The Social Network reminded me of another classic send up of contemporary business history: Barbarians at the Gate. Barbarians is the story of late 1980s corporate excess centered on the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. James Garner, Fred Thompson and Jonathan Pryce star as the duelling CEOs bouncing between corporate jets, boardrooms and must-be-seen-at charity galas with their egos and trophy wives. Barbarians at the Gate was originally broadcast on HBO and is available from Netflix.
Weekly Movie Recommendations
This week's Movies To See
Mademoiselle Chambon is the year’s best romance, and very worth seeking out; The lovers are beautifully acted by Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlaine in two of the very finest performances of the year. I’m still pushing the hardhitting documentary The Tillman Story. There’s also the George Clooney arty thriller The American. If you can still find them, there are also two excellent crime dramas – Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Animal Kingdom. For a date movie, there is the charming and relatively smart romantic comedy Going the Distance.
Without strongly recommending them, I can say that The Town is a satisfying Hollywood thriller and the silly A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop has its moments. You can skip Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
My DVD of the Week is one of the year’s best so far: The Ghost Writer. Don’t miss another of the year’s best, The Secret in Their Eyes either. For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.
Movies on TV include lots of good choices: Seven Days in May, Badlands, Boxcar Bertha, Leave Her to Heaven, Twentieth Century and The Earrings of Madame de…, all coming up on TCM.
If you’re a baseball fan, there’s Ken Burns’ The Tenth Inning on PBS.
DVD of the Week: The Ghost Writer
Now that Tony Blair is flogging his memoir, it’s a great time to watch the far juicier The Ghost Writer, which is a fictionalization of the writing of Tony Blair’s memoirs. It’s a first class paranoid political thriller by Roman Polanski. Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan lead an excellent cast, and Olivia Williams stands out.
New Movies to See Right Now
Mademoiselle Chambon is the year’s best romance, and very worth seeking out in the next two weeks. The lovers are beautifully acted by Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlaine in two of the very finest performances of the year.
I’m still recommending the hardhitting documentary The Tillman Story, the George Clooney arty thriller The American and the two gritty crime dramas – Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Animal Kingdom. For a date movie, there is the charming and relatively smart romantic comedy Going the Distance.
Without strongly recommending them, I can say that The Town is a satisfying Hollywood thriller and the silly A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop has its moments.
For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
My DVD of the Week is one of the year’s best so far: The Secret in Their Eyes. For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.
Movies on TV include Sunset Boulevard, What’s Up, Tiger Lily? and The Searchers, all coming up on TCM.
DVD of the Week: The Secret in Their Eyes
The Secret in their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos): This year’s Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Picture, is a police procedural set in Argentina with two breathtaking plot twists, original characters, a mature romance and one breathtaking, “how did they do it?” shot. The story centers on a murder in Argentina’s politically turbulent 1970s, but most of the story takes place twenty years later when a retired cop revisits the murder.
Veteran Argentine actor Ricardo Darin shines once again in a Joe Mantegna-type role. Darin leads an excellent cast, including Guillermo Francella, who brings alive the character of Darin’s drunk assistant.
Director Juan Jose Campanella is receiving justifiable praise for the amazing shot of a police search in a filled and frenzied soccer stadium. It ranks as one of the great single shots, along with the kitchen entrance in Goodfellas and the battle scene in Children of Men.
It’s one of my Best Movies of 2010 So Far.
Movies to See Right Now
This week, I’m recommending an arty thriller, The American with George Clooney and two gritty crime dramas – the true story Mesrine: Killer Instinct and the Aussie fictional Animal Kingdom. For a date movie, there is the charming and relatively smart romantic comedy Going the Distance. The hardhitting documentary The Tillman Story is one of the year’s best.
For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
My DVD of the Week is one of the year’s best so far: Ajami. For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.
Movies on TV include Underworld USA, Soylent Green, Sunset Boulevard and What’s Up, Tiger Lily? all coming up on TCM.
DVD of the Week: Ajami
Ajami is an ultra-realistic crime drama set in a scruffy neighborhood in Jaffa, Israel. The story weaves together Arab Christians and Arab Muslims and both religious and non-religious Israeli Jews. Everyone aspires to make a living and live in personal safety, but the circumstances and tribal identities make this very difficult at best. There are two trans-religious romances, but no one is going to live happily ever after.
It’s a film that doesn’t make any overt political statements, but shows what is from the perspective of individual of different backgrounds. Given their own experiences, it’s easy to understand the motivations of each character.
Ajami was co-writtten and co-directed by Scandar Copti, a Jaffa-born Palestinian, and Yaron Shoni, an Israeli Jew. After seeing the film, I was surprised to learn that it has no trained actors – all of the roles are played by real-life residents who improvised their lines to follow the story line.
Ajami was nominated for the most recent Best Foreign Language Oscar, was released earlier this year in US art houses and is now available on DVD..
Co-Director Scandar Copti discusses the process of using non-actors improvising within a script framework.
Movies to See: Something for Everyone!
How about starting off the weekend with an arty thriller? There’s The American with George Clooney.
Want gritty crime drama? You can choose between Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Animal Kingdom (or make them into a blood splattering double feature).
Maybe a smart and charming and relatively smart romantic comedy? Going the Distance is your pick.
Hardhitting documentary? The Tillman Story.
For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.
Movies on TV include Underworld USA and Soylent Green, all coming up on TCM.
FINALLY! New Movies to See This Week
The good autumn movies have started to roll out, and it’s time to go back to the theaters. This week I’m recommending Mesrine: Killer Instinct, Animal Kingdom, The American and The Tillman Story. I’ll be seeing Soul Kitchen soon and will have a recommendation on that, too. And Inception, Toy Story 3, The Girl Who Played With Fire, Get Low and The Kids Are All Right are all still playing in theaters. For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.
Movies on TV include Rebel Without a Cause, The Graduate and Touch of Evil, all coming up on TCM.
Movies to See Right Now (very late August Edition)
Now we’re really down to the August dregs in theaters. Here’s your chance to see some better movies from earlier in the year.
Inception, Toy Story 3, The Girl Who Played With Fire, Get Low and The Kids Are All Right are all good and still playing in theaters. For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
You can also catch up a good movie with my DVD of the week, Sweetgrass, or last week’s Fish Tank. For the trailers and other DVD choices, see DVDs of the Week.
Movies on TV include A Face in the Crowd, Anatomy of a Murder, The Stunt Man and The Outlaw Josey Wales, all coming up on TCM.