Movies to See Right Now – in Theaters, On DVD, On TV

In Theaters:

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Rock-em, sock-em feminist suspense thriller built around the very original character of damaged, angry, master hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace).  Lisbeth makes Dirty Harry look like Bishop Tutu.  The Swedish title was Men Who Hate Woman, and there’s lots of violence against women in this film, satisfyingly avenged.  This is a whodunit with layers of romance, suspense, and sex, with even some Nazis thrown in.

A Prophet Probably the year’s best film so far – about a young French-Arab from his first terrifying day in prison to his release.  It evokes the Deniro scenes in Godfather II, except set with gritty realism in contemporary France.

The Ghost Writer First class paranoid political thriller by Roman Polanski.

On DVD: 

The Hurt Locker, Precious and Up in the Air.  If you haven’t caught up with last year’s best, there’s no better time than now.

On TV:

Mon Oncle Perhaps the most deeply funny movie of all time, this is Jacques Tati’s masterful satire of modernist consumerism.  The spare soundtrack might be the best ever.  TCM 3/28/10

Shotgun Stories Character driven, gripping tale of three damaged brothers in the Bayou.  Sundance Channel in late March and early April.

Layer Cake Contemporary British noir crime thriller with Daniel Craig. IFC 3/28/10

Outrage Documentary that convincingly exposes secretly gay politicians who vote against gay rights.  This is not Florida Governor Charlie Christ’s favorite movie.  HBO 3/3/0/10, 4/1/10.

Also in Theaters:

Alice in Wonderland in 3-D: Eye candy from Tim Burton.

The Runaways:  Very well-executed Behind the Music arc.  Good performances by Kristin Stewart and Dakota Fanning.