The story of a young Russian-Jewish mouse who emigrates to America, is separated from his family, and has to find his way in 1880s New York City is a lushly-animated, sometimes grim story about assimilation, discimination, and the promises the United States makes to the world and consistenty violates.

Starring Cathianne Blore, Dom DeLuise, John Finnegan, Phillip Glasser, Amy Green, Madeline Kahn, Pat Musick, Nehemiah Persoff, and Christopher Plummer. Written by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss. Directed by Don Bluth.

Dennis Versus the Movies month kicks off with a favorite from Mary's childhood, the Philadelphia-set romantic comedy about a department-store window-dresser and the five-thousand-year-old Egyptian mummy spends her days as mannequin and nights as Kim Cattrall. Forget the haters, it's Pygmalion on the Schuykill.

Starring Andrew McCarthy, Kim Cattrall, James Spader, Meshach Taylor, G. W. Baily, and Estelle Getty. Written by Edward Rugoff and Michael Gottlieb. Directed by Michael Gottlieb.

We're back watching James Bond, this time teaming up with a sexy Russian spy to take down a deranged Swedish shipping magnate who wants to blow up the world so that he can live under the sea. Also, we get the first appearance of the henchman Jaws. Honestly, it's pretty fun, and half the movie was filmed in Egypt.

Starring Roger Moore, Barbara Bach, Curt Jurgens, and Richard Kiel. Written by Christopher Wood, Richard Maibaum, and Tom Manciewicz. DIrected by Lewis Gilbert.

The story of the Jamaican bobslead team is a family-friendly comedy that hits all the hoary old sports movie underdog beats. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, though it means they have to completely fictionalize an historical event. Thankfully, it also has John Candy.

Starring Leon, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis, Malik Youba, and John Candy. Written by Lynn Siefert, Tommy Swerdlow, and Michael Goldberg. Directed by Jon Turteltaub.

It's sports! It's animals! It's animation! It's celebrity voices! It's... a weird riff on Lost Horizon and I guess Saturday Night Fever with an alligator? It's Animalypics! From the creator of Tron! And hosted by a turtle who sounds like Henry Kissinger! And music from 10cc! I'm sure it made sense in 1980.

Starring Michael Fremer, Gilda Radner, Billy Crystal, and Harry Shearer. Written by Steven Lisberger, Michael Fremer, and Roger Allers. Directed by Steven Lisberger. Music by Graham Gouldman

A young man loses his father and home, is forced to work for a land baron, falls in love with his boss's daughter, and captures a rogue horse in this drama based on an Australian ballad. It's corny as a paperback romance, and has more horses than a twelve-year-old girl's notebook.

We also have my sister Anne on to talk a bit about horses.

Starring Tom Burlinson, Kirk Douglas, Sigrid Thornton, Jack Thompson, and Chris Haywood. Written by John Dixon and Fred Cullen from Banjo Paterson's poem. Directed by George T. Miller.

A bland office drone has an affair with his married coworker and becomes obsessed with her, while juggling his suicidal mother and unemployed best friend; did we mention it's a comedy?

Starring John Heard, Mary Beth Hurt, Peter Riegert, Kenneth McMillan, and Gloria Grahame. Written and directed by Joan Micklin Silver

A silent film of an opera sounds like a joke, but no, it's quite real--and honestly pretty disjointed and dull, playing more like highlights of Wagner's opera about the Holy Grail than a film in its own right. We also discuss Catholic theology, transubstantiation, incels, and Happy Days.

Starring Vitale Di Stefano, Mario Bonnard, Mary Cleo Tarlarini, and Maria Caserini. Directed by Mario Caserini.

This is a preview of the latest episode of our series Hollywood Avalon. To hear the entire episode, join the Mary Versus the Movies patreon for $3/month to hear this and the entire series Hollywood Avalon: https://www.patreon.com/maryvsmovies.

An American journalist goes missing during the 1973 Chilean coup, and his family naively expects the U.S. government to help recover him, not realizing that they're behind the coup. Based on a true story.

Starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, John Shea, Melanie Mayron, and David Clennon. Written by Costa-Gavras and Donald E. Stewart. Directed by Costa-Gavras.

An Acid Western about a 19th century American mercenary overthrowing the government of Nicaragua is one of the angriest farces ever committed to film, reflecting on not only the historical attrocities, but also the then on-going attrocities tied to the U.S. Iran-Contra scandals. It's the film that killed director Alex Cox's chances at a mainstream career, but what a way to go.

Starring Ed Harris, Richard Masur, René Auberjonois, Peter Boyle, Miguel Sandoval, and Marlee Matlin. Written by Rudy Wurlitzer. Directed by Alex Cox. Music by Joe Strummer.