Outland

To show my age a little bit...
Here's another older movie that not very many people younger than I am have seen. It's the futuristic 1981 film Outland.
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Sean Connery plays a marshal who is transferred to a mining outpost on Io, moon of Jupiter. There he stumbles on a drug-smuggling ring with lofty connections.
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Don't be fooled, this isn't so much of a sci-fi movie. It's more of a western that happens to be set in outer space.
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It is very slow moving, especially by today's standards, but still good. All The characters are well written and acted and there's a constant air of tension .
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As you watch this movie keep an eye out for 2 cast members who would later wind up as relatives on the TV series Cheers.

Something the Lord Made

Here's another movie based on historical events. This one, though, is not depressing - quite the opposite, in fact - it's inspirational and moving.
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It's 2004's Something the Lord Made, an HBO film starring Alan Rickman and Mos Def.
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Starting about the time of the great depression, it tells the true story of Alfred Blalock (Rickman), a pioneering cardiologist, who hires an African-American lab assistant, Vivian Thomas (Mos Def). Thomas soon becomes much more useful than just sweeping floors. He manufactures new surgical tools and even assists Blalock in radically new procedures. Together they try to cure Blue babies - babies with a terminal heart condition.
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This movie shows some of the racial tensions of the time (although understated at times), and a really cool time when surgeons had to build their own equipment.
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Rickman (as always) and Mos Def are both spectacular. This is a must-see!

The Grey Zone

This next movie is the Aptly-named The Grey Zone. From 2001, it's a dark, macabre look at a horrifying time in history.
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Based on actual events at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, it's about a Jewish doctor recruited by Josef Mengele and other Jews who get special privileges for working for the Germans, called Sonderkommandos. Together they raise arms and mount the only armed revolt in any German WWII death camp.
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The cast is good: Steve Buscemi and Harvy Keitel are great, and I even didn't mind David Arquette - a rarity.
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This movie doesn't pull any punches. It is unflinching, depressing and hard to sit thru. But it's well worth it. It explores the moral grey zone and you often find yourself asking tough questions like what would you do if you were put in this hell.

Taps

Here's an older movie for you. The 1981 drama Taps.
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It's about a group of students at a military academy who take up arms and get into a stand-off with the police when their academy is threatened with closing to make room for condos.
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Timothy Hutton is excellent as the ranking cadet leading the students and George C. Scott and Ronny Cox are good too. But they are not the reason to watch this movie.
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This movie basically launched the careers of Tom Cruise and Sean Penn. They didn't even get their names on the original movie poster (the studio changed that once they got famous).
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But their roles in Taps are opposite of their typical roles later in the 80s. Sean Penn, who I remember as Spicoli or a tough delinquent in Bad Boys, is the straight-A-getting book worm. And Tom Cruise plays the gung-ho, trigger-happy tough kid - quite a change from the spoiled rich kid from Risky Business.

If you remember Penn and Cruise from their typical 80s roles this movie should give you a nice chuckle at the ironic casting. Oh, and it happens to be a pretty decent movie otherwise, too.

Wit

Time to change things up again. Here's a great tear-jerker: a 2001 HBO film called Wit, based on a play by Margaret Edson. The screenplay was written by Emma Thompson and director Mike Nichols.
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Don't let that description scare you off (GUYS!), this is a really interesting, engaging, witty, intelligent look at a tough subject.
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It tells the story of Vivian Bearing (Emma Thompson), a rigid professor of 17th century English Lit, who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. The movie follows Vivian as she looks back and also at the relationships she has with her medical staff, including one doctor who was a former student of hers.

Because this was not theatrically released it makes the performances not eligable for Oscars. What a shame! Thompson would have been a virtual shoe-in for one. She is so amazing that you sometimes forget you're watching an actress playing a part. And even Christopher Lloyd is great as the head doctor.
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This is a truly great movie - enough said. To quote Vivian Bearing: After all, brevity is the soul of wit.