I accidentally skewed my “movies by decade” bar graph this month.
This post is unfinished, but I need the list to link back to in the future. If you enjoy reading this feature and want me to finish it, let me know!
Disclosure Day (2026)
Kino, original English
Took my niece out to see this one at the Fort 8, with more popcorn than the two of us could finish (we took it home for my mom) and a month’s worth of Dr. Pepper. I’ve been into Earthfiles/Ancient Aliens/Bigfoot since the lockdown, but I needed a normie control subject. Plus, we had a great time seeing Tangled and I wanted that feeling again.
People more eloquent and learned than I have already commented on Spielberg’s theology and social engineering,
Young Washington (2026)
Kino, original English
Protip: pre-purchase tickets on $5.50 Tuesdays. My dad and I ended up in the very front row of a sold-out house.
Already looking forward to the sequel.
The Music Man (1962)
On-demand (TCM), original English
I had hoped to see The Producers, but they’d already taken it down. So, all hepped-up on the Karl L. King Municipal Band, decided to pay homage to another Iowa composer, from Mason City, Meredith Wilson. I had previously only seen amateur stage productions of the
Should I do an Iowa movie week? Leave a comment.
Escape Net (2025)
Airplane, original Latvian with English subtitles
Lufthansa always has a decent international catalog, but I was still pleasantly surprised to find a patriotic Latvian film about Dzidra Uztupe Karamiseva, a basketball player during the Soviet occupation. Her brother taught her to play the game before he was conscripted by the Nazis during their occupation, and she worked her way up to the USSR national team (losing to the USA in Brazil in 1957). Her brother never returned after the war. Either way, her teammates call her a fascist After taking some time off to have a baby, she
Stay for the credits, they show archival footage of Dzidra as a player and coach, and (spoiler) holding the teddy bear.
Michael (2026)
Airplane, original English
As you already know, critics hated it and fans loved it. I mostly enjoyed it. The violent scenes with his father were hard to watch, but all the musical performances were excellently performed (and costumed). I’m not normally a fan of biopics/historical dramas from eras in which I lived, but as I was kept locked away from pop culture as the Thriller phenomenon went down, it was a fun new experience (until he was injured filming the Pepsi commercial; I was allowed to read the newspaper).
I get it now.
OTOH, 1) I had “Human Nature” stuck in my head for days. 2) In Michael’s rooms in the family home, every available surface was covered in stuffed animals. Now I’m having some doubts about my own life.
Downton Abbey (2019)
Airplane, original English
This is a rewatch. I saw it after one of my hand surgeries but had forgotten most of the subplots (the King and Queen coming for a visit managed to stick).
If you haven’t seen the series, I’m not sure it stands alone; you can probably enjoy it for the settings and costumes but there’s a lot of backstory. (If you’ve seen the series, you’ve already seen the movie and don’t need me to tell you about it. Heh.)
Even if you’re not a fan of the series, if you like food history you will enjoy the official cookbook, written by an actual food historian who worked on the set. I checked it out of the Freising library earlier this year, expecting another dumb Instagram-on-paper money-grab mess like all the other new cookbooks, and was pleasantly surprised by its depth.
Agora (2009)
Netflix, original English
I saw the first half of this Spanish film about the 3rd-century philosopher Hypatia around 2012, when Netflix didn’t tell you when something would disappear overnight. When it showed up on my list in Fort Dodge, I decided I should watch it from the beginning.
Pre-Poe Oliver Isaac smolders as Orestes, the Roman prefect who loves Hypatia and loses control of the city
Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)
Netflix, original English
Probably a good thing I didn’t see this on the airplane, as I cried at the end. Harrumph.
As I said previously, doesn’t stand alone, and if you’re a fan you’ve already seen it so you don’t need me.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025)
Netflix, original English
This one probably didn’t need to be made. That said, if they want to make a film about George as an old man who doesn’t understand the world changing around him while Lady Mary verbally slices everyone up over the Royal Divorce, I’d watch it.
Major League (1989)
Netflix, original English
How strange it is to see how excited everyone is when Wild Thing finally throws 100mph after watching Jacob Misiorowski do it thirty times a game all season.
Nickelodeon (1976)
arte, original English
Two things that get my attention in arte: silent films and John Ritter. This Peter Bogdanovich flop about movie-making in the 1910s was an annoyingly-paced slapstick romp with a weird sepia filter that is best viewed as a historical curiosity.
Ryan O’Neal and Burt Reynolds star as randos who accidentally get pulled into a small independent film crew in an era when the camera and projector manufacturers were actively fighting to keep independent studios from forming. To keep their stars and equipment safe from the camera company’s hired thugs, the studio sets up the cast and crew in Cucamonga, which at this time is in the middle of nowhere. They churn out one-reel films on an ostrich farm with a small tight-knit group of oddballs–Ryan O’Neal plays a precocious/tomboy who handles machinery and animals, Ritter is the cameraman. (The love interest was a model friend of Cybill Shepherd, who was sleeping with Bogdanovich, which is why the studio wouldn’t let him give her the job.)
The movie-making and love-triangle scenes are full of Mel Brooks-style gags and physical comedy, and it was interesting look at how the industry changed in the early years. In the end, the one-reel films are being starting to be replaced by the epic dramas we think about when we think of the 1910s–they attend the premiere of Birth of a Nation at the end.
But I can recommend this one only for people interested in the history of film, and Burt Reynolds completionists. 1) He is completely unrecognizable after his character shaves off the mustache. 2) his character accidentally gets hired to ride a horse while wearing a white hooded a robe and carrying a burning cross in a stage production of The Clansman, which later was filmed as Birth of a Nation.
There is also an “African Wedding” in one of the films, and the actors wear blackface. The charcoal coming off onto the other actors is a comedy point and they are clearly mocking the historical practice, but I’m still surprised Columbia Pictures greenlit it in 1976. Maybe audiences accepted mocking more readily (see Blazing Saddles)?
Now I need to track down Brooks’ Silent Movie, which was apparently also a flop at the time.
1941 (1979)
Netflix, original English
Mr Radish was very excited to see Spielberg’s all-star big-budget failed attempt at satire come to the ‘flix, because he remembers loving it as a kid. His favorite scene: Dan Aykroyd putting pantyhose over his head. But in the German synchronization, he doesn’t say, “I’m a bug!” he says (I translate), “The Mars people are here!” Deep disappointment on the other side of the couch.
I’m a little surprised that Netflix put it out, as it contains an arte level of racial slurs, which I understand were common in the time the film is set but that doesn’t stop anyone from complaining
Troll (2022)
Netflix, English
A rewatch before we watch the sequel. I’m not sure I needed the refresher. It’s a pale European copy of Godzilla: Monster emerges after man does something terrible, group of mixed randos including a scientist and a cute girl (here the same) stops it from destroying more of the city and feels sad.
I liked it better the first time; this time I noticed the obvious anti-Christian attitude of the filmmakers. Not looking forward to the sequel like I was when I suggested it…
