movie gourmet

Movies to See Right Now

March 6, 2015 by movie gourmet

Okay, here’s the first Must See of 2015 – the hilariously dark Argentine comedy Wild Tales, a series of individual stories about revenge fantasies becoming actualized. The Russian Leviathan, which I’m gonna see tonight, has been universally praised. Both Wild Tales and Leviathan were nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Picture Oscar.

If you can make it to Cinequest, there are some great movie choices. Here is my extensive Cinequest coverage.

Other choices in theaters and elsewhere:

Clint Eastwood’s thoughtful and compelling American Sniper, with harrowing action and a career-best performance from Bradley Cooper.
The cinematically important and very funny (and, of course. Oscar-winning) Birdman.
And the movie that is better than all of these: Boyhood. It’s available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Video.

Here are some great choices for movies coming up on TV this week – all on Turner Classic Movies on March 8.

Billy Wilder’s 1957 Sweet Smell of Success contains Tony Curtis’ most subtly acted role. Curtis is a Broadway press agent who is completely at the mercy of Burt Lancaster’s sadistically nasty columnist. Many of us have experienced being vulnerable to the caprice of an extremely mean person – Curtis perfectly captures the dread and humiliation of being in that position.
To Kill a Mockingbird, with the iconic character of Atticus Finch and its great courtroom scene.
If you like your film noir tawdry, then Gun Crazy (1950) is for you. Peggy Cummins plays a prototypical Bad Girl who takes her newlywed hubby on a crime spree.

WILD TALES: the first Must See of 2015

March 6, 2015 by movie gourmet

Okay, here’s the first Must See of 2015 – the hilariously dark Argentine comedy Wild Tales. Writer-director Damián Szifron presents a series of individual stories about revenge.

We all feel aggrieved, and Wild Tales explores what happens when rage overcomes the restraints of social order. Think about how instantly angry you can become when some driver cuts you off on the highway – and then how you might fantasize avenging the slight. Indeed, there is story that has the most severe case road rage since Spielberg’s Duel in 1971. Now Wild Tales is dark, and you gotta go with it. The humor comes from the EXTREMES that someone’s resentment can lead to.

One key to the success of Wild Tales is that it is an anthology. In a very wise move, Szifron resisted any impulse to stretch one of the stories into a feature-length movie. Each of the stories is just the right length to extract every laugh and pack a punch. The funniest stories are the opening one set on an airplane and the final one about a wedding.

The acting is uniformly superb. In one story, Oscar Martínez plays a wealthy man in a desperate jam, who buys the help of his shady lawyer fixer (Osmar Núñez) and his longtime household retainer (Germán de Silva) – until their prices get just a little too high. The three actors take what looks like it’s going to a thriller and morph into a (very funny) psychological comedy with a very cynical view of human nature.

One of the middle episodes stars one of my favorite film actors, Ricardo Darín, who I see as the Argentine Joe Mantegna. I suggest that you watch Darín in the brilliant police procedural The Secrets in Their Eyes (on my top ten for 2010), the steamy and seamy Carancho and the wonderful con artist movie Nine Queens.

Wild Tales has been a festival hit (Cannes, Telluride, Toronto and Sundance) around the world and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Picture Oscar. I saw Wild Tales at Cinequest 2015.

QUEEN AND COUNTRY – a fine director reminisces

March 6, 2015 by movie gourmet

Queen and Country is director John Boorman’s autobiographical look back at his own young manhood. In 1987, Boorman’s Hope and Glory revisited his London childhood during WW II, and now we see Boorman’s experience as a very young man drafted into the Korean War-era British army. The protagonist goes through basic training and is posted in the home nation as a military typing teacher. Along the way, he learns what happens when 1) a petty tyrant subjects you to ridiculously stupid requirements and 2) when you become infatuated with someone crazier than you are.

Boorman (Deliverance, Excalibur, The General) is an excellent filmmaker, and Queen and Country is well-crafted. The story isn’t compelling enough to make this a Must See, but it’s wry and warm-hearted, and moderately entertaining.

I saw Queen and Country at Cinequest 2015 at a screening with John Boorman present. Boorman was more memorable than was Queen and Country, especially when he reflected on his eccentric cult sci-fi film Zardoz: “It went from failure to classic without passing through success”.

Thursday at Cinequest: THE HAMSTERS

March 5, 2015 by movie gourmet

Don’t miss the most overlooked nugget at Cinequest 2015. The Hamsters (Los Hamsters) is a delightfully dark social satire about a riotously dysfunctional Tijuana family. The dad, mom and two teenagers are going to such lengths to hide secrets from each other that they are completely oblivious to the drama in the others lives. In his first narrative feature, writer-director Gil Gonzalez has crafted a comedy that is completely character-driven, compressed into a very fun 71 minutes.

This family is in the upper middle class and the dad is desperately trying to stay there, the mom is denying any signs to the contrary and the kids are too spoiled and self-absorbed to notice any odd behavior by the parents. The acting is strong, especially by Angel Norzagaray, who plays the weary but driven, hangdog dad.

And here’s a bonus – Los Hamsters was filmed in Tijuana, and it’s great for a US audience to see this city as it is seen by its residents, not by its visitors.

Los Hamsters plays Cinequest today again on March 7 at Camera 12. See you around the fest. You can find my festival coverage, including both features and movie recommendations, on my Cinequest page. Follow me on Twitter for the very latest.

Cinequest picks for Wednesday, March 4

March 4, 2015 by movie gourmet

The final (scheduled) screenings of these gems are today:

CORN ISLAND: This exquisite and lyrical Georgian drama is a Must See for Cinephiles. If it doesn’t turn out to be the best contemporary art movie at Cinequest 2015, I’ll be shocked.
ASPIE SEEKS LOVE: A surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a guy looking for love like anyone else, but whose social skills are handicapped by Asberger’s.

ANTOINE ET MARIE

See you around the fest. You can find my festival coverage, including both features and movie recommendations, on my Cinequest page. Follow me on Twitter for the very latest.

Cinequest picks for Tuesday, March 3

March 3, 2015 by movie gourmet

The final (scheduled) screenings of these gems are today:

THE CENTER: An absorbing and topical American indie drama about the seductiveness of a cult.
DIRTY BEAUTIFUL: An American indie comedy that is decidedly NOT a by-the-numbers battle of the sexes.
FACTORY BOSS: I haven’t yet seen this narrative about the manager of a Chinese sweatshop factory getting squeezed, but I’ve hearing good things around the fest. One of my friends, who has been to factories in Shenzen, entered a screening a little late and initially mistook it for a documentary.

Tonight is the eagerly awaited L’ATALANTE, rarely seen on the big screen. It’s the 1934 masterpiece of French writer-director Jean Vigo, who died at age 29 soon after its completion. Richard von Busack, the highly respected film critic for Metro, will receive a Media Legacy Award at the screening.

I also liked the documentary THERE WILL BE NO STAY, a powerful examination of American capital punishment from the perspective of the executioners.

See you around the fest. You can find my festival coverage, including both features and movie recommendations, on my Cinequest page. Follow me on Twitter for the very latest.

Cinequest 2015 at mid-festival

March 2, 2015 by movie gourmet

We’re halfway through Cinequest 2015. What are the biggest hits and the most delightful surprises?

Cinequest’s Director of Programming/Associate Director Mike Rabehl was definitely right: he predicted BATKID BEGINS and WILD TALES to be among the biggest audience pleasers. The opening night audience reveled in BATKID BEGINS, and WILD TALES, the darkly comic Argentine collection of revenge stories, rocked the California Theatre.

And how about those surprise gems?

CORN ISLAND: This exquisite and lyrical Georgian drama is a Must See for Cinephiles. If it doesn’t turn out to be the best contemporary art movie at Cinequest 2015, I’ll be shocked.
ANTOINE ET MARIE: A brilliantly constructed French-Canadian drama with two unforgettable characters.
THE CENTER: An absorbing and topical American indie drama about the seductiveness of a cult.
IN THE COMPANY OF WOMEN: Unexpectedly sweet, this starts out with a Boys Behaving Badly set-up and then morphs into a tribute to enduring love.
FACTORY BOSS: I haven’t yet seen this narrative about the manager of a Chinese sweatshop factory getting squeezed, but I’ve hearing good things around the fest. One of my friends, who has been to factories in Shenzen, entered a screening a little late and initially mistook it for a documentary.

The most underrated movie at Cinequest? Somehow, the biting darkly hilarious Mexican social satire LOS HAMSTERS is flying under the radar. I think this tale of a dysfunctional family is both very smart and very funny.

It’s also been a notably strong year for the documentaries at Cinequest:

ASPIE SEEKS LOVE: A surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a guy looking for love like anyone else, but whose social skills are handicapped by Asberger’s.
MEET THE HITLERS: Tracking down real people burdened with the Fuhrer’s name, this successful doc weaves together both light-hearted and very dark story threads.
SWEDEN’S COOLEST NATIONAL TEAM: A character-driven take on the sports movie takes us into a Nerd Olympics.
THERE WILL BE NO STAY: a powerful examination of American capital punishment from the perspective of the executioners.

Most promising film yet to come? I’d say Tuesday night’s L’ATALANTE:, rarely seen on the big screen. It’s the 1934 masterpiece of French writer-director Jean Vigo, who died at age 29 soon after its completion. Richard von Busack, the highly respected film critic for Metro, will receive a Media Legacy Award at the screening.

See you around the fest. You can find my festival coverage, including both features and movie recommendations, on my Cinequest page. Follow me on Twitter for the very latest.

Cinequest Picks for Monday, March 2

March 2, 2015 by movie gourmet

My Cinequest picks for Monday, March 2:

ANTOINE ET MARIE: A brilliantly constructed French-Canadian drama with two unforgettable characters.
THREE WINDOWS AND A HANGING: powerful and artfully shot drama from Kosovo about gender reactions to a wartime atrocity.
MEET THE HITLERS: Tracking down real people burdened with the Fuhrer’s name, this successful doc weaves together both light-hearted and very dark story threads.
SLOW WEST: This offbeat Western with Michael Fassbender won a prize at Sundance.

Leonard Nimoy: more than Spock

March 2, 2015 by movie gourmet

Leonard Nimoy, with Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum in INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

We all know Leonard Nimoy, who died last week, for originating the unforgettable character of Mr. Spock in the first four seasons of TV’s Star Trek. I was a teenager during the first run of Star Trek and, although I’m certainly not a Trekkie or even a huge fan of sci-fi in general, I remember that it was Must Watch TV – more of a phenomenon than a television show.

Nimoy gets much of the credit for Star Trek becoming a cultural sensation. The show’s special effects now seem remarkably lame and the other characters pretty ordinary (although the ethnic mix of the cast was novel for its time and William Shatner’s line readings were so eccentric). However, creator Gene Roddenberry’s story lines were so aspirational, exploring themes of tolerance and aggression and peace and discovery – how to Encounter the Other. And then there was Mr. Spock. Sure, the Vulcan’s pointy ears and the freedom from emotion were in the script, but it’s impossible to imagine any other actor as Spock.

Leonard Nimoy had 62 screen credits BEFORE Star Trek, mostly in television work including lots of Westerns like Bonanza, Rawhide, Wagon Train, The Virginian and Daniel Boone. And immediately after Star Trek, he went on to three seasons as part of the Mission: Impossible team in another, even more mainstream, hit TV series.

But my favorite Nimoy performance? It was the chillingly confident and authoritative Dr. David Kibner in the 1978 Philip Kaufman remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Not everybody can be menacing in a turtleneck.

Cinequest Picks for Sunday, March 1

March 1, 2015 by movie gourmet

Cinephiles need to see the exquisite and lyrical Georgian drama CORN ISLAND. If it’s not the best contemporary art movie at Cinequest, I’ll be shocked. Today’s other best picks:

CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA: The ever-radiant Juliette Binoche plays an actress now relegated to the older role in her breakthrough play, with her younger role going to Kristen Stewart (All About Eve, anyone?). And Stewart just became the first American actress to win a César (the French Oscar) for this performance.
THE CENTER: An absorbing and topical American indie drama about the seductiveness of a cult.
DIRTY BEAUTIFUL: An American indie comedy that is decidedly NOT a by-the-numbers battle of the sexes.
ASPIE SEEKS LOVE: A surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a guy looking for love like anyone else, but whose social skills are handicapped by Asberger’s.
THE CENTER