This Week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of the superb documentary Pee-Wee Herman as Himself, the disappointing comedy Friendship and a rant about West Anderson, the director of The Phoenician Scheme.
The best movie of 2025 so far is Jia Zhangke’s sweeping Chinese drama Caught by the Tides, with its stunning performance by Tao Zhao. Seek it out while it’s still in theaters.
CURRENT MOVIES
- Caught by the Tides: China evolves, she persists. In theaters.
- Pee-Wee Herman as Himself: a man hidden in his own invention. HBO Max.
- The Count of Monte-Cristo: you think you’ve seen a revenge movie? kanopy (free), Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- John Singer Sargent: Fashion and Swagger: locking gazes. kanopy.
- The Friend: grieving with an enormous dog. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- The Trouble with Jessica: a diverting farce. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- Bix Biederbecke: Ain’t None of Them Play Like Him Yet: rediscovering a lost jazz legend. Amazon, YouTube.
- Friendship: the loser isn’t lovable. In theaters.
ON TV
On June 11, Turner Classic Movies will air the 1943 masterpiece The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, a remarkably textured portrait of a man over four decades and his struggles to evolve into new eras. Written and directed by the great British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, this is a movie with a sharp message to 1940s audiences about modernity, as well as a subtle exploration of privilege that will resonate today.