Movies to See Right Now

MEET THE PATELS
MEET THE PATELS

The Matt Damon space adventure The Martian is a crowd pleaser that I’ll be writing about soon. Here are this week’s other recommendations:

  • Meet the Patels, a heartwarming crowd-pleaser – a documentary that’s funnier than most fictional comedies.
  • 99 Homes, a riveting psychological drama about the foreclosure crisis with searing performances by Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon.
  • The excellent true life crime drama Black Mass with Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton and a brilliant cast.
  • Going Clear: The Prison of Belief, documentarian Alex Gibney’s devastating expose of Scientology, originally shown on HBO and now in theaters.

This week’s Stream of the Week comes from The Movie Gourmet’s list of Overlooked Noir. The Burglar (1957) is known primarily as the movie debut of Jayne Mansfield, but it’s a fine film noir. The Burglar plays from time to time on Turner Classic Movies and is available streaming on Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Vudu, Xbox Video and Flixster.

On October 4, Turner Classic Movies airs Key Largo (1948), one of the classic film noirs and still satisfying to this day. Trapped in a claustrophobic Florida island resort by a hurricane, Humphrey Bogart has to face down sadistic mobster Edward G. Robinson. 23-year-old Lauren Bacall was at her most appealing. Claire Trevor’s heartbreaking performance as a gangster’s moll aging out of her looks is one of her best.

Movies to See Right Now

99 HOMES
99 HOMES

Now we’re talkin’ – it’s late September and once again we have some fine movie choices in the theaters:

  • Meet the Patels, a heartwarming crowd-pleaser – a documentary that’s funnier than most fictional comedies.
  • 99 Homes, a riveting psychological drama about the foreclosure crisis with searing performances by Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon.
  • The excellent true life crime drama Black Mass with Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton and a brilliant cast.
  • Going Clear: The Prison of Belief, documentarian Alex Gibney’s devastating expose of Scientology, originally shown on HBO and now in theaters.

My DVD/Stream of the Week is the hilariously dark Argentine comedy Wild Tales. It’s available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Vudu and Xbox Video.

On September 28, Turner Classic Movies brings us that paragon of madcap comedies, Arsenic and Old Lace (1944); Cary Grant leads a cast that is perfect, right down to Jack Carson as Officer O’Hara, the new cop on the beat.

Movies to See Right Now

DEAR WHITE PEOPLE
DEAR WHITE PEOPLE

There are some EXCELLENT movies out now, but DO NOT MISS the brilliant comedy about personal identity, Dear White People.

Other great movie choices include:

  • The cinematically important and very funny Birdman; and
  • The best Hollywood movie of 2014, the thriller Gone Girl, with a career-topping performance by Rosamund Pike.
  • J.K. Simmons is brilliant in the intense indie drama Whiplash, a study of motivation and abuse, ambition and obsession.
  • Bill Murray’s funny and not too sentimental St. Vincent.
  • The dark little French psychological drama The Blue Room packs a cleverly constructed story in its brisk 75 minutes.
  • I liked the meditatively paced nature documentary Pelican Dreams.
  • If you’re in the mood for a brutal, brutal World War II tank movie, there’s Fury.

I’m a fan of writer-director Greg Araki and actress Shailene Woodley, but I didn’t find enough in White Bird in a Blizzard to recommend it.

Turner Classic Movies is bringing us two very funny movies this week:

  • tonight’s unintentionally funny Hot Rods to Hell (1967), a bad exploitation movie that works as a guilty pleasure.
  • the intentionally funny Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), that paragon of madcap comedies; Cary Grant leads a cast that is perfect, right down to Jack Carson as Officer O’Hara, the new cop on the beat.

Movies to See Right Now – Updated

The Fighter: For better or worse, Mark Wahlberg has Christian Bale in his corner

This is the time of year that I live for –  lots of great choices in the theaters.  I strongly recommend Rabbit Hole, an exquisite exploration of the grieving process with great performances by Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhardt, Diane Wiest, Sandra Oh and Miles Tenner.  Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is a rip roaring thriller and a showcase for Natalie Portman and Barbara Hershey. The Fighter is an excellent drama, starring Mark Wahlberg as a boxer trying to succeed despite his crack addict brother (Christian Bale) and trashy mom (Melissa Leo).  Fair Game, the Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson story with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, is also excellent.  I Love You, Phillip Morris is an entertaining offbeat combo of the con man, prison and romantic comedy genres.  For some delectable food porn, see Kings of Pastry.

Morning Glory is a passable comedy, as is Love and Other Drugs.

There are some Must See films still kicking around in theaters this week: Inside Job and The Social Network. Both are on my list of Best Movies of 2010 – So Far.

For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

I have not yet seen Somewhere, True Grit or The King’s Speech, opening this weekend.  You can see the trailers at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD of the Week is the surprising Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.

Movies on TV include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Anatomy of a Murder, Requiem for a Heavyweight and Arsenic and Old Lace on TCM.

This week's Movies to See Right Now

 

Rooney Mara and Jesse Eisenberg open The Social Network

 

The Social Network is still the top choice in theaters this week. The birth story of Facebook is a riveting tale of college sophomores that are brilliant, ambitious, immature, self-absorbed and disloyal – and about to become zillionaires.  It’s a triumph for actor Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland, Zombieland and Solitary Man), director David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing, Charlie Wilson’s War).  It’s already on my list of Best Movies of 2010 – So Far.

Howl has a fine performance by James Franco, but is marred by an unsuccessful animation.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story is a light and wry coming-of-age comedy set in a locked psychiatric facility.  It’s good-hearted fluff with a few chuckles and an unexpectedly restrained and  heartfelt performance by Zach Galifianakis.

Without strongly recommending it, I can say that The Town is a satisfying Hollywood thriller.  You can skip Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger.

For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

My DVD of the Week is The Day of the Jackal, like The American, the tale of an international master assassin – only fact-based and even better.  For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.

Movies on TV include  Mister Roberts, Repo Man and Arsenic and Old Lace, all coming up on TCM.