Irene Cara won an Oscar for writing the song Flashdance … What a Feeling. She performed that song in the movie Flashdance, as she had done with another Oscar-winning title song, Fame; (she played the character of Coco in Fame).
CURRENT MOVIES
Decision to Leave: he’s obsessed, and she asks, “Am I so wicked?”. In theaters.
Photo caption: Sylvie Mix in POSER. Photo courtesy of Oscilloscope Films.
During the Holidays, I suspend my usual The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE so I can highlight the very best movies from earlier in 2022. These are on my list of Best Movies of 2022 – So Far, and they shouldn’t be overlooked. Now you can watch them all at home.
Montana Story: a family secret simmers, then explodes. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
Compartment No. 6: a surprising journey to connection. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
Poser: personal plagiarism. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
The Tale of King Crab: storytelling at its best. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
12 Months: an authentic relationship evolves. Amazon.
ON TV
Maggie Cheung and Tony Leong in IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE.
On December 7, Turner Classic Movies airs In the Mood for Love, Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai’s steamy masterpiece. Tony Leong and Maggie Cheung play apartment neighbors in 1962 Hong Kong. They suspect, investigate and confirm that their respective spouses are having an affair -and become very personally close themselves during the process. They decide to keep the moral high ground and resist falling in bed with each other – and what’s sexier than NOT having sex? This becomes a haunting love story, complete with tantalizing near misses.
Wong Kar Wai’s regular cinematogapher Christopher Doyle combined with Mark Lee Ping-bing to shoot one of the most beautiful and atmospheric films you’ll ever see. You can feel the humidity as the men sweat in their Mad Men Era suits , and the rich color palette magnifies the passion.
Incidentally, the leading man is a different Tony Leong than the star of another art house hit, 1992’s The Lover.
Two big movies that I have not yet seen are opening today: Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical The Fabelmans with Michelle Williams and Luca Guadgnino’s horror film Bones and All with Timothee Chalamet, Taylor Russell and Mark Ryland.
CURRENT MOVIES
Decision to Leave: he’s obsessed, and she asks, “Am I so wicked?”. In theaters.
Owen Teague in MONTANA STORY. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.
During the Holidays, I suspend my usual The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE so I can highlight the very best movies from earlier in 2022. These are on my list of Best Movies of 2022 – So Far, and they shouldn’t be overlooked. Now you can watch them all at home.
Montana Story: a family secret simmers, then explodes. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
Compartment No. 6: a surprising journey to connection. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
Poser: personal plagiarism. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
The Tale of King Crab: storytelling at its best. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
12 Months: an authentic relationship evolves. Amazon.
ON TV
Ava Gardner and Robert Taylor in THE BRIBE
Set your DVR for Turner Classic Movies on December 1, when TCM airs The Bribe, one of my Overlooked Noirs. I subtitled my review with ambiguity and double crosses amid the sweat. Robert Taylor plays an investigator who arrives at a Mexican seaside resort and is immediately identified as a cop by all the bad guys – and by his one lead, the unreliable nightclub singer (Ava Gardner at her most luscious). But the best reason to watch The Bribe is Charles Laughton, an acting legend never better than here. His character often acts like a coward, but he is flush with confidence when it’s time to make a deal. A master of manipulation and persuasion, this guy is a great negotiator. In turn ingratiating and menacing, Laughton’s performance lights up the last half of The Bribe.
Photo caption: Jaylin Webb and Banks Repeta in ARMAGEDDON TIME. Courtesy of Focus Features.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of All Quiet on the Western Front, The Banshees of Inisherin and Armageddon Time. I also wrote about the masterpiece noir thriller Ashes and Diamonds; if you missed it this week on Turner Classic Movies, you can stream it from Amazon and AppleTV. Plus, TCM airs a 2022 documentary this week that I’ve been recommending that you pay to stream.
Headhunters: from smoothly confident scoundrel to human piñata. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
Her Smell: powerhouse Elisabeth Moss. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Take Me to the River: fresh, unpredictable and gripping. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Lost Solace: a psychopath afflicted by empathy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
THE AUTOMAT: Actress Audrey Hepburn photographed by Howard Fried in New York City as part of a multi-day photo shoot for Esquire magazine, 1951. Courtesy of A Slice of Pie Productions.
On November 22, Turner Classic Movies will air a charming 2022 documentary that I had recommended during its blink-and-you-missed-it theatrical run in March – The Automat. It traces the fascinating seven-decade run of the marble-floored food palaces where one could put nickels in a slot and be rewarded with a meal. Filled with unexpected nuggets, The Automat gives voice to those nostalgic about the automat, but it is clear-eyed about why it didn’t survive. The Automat is the first film for director Lisa Hurvitz, who spent eight years on the project.
Photo caption: Zbigniew Cybulski in ASHES AND DIAMONDS
Coming up November 15 on Turner Classic Movies, a masterful director and his charismatic star ignite the war-end thriller Ashes and Diamonds, set amidst war-end treachery. It’s one of my Overlooked Noir.
It’s the end of WW II and the Red Army has almost completely liberated Poland from the Nazis. The future governance of Poland is now up in the air, and the Polish resistance can now stop killing Germans and start wrestling for control. Maciek (Zbigniew Cybulski) is a young but experienced soldier in the Resistance. His commanders assign him to assassinate a communist leader.
Maciek is very good at targeted killing, but he’s weary of it. As he wants out, he finds love. But his commander is insisting on this one last hit.
This is Zbigniew Cybulski’s movie. Often compared to James Dean, Cybulski emanates electricity and unpredictability, Unusual for a leading man, he often wore glasses in his screen roles. He had only been screen acting for four years when he made Ashes and Diamonds. Cybulski died nine years later when hit by a train at age forty,
Zbigniew Cybulski in ASHES AND DIAMONDS
Andrzej Wajda fills the movie with striking visuals, such as viewing Maciek’s love interest, the waitress Krystyna (Ewa Krzyzewska), alone amidst the detritus of last night’s party, through billows of cigarette smoke. Wajda’s triumphant signature is, literally, fireworks at the climax; the juxtaposition of the celebratory fireworks with Maciek’s emotional crisis is unforgettable.
Ewa Krzyzewska in ASHES AND DIAMONDS
Wajda adapted a famous 1948 Polish novel into this 1958 movie. In the adaptation, the filmmaker changed the emphasis from one character to another.
Ashes and Diamonds was the third feature for Andrzej Wajda, who became a seminal Polish filmmaker and received an honorary Oscar. US audiences may remember his 1983 art house hit Danton with Gerard Depardieu.
Ashes and Diamonds can be streamed from Amazon and AppleTV. It was featured at the 2020 Noir City film festival.
Headhunters: from smoothly confident scoundrel to human piñata. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
Grizzly Man: a fool’s misadventure. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Take Me to the River: fresh, unpredictable and gripping. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Lost Solace: a psychopath afflicted by empathy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
Audrey Totter and Richard Basehart in TENSION.
On November 12 and13, Turner Classic Movies will present a film on Eddie Muller’s Noir Alley that I haven’t yet written about. It’s the deliciously sordid Tension, where Quimby (Richard Basehart), the wimpy night manager of a drugstore, has one of the worst wives in film noir. Claire (Audrey Totter) spends her daytime hours belittling Quimby and her nighttime hours cuckholding him. When she moves into Barney’s beach house and lets the hairy-chested Barney (Lloyd Gough) beat up her nerdy hubbie, the humiliated Quimby has had enough. There’s a murder and a frame. Wikll the cops find the real murderer? Rising star Cyd Charisse plays the good girl, and Barry Sullivan plays the cop who outsmarts them all.
Photo caption: Charlbi Dean and Harris Dickinson in in TRIANGLE OF SADNESS. Courtesy of NEON.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of three big movies – Tar, Triangle of Sadness and Amsterdam – each a disappointment in some way. This week, I’m bringing you an all new The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE. Plus an obscure but personally meaningful remembrance.
REMEMBRANCE
John Jay Osborn Jr. wrote the autobiographical novel which became the movie The Paper Chase, which has been very meaningful to me. That film, about a first-year law student, was released just before I started law school and many of the protagonist’s experiences mirrored those of my own first year.
Headhunters: from smoothly confident scoundrel to human piñata. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
Her Smell: powerhouse Elisabeth Moss. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Grizzly Man: a fool’s misadventure. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Take Me to the River: fresh, unpredictable and gripping. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Lost Solace: a psychopath afflicted by empathy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
Robert Ryan in THE SET-UP
On November 8, Turner Classic Movies will present The Set-Up (1949), one of the great film noirs and one of the very best boxing movies. Robert Ryan plays a washed-up boxer that nobody believes can win again, not even his long-suffering wife (Audrey Totter). His manager doesn’t even bother to tell him that he is committed to taking a dive in his next fight. But what if he wins?
Director Robert Wise makes use of real-time narrative, then highly innovative. Watch for the verisimilitude of the bar where the deal goes down.
Photo caption: Angela Lansbury and Laurence Harvey in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – a remembrance of the late Angela Lansbury and an overdue review of the unusually intelligent summer popcorn movie Nope, which is now streamable (but watch it on your biggest home screen). Soon I’ll be posting my reviews of three current theatrical releases: Amsterdam, Triangle of Sadness and Tar.
REMEMBRANCE
Angela Lansbury’s first screen role was as the saucy, self-interested maid in Gaslight, which kicked off a notable Hollywood career. Her best movie performance was as the evil mother in The Manchurian Candidate, molding her own son into a robotic assassin. Her memorable work in cinema was outstripped by her careers on Broadway (multiple Tonys for Mame, Sweeney Todd, etc.) and TV (264 episodes and several TV movies of Murder, She Wrote).
CURRENT MOVIES
Don’t Worry, Darling: a misfire (but with Huell Howser’s cool house). In theaters.
Jockey: he finally grapples with himself. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
The East: how do we punish corporate crime? HBO, Amazon, AppleTV, redbox.
The Visitor: self-isolation no longer. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Project Nim: a chimp learns the foibles of humans. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamar Story: the world’s most beautiful woman and her secrets. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, KINO Now.
The Gatekeepers: winning tactics make for a losing strategy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Auggie: Who do you see when you put on the glasses? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
Nathán Pinzón in THE BLACK VAMPIRE
On October 29 and 30, Turner Classic Movies is airing one of my Overlooked Noirs, the Argentine suspense classic El Vampiro Negro. The city is consumed by a child murderer on the prowl, and the police are turning the city upside down. With the cops disrupting business, the criminals launch their own man hunt. If this plot sounds familiar, it’s because The Black Vampire is a remake of Fritz Lang’s 1931 M. As the lead, Nathán Pinzón is AT LEAST AS GOOD as was Peter Lorre in the original M, tight roping the line between scary and pathetic. This film is as trippy as any 1953 movie could be. El Vampiro Negro (The Black Vampire) was restored by Eddie Muller’s Film Noir Foundation, and I attended the premiere of the restoration at Noir City; Eddie will provide intro and outro on this weekend’s Noir Alley.
One of the highly stylized nightclub scenes in THE BLACK VAMPIRE
Photo caption: Laura Galán in PIGGY. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – the fresh and darkly hilarious Spanish horror movie Piggy and the TV premiere of a highly entertaining classic film noir (scroll down). Plus, an overdue review of the summer espionage thriller The Gray Man.
CURRENT MOVIES
Piggy: surprising and darkly funny. Alamo Drafthouse New Mission.
Don’t Worry, Darling: a misfire (but with Huell Howser’s cool house). In theaters.
Spin Me Round: an unpretentious and delightful comedy. AppleTV.
Jockey: he finally grapples with himself. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
The Visitor: self-isolation no longer. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
The Bra: Just your average silent Azerbaijani comedy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Project Nim: a chimp learns the foibles of humans. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamar Story: the world’s most beautiful woman and her secrets. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, KINO Now.
The Gatekeepers: winning tactics make for a losing strategy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Auggie: Who do you see when you put on the glasses? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
Jane Wyatt amd Lee J. Cobb in THE MAN WHO CHEATED HIMSELF
On October 14, Turner Classic Movies airs The Man Who Cheated Himself, in which a cop falls for a dame who makes him go bad. But it’s not just any cop and not just any dame. The cop is Ed (Lee J. Cobb), a seasoned and cynical pro who knows better. The dame is the much wealthier – and married – socialite Lois (Jane Wyatt), a puddle of capriciousness and carnality. There’s plenty of snappy, sarcastic dialogue amid glorious mid-century San Francisco locations.
The Film Noir Foundation has restored The Man Who Cheated Himself so it could be seen again for the first time in decades. Set your DVR.
Photo caption: Louise Fletcher in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of Don’t Worry, Darlingand a note on the Gaslight (below) that you probably have NOT seen. Plus, a remembrance and my top picks at the Nashville Film Festival.
REMEMBRANCE
Actress Louise Fletcher was unforgettable in her Oscar-winning performance as Nurse Rached in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. With her cold assured eyes embodying impervious authority, she could maintain a soft voice and still deflate the charisma of Jack Nicholson’s McMurphy. Nurse Rached has been voted the second best female villain in all cinema (after The Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz).
CURRENT MOVIES
Don’t Worry, Darling: a misfire (but with Huell Howser’s cool house). In theaters.
Spin Me Round: an unpretentious and delightful comedy. AppleTV.
Jockey: he finally grapples with himself. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
The East: how do we punish corporate crime? HBO, Amazon, AppleTV, redbox.
The Bra: Just your average silent Azerbaijani comedy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
The Visitor: self-isolation no longer. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamar Story: the world’s most beautiful woman and her secrets. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, KINO Now.
The Gatekeepers: winning tactics make for a losing strategy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Auggie: Who do you see when you put on the glasses? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
Anton Walbrook and Dyana Wyngard in GASLIGHT.
On October 6, Turner Classic Movies will play the less well-known 1940 version of Gaslight. In GASLIGHT, GASLIGHT and gaslighting in domestic violence, I wrote about this film, the more familiar 1944 version and gaslighting itself. This original 1940 version is also especially well-acted. Anton Walbrook is suave and evil as the hubbie and Dyana Wyngard is unforgettably haunting as the wife. Only 19 minutes in, we see his duplicity, manipulation and control. Frank Pettingell is very good as the detective, and the cast includes Robert Newton (Long John Silver in the 1950 Treasure Island). Cathleen Cordell plays the oversexed maid Nancy in a less nuanced performance than Angela Lansbury’s in 1944. This 1940 film version is reportedly the most faithful to the stage play source material.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – two remembrances, current recommendations and a discussion of actor Warren William. Coming up – a preview of the Nashville Film Festival.
REMEMBRANCES
Writer-director Jean-Luc Godard, with his jump cuts, non-linear structure and other innovations, helped revolutionize cinema as a leader of the French New Wave. He made three masterpieces in early 1960s: Breathless, Contempt and Band of Outsiders. This is the Godard of “All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.”
But by 1968, Godard’s thinking has become so devoid of humor, nuance, texture and ambiguity, that his work became one-dimensional and boring. Indeed, I have found all of the Godard films since 1967’s Weekend to range from disappointing to completely unwatchable. Godard was still making movies in 2018 – and they all sucked.
Band of Outsiders is not streamable, but Breathless is included with HBO Max and Criterion subscriptions and rentable from Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube; Contempt is included with Criterion and rentable from Amazon, AppleTV and YouTube. Or, you can watch the biting send-up of Godard in the recent Godard, Mon Amour on AppleTV, YouTube or KinoNow.
Henry Silva
Actor Henry Silva is recognizable from his 140 screen credits (and, outside of the Oceans 11 movies, those roles may have all been villains). He leveraged his acting talent and unusual facial features to project menace as few actors have done, most memorably in the original The Manchurian Candidate.
CURRENT MOVIES
Nope: an unusually intelligent popcorn movie. I’m not a big horror/sci fi guy, and I loved it. One of the best movies of 2022. In theaters.
Spin Me Round: an unpretentious and delightful comedy. AppleTV.
Jockey: he finally grapples with himself. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
The East: how do we punish corporate crime? HBO, Amazon, AppleTV, redbox.
The Bra: Just your average silent Azerbaijani comedy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Project Nim: a chimp learns the foibles of humans. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamar Story: the world’s most beautiful woman and her secrets. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, KINO Now.
The Gatekeepers: winning tactics make for a losing strategy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Auggie: Who do you see when you put on the glasses? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
Warren William with Loretta Young in EMPLOYEES ENTRANCE
On September 28, Turner Classic Movies airs Employees Entrance, starring Warren William, whose movies from the early 30s remain fresh today. Although he is not well-known today, William was “King of the Pre-Code”, starring in 25 movies between 1931 and 1934, many with the sexual frankness and moral ambiguity that was to be erased by the Production Code. If you want to understand Pre-Code cinema, watch Employees Entrance, and imagine the future movie censor, the supercilious Joe Breen, with his head exploding.
In the 1933 Employees Entrance, William plays a department store manager who is viciously ruthless with his competitors and suppliers. He abuses his own employees and is indifferent to the resultant suicide attempts. He uses his position to have sex with a young employee (Loretta Young), even after she marries someone else. And he keeps a floozy on the payroll to distract another executive (his putative supervisor) from meddling in the business. And for all 75 minutes of Employees Entrance, William’s joyously despicable character is richly enjoying himself. If you’re looking for the triumph of Good over Evil, this isn’t your movie.
With his striking features (including a prominent and noble nose) and his deep and cultured voice, William was a natural for the newfangled talkies. William excelled in the Pre-Code movies because he could play deliciously shameless scoundrels who would use their wit and position to exploit everyone else, especially for sex, power and money. His characters are fun to watch because they take such delight in their own depravity. His leading ladies included the likes of Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Loretta Young, Ann Dvorak and Claudette Colbert. But in 1934, the new Production Code meant that movies could no longer allow his characters to have sex and otherwise behave badly and get away with it.
One of my favorite movies is 1932’s hilarious political comedy The Dark Horse, in which William plays an equally ruthless and amoral campaign manager. He is such a scoundrel that he must first get sprung from jail to teach his dimwitted candidate to answer every question with “Yes…and, then again, no.” He describes his own candidate (the gleefully dim Guy Kibbee) thus: “He’s the dumbest human being I ever saw. Every time he opens his mouth he subtracts from the sum total of human knowledge.”
Ever the sexually predatory cad on the screen, the real-life William led a quiet life and was married to the same woman for twenty-five years until his death.
