Movies to See Right Now

TONI ERDMANN
TONI ERDMANN this week at the Mill Valley Film Festival

The Mill Valley Film Festival is underway – don’t miss Oscar hopeful Toni Erdmann this week; after the MVFF, Toni Erdmann won’t be screened again in the Bay Area until it opens theatrically on January 20, 2017.

You might be able to find the best movie of the year so far – the character-driven crime drama Hell or High Water. It’s atmospheric, gripping, and packed with superb performances. Hell or High Water is a screenwriting masterpiece by Taylor Sheridan. Must See.

Here are other movie choices:

        • Opening today, Girl Asleep, is an offbeat coming-of-age story with more than a splash of Australian magical realism. From a first-time woman director.
        • Another odd tale from Down Under is the uneven but entertaining period tale of revenge, The Dressmaker.

My DVD Stream of the Week is based on the Jane Austen novel Lady Susan, the sharply witty Love & Friendship with Kate Beckinsale. It’s now available on DVD from Netflix (and coming soon to Redbox) and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and DirecTV.

On October 10, Turner Classic Movies has The Haunting, which show us what happens when a paranormal investigator invites you to join him at a haunted house. Julie Harris and Claire Bloom wish they hadn’t said “Yes”. It’s one of the very scariest black-and-white films.

On October 13, TCM plays one of my Overlooked Noir, Raw Deal with its ménage à noir, some of the best dialogue in all of film noir and the superb cinematography of John Alton.

Claire Trevor in RAW DEAL
Claire Trevor in RAW DEAL

DVD/Stream of the Week: LOVE & FRIENDSHIP – new heights for manipulation and twittery

Chloe Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale in LOVE & FRIENDSHIP
Chloe Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale in LOVE & FRIENDSHIP

Based on Jane Austen’s Lady Susan, the sharply witty Love & Friendship centers on the unabashedly amoral efforts by Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) to get exactly what she wants despite lack of resources and position.

Love & Friendship is filled with the 19th century version of “snappy dialogue” – old-fashioned wit. Mark Twain would have loved this movie. Much of the comes from Lady Susan’s clueless sense of entitlement and her unashamed and outrageous manipulation of the other characters. An unabashed moocher and deadbeat, she finds that, because her daughter’s school fees are “too high to even consider paying, it is actually an economy”.

It’s a pleasing turn from Kate Beckinsale at age 42, who has so often played ornamental movie roles. She first came to our attention at age 20 as the beauteous Hero in Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing, and broke through at age 23 by dominating the British indie Shooting Fish. After playing a bunch of less interesting roles, it’s great to see get a chance to really act in Love & Friendship.

Love & Friendship’s director is Whit Stillman, who debuted with two delightful indies from the world of old money Northeastern preppies. Metropolitan and Barcelona were talky and perceptive explorations of human nature, set in what usually is a less accessible and less sympathetic social set. (Unfortunately, he most recently made the dreadful Damsels in Distress with the always execrable Greta Gerwig.)

Right from the get-go, Stillman lets us know that he’s not taking this too seriously with self-mocking character introductions. In another nice touch, Stillman clads some of the male characters in noticeably ill-fitting clothes – something you never see in a movie from this period. It’s funny – and authentic, when you think about it.

In the funniest moments of the film, the enthusiastically dim Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett) takes twittery to new heights. Bennett, a British TV actor previously unknown to me, is quite a revelation. It’s always nice to see Chloe Sevigny, too, and she’s here playing Lady Susan’s equally amoral American friend.

Although I did not see it there, Love & Friendship was the opening night feature of the 59th San Francisco Film Festival, and folks were still praising it in festival lines a week later.   It’s now available on DVD from Netflix (and coming soon to Redbox) and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and DirecTV.

Movies to See Right Now

Bryan Cranston in ALL THE WAY
Bryan Cranston in ALL THE WAY

It’s an exceptional week for movies about American politics.

  • All the Way is a thrilling political docudrama with a stellar performance.  It’s the story of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, warts and all, ending official racial segregation in America with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Bryan Cranston brings LBJ alive as no actor has before.  All the Way is still playing on HBO.
  • Don’t miss the political documentary Weiner – it’s probably the best documentary of the year. Weiner has more than its share of forehead-slapping moments and is often funny and always captivating. It also provokes some reflection on the media in this age.
  • Scroll down to read about two other great films of American politics coming up on TV: All the President’s Men and The Candidate.

If you like the espionage novelist John le Carré, you’ll enjoy Our Kind of Traitor opens today. It’s a robust thriller with a funny yet powerful performance by Stellan Skarsgård.

Also in theaters:

  • Love & Friendship – a sharply witty adaptation of a Jane Austen story with an adept turn by Kate Beckinsale.
  • The Nice Guys – Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in a very funny mismatched buddy movie from the creator of the Lethal Weapon franchise.
  • Julianne Moore, along with supporting players Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph, shine in the amiably satisfying little romantic comedy Maggie’s Plan.
  • Finding Dory doesn’t have the breakthrough animation or the depth of story that we expect from Pixar, but it won’t be painful to watch a zillion times with your kids.

My DVD/Stream of the Week is the quietly engrossing drama 45 Years, a movie on my Best Movies of 2015 list with an enthralling Oscar-nominated performance by Charlotte Rampling. 45 Years is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and to stream from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Set your DVRs for Turner Classic Movies next Friday, July 7, as TCM explores “America in the 70s” with four of the best films EVER – All the President’s Men, The Candidate, Network and The Conversation –  along with the time capsule thriller Klute (after which 15% of all American women changed their hairstyles to mirror Jane Fonda’s “shag”).

Jane Fonda in KLUTE
Jane Fonda in KLUTE

Movies to See Right Now

Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin in WEINER
Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin in WEINER

Don’t miss the political documentary Weiner – it’s probably the best documentary of the year. Weiner has more than its share of forehead-slapping moments and is often funny and always captivating. It also provokes some reflection on the media in this age.

Also in theaters:

  • Love & Friendship – a sharply witty adaptation of a Jane Austen story with an adept turn by Kate Beckinsale.
  • The Nice Guys – Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in a very funny mismatched buddy movie from the creator of the Lethal Weapon franchise.
  • Julianne Moore, along with supporting players Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph, shine in the amiably satisfying little romantic comedy Maggie’s Plan.

You can find a thrilling political docudrama with a stellar performance playing on HBO. It’s All the Way, the story of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, warts and all, ending official racial segregation in America with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Bryan Cranston brings LBJ alive as no actor has before.

Stay away from the dark comedy The Lobster. A grim and tedious misfire, it’s the biggest movie disappointment of the year.

On June 21, Turner Classic Movies presents Jack Nicholson as the iconic 1970s anti-hero in Five Easy Pieces. It’s a profound and deeply affecting study of alienation. Nicholson plays someone who has rejected and isolated himself from his dysfunctional family. Then he must embark on the epic road trip back to the family home. Amid the drama, there is plenty of funny, including the funniest sandwich order in the history of cinema.

FIVE EASY PIECES
FIVE EASY PIECES

Movies to See Right Now

WEINER. Photo courtesy of San Francisco Film Society.
WEINER. Photo courtesy of San Francisco Film Society.

Don’t miss the political documentary Weiner.  I haven’t had the chance to post about it yet, but it’s probably the best documentary of the year.  Weiner has more than its share of forehead-slapping moments and is often funny and always captivating.  It also provokes some reflection on the media in this age.

Another movie that I enjoyed but haven’t had the opportunity to post about is the nice little comedy Maggie’s Plan.

Also in theaters:

  • Love & Friendship – a sharply witty adaptation of a Jane Austen story with an adept turn by Kate Beckinsale.
  • The Nice Guys – Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in a very funny mismatched buddy movie from the creator of the Lethal Weapon franchise.

You can find the best movie out right now on HBO. It’s All the Way, the story of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, warts and all, ending official racial segregation in America with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Bryan Cranston brings LBJ alive as no actor has before.

Stay away from the dark comedy The Lobster. A grim and tedious misfire, it’s the biggest movie disappointment of the year.

My Stream of the Week is Meet the Patels, both a documentary and a comedy – and ultimately, a satisfying crowd-pleaser. Meet the Patels is available to stream from Netflix Instant, Amazon Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play. It’s hilarious and heart-warming, so don’t miss it.

Wow – Turner Classic Movies should keep your DVR humming on Tuesday, June 14. TCM will be broadcasting one of the great movies that you have likely NOT seen, having just been released on DVD in 2009: The Earrings of Madame de… (1953). Max Ophuls directed what is perhaps the most visually evocative romance ever in black and white. It’s worth seeing for the ballroom scene alone. The shallow and privileged wife of a stick-in-the-mud general takes a lover, but the earrings she pawned reveal the affair and consequences ensue. The great Italian director Vittorio De Sica plays the impossibly handsome lover.

And ALSO on June 14, TCM will present The Graduate, The French Connection, The Last Detail and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Just for fun, on June 16, TCM will screen a series of Lupe Velez’ Mexican Spitfire movies from the early 1940s. I find startling similarities between Velez’ Mexican Spitfire and Sofia Vergara’s character of Gloria on Modern Family.

The Earrings of Madame de...
The Earrings of Madame de…

Movies to See Right Now

Bryan Cranston in ALL THE WAY
Bryan Cranston in ALL THE WAY

Another week with good choices – two outright comedies plus a comedy-within-a-thriller:

  • Love & Friendship – a sharply witty adaptation of a Jane Austen story with an adept turn by Kate Beckinsale.
  • The Nice Guys – Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in a very funny mismatched buddy movie from the creator of the Lethal Weapon franchise.
  • A Bigger Splash – a sensual travelogue turned comedy turned thriller with a raucous and oft-naked performance by Ralph Fiennes.

You can find the best movie out right now on HBO. It’s All the Way, the story of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, warts and all, ending official racial segregation in America with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Bryan Cranston brings LBJ alive as no actor has before.

Stay away from the dark comedy The Lobster. A grim and tedious misfire, it’s the biggest movie disappointment of the year.

My Stream of the Week is the TOTALLY OVERLOOKED romantic comedy Man Up (and another good rom com written by a woman). Man Up is available to stream from Netflix Instant, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Flixster.

On June 8, Turner Classic Movies presents Born to Be Bad. Joan Fontaine is a manipulative evildoer, who is trying to finagle the affections of Zachary Scott away from his goodhearted fiance, all while canoodling with Robert Ryan. Classic movie fans will enjoy the casting against type – Fontaine usually played goodie goodies and Scott was often a slimeball (which he’s not here).

Simon Pegg and Lake Bell in MAN UP
Simon Pegg and Lake Bell in MAN UP

Movies to See Right Now

Ryan Gosling in THE NICE GUYS
Ryan Gosling in THE NICE GUYS
  • Something for everyone in theaters this week:
    Love & Friendship – a sharply witty adaptation of a Jane Austen story with an adept turn by Kate Beckinsale.
  • The Nice Guys – Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in a very funny mismatched buddy movie from the creator of the Lethal Weapon franchise.
  • A Bigger Splash – a sensual travelogue turned comedy turned thriller with a raucous and oft-naked performance by Ralph Fiennes.

You can find the best movie out right now on HBO.  It’s All the Way, the story of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, warts and all, ending official racial segregation in America with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Bryan Cranston brings LBJ alive as no actor has before.

Here’s what you want in a disaster movie: 1) a really impressive disaster and 2) lots of suspense about which of the main characters will survive. My Stream of the Week, the Norwegian The Wave, successfully delivers on both counts. It’s available to stream from Amazon Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and a variety of TV PPV outlets.

June 3 is Billy Wilder Day on Turner Classic Movies, which features some wonders from my favorite writer-director: Some Like It Hot, Double Indemnity, Days of Wine and Roses and Five Graves to Cairo. Everyone recognizes Some Like It Hot and Double Indemnity as masterpieces, but I want to highlight Wilder’s very successful second film as a director – Five Graves to Cairo is a combo spy mystery and war film set in Nazi-overrun North Africa. Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter and Erich Von Stroheim star. The cast also includes two of my favorite character actors, Akim Tamiroff and Peter van Eyck.

Franchot Tone, xxx and XXX in FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO
Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter and Erich Von Stroheim in FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO

LOVE & FRIENDSHIP: new heights for manipulation and twittery

Chloe Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale in LOVE & FRIENDSHIP
Chloe Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale in LOVE & FRIENDSHIP

Based on Jane Austen’s Lady Susan, the sharply witty Love & Friendship centers on the unabashedly amoral efforts by Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) to get exactly what she wants despite lack of resources and position.

Love & Friendship is filled with the 19th century version of “snappy dialogue” – old-fashioned wit.  Mark Twain would have loved this movie.  Much of the comes from Lady Susan’s clueless sense of entitlement and her unashamed and outrageous manipulation of the other characters.  An unabashed moocher and deadbeat, she finds that, because her daughter’s school fees are “too high to even consider paying, it is actually an economy”.

It’s a pleasing turn from Kate Beckinsale at age 42, who has so often played ornamental movie roles.  She first came to our attention at age 20 as the beauteous Hero in Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing, and broke through at age 23 by dominating the British indie Shooting Fish.  After playing a bunch of less interesting roles, it’s great to see get a chance to really act in Love & Friendship.

Love & Friendship’s director is Whit Stillman, who debuted with two delightful indies from the world of old money Northeastern preppies. Metropolitan and Barcelona were talky and perceptive explorations of human nature, set in what usually is a less accessible and less sympathetic social set. (Unfortunately, he most recently made the dreadful Damsels in Distress with the always execrable Greta Gerwig.)

Right from the get-go, Stillman lets us know that he’s not taking this too seriously with  self-mocking character introductions.  In another nice touch, Stillman clads some of the male characters in noticeably ill-fitting clothes – something you never see in a movie from this period. It’s funny – and authentic, when you think about it.

In the funniest moments of the film, the enthusiastically dim Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett) takes twittery to new heights.  Bennett, a British TV actor previously unknown to me, is quite a revelation.  It’s always nice to see Chloe Sevigny, too, and she’s here playing Lasy Susan’s equally amoral American friend.

Although I did not see it there, Love & Friendship was the opening night feature of the 59th San Francisco Film Festival, and folks were still praising it in festival lines a week later.