcycle, which helped him set the land speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967. 

Director: Roger Donaldson

Writer: Roger Donaldson

Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Diane Ladd and Lain Rea

How to find streaming services for movies:

http://justwatch.com

Scores for December 2024 movies:

Conclave (2024) 8.2 (9 votes)

Ghostlight (2024) 8 (9 votes)

Films of Merit

Cabaret (1972)

Landline (2017)

Hidden, a series (2018-2022)

White Collar, a series (2009-2014)

I Know Where I'm Going (1945)

Elf (2003)

The Piano Lesson (2024)

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)