Movies for February: This is Spinal Tap and Misery

      John Cleary will host our Feb. 4 meeting at noon in his home with a Zoom option if necessary and we will discuss:

     This is Spinal Tap (1984)

       Spinal Tap, one of England's loudest bands, is chronicled by film director Marty DiBergi on what proves to be a fateful tour.

    

     Director: Rob Reiner

     Writers: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer

     Stars: Rob Reiner, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest

     Misery (1990)

     After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.

 

     Director: Rob Reiner

     Writers: Stephen King and William Goldman

     Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates and Richard Farnsworth

How to find streaming services for movies:

Justwatch.com

Scores for January 2026 movies:

Hamnet (2025)   8.6 (8 votes)

Train Dreams (2025)  7.8 (9 votes)

Films of Merit

Pluribus, a series (2025)

Wicked Little Letters (2023)

Tokyo Vice, a series (2022-2025)

The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)

Champagne Problems (2025)

Wallander, a series (2005-2013)

Marty Supreme (2025)

A Man on the Inside, a series (2024-2025)

Goodbye June (2025)

Movies for January 2026: Train Dreams and Hamnet

      Bill Triest will host our Jan. 7, 2026, meeting at noon in his home with a Zoom option if necessary, and we will discuss:

Train Dreams (2025)

     Based on Denis Johnson's beloved novella, Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing America of the early 20th Century.

     Director: Clint Bentley

     Writers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar and Denis Johnson

     Stars: Joel Edgerton, Clifton Collins Jr., and Felicity Jones

Hamnet (2025)

     An imagined powerful story of love and loss that could have inspired the creation of Shakespeare's timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.

     Director: Chloe Zhao

     Writers: Chloe Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell

     Stars: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal and Zac Wishart

How to find streaming services for movies:

Justwatch.com

Scores for December 2025 movies:

One Battle After Another (2025) 6.8 (8 votes)

A Little Prayer (2025) 7.7 (7 votes)

Films of Merit

Bugonia (2025)

Cape Fear (1962)

Thunder Road (1958)

Death by Lightning, a series (2025)

Hard Times (2009)

Nine (2009)

Inside Man (2006)

Movies for December 2025: One Battle After Another and A Little Prayer

      Nic Bentley will host our Dec. 3, 2025 meeting at noon in his home with a Zoom option if necessary, and we will discuss:

One Battle After Another (2025)

     When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.

    Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

    Writers: Paul Thomas Anderson, Thomas Pynchon

    Stars: Teyana Taylor, Leonardo DiCaprio and Regina Hall

A Little Prayer (2023)

     A man tries to protect his daughter-in-law when he finds out that his son is having an affair.

    

     Director: Angus MacLachlan

     Writer: Angus MacLachlan

     Stars: Jane Levy, Will Pullen and David Strathairn

How to find streaming services for movies:

Justwatch.com

Scores for November 2025 movies:

Freud's Last Session (2023)  5.9 (7 votes)

A Million Miles Away (2023)  7.9 (8 votes)

Films of Merit

Love, Sylvia (2017)

The Four Seasons, a series (2025-2026)

Murder Before Evensong, a series (2025)

Open Range (2003)

The Diplomat, a series (2023-2025)

A House of Dynamite (2025)

The Woman in Cabin 10 (2025)

     

     

Movies for November 2025: Freud's Last Session and A Million Miles Away

      Our October meeting was canceled so Dean Hiser will host our Nov. 5, 2025, noon meeting at his home with a zoom option, and we will discuss:

Freud's Last Session (2023)

     Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud invites professor C.S. Lewis to debate the existence of God, Freud's unique relationship with his daughter, and Lewis' unconventional relationship with his best friend's mother. 

     

     Director: Matt Brown

     Writers: Mark St. Germain, Matt Brown and Armand M. Nicholi Jr.

      Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Goode and Liv Lisa Fries

A Million Miles Away (2023)

     A biopic about Jose Hernandez and his path from a farm worker to becoming an engineer and an astronaut. A tale of perseverance, community and sacrifice to accomplish a seemingly impossible dream. 

      Director: Alejandra Marquez Abella

      Writers: Bettina Gilois, Hernan Jimenez and Alejandra Marquez Abella

      Stars:  Michael Pena, Rosa Salazar and Julio Cesar Cedillo

How to find streaming services for movies:

Justwatch.com

Scores for September 2025 movies:

The Naked Gun (2025) 4.5 (6 votes)

Last Breath (2025) 7.8 (8 votes)

Films of Merit

The Roses (2025)

The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

Extant, a series (2014-2015)

The White Queen, a series (2013)

Monk, a series (2002-2009)

Reacher, a series (2022)

The Expanse, a series (2015-2022)

Who You Think I Am (2019)

Jane Austin Wrecked My Life (2024)

Movies for September 2025: The Naked Gun and Last Breath

      Bill Graves will host our Sept. 3 noon meeting at his house with a Zoom option. The movies are: The Naked Gun and Last Breath.

The Naked Gun (2025)

     Only one man has the particular set of skills to lead Police Squad and save the world.

     Director: Akiva Schaffer

     Writers: Dan Gregor, Doug Mand and Akiva Schaffer

     Stars:  Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson and Paul Walter Hauser

Last Breath (2025)

     A true story that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface.

     Director: Alex Parkinson

     Writers: Mitchell LaFortune, Alex Parkinson and David Brooks

     Stars: Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu and Finn Cole

How to find streaming services for movies:

Justwatch.com

Scores for August 2025 movies:

D-Day Plus 20 Years -- Eisenhower Returns to Normandy (1964) 6.9 (8 votes)

The Big Red One (1980) 6.3 (8 votes)

Films of Merit

Bill Joel: And So It Goes, two-part documentary (2025)

The Penguin Lessons (2024)

Password (2019)

The Departed (2006)

Seinfeld, a TV series (1989-1998)

The Quilters, a short (2024) 

Pernille, a TV series (2021)

Columbo, a TV series (1971-1998)

Movies for August 2025: D-Day Plus 20 Years -- Eisenhower Returns to Normandy and The Big Red One

      Hugh Heinsohn will host our Aug. 6 noon meeting on Zoom. We will gather at Carl Carlson's house  to be together as Hugh hosts on Zoom. The movies are: D-Day Plus 20 Years - Eisenhower Returns to Normandy and The Big Red One.

D-Day Plus 20 Years - Eisenhower Returns to Normandy (1964)

     Former President Eisenhower goes through the decisions and actions of D-Day with Walter Cronkite.    

     Stars: Walter Cronkite and Dwight D. Eisenhower

The Big Red One  (1980)

       A hardened sergeant and the four core members of his infantry unit try to survive World War II as they move from battle to battle throughout Europe.

      Director: Samuel Fuller

      Writer: Samuel Fuller

      Stars: Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill and Robert Carradine

How to find streaming services for movies:

Justwatch.com

Scores for July 2025 movies:

Operation Odessa (2018) 5.5 (8 votes)

The Zone of Interest (2023) 6.9 (8 votes)

Films of Merit

Dept. Q, a series (2025)

Good Night and Good Luck (2005)

Hamilton (2020)

My Mom Jayne (2025)

The Conversation (1974)

The Americanization of Emily (1964)

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)