This week – my first stab at the Best Movies of 2021 – So Far – and you can see two of them in theaters right now and stream another. Plus the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF) opens, and here’s my SFJFF preview.
IN THEATERS
Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain: An unusually profound, revealing and unsentimental biodoc of a complicated man – a shy bad ass, an outwardly cynical romantic, a brooding humorist. A triumph for director Morgan Neville, Oscar-winner for 20 Feet from Stardom.
Also in theaters:
- Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised): concert with context. In theaters and streaming on Hulu.
- Mama Weed: it’s always fun when Huppert gets outrageous.
- The Boys in Red Hats: Rorschach America.
- Zola: the road trip is not what it seems, (and neither is this movie).
- Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse.
- In the Heights: Vibrant, earnest and perfect for this moment. Also streaming on HBO Max.
- The Sparks Brothers: Must be seen to be believed.
ON VIDEO
Neutral Ground: C.J. Hunt’s pointed exploration of the continuing legacy of Confederate monuments in America. Plus an essay – more thoughts about Neutral Ground and the Lost Cause lie.
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Riders of Justice: Thriller, comedy and much, much more. It’s the year’s best movie so far. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
- No Sudden Move: Steven Soderbergh’s neo-noir thriller has even more double-crosses than movie stars – and it has plenty of movie stars. HBO Max.
- The Courier: amateur among spies. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
- Truman and Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation: Two gay Southern geniuses, revealing themselves. Laemmle.
- The Dry: a mystery as psychological as it is procedural. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- My Name Is Bulger: Two brothers, two paths to power. discovery+.
- About Endlessness: Damned if I know. Streaming on Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
- Brewmance: barley, hops, yeast and underdogs. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
- Hamlet/Horatio: More tragedy, less angst. Amazon, AppleTV, Google Play.
- Louder Than Bombs: An intricately constructed family drama. Amazon (included with Prime), Vudu and YouTube.
- That Guy Dick Miller: Putting the “character” in “character actor:” Amazon (included with Prime).
- Sword of Trust: comedy and so, so much more. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
- Run Lola Run: you’ll never see a more kinetic movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
ON TV
Tonight, Turner Classic Movies will present Cutter’s Way, which I recommended earlier this week. A paranoid thriller framed by post-Vietnam War disillusionment, it features early Jeff Bridges and career-best performances by John Heard and Lisa Eichhorn.
Here’s a choice to complement Summer of Soul. On July 27, TCM will air Monterey Pop (1968). The two music festivals took place within a year of each other – one with a Black audience and one with a mostly White one. The Monterey Pop audience was unfamiliar with – and blown away by Otis Redding’s epic performance.
This is one of the few DVDs that I still own, for the performances by Redding, the Mamas and the Papas, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Canned Heat, Simon and Garfunkle, Jefferson Airplane, Eric Burdon and the Animals, Country Joe and the Fish and The Who.
It’s okay with me if you fast forward over Ravi Shankar. Don’t miss the reaction of Mama Cass Elliot, sitting in the audience, to Janis Joplin. Pete Townsend and Jimi Hendrix had a guitar-destroying competition, which Hendrix, aided by lighter fluid, undeniably won.
