Weekly Movie Recommendations

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Josh O’Connor and Bill Faist in CHALLENGERS. Courtesy of MGM.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of the reflective documentary Relative and my suggestion to watch the Oscar-winning documentary Amy at home INSTEAD of seeing Back to Black in a theater.. And, Challengers and La Chimera, both on my running list of Best Movies of 2024 – So Far, are still in theaters.

CURRENT MOVIES

  • Challengers: three people and their desire. In theaters.
  • La Chimera: six genres for the price of one. In arthouse theaters.
  • Relative: a loving, but insistent investigation. Amazon (included with prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube. 
  • Civil War: a most cautionary tale. In theaters.
  • Ennio: the good the bad and the transcendent. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s: real, uplifting, essential. On PBS and the PBS App.
  • Monkey Man: a massacre, one bad guy at a time. In theaters.
  • The Taste of Things: two passions – culinary and romantic. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • Golden Years: when dreams diverge. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube.

WATCH AT HOME

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Mariko Kaga in PALE FLOWER

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ON TV

THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS

On May 23, Turner Classic Movies airs The Battle of Algiers, the story of 1950s French colonialists struggling to suppress the guerrilla uprising of Algerian independence fighters.  Although it looks like a documentary, it is not.  Instead, filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo recreated the actual events so realistically that we believe that we are watching the strategy councils of each side. Among the great war films, it may be the best film on counter-insurgency.  In 2003, the Pentagon screened the film for its special operations commanders.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Zendaya in CHALLENGERS. Courtesy of MGM.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Challengers, Civil War and Ennio. It’s May, and we finally have two movies in theaters that will rank with 2024’s best: Challengers and La Chimera.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

 Itsaso Arana in THE AUGUST VIRGIN. Photo courtesy of Outsider Pictures.

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ON TV

Lizabeth Scott, Dick Powell and Raymond Burr in PITFALL

On May 16, Turner Classic Movies features one of my Overlooked Noir, Pitfall (1948), a noir thriller without either a conventional sap or a conventional femme fatale. Dick Powell plays a WW II vet who is bored with the post-war suburban humdrum, and Lizabeth Scott plays a gal with terrible taste in boyfriends. Neither deserves to be dragged into a thriller, but they are. Raymond Burr, again, makes for a menacing sicko stalker.

Dick Powell and Lizabeth Scott in PITFALL

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Carol Duarte and Josh O’Connor in LA CHIMERA. Courtesy of Neon.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – Coming up on TV – a great silent actor’s only talkie. Next week – new revies of Challengers and Ennio.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie and Ben Foster in a scene from Debra Granik’s LEAVE NO TRACE< playing

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ON TV

THE BLUE GARDENIA
Anne Baxter, sipping a Polynesian Pearl Diver, with Raymond Burr in THE BLUE GARDENIA.

On May 7 on Turner Classic Movies, The Blue Gardenia presents a 1953 view of date rape, with lecherous Raymond Burr getting Anne Baxter likkered up into a blackout drunk with Polynesian Pearl Divers. There’s a very nice twist on the whodunit: when she wakes up, she doesn’t remember killing him, but he sure is dead. There’s even a cameo performance by Nat King Cole.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Josh O’Connor in LA CHIMERA. Courtesy of NEON.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of La Chimera and continuing coverage of both the SFFILM and the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, both underway now. Here’s my latest festival coverage:

REMEMBRANCE

Eleanor Coppola was the wife of director Francis Ford Coppola and the mother of director Sophia Coppola. Eleanor Coppola herself directed perhaps the best ever documentary film about the making of a movie, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.

CURRENT MOVIES

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Tom Hardy in LOCKE

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ON TV

Linda Hunt and Mel Gibson in THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

On April 29, Turner Classic Movies presents Peter Weir’s 1982 political thriller The Year of Living Dangerously, starring Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver. In the exotic setting of Sukarno’s Indonesia, this film has gripping intrigue, romance and a neo-noir ending.

The stars were each coming off their first major feature, Weaver’s Eyewitness with William Hurt and Gibson with the original Mad Max. The Year of Living Dangerously made them both solid A-list movie stars. Linda Hunt won an Oscar for her gender- and race-crossing performance as the local fixer.

Weir had made the fine Australian films Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli. This major MGM release brought him success in his first Hollywood picture and empowered Weir to follow with Witness, Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show and Master and Commander.

Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson in THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

Movies to See Right Now

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June Squibb and Fred Hechinger appear in THELMA, the closing night film of both the SFFILM and the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by David Bolen.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – we’re all about the upcoming SFFILM and SLO Film Festivals. Both fests start next week, and I’ll soon be posting my recommendations from both programs. The closing night film for both San Frnacisco and SLO is Thelma, which will become a popular hit when it’s released into theaters in June.

CURRENT MOVIES

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Richard Basehart in HE WALKED BY NIGHT

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ON TV

Richard Roundtree in SHAFT.

Richard Roundtree died last year, before the release of his very sweet final performance in Thelma. 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. Turner Classic Movies is airing Shaft, on April 22.

Who’s the black private dick that’s a sex machine to all the chicks?

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Benoit Magimel and Juliette Binoche in THE TASTE OF THINGS. Courtesy of IFC Films.

This busy week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Monkey Man and Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s, plus first looks at the upcoming SFFILM and SLO Film Festivals.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD

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ON TV

KILLER’S KISS

On April 18, Turner Classic Movies will present one my Overlooked Noir, a young Stanley Kubrick’s Killer’s Kiss; it will be on Noir Alley with an intro and outro by Eddie Muller. It doesn’t take long to realize that Killer’s Kiss is not a typical film noir – there’s Kubrick’s own bracing visual style, an interracial relationship and a comically absurd fight to the death. The cast matched a couple one-hit wonders with the pioneering African-American actor and civil rights activist Frank Silvera.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Katy O’Brian and Kristen Stewart in LOVE LIES BLEEDING. Courtesy of A24.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – I’ll soon be posting on Monkey Man, which I will NOT be recommending, and Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s, which you should DVR on PBS Monday. Love Lies Bleeding is still the best choice in theaters.

REMEMBRANCE

Louis Gossett, Jr., won an Oscar for his drill sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman. He also played Fiddler in Roots, amid 198 other screen appearances.

CURRENT MOVIES

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Harry Dean Stanton in LUCKY. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

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ON TV

Erich von Stroheim, Anne Baxter and Franchot Tone in FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO.

On April 6, Turner Classic Movies will present an underseen Billy Wilder wartime noir, Five Graves to Cairo. It’s th movie Wilder made immediately before Double Indemnity, and it’s not a masterpiece like that or Stalag 17, Sunset Blvd., Ace in the Hole or Some Like It Hot, but it’s a pretty good suspense thriller with a great cast. The film was released just thirteen months after Rommel’s victory over the British in Tobruk, Egypt. British Corporal Bramble (Franchot Tone) has survived the battle and wandered, alone, into an isolated desert hotel run by Farid (Akim Tamiroff) and his French maid Mouche (Anne Baxter). Suddenly, the German Army move in, led by Rommel himself (the great director Erich Stroheim). To survive, Bramble impersonates the hotel’s recently deceased waiter, who unbeknownst to Farid and Mouche, was a German spy. The tension comes from Bramble, Farid and Mouche walking on egg shells as they perpetuate the deception while Bramble tries to elicit critical military intelligence from the Germans. Tone and Baxter, reliable movie leads of the 1940s, are very good. The wonder character Tamiroff is vivid as always here, fifteen years before his greatest performance as Uncle Joe Grandi in Touch of Evil. Von Stroheim, in no way impersonating the real Rommel, gives a bravura performance as the German commander.

Anne Baxter and Akim Tamiroff in FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Katy O’Brian and Kristen Stewart in LOVE LIES BLEEDING. Courtesy of A24.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Golden Years and The Taste of Things, both now streaming. Cinequest movies are online through the 31st; try to find time to stream The Invisibles and/or Pain and Peace. The rock ’em, sock ’em neo-noir Love Lies Bleeding is the best choice in theaters.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

Brian Dennehy, Lucas Jaye and Hong Chau in DRIVEWAYS. Courtesy of Cinequest.

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ON TV

Fred MacMurray and Kim Novak in PUSHOVER

On March 31, TCM plays Pushover, one of my Overlooked Noir. Tracking a notorious criminal, the cop (Fred MacMurray) follows – and then dates – the gangster’s girlfriend (“Introducing Kim Novak”).  It starts out as part of the job, but then he falls for her himself. He decides that, if he can double cross BOTH the cops and the criminal, he can wind up with the loot AND Kim Novak. (This is a film noir, so we know he’s not destined for a tropical beach with an umbrella drink.)

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Katy O’Brien and Kristen Stewart in LOVE LIES BLEEDING. Courtesy of A24.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of the highly original neo-noir Love Lies Bleeding. Plus Wrapping up (the in-person) Cinequest and Cinequest movies go online today; if you can, stream The Invisibles and/or Pain and Peace.

REMEMBRANCE

M. Emmet Walsh in BLOOD SIMPLE

M. Emmet Walsh was one of cinema’s most stories, prolific (233 screen credits) and welcome character actors. Walsh was unforgettable as the murderous private detective Loren Visser in Blood Simple, a scary (and funny) concoction of amorality, sleaze and tenacity. He also elevated Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, What’s Up Doc?, Serpico, Blade Runner, Ordinary People, Slap Shot, Straight Time, Reds, Cavalry and Knives Out. There was only one T in Emmet, and the M stood for Michael.

CURRENT MOVIES

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Walter Matthau in CHARLEY VARRICK

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Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Sandra Muller voicing Justine Triet’s Oscar-winning screenplay in ANATOMY OF A FALL. Courtesy of NEON.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – my Cinequest coverage has been continuing, and it’s all linked at my CINEQUEST 2024 page. ICYMI, here’s The Movie Gourmet’s 2024 Oscar Dinner.

CURRENT MOVIES

  • Anatomy of a Fall: family history, with life or death stakes. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • American Fiction: this can’t be happening.  Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube,
  • The Taste of Things: two passions: culinary and romantic. In arthouse theaters.
  • Golden Years: when dreams diverge. In arthouse theaters.
  • Killers of the Flower Moon: an epic tale of epic betrayal. AppleTV (subscription), Amazon.
  • The Holdovers: three souls must evolve beyond their losses. Amazon.
  • Poor Things: brazen, dazzling, feminist and very funny. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Dream Scenario: but it can’t be my fault, can it? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • The Zone of Interest: next door to the unthinkable. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Maestro: not what she bargained for. Netflix.

WATCH AT HOME

Sly Stone in SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)

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Richard Conte, Brian Donleavy and Cornel Wilde in THE BIG COMBO.

On March 18, Turner Classic Movies presents the classic film noir The Big Combo for its ruthless villain, his henchmen, plenty of dramatic shadows and some sly naughtiness by the filmmakers. In his most flamboyant performance, Richard Conte plays mob boss Mr. Brown. Cornel Wilde (also the film’s producer) plays Lieutenant Diamond, a cop with two obsessions, to bring down the crime lord and to take his woman, Susan (Wilde’s real-life wife Jean Wallace). Mr. Brown is supremely confident, with good reason, and so arrogant that he only addresses Diamond, standing two feet away, through Brown’s own lackey. Brown and his henchmen ((Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman)) are also cruelly ruthless, carrying out the usual beatings and murders, and also torture by hearing aid and by boozeboarding.

Director Joseph Lewis and his collaborators did successfully slip some things past the censors.  Conte’s Mr. Brown reminds Susan of how he pleases her.  And the henchmen are a couple, as Holliman confirmed decades later to Eddie Muller.

Lewis and the great cinematographer John Alton delivered one of the most iconic final shots in noir.

Jean Wallace in THE BIG COMBO.