This week on The Movie Gourmet – my Noir City Wrap-up and new reviews of some of the year’s most acclaimed films: Two were created by already iconic filmmakers: Like Leigh’s Hard Truths and Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, The third is The Brutalist, the work of an emerging director, Brady Corbet, whom I guess has done emerged.
Note: I have finalized my list of Best Movies of 2024. BTW, none of them are as good as last year’s top three – Oppenheimer, Anatomy of a Fall or Past Lives.
CURRENT MOVIES
- Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- A Complete Unknown: a genius and his time. In theaters.
- The Last Showgirl: desperation amid the rhinestones. In theaters.
- The Brutalist: buffeted by fate, can his soul survive? In theaters.
- Hard Truths: trapped inside her own rage. In theaters.
- The Room Next Door: Tilda and Julianne, life and death. In theaters.
- All We Imagine as Light: three women and a society that’s not on their side In theaters.
- Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- A Real Pain: whose pain is it? In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- The Return: an ancient tale told thru a 21st Century lens. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: another smart and charming romp. Netflix.
- Oh, Canada: deathbed confession and so what? In theaters.
- Queer: forty-five minutes of fine romantic drama, and then the bizarre. In theaters.
- Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.
WATCH AT HOME
From my Best Movies of 2024:
- Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
- Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- La Chimera: six genres for the price of one. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon.
- Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
- The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
- Love Lies Bleeding: obsessions and impulses collide. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
ON TV
Turner Classic Movies is into its 31 Day of Oscars, showing only Oscar winners and nominees. That means it’s harder for me to recommend overlooked films to you, because fewer Oscar winners are overlooked, although some have been unjustly forgotten. So, this week I have the February 11 TCM airing of The Bad Seed (1956). Very bad things are happening – the chill comes from the revelation that the murderous fiend is a child with blonde pigtails. It’s gotta be tough to be cute and creepy at the same time, but child star Patty McCormack pulled it off. McCormack went on to161 screen credits, including iconic TV shows from Route 66 and Death Valley Days to Murder, She Wrote and The Sopranos. Patty is the queen of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, having worked with everyone from Karl Malden and Angela Lansbury to Ron Howard, Michael Douglas, Philip Seymour Hoffman and of course, Kevin Bacon himself. McCormack was Oscar-nominated for this performance as an 11-year-old.