may I say something sinful?

Does everybody who loves movies believe that the movies they love were created just for them? Two here that blew me away, another life-changer...and a sprinkling of dreck just to keep me humble. If you have the opportunity, check them out.

Made in Belfast (2013) - "An author returns home to Belfast after eight years to confront issues that he had left behind after writing a novel drawing upon the lives of his nearest and dearest...."

Source: streamed on Amazon Prime
I watched it because: I'm a wee bit in love with Northern Ireland
IMDB: 6.3/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: N/A%

notable quote: "'Tell her.... Tell her if it wasn't for women like her, there'd be no such thing as art. There'd be no music, no words, no songs, no wars. Tell her she has something unfathomable in and about her. In another lifetime she lay with and for poets and painters and sculptors while they explored the curves and contours of her perfection and tried in vain to capture the uncapturable. To try and convey her beauty on a piece of paper or canvas or clay, I mean, that's a fuckin' insult. Tell her you will forfeit the further use of your tongue if just once you could use it to lick the salt sweat off the length of her spine and tell her that you'd die a happy man if just one more time you heard her voice calling your name in ecstasy. Just one more time.'

'Fuckin' steady on, Lord Byron.'"
story: successful author with lots of conflict and boundary issues comes back to Northern Ireland when his dad dies, addressing for the first time the harm he's done and what's been done to him.
visuals: it's what I imagine the area to be, in all ways
costumes, hair & makeup: a funny and touching plot point
acting: I thought it was very good across the board, especially Shaun Blaney (Petesy) and Paul Kennedy (Matty)

intangibles: charming, emotionally wrenching, and thoughtful - and the soundtrack is freaking amazing
overall: highly recommended

The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) - "A young priest, Father Chisolm is sent to China to establish a Catholic parish among the non-Christian Chinese. While his boyhood friend, also a priest, flourishes in his calling as a priest in a more Christian area of the world, Father Chisolm struggles. He encounters hostility, isolation, disease, poverty, and a variety of setbacks which humble him, but make him more determined than ever to succeed. Over the span of many years he gains acceptance and a growing congregation among the Chinese, through his quiet determination, understanding and patience."

Source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: Gregory Peck. That says it all.
IMDB: 7.2/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: N/A% Audience: 85%

notable quote: "It's a lonely sound, that."
story: weird, dated, dreamlike
visuals: lovely
costumes, hair & makeup: nice stuff, apt for the time period
acting: Peck (Father Chisolm) and Rose Stradner (Rev. Mother Maria-Veronica) imbued their complex, unusual relationship with grace and depth

intangibles: this is an extraordinary film unlike anything else I've seen
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Actor—Peck

• Best Cinematography, Black & White

• Best Art Direction—Interior Decoration, Black & White

• Best Music, Dramatic or Comedy Score
overall: highly recommended

Ekaterina (series 1, 2014) - "In 1744 in Saint Petersburg, Empress Elizabeth is childless, and she appoints her nephew Peter Fedorovich as the heir to the Russian throne. But he had been born in Prussia and could hardly speak Russian. 

     Elizabeth decides to marry him to a princess, intending to take any future son and educate him to become the future emperor. Elizabeth chooses a wife for her nephew, German Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg. Sophia Frederike hopes to find happiness in the distant and foreign land, but she is faced with the intrigues and plots of the Russian Imperial court, the indifference of her husband, and the plans of the Empress. The girl takes the name Catherine Alexeevna (Yekaterina) and works to save herself and her children from danger, as the emperor Peter III desires to send her away from the palace. 

     In July 1762, barely six months after becoming emperor, Peter commits the political error of retiring with his Holstein-born courtiers and relatives to Oranienbaum, leaving his wife in Saint Petersburg. On July 8 and 9, the Leib Guard revolts, deposes Peter from power, and proclaims Catherine as the new monarch. The bloodless coup d'état succeeds and Catherine becomes the new empress, and thus the Golden Age of the Russian Empire begins."
Source: streamed on Amazon Prime
I watched it because: history + costume drama = fascinating!
IMDB: 8.1/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: N/A%

story: engrossing and incredibly long
visuals: sumptuous. Some of the scenery shots are ridiculously pathetic stock filler, but all of the interiors and the closer exteriors are almost unbelievably breathtaking. The cinematography and lighting are notably good.
costumes, hair & makeup: spectacular! The hair especially is so well done.
acting: Maria Aleksandrova (Ekaterina) shows great strength and guile, though vulnerability is a challenge for her. Aleksandr Yatsenko plays the lunatic Pyotr Fyodorovich with frightening accuracy.

intangibles: this was my first in-Russian-with-English-subtitles movie. It required complete attention through 10 episodes, no multitasking or even looking away. That's either Zen television or a commitment that I'm not accustomed to making. Be advised. And I'll consider it before watching the next 2 series....
overall: recommended

Presumed Innocent (1990) - "As a lawyer investigates the murder of a colleague, he finds himself more connected to the crime than anyone else."
Source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: it's a movie that I'd heard of but knew nothing about
IMDB: 6.9/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 87% Audience: 67%

notable quote: "There are one hundred and fifty lawyers down there; couldn't they find someone who didn't fuck her to handle the case?!"
visuals: court pictures are always good to look at
costumes, hair & makeup: 
acting: I love Raul Julia (Sandy Stern). Would pay cold hard cash to watch him read from the phone book, so I'm glad I saw this just for him. However, Harrison Ford (Rusty Sabich) is more wooden than Pinocchio and Bonnie Bedelia (Barbara Sabich) has all the appeal of a Raggedy Ann doll. The sympathy level on this film is dangerously low.

intangibles: why yes, there IS heightened scrutiny for law movies - thanks for asking. This is not a good one, at all. Everyone on the case is conflicted (the legal term of art, not psychology) one way or another. No one has even a modicum of ethics. 
overall: not recommended - not even for Raul

[the title quotation is from The Keys of the Kingdom]