This week on The Movie Gourmet – my Cinequest coverage, some thoughts on The Woman King and remembrances of two actors who were not-so-well-known, but massively talented. And watch this space for The Movie Gourmet’s 2023 Oscar Dinner, coming imminently.
At the urging of The Wife, we caught up with The Woman King. It’s a very well-crafted movie, and a pretty good one. Like any war movie (or Western), there are the familiar elements of assembling the team, training for the mission, combat, rescue of comrades and the climactic battle. Of course, The Woman King is novel because we aren’t used to seeing a war movie with women warriors, and especially not African-Ancestry women warriors – and let’s not underestimate the importance of that. I was struck how much better The Woman King was than Top Gun: Maverick, even though they follow the same war movie conventions.
Viola Davis, of course, is one our most emotionally powerful screen actors, and it’s fun to see her cut loose as an action hero at age 58. Lashana Lynch is really excellent in The Woman King, just as she impressed me so much as Nomi the new Agent 007 in the Bond movies. Vetting the claim “inspired by true events”, I was impressed by this Wikipedia article on the Agojie.
REMEMBRANCES
Actor Tom Sizemore is most remembered for his Oscar-nominated performance as Tom Hank’s sergeant in Saving Private Ryan. Sizemore was intense and charismatic and hugely talented, but his longtime cocaine addiction kept him off the screen and in the tabloids, rehab and jail. In a rare leading role, Sizemore carried an excellent little neo-noir, The Last Lullaby; see it on Amazon (included with Prime), Vudu and redbox.
Prolific Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent was unforgettable in Away from Her, Sarah Polley’s Alzheimer’s movie with Julie Christie (my choice for the best movie of 2007). Pinsent piled up 152 screen credits, much of it lesser material on TV. He played a bad guy in one of my favorite neo-noirs, Chandler with Warren Oates.
CURRENT MOVIES
- Women Talking: safety and its costs. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Broker: in the margins, finding a profound humanity. In theaters, but increasingly hard to find.
- Living: what is it to live? In theaters, but increasingly hard to find.
- Empire of Light: a woman, revealed. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox and included with HBO Max.
- The Whale: regret to redemption. In theaters, but increasingly hard to find.
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery: skewer the rich. Netflix.
- Everything Everywhere All at Once: often indecipherable and mostly dazzling. back in theaters plus on Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Babylon: “wanton excess” is inadequate to describe this movie. In very few theaters.
- The Eternal Daughter: consumed by mom. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. HBO Max.
- Aftersun: who’s coming of age is this? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- The Fabelmans: a mom, a dad and their genius kid. In theaters and on Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox..
- Decision to Leave: he’s obsessed, and she asks, “Am I so wicked?”. Amazon, AppleTV, Mubi.
- Causeway: affecting and uplifting. AppleTV.
- The Menu: immune from pretension. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox and included with HBO Max.
- All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.
- Armageddon Time: coming of age – right into a moral choice. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- The Banshees of Inisherin: no limits on stubbornness. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox and included with HBO Max.
- Tar: a haughty spirit before a fall. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Triangle of Sadness: more subtlety, please. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Searching: A ticking clock thriller that captures the Silicon Valley vibe. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Mustang: repression challenged by the human spirit. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Truman: how to say goodbye. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Love & Mercy: a tale of three monsters and salvation. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Venus: Meeting your kid for the first time while transitioning. Amazon, AppleTV.
- The Sapphires: Here’s a crowd pleaser: Motown meets Aborigines. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu.
- Wind River: “This isn’t the land of backup, Jane. This is the land of you’re on your own.” Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Radio Dreams: stranger in a strange and funny land. Amazon, AppleTV.
- Little Dieter Needs to Fly: an unimaginable escape and a quirky guy Project Nim: .Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- We Believe in Science: denying science on a monumental scale. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube.
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
ON TV
On March 15, The Candidate reappears on Turner Classic Movies’ 31 Days of Oscar. The Candidate may still be the greatest political film of all-time, with a searing leading performance by Robert Redford. My day job, for 38 years, was in politics, and so many moments in The Candidate are absolutely real. Excellent supporting performances by Peter Boyle, Don Porter and Melvyn Douglas. (Significant parts of The Candidate were shot in the Bay Area, including San Jose’s Eastridge mall and Oakland’s Paramount Theatre.)
TCM is sandwiching The Candidate between two other great films of American politics, Seven Days in May and All the King’s Men.