I’ve been reviewing numerous recent releases as of late, both good and bad, but the job of a reviewer is not only to pass judgement on the new, but also to give recommendations to movies which may be highly palatable, but may not be as well known. To this end I present the following:

Over a decade before the Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law first provided their interpretation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous characters, those same characters would be given a very different kind of interpretation. In his debut film, son of legendary screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, (“Empire Strikes Back”, “Return of the Jedi”, and “Raiders of the Lost Ark”), filmmaker Jake Kasdan provides an adaptation of Doyle’s “A Scandal In Bohemia” with his variations on Holmes and Watson played by Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller, but under the names of Daryl Zero and Steve Arlo.

Don’t let the fact that Ben Stiller’s name is on this fool you into thinking that this is the typical, over-the-top fare for which he is most well known, far from it; Stiller’s performance as legal representative of the ‘greatest detective in the world’ is subdued, honest, and very smart. While “The Zero Effect” takes numerous liberties with the source material, the spirit of the story is faithful to Doyle in the extreme, giving both the characters and the story only enough of an update as is relevant to the new setting. However, where the film truly shines is Bill Pullman, whose performance as the titular character is, arguably, just as real, interesting, and entertaining a version of Holmes as that of Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch (“Sherlock” miniseries).

Radioland Murders

Before there was television, there was radio; not just music and talk radio, but every genre of storytelling that can now or could ever be seen on television (with the exception, thank god, of ‘reality tv’) could once be heard on radio. Soap operas and sitcoms, scifi and horror, westerns and variety shows could not only all be heard on radio, but are the reason why both those genres and formats came to tv.

“Radioland Murders” is a murder-mystery comedy set against the backdrop of a national radio station in the midst of the radio’s golden age, which is, itself, a love letter to that age. It features a huge comedy cast, dialog and situations which are, at times, smart, silly, clever and ridiculous, and, as all mysteries need, some great twists and turns. I strongly recommend you double-feature this with “Oscar” (# 3 on this list).

Explorers

I mentioned this movie briefly in my review of “The Hole” as my first exposure to film director Joe Dante. To review: “Explorers” is about three boys who build their own spaceship out of a “Tilt-A-Whirl” and fly out into space. In the story, a boy named Ben, who is a scifi b-movie fanatic, (Ethan Hawke) has dreams which illustrate to him a circuit diagram. He passes these diagrams onto his friend Wolfgang (River Phoenix), a boy inventor, who builds a circuit board from the diagrams and discovers that it generates a force field. With the help of a third boy, Darren, who helps Ben to face a school bully, they build a ship to sit in inside the force field so they can go into space and try to find where Ben’s dreams are coming from.

This is a really fun and imaginative movie in the traditions of “Goonies”, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Young Sherlock Holmes”. It may be a little out of date, but watch it with your kids or as a family.

Oscar

Back in the early days of film, mobsters were usually just a part of other noir films; detective stories and caper stories. There were a few well knowns: the original “Scarface” and “White Heat” (“I’m on the top o’ the world, ma!”), but they were mostly recognized as B-movies. That is until a little picture called “The Godfather” won the Oscar for ‘Best Picture’. Since then, some of the most revered and critically acclaimed films have been ‘mob movies’.

‘Mob Comedies’, on the other hand, have all but fallen flat. Stinkers like ‘Johnny Dangerously’ and ‘Mafia’ were destroyed by critics, all but ignored by mainstream audiences, all but forgotten from history, and deservedly so. But one movie that managed to get swallowed up in this effect and has been generally ignored and forgotten is ‘Oscar’, ‘mob comedy’ effort by comedy favorite filmmaker John Landis, which featured an all-star cast including Sylvester Stallone, Marisa Tomei, Peter Reigert, Chazz Palmintari, Tim Curry and numerous others. While ‘Oscar’ falls squarely into the traditions of old Hollywood farce and comedy-of-errors, it is executed both brilliantly and beautifully, with wonderful twists and turns, elegant and elaborate sets, and quick fire dialog which is clever, fun and hilariously funny.

Forget Paris

Long before Marc Webb’s “(500) Days of Summer” would boast “This is not a love story. This is a story about love.”, Billy Crystal would, as writer, director and star, give us the story of Ellen and Mickey. Actually, “Forget Paris” is exactly that; the

stories

of Ellen and Mickey, all being recounted by their friends. The stories span the breadth of twists and turns that can occur in a relationship, silly and romantic, funny and sad, boring and maddening, beautiful and tragic.

This is one of the only romantic comedies I can stomach. The rest of the cast are a lot of fun as well, with clever and fun dialog and asides. In all, “Forget Paris” is a great look at what happens after the all-too-typical ‘Happily Ever After’ of standard rom-com fodder; and honest and funny look at the work and compromises it takes to keep a relationship working.

Each of these films is a personal favorite; films which I can watch again and again and still get something out of.

Watch. Enjoy.

I hope you will.