Dust to Glory

Previous movies by this guy, Dana Brown, include The Endless Summer 2 and the highly-regarded Step Into Liquid. I haven’t seen either one, and probably won’t. I try not to be prejudiced, and I’ve heard the latter film has some awesome footage of waves, dude, but frankly, the only activity using a board that I have the least interest in ... Read more »

The Dust Bowl

It must be admitted that there is a certain sameness, a certain formula if you will, in the historical documentaries of Ken Burns. First you select a mournful tune to be played on solo violin as your theme. Then you interview and film some historians and, if the event is recent enough, as this one is, some people who were alive and have memories of it. You hire a few good voice actors—Tom ... Read more »

Duplicity

Duplicity (2009) A movie that refuses to dumb down to the comic-book audiences of today is a pearl beyond price. This one is insanely complicated, but stays just within the bounds of something you could figure out. It aspires to be a romantic thriller like Charade, and though it’s not quite in that league, it is smart and nice to look at with all its foreign ... Read more »

Duplex

Duplex (2003) We rented this on the strength of it being directed by Danny de Vito, whose dark sense of humor syncs closely with mine. I thought The War of the Roses was a masterpiece, and Throw Momma From the Train was brilliant. We even liked Death to Smoochy, and were apparently just about the only ones ... Read more »

Dummy

Probably would never have been released on DVD if Adrian Brody hadn’t won the Oscar for The Pianist. It tries to be a sweet little study of some oddballs, but doesn’t really work. The best thing about the movie is Milla Jovovich, who is the lead singer of an in-your-face punk rock band so desperate for gigs that she agrees to play at a Jewish wedding where they ... Read more »

Duma

Try these titles on for size: The Black Stallion, Never Cry Wolf. Most people I know who have seen them would put them high on their list of favorite movies of their type. Now try two more: Fly Away Home, Wind. I think most people have never seen them, and it’s their loss, as they are as good as the first two. They are all beautifully photographed, ... Read more »

The Dukes of Hazzard

The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)

When I saw in the New Times that the double feature at the Sunset was what were, by all accounts, the two dumbest movies of the summer, and maybe of all time, I briefly considered going anyway. But then I remembered what my granddaddy used to say when some unpleasant course of action was suggested: “Let’s don’t and say we did.” He’s right. Some movies ... Read more »

Duck Soup

The Marx Brothers didn’t make all that many films—just 13 from The Cocoanuts in 1929 to Love Happy in 1949—but I’d say that all but one of them (the last; even Groucho didn’t like it) are classics. This one is probably my favorite, even over the wonderful A Night at the Opera. The wild anarchy reaches new ... Read more »

Duck, You Sucker

Duck, You Sucker (1971) Original title: Giù la testa, which my online translator renders as “Down the head.” As in “keep your head down,” I guess. Online translators suck at idiom. (Which would probably translate as “perform fellatio on a figure of speech.”) To complicate matters further, the VHS tape I watched had retitled it to A Fistful of ... Read more »