DANCING

     Every society has dancing. OK, maybe not Afghanistan; I don't really know. Many people love to dance and even more love to watch dancing. Hollywood is right there with the wonderful Astaire-Rogers movies, the MGM musicals, and there's even a whole film about it aptly named That's Dancing (1985). In these films, the dancers are professionals in the story as well as personally. 

     What about just your ordinary Joe and Jane who just like to dance? I thought you'd never ask! There are some wonderful movies on just that subject.

      Queen Of The Stardust Ballroom (1975) stars Maureen Stapleton and Charles Durning as an older couple who discover each other at the Stardust Ballroom. This is a made-for-TV-movie, but it is excellent. The actors are good, he dancing is fun, and the story is a good and unusual one demonstrating that even people over 50 can fall and love and be romantic.

     They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) is about the little-known Depression-era phenomenon of marathon dancing. Jane Fonda is impossibly young and fresh and Michael Sarazin plays her partner. Gig Young (Oscar, Best Supporting Actor) is wonderfully sinister and seedy as the master of ceremonies. The whole thing works on several levels as a fascinating look at a long-ago fad and as a metaphor for lives. 

     Strictly Ballroom (1992, Australia) is about ballroom dancing contests down under. This is way before all the TV shows now rampant everywhere. The movie provides a peek at a world most of us didn't even know existed; it's almost a parallel universe. Paul Mercurio is the hot-blooded individualist who takes on ugly duckling Tara Morice as a new partner. She blossoms, and they enter the big dancing contest. Load of fun for them and us. 

     Shall We Dance? (1996, Japan) is an absolutely superb movie about a Japanese businessman who secretly takes ballroom dancing lessons to brighten up his very dull life.  He meets lots of interesting characters, becomes a proficient dancer and rather poignantly meets himself. This is one of the best films you probably never heard of. 

     And by the way, remember all those movies where the kids in town want to (fill in the blank): twist, lambada, Charleston, rock and roll, tango, breakdance, etc., etc., and the blue-nosed grown-ups want to stop them? Are any of these any good? No.

     All of the movies in this articles are available on DVD and for streaming. All are fine for 10 and up.

2014 SLEEPERS

Part 1

     Here are five movies from last year that are worth a look and which may have slipped beneath your movie radar.

     The Good Lie was Reese Witherspoon's other movie from 2014 (the better known one being Wild). It is the true story of a group of young Sudanese refugees helped to resettle in America after a harrowing time. Their misadventures in learning our ways are both touching and hilarious. And I guarantee a wet eye or two when this interesting film spools out.

     St. Vincent features the veteran Bill Murray as a very irascible Brooklynite who drinks, smokes and gambles, all to excess. He reluctantly befriends the 12-year-old son (newcomer Jaeden Lieberher) of his new neighbor. Like most of us, he has a rather secret side that the young neighbor discovers along with us. This film is a real charmer; Mr. Murray is outstanding.

     The appropriately named Nightcrawler stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an extremely creepy reporter, who is independent and sells news footage to TV stations. He quickly discovers that sensationalism sells. He goes further and further in his effort to be the first at the scene, crossing a red line several times. The film is perhaps a cautionary tale about the state of news in the U.S., but I'm not sure how much of it is all that far out.

     Way over on the brighter side is the crowd-pleasing Chef. Jon Favreau plays a chef at a top of the line restaurant who quits his job after an altercation with a surly food critic. He decides to begin operating a food truck selling Cuban sandwiches, and takes his young son along. Every stop they make gets a little better, and you will find yourself smiling a lot. The film features an all-star supporting cast, including Oliver Platt (the food critic), Sofia Vergara, Bobby Carnavale, Dustin Hoffman, Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey, Jr.

     And finally there is the underrated Monuments Men, George Clooney's cinematic homage to some very unlikely World War II heroes. The mission is to save a great deal of the world's art treasures from the Nazis,who typically decide if they can't have it nobody can. Along for an enjoyable ride are Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, John Goodman and Cate Blanchett. A lot of the things in this movie really happened.

     All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. Chef, St. Vincent and The Good Lie are fine for all ages. The rest are for grown-ups.