Weekly Movie Recommendations

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Nicolas Cage in DREAM SCENARIO. Courtesy of A24.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – the best movie in theaters right now is Anatomy of a Fall, the funniest is Dream Scenario, and the most endearing is The Holdovers (also on Amazon). Watch for my upcoming reviews of Fallen Leaves and Maestro, while we all wait for the release of Poor Things, Zone of Interest, The Taste of Things and Ferrari.

I highlight (below) one of the bleakest Christmastime neo-noirs, Blast of Silence, and tomorrow I’ll write about a classic Christmas film noir, Cash on Demand.

When we het to the Holidays I pause my regular WATCH AT HOME feature The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE) and replace it with the movies from my Best of 2023 list that are already available to stream.

REMEMBRANCE

Ryan O’Neal became a movie star when he starred in the disgustingly saccharine Love Story. He later was eclipsed by his own daughter’s Oscar-winning performance in Paper Moon. He was a good sport, mocking Love Story with his final line in What’s Up, Doc?.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2023 – so far:

  • OPPENHEIMER: creator of a monster controlled by others. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • PAST LIVES: a profound and refreshing romance. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • THE MAN WHO DID NOT WANT TO SEE TITANIC: wow – laughs, thrills, love. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • RETURN TO SEOUL: brilliantly crafted and emotionally gripping. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • BARBIE: a marriage of the intelligent and the silly. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • FREMONT: self-discovery and a fortune cookie. Amazon, Vudu.
  • HANNAH HA HA: what makes for human value and fulfillment? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

ON TV

Allen Baron in BLAST OF SILENCE

Any film noir aficionado will want to take advantage of Turner Classic Movies’ rare broadcast of Blast of Silence on December 18. Arguably the first neo-noir (and on my list of Overlooked Neo-noir), Blast of Silence features a solitary professional hit man who is NOT emotionally detached. Instead, he has to work himself into a cauldron of seething hatred before he performs each murder-for-hire. Perversely, this most nihilistic story is juxtapositioned against a New York City Christmastime.

Blast of Silence is not available to stream, so the only ways you can see it are to purchase the Criterion DVD or to catch it this week on TCM.

The juxtaposition of Christmas in BLAST OF SILENCE

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Nicolas Cage in DREAM SCENARIO. Courtesy of A24.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Dream Scenario and Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy. As I write, Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy is number 21 on my carefully curated list of Longest Movie Titles.

When we het to the Holidays I pause my regular WATCH AT HOME feature The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE) and replace it with the movies from my Best of 2023 list that are already available to stream.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2023 – so far:

  • OPPENHEIMER: creator of a monster controlled by others. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • PAST LIVES: a profound and refreshing romance. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: an epic tale of epic betrayal. AppleTV (subscription), Amazon.
  • THE MAN WHO DID NOT WANT TO SEE TITANIC: wow – laughs, thrills, love. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • RETURN TO SEOUL: brilliantly crafted and emotionally gripping. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • BARBIE: a marriage of the intelligent and the silly. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • FREMONT: self-discovery and a fortune cookie. Amazon, Vudu.
  • HANNAH HA HA: what makes for human value and fulfillment? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

ON TV

Julie Andrews and James Garner in THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY

On December 13, Turner Classic Movies will present an overlooked masterwork. Set in England just before the D-Day invasion, The Americanization of Emily (1964) is a biting satire and one of the great anti-war movies. James Garner plays an admiral’s staff officer charged with locating luxury goods and willing Englishwomen for the brass. Julie Andrews plays an English driver who has lost her husband and other male family members in the War. She resists emotional entanglements with other servicemen whose lives may be put at risk, but falls for Garner’s “practicing coward”, a man who is under no illusions about the glory of war and is determined to stay as far from combat as possible.

Unfortunately, Garner’s boss (Melvyn Douglas) has fits of derangement and becomes obsessed with the hope that the first American killed on the beach at D-Day be from the Navy. Accordingly, he orders Garner to lead a suicide mission to land ahead of the D-Day landing, ostensibly to film it. Fellow officer James Coburn must guarantee Garner’s martyrdom.

It’s a brilliant screenplay from Paddy Chayefsky, who won screenwriting Oscars for Marty, The Hospital and Network. Today, Americanization holds up as least as well as its contemporary Dr. Strangelove and much better than Failsafe. Reportedly, both Andrews and Garner have tagged this as their favorite film.

One of the “Three Nameless Broads” bedded by the Coburn character is played by Judy Carne, later of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Dominic Sessa, Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in THE HOLDOVERS. Courtesy of Focus Features.

It doesn’t get any better on The Movie Gourmet – five new reviews of The Holdovers, Rustin, Cypher, May December, The Stones and Brian Jones, right on the heels of recent reviews of Napoleon, The Lady Bird Diaries and The Killer.

The year’s best film so far, Oppenheimer, is now available on VOD for $19.99, and the second-best, Anatomy of a Fall, is still playing some arthouses.

When we het to the Holidays I pause my regular WATCH AT HOME feature The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE) and replace it with the movies from my Best of 2023 list that are already available to stream.

REMEMBRANCE

Joss Ackland in LETHAL WEAPON 2

Joss Ackland was one of those stage-trained British actors who could elevate a role in any film, as he did in Lethal Weapon 2, The Hunt for Red October, White Mischief and over 200 other screen credits.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

Teo Yoo and Greta Lee in PAST LIVES. Courtesy of A24.

From my Best Movies of 2023 – so far:

  • OPPENHEIMER: creator of a monster controlled by others. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • PAST LIVES: a profound and refreshing romance. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • THE MAN WHO DID NOT WANT TO SEE TITANIC: wow – laughs, thrills, love. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • RETURN TO SEOUL: brilliantly crafted and emotionally gripping. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • BARBIE: a marriage of the intelligent and the silly. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • FREMONT: self-discovery and a fortune cookie. Amazon, Vudu.
  • HANNAH HA HA: what makes for human value and fulfillment? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

ON TV

Coming up on Turner Classics on December 4 is Death of a Gunfighter, which I’m not recommending, but I wanted to note that it’s the first movie with a “directed by Alan Smithee” credit. Robert Totten began directing the film, but he was forced out by the star, Richard Widmark, and replaced by Richard Fleischer. Fleischer refused the directing credit because Totten had directed more of the movie, and Widmarks refused to allow Totten to be credited. Widmark and Fleischer agreed that a fictional “Al Smith” would be credited, but there had been a real life director by that name, so they made up “Alan Smithee”. The Alan Smithee credit has since been used by the likes of John Frankenheimer, Dennis Hopper and Ivan Passer to decouple themselves from movies. As I write, “Alan Smithee” has 140 directing credits listed on IMDb.

Movies to See Right Now – Thanksgiving Weekend Edition

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Photo caption: Sandra Huller in ANATOMY OF A FALL. Courtesy of NEON.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – we’re in that time of the year when we’re flooded with eagerly anticipated movies, and I’ve posted new reviews of Napoleon, The Lady Bird Diaries, The Killer and Alan Pakula: Going for Truth. Plus a recommendation of tomorrow’s TCM telecast of the classic film noir The Narrow Margin, one of my favorites.

And, we’re not done yet. I’ve also seen May December and The Stones and Brian Jones. I’ll be writing about them soon, along with The Holdovers, which I hope to see this weekend.

When we get to the Holidays, I pause my regular WATCH AT HOME feature The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE) and replace it with the movies from my Best of 2023 list that are already available to stream.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2023 – so far:

  • OPPENHEIMER: creator of a monster controlled by others. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • PAST LIVES: a profound and refreshing romance. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • THE MAN WHO DID NOT WANT TO SEE TITANIC: wow – laughs, thrills, love. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • RETURN TO SEOUL: brilliantly crafted and emotionally gripping. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • BARBIE: a marriage of the intelligent and the silly. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • FREMONT: self-discovery and a fortune cookie. Amazon, Vudu.
  • HANNAH HA HA: what makes for human value and fulfillment? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Photo caption: Petri Poikolainen in THE MAN WHO DID NOT WANT TO SEE TITANIC. Courtesy of Cinedigm Entertainment Group.

THE NARROW MARGIN: murderous hide and go seek on a train

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Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor in THE NARROW MARGIN
Photo caption: Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor in THE NARROW MARGIN

The overlooked film noir masterpiece The Narrow Margin (1952) is a taut 71 minutes of tension. Growly cop Charles McGraw plays hide-and-seek with a team of hit men on a claustrophobic train. Marie Windsor is unforgettable as the assassins’ target. It’s on my list of Overlooked Noir, and it’s coming up on Turner Classic Movies on Friday, November 27 – set your DVR.

McGraw plays a cop assigned to protect a gangster’s widow on her way to testify against the mob. He immediately loses his partner to an ambush and will have to protect his cargo all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles by himself. His only edge is that the hit men don’t know what his target looks like.

The Narrow Margin has two very special elements. The first is the hardboiled dialogue between McGraw and Windsor and their performances. The second is director Richard Fleisher’s imaginative staging of the woman-hunt up and down the tight corridors and compartments of the train.

The screenplay is easily the best of veteran Earl Felton’s career, and he was nominated for an Oscar for this B picture. When McGraw, still in shock, reflects on the sudden death of his longtime partner, Windsor hisses, “Some protection they send me – an old man who walks right into it and a weeper”. McGraw resents having anything to do with her: “Sister, I’ve known some pretty hard cases in my time, but you make ’em all look like putty”. Later he snarls, “He’s dead and you’re alive. Some exchange.” But they’re both trapped together, and they’re not the kind to make the best of it – the great lines just keep coming: “Relax, Percy, I wouldn’t want any of that nobility to rub off on me”.

The Narrow Margin opens with trench coats and fedora, cigarettes and shadowed faces; when there’s gunfire, we know for sure that we’re in a noir. But then Fleischer moves it all onto the train, and we hear the sound from railroad airbrakes. Fleischer makes an early use of handheld cameras to maneuver around the tight spaces. There’s an especially innovative moment when a fight breaks out in a cramped train restroom – the bottom of a shoe flies up to camera level, then we’re under the sink as head is banged into wall.

The cast is uniformly good. I especially like David Clarke as a (gay?) hit man and Paul Maxey as a very fat traveler who keeps blocking the narrow corridors.

Of course, this is all fifty years before cell phones, and there’s a retro lo-tech moment where a slow-moving train leaves a message via hook to be wired.

Fleischer was a very versatile (and underrated director). When he shot The Narrow Margin, he was a 35-year-old rising director. The Narrow Margin was his sixth noir in five years. After The Narrow Margin, he moved to epics (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Vikings, Barabbas). He later made one of the very best WW II movies, Tora! Tora! Tora!, and the ahead-of-its-time dystopian sci-fi cult favorite Soylent Green. He even made the second Schwarzenegger Conan movie. His noir body of work (Bodyguard, Follow Me Quietly, Trapped, Armored Car Robbery, His Kind of Woman) is impressive, and, in my opinion, The Narrow Margin is his masterpiece.

The Narrow Margin plays frequently on Turner Classic Movies. It’s available to stream from Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.  (Don’t confuse it with the inferior 1990 remake, Narrow Margin.)

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Director Richard Fleischer’s use of reflection

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Sandra Huller and Swann Arlaud in ANATOMY OF A FALL. Courtesy of NEON.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of the brilliant biodoc The Disappearance of Shere Hite and the gripping thinkpiece Our Father, The Devil, plus the outrageous and hard-to-find classic film noir Decoy, on TCM tonight.

When we get to the Holidays I pause my regular WATCH AT HOME feature The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE) and replace it with the movies from my Best of 2023 list that are already available to stream.

CURRENT MOVIES

Shere Hite in THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE. Courtesy of IFC Films.

WATCH AT HOME

Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in BARBIE. Courtesy of Warner Brothers.

From my Best Movies of 2023 – so far:

ON TV

Warren Oates in CHANDLER.

On November 22, Turner Classic Movies is presenting Chandler, the 1971 neo-noir starring Warren Oates as a seedy private detective who gets in over his head. I mention, but don’t dwell on Chandler in my essay Warren Oates: a gift for desperation. Look for film noir icons Charles McGraw and Gloria Grahame in supporting roles.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: ANATOMY OF A FALL. Courtesy of NEON.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Anatomy of a Fall, a great movie by any measure, and the thoroughly unpleasant Priscilla.

I also highlighted Jim Jarmusch’s Night on Earth, playing TODAY on Turner Classic Movies. It features one of cinema’s very funniest scenes and one of the very saddest scenes – in the same movie. 

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

’71

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • ’71: keeping the thrill in thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Undefeated: an Oscar winner you haven’t seen. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Lune: funny, searing, and richly authentic. Amazon.
  • Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • I’m Fine (Thank You for Asking): a desperate dash for dignity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Making Montgomery Clift: exploding the myths. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Our Kind of Traitor: Skarsgård steals this robust thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

ON TV

Jean Harlow and Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT.

89 years ago, only four years into the Talking Picture Era, there were dramedies (even though the word dramedy had yet to be coined). On November 15, Turner Classic Movies airs George Cukor’s Dinner at Eight, an all-star 1933 Hollywood dramedy that mostly still stands up today. Jean Harlow is hilarious as the trophy bride of the course nouveau-millionaire played by Wallace Beery. Marie Dressler is at least as funny as a former star actress yearning to relive an old romance. John Barrymore adds a heartbreaking performance as a man facing disgrace. If all this weren’t enough, we also get Lionel Barrymore, some ditziness from Billie Burke and a splash of sarcasm from quick-patter artist Lee Tracy. Harlow, who died at 26, is usually remembered as a platinum blonde sex symbol, but Dinner at Eight reminds us of her comic brilliance.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Jason Clarke (left) and Jake Lacy in THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL. Courtesy of Showtime.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial and In the Court of the Crimson King.

Set your DVR to record Turner Classic Movies’ airing of Harry Dean Stanton’s masterpiece performance in Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas LATE TONIGHT (see below)

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

Ewen McGregor and Stellan Skarsgaard in OUR KIND OF TRAITOR. Courtesy of Roadside Attractions and SFFILM.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Our Kind of Traitor: Skarsgård steals this robust thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Undefeated: an Oscar winner you haven’t seen. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Lune: funny, searing, and richly authentic. Amazon.
  • Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • I’m Fine (Thank You for Asking): a desperate dash for dignity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Making Montgomery Clift: exploding the myths. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • ’71: keeping the thrill in thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

ON TV

Harry Dean Stanton in PARIS, TEXAS

Late TONIGHT, Turner Classic Movies will air Harry Dean Stanton’s masterpiece in Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas. In Paris Texas, Harry Dean plays Travis, a man so traumatized that he has disappeared and is found wandering across the desert and mistaken for a mute.  As he is cared for by his brother (Dean Stockwell), he evolves from feral to erratic to troubled, but with a sense of tenderness and a determination to put things right.  We see Travis as a madman who gains extraordinary lucidity about what wrong in his life and his own responsibility for it.

At the film’s climax, Travis speaks to Jane (Natassja Kinski) through a one-way mirror (she can’t see him).  Spinning what at first seems like parable, Travis explains what happened to him – and to her – and why it happened.  It’s a 20-minute monologue so captivating and touching that it rises to be recognized as one of the very greatest screen performances.

Paris, Texas is on my list of the fifty or so Greatest Movies of All Time.

Natassja Kinski and Harry Dean Stanton in PARIS, TEXAS

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Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Lily Gladstone in KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON. Courtesy of AppleTV.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Martin Scorsese’s epic Killers of the Flower Moon and of The Pigeon Tunnel, Erroll Morris’ fine biodoc of espionage novelist John le Carré.

REMEMBRANCE

Richard Roundtree in SHAFT.

Richard Roundtree’s FIRST MOVIE role was as the iconic John Shaft in Shaft. He went on to over 250 more screen credits, including four more as John Shaft. Although in my mind, the biggest star of Shaft was Isaac Hayes’ music, Richard Roundtree was, along with Pam Grier, the most significant on-screen force in Blaxploitation cinema.

CURRENT MOVIES

  • Killers of the Flower Moon: an epic tale of epic betrayal. In theaters.
  • The Pigeon Tunnel: a great storyteller’s story, told at last. AppleTV.
  • Fremont: self-discovery and a fortune cookie. Amazon, Vudu.
  • Flora and Son: a bad mom turns it around. In theaters and AppleTV.
  • Reptile: a neo-noir showcase for Benicio del Toro. Netflix.
  • Oppenheimer: creator of a monster controlled by others. Still in theaters.
  • Past Lives: a profound and refreshing romance. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

WATCH AT HOME

MAKING MONTGOMERY CLIFT. Courtesy of Frameline.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Making Montgomery Clift: exploding the myths. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Undefeated: an Oscar winner you haven’t seen. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Lune: funny, searing, and richly authentic. Amazon.
  • Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • I’m Fine (Thank You for Asking): a desperate dash for dignity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Our Kind of Traitor: Skarsgård steals this robust thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • ’71: keeping the thrill in thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

ON TV

Ross Martin and Lee Remick in EXPERIMENT IN TERROR

There’s an early neo-noir on Turner Classic Movies on October 29 – 1962’s Experiment in Terror. It’s not one of the great noirs, but it’s a nailbiter with some high points and some curiosities. A criminal (Ross Martin) tries to heist a bank by threatening a bank teller’s little sister; he’s stalking her and scaring her over the phone, so the FBI leader (Glenn Ford) only has the crook’s asthmatic voice as a clue. The bank teller is played by Lee Remick, who is always worth watching, and the role of the little sister was one of the first for 20-year-old Stefanie Powers. Like Stefanie Powers (The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. and Hart to Hart), Ross Martin became a well-known TV star (Artemus Gordon in The Wild, Wild West). The climax is a chase in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park – right where the departing throngs bottle-necked at the entrance to the long escalator – a point always to be remembered by Giants fans; oddly, the bad guy is trying to be inconspicuous by being the only person in the crowd to wear a hoodie – not yet ubiquitous ballpark fashion. Blake Edwards, much more well known for comedies, directed.

Lee Remick catching a Giants game at Candlestick in EXPERIMENT IN TERROR
Ross Martin in EXPERIMENT IN TERROR

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Piper Laurie as Margaret White in CARRIE.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of the neo-noir Reptile and two remembrances.

REMEMBRANCES

Piper Laurie was, in her middle age, recognized as a great actress of stage and screen, thrice nominated for Oscars. She was unforgettable as the religious fanatic mom in Carrie. What I didn’t know until recently was that she was a starlet in the Hollywood Studio era, co-starring at age 20 with Rock Hudson, Tyrone Power and Tony Curtis (three times); Laurie disdained those roles as empty adornments, and quit Hollywood in search of better material. Good for her.

Burt Young was one of those stellar character actors who make each supporting turn memorable. I first noticed Young when he elevated such a role in Chinatown. Of course, his signature (and Oscar-nominated)role was as Paulie in Rocky, alternatively devoted, blustery and vulnerable.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

Kelley Kali in I’M FINE (THANKS FOR ASKING). Courtesy of SFFILM

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • I’m Fine (Thank You for Asking): a desperate dash for dignity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Undefeated: an Oscar winner you haven’t seen. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Lune: funny, searing, and richly authentic. Amazon.
  • Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Making Montgomery Clift: exploding the myths. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Our Kind of Traitor: Skarsgård steals this robust thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • ’71: keeping the thrill in thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

ON TV

Charlton Heston in SOYLENT GREEN
Charlton Heston in SOYLENT GREEN

On October 25, Turner Classic Movies is screening the 1973 cult sci-fi classic Soylent Green, which was utterly under appreciated until the past decade or so. Set in a dystopian future (like those so popular in today’s sci-fi), humans have pretty much destroyed the environment and most are impoverished, even homeless. The dietary staple is a green pellet provided by a mega-corporation. Charlton Heston is surprisingly effective as a jaded and solitary cop, whose investigation leads him to a horrifying discovery. The cast is very good, including Edward G. Robinson in his final performance. Soylent Green was directed by the versatile Richard Fleischer, 21 years after The Narrow Margin.