It’s time to sample the prestige films dominating theaters (or, at least, art house theaters):
- Clint Eastwood’s thoughtful and compelling American Sniper, with harrowing action and a career-best performance from Bradley Cooper.
- The inspiring Selma, well-crafted and gripping throughout (but with an unfortunate historical depiction of LBJ).
- The Belgian drama Two Days, One Night with Marion Cotillard, which explores the limits of emotional endurance.
- The cinematically important and very funny Birdman. You can still find Birdman, but you may have to look around a bit. It has justifiably garnered several Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture.
- Reese Witherspoon is superb in the Fight Your Demons drama Wild, and Laura Dern may be even better.
- The Theory of Everything is a successful, audience-friendly biopic of both Mr. AND Mrs. Genius.
- The Imitation Game – the riveting true story about the guy who invented the computer and defeated the Nazis and was then hounded for his homosexuality.
- I was underwhelmed by the brooding drama A Most Violent Year – well-acted and a superb sense of time and place (NYC in 1981) but not gripping enough to thrill.
My DVD/Stream of the Week is a first feature with a GREAT title for a contemporary noir thriller: Bad Turn Worse. Bad Turn Worse is available streaming from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Video.
On January 31, Turner Classic Movies is airing one of the all time funniest showbiz comedies, Twentieth Century. Another good choice is the WW II spy thriller The Fallen Sparrow with John Garfield and a 22-year-old Maureen O’Hara (and she doesn’t look 22 – does she?).
