This week, The Movie Gourmet took the week off from movie theaters. After two weeks of movies about self-euthanasia (The Room Next Door), shameful deathbed confessions (Oh, Canada) , psychotic rage (Hard Truths) and a traumatized genius (The Brutalist), I just couldn’t face one about a woman who loses her husband to political evil (I’m Still Here). I like dark films, but even The Movie Gourmet has his limits. In the mean time, I’m deep into screening films for the upcoming Slamdance and Cinequest film festivals.
Note: I have finalized my list of Best Movies of 2024.
REMEMBRANCE
Tony Roberts had a gift or playing characters with relaxed confidence, perfect foils for Woody Allen’s trademark nervous anxiety. Roberts’ pairing with Allen began with Play, It Again, Sam, and carried through Annie Hall, Stardust Memories, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy and Hannah and her Sisters. Roberts worked plenty without Allen (Serpico, The Taking of Pelham One Twi Three and Dirty Dancing), mostly on the Broadway stage, where he was nominated for multiple Tony awards.
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
On February 17, Turner Classic Movies is presenting Mon Oncle, Jacques Tati’s masterful fish-out-of-water satire of contemporary consumerism and modernist culture. In its deadpan way, I think it may be the most deeply funny movie of all time. If you have strong feelings (either way) for Mid-century Modern style, be patient and settle in. There’s very little dialogue and lots of sly observational physical humor. Tati’s use of ambient noise/sounds in the very spare soundtrack is pure genius. Mon Oncle is among my fifty or so Greatest Movies of All Time.
