Ten Films That Might Be Worth Watching on DVD

Here are twn films, most of which have been recently released on dvd, that might well be worth your time:

1) "Zazie dans le metro" (1960. France. dir-Louis Malle). I must profess that I forget if I've seen this film or not, just as I forgot Bill Clinton, the only president I forgot to name on mentalfloss.com presidents' names quiz earlier today. But, Malle was a great director, especially during the French New Wave years.

2) "Blue Valentine" (2010. dir-Derek Cianfrance). I was actually in the minority of 'haters' on this one (well, I would give the film two and a half stars). But, this dark romance with Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling might merit a second look for those of us who saw it in cinemas, and certainly it is worth a first look for those who have yet to see the film.

3) "The Ilusionist" (2010. France. dir-Slyvain Chomet). This looks like a good animated film.

4) "Mickey One" (1965. dir-Arthur Penn. With Warren Beatty)- I saw this film several years ago at the Virginia Film Festival with Penn, who has since died, in attendance. It is noteable for being the first pairing of Penn and Beatty who would go on to work together on "Bonnie and Clyde."

5) "Cedar Rapids" (2011. dir-Miquel Arteta). This is a fairly good satire of convention life on the road; it is, of course, set in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

6) "Cul de Sac" (1966. dir-Roman Polanski). It appears that all of us cinephiles may actually get to finally see this Polanski film after all these years, perhaps!

7) "Life During Wartime" (2009. dir-Todd Solondz). I am an unabashed admirer of Todd Solondz films, even in the rare times when they don't work. This is not his very best film, but it's great dark humor that makes the Coen Brothers' "Fargo" look like "Bambi."

8) "Potiche" (2010. France. dir-Francois Ozon). Actually, I had nil interest in seeing this film until I found out it was a period piece set in the 1970s, the decade I find most interesting, perhaps because I was born in 1970.

9) "The Wiz" (1978. dir-Sidney Lumet). Why this supposedly silly movie?, you may ask. Well, the Lincoln Center in New York has been showing retro-screenings of Sidney Lumet's films since the veteran director died earlier this year. It's bound to be better than "Rubber," a new bad movie about a killer tire.

10) "Takva" (2006. Turkey. dir-Ozer Kiziltan). I have been disappointed with both the limited number of Turkish films that have been released in the United States and the artistic quality of these films. But, aside from Nuri Bilge Ceylan's work (the director of "Distant"), this film about Islamic fundamentalism in Turkey (the film was made by secularists) is perhaps the most remarkable Turkish film one can find on Netflix.

Remembering Sidney Lumet (1924-2011)

Since Sidney Lumet, one of the best film directors of the 1970s, died over the weekend (he made many great films before and after that decade as well), I thought I would simply tell this one story about how I saw "Serpico" (1973) at an outdoor Turkish cinema in the resort Kushadasi in 1985, some 12 years after the film was released in America.

In Turkey, the film was actually "Serpiko," and it was dubbed in Turkish! Today, virtually all foreign films are shown in their language of origin with subtitles in Turkey. I had assumed that was now the practice in every country except India until I went to Azerbaijan in 2008 where I saw a Russian-dubbed version of the Will Smith action comedy "Hancock" that I could not understand.

Thankfully, I can speak Turkish so even as awkward as it was to see Al Pacino, who is very popular in Turkey perhaps because he is in a lot of violent/gangster films, I could undertand the film about the plight of a New York police officer Frank Serpico (b.1936) ok. Though several years later, I was happy to see the film again on video, and it is among the films I have wanted to rewatch again (this was even before Lumet's passing).

The cinema was quite packed that humid night in Kushadasi where mostly men were watching the film, and few of them seemed to have any dates. As is custom whenever someone in Tukey sees an American film with a lot of violence or grit, the spectators asked me 'Amerika hakikaten, oyle mi?/Is American really like that?"

Of course, many people here have asked me if Turkey is like "Midnight Express."
(1978, d. Alan Parker), I respond to the later by saying: "I've never been to a Turkish prison." And, I tell people who see American films like "Serpico" that New York is a lot different than Roanoke, Va.- my hometown.

I learned from the IMDB, that "Serpico" was shot in 104 different locations in New York. And, the film was shot in reverse order with Pacino starting off with a beard and long hair, and then ending up clean shaven.

The director and tandem would team up again in "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975), and then Lumet directed "Network" (1977) with actors like Robert Duvall and William Holden. Some have suggested that "Network" predicted the rise of televanglism and the Tea Party movement.

Hmmmm.....if we get a chance, we'll ask Noam Chomsky what he thinks!

But, in all seriousness, virtually film buff except the somewhat notorious David Thomson (who I recall disdaining Lumet for some reason or another), will assuredly miss Lumet, but we have many films to remember him and his exceptional work.