Movies to See Right Now

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Ruth Negga in PASSING. Courtesy of Netflix.

This week, the big movie on Netflix is Passing, and Oscar favorite Belfast opens in theaters – stay tuned for my reaction.

Cinequest’s online festival CINEJOY is running through November 17, and here are my five top Cinejoy recommendations (and capsules on nine other Cinejoy films).

REMEMBRANCE

Dean Stockwell in BLUE VELVET.

Dean Stockwell‘s 70-year acting career contained at least four distinct chapters, between which he took mostly voluntary breaks. He started as a child star – one of the biggest; he was spanked by William Powell in Son of the Thin Man and acted with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in Anchors Aweigh. After walking away as a teenager, he returned for serious, original roles in Compulsion and Long Day’s Journey Into Night. During his hippie drop-out phase, he dropped back in for the Roger Corman hippie exploitation movie Psych-out. Then Stockwell played Harry Dean Stanton’s sympathetic brother in Wim Wenders masterpiece Paris, Texas. He followed that with hos most indelible performance, as his friend Dennis Hopper’s terrifying henchman in Blue Velvet, where he unforgettably lip-synchs a Roy Orbison tune. Stockwell topped of his career with the popular television series Quantum Leap. Here is Sheila O’Malley’s marvelous tribute at RogerEbert.com.

IN THEATERS

Passing: Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson star in Rebecca Hall’s thought-provoking drama about the value of one’s identity and navigating in a racist societ. Also streaming on Netflix.

Also in theaters:

ON VIDEO

An American Story: Norman Mineta and His Legacy: Celebrate Norm’s 90th birthday this November by streaming it for free here: An American Story: Norman Mineta and His Legacy.

Son of Monarchs: A promising young NYC biologist must revisit his home in rural Michoacán to resolve his own identity. HBO Max.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

ON TV

Eli Wallach, Mary LaRoche, Cindy Calloway, Robert Keith and Richard Jaeckel in THE LINEUP

On November 13 and 14, Turner Classic Movies broadcasts Don Siegel’s The Lineup, one of my very favorite San Francisco movies. The villains and the final chase scene are unforgettable, as are the movie’s iconic San Francisco locations. It’s on TCM’s Noir Alley, so Eddie Muller will present the intro and outro. Don’t miss it.

Cynda Williams and Billy Bob Thornton in ONE FALSE MOVE

Moving from classic film noir to neo-noir, on November 14, TCM airs the gripping contemporary neo-noir One False Move. A Los Angeles crime is solved right away – the cops know who did it and that the murderers are headed to a small town in Arkansas, where the cops lay in wait. One False Move is a ticking time bomb as we wait for the criminals to drive across the Southwest to the inevitable confrontation. There are guys overreaching for greed and ambition, a femme fatale, and a very dark secret, but America’s original sin – race – is at the core of One False Move.

Bill Paxton in ONE FALSE MOVE

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