Weekly Movie Recommendations

This week on The Movie Gourmet – two film festivals at once, I’m heading to Oakland for Noir City, while covering Park City, Utah’s Slamdance virtually. Also, I have new reviews of Empire of Light and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, a rant and a remembrance.

I just saw Broker, which I’ll be writing about soon. It’s an exceptional film, which will take the #2 slot on my top ten movie list. See it when you can.

Important note: many of the year’s most prestigious films have become available to stream (see below in CURRENT MOVIES): Aftersun, The Eternal Daughter, The Fabelmans, The Banshees of Inisherin, Decision to Leave, Armageddon Time and Triangle of Sadness.

A RANT ABOUT THE ELVIS MOVIE

I generally detest the filmmaking of Baz Luhrman, so I had skipped his 2022 Elvis until this week; The lead actor, Austin Butler, won the dramatic acting Golden Globe, so, even though the Golden Globes have little credibility with me, I gave it a whirl. Actually, I gave the first hour-and-ten-minutes a whirl. It’s rare that I can’t finish a big, popular movie, but I had to bail on Elvis.

Elvis turns out like much of Luhrman’s other work, with perhaps even more unrestrained garishness, which, in writing about his The Great Gatsby, I labeled “flashy, hollow and lame”. There is an unremitting assault of frenetic eye candy, none of which serves to reveal anything about Elvis.

And, having done a lot of reading about Elvis, I was distracted by Luhrman’s misleading narrative, most outrageously inventing a fantasy about Elvis’ relations with African-Americans, and even outsizing the career role of Elvis’ mother. For historical accuracy, Luhrman makes Oliver Stone look like David McCullough or Stephen Ambrose.

Austin Butler isn’t bad as Elvis, but I just never accepted him as Elvis, just as an actor playing Elvis. Luhrman and Butler captured Elvis’ simplicity, devotion to mother and ambition, but missed big on his playfulness and capriciousness. Now, I wouldn’t damn Butler with such faint praise for having to match the magnetism of one of the very most charismatic figures in world history if Kurt Russell hadn’t been so much better.

REMEMBRANCE

Gina Lollibrigida has died at 95. Her very solid mainly, European body of film work was overshadowed by her image in the US as a sex symbol (Solomon and Sheba). Check her out in John Huston’s sly Beat the Devil. Lollibrigida was the first five-syllable Italian word that I learned to pronounce.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Empire of Light: a woman, revealed. In theaters, but hard to find.
• All the Beauty and the Bloodshed: justice by erasure. In theaters.
• The Whale: regret to redemption. In theaters.
• Madoff: Monster of Wall Street: adding some jawdroppers to a familiar story. Netflix.
• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery: skewer the rich. Netflix.
• Babylon: “wanton excess” is inadequate to describe this movie. In theaters.
• The Eternal Daughter: consumed by mom. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. HBO Max.
• Aftersun: who’s coming of age is this? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• The Fabelmans: a mom, a dad and their genius kid. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• Decision to Leave: he’s obsessed, and she asks, “Am I so wicked?”. Amazon, AppleTV.
• Causeway: affecting and uplifting. AppleTV.
• The Menu: immune from pretension. HBO, Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.
• Armageddon Time: coming of age – right into a moral choice. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• The Banshees of Inisherin: no limits on stubbornness. HBO, Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• Tar: a haughty spirit before a fall. In theaters, but increasingly hard to find.
• Triangle of Sadness: more subtlety, please. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

WATCH AT HOME

At year-end, I suspend my usual The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE so I can highlight the very best movies from 2022. These are on my list of Best Movies of 2022 and they shouldn’t be overlooked. Now you can watch them all at home.

• Nope: an exceptionally intelligent popcorn movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• 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

On January 22, Turner Classic Movies airs an iconic movie that I can’t believe I haven’t written about it before – 12 Angry Men. You’ve probably seen it before, but you may wish to appreciate it again.

Twelve men (and, befitting the 1957 time frame, they are all white men) have found themselves where no one wants to be – on a jury. It’s a hot and humid summer, and the jury room is stifling. It’s a murder case, and the prosecution has put on a credible case. The impetus is to convict the defendant and go home, but one juror (Henry Fonda) holds out. As the jurors probe the evidence more carefully, the debate becomes heated, especially between the hold-out and two of the others (Lee J. Cobb and Ed Begley). The room becomes more and more uncomfortable as opinions swing back and forth, with a man’s life in the balance.

Fonda, Cobb and Begley are just the most brilliant in a remarkable cast: Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, E.G. Marshall, John Fiedler, Edwards Binns, Jack Klugman, Joseph Sweeney,, John Voscovec and Robert Webber. In their careers, Fonda, Warden, Balsam and Begley each won an Oscar, and the cast as a whole collected 11 Oscar nominations between them. I recently watched a Dick Cavett interview in which he asked Henry Fonda to name five of his films that would endure; Fonda blurted out “12 Angry Men‘ and then paused to consider the other choices.

The cast spends essentially all of 12 Angry Men’s 96 minutes in one room, yet director Sidney Lumet makes the excitement match any action movie or thriller. Lumet started out filming the characters from above, then moved to eye-level as the tension increased, and finally filmed from below to rachet up the claustrophobia in the room. The camera closes in tightly on the men’s faces as they sweat and yell. This is text-book filmmaking.

12 Angry Men probes themes of class bias, fairmindedness and citizen responsibility. It’s also about divisions of opinion, which is even more topical in today’s American society.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of The Whale, Madoff: Monster of Wall Street and The Pale Blue Eye. I’m busy preparing to cover two film festivals that are both running over the same ten days, January 20-29 – Noir City in person and Slamdance virtually. Wish me luck.

Don’t overlook my year-end features:

• Best Movies of 2022.
• 2022 Farewells: on the screen (Sidney Poitier, William Hurt, Jean-Louis Trintignant,, Angela Lansbury, James Caan, Louise Fletcher, Ray Liotta, Bo Hopkins, Clu Gulager, Henry Silva,  L.Q. Jones, Roger E. Mosley, Anne Heche, Meat Loaf, Tony Sirico and Ronnie Hawkins).
• 2022 Farewells: behind the camera (Peter Bogdanovich, Alan Ladd Jr., Jean-Luc Godard, Bob Rafaelson, Wolfgang Peterson and Monty Norman).

CURRENT MOVIES

• The Whale: regret to redemption. In theaters.
• Madoff: Monster of Wall Street: adding some jawdroppers to a familiar story. Netflix.
• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery: skewer the rich. Netflix.
• Babyon: “wanton excess” is inadequate to describe this movie. In theaters.
• The Eternal Daughter: consumed by mom. In theaters.
• Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. HBO Max.
• Stars at Noon: needs less sweat and more sizzle. Amazon.
• Aftersun: who’s coming of age is this? In theaters.
• The Fabelmans: a mom, a dad and their genius kid. In theaters.
• Decision to Leave: he’s obsessed, and she asks, “Am I so wicked?”. In theaters.
• Causeway: affecting and uplifting. AppleTV.
• The Menu: immune from pretension. In theaters.
• All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.
• Armageddon Time: coming of age – right into a moral choice. In theaters.
• The Banshees of Inisherin: no limits on stubbornness. In theaters.
• Tar: a haughty spirit before a fall. In theaters.
• Triangle of Sadness: more subtlety, please. In theaters.
• The Pale Blue Eye: Gothic and so-so, except for a great Harry Melling. Netflix.
• The Wonder: a visually beautiful slog. Netflix.
• The Greatest Beer Run Ever: a blowhard plans a stunt, gets an education. AppleTV.
• Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues: what Armstrong was really thinking. AppleTV.

WATCH AT HOME

At year-end, I suspend my usual The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE so I can highlight the very best movies from 2022. These are on my list of Best Movies of 2022 and they shouldn’t be overlooked. Now you can watch them all at home.

• Nope: an exceptionally intelligent popcorn movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• 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

On January 17, Turner Classic Movies will present an overlooked masterwork. Set in England just before the D-Day invasion, The Americanization of Emily (1964) is a biting satire and one of the great anti-war movies. James Garner plays an admiral’s staff officer charged with locating luxury goods and willing Englishwomen for the brass. Julie Andrews plays an English driver who has lost her husband and other male family members in the War. She resists emotional entanglements with other servicemen whose lives may be put at risk, but falls for Garner’s “practicing coward”, a man who is under no illusions about the glory of war and is determined to stay as far from combat as possible.

Unfortunately, Garner’s boss (Melvyn Douglas) has fits of derangement and becomes obsessed with the hope that the first American killed on the beach at D-Day be from the Navy. Accordingly, he orders Garner to lead a suicide mission to land ahead of the D-Day landing, ostensibly to film it. Fellow officer James Coburn must guarantee Garner’s martyrdom.

It’s a brilliant screenplay from Paddy Chayefsky, who won screenwriting Oscars for Marty, The Hospital and Network. Today, Americanization holds up as least as well as its contemporary Dr. Strangelove and much better than Failsafe. Reportedly, both Andrews and Garner have tagged this as their favorite film.

One of the “Three Nameless Broads” bedded by the Coburn character is played by Judy Carne, later of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.

Happy New Year from The Movie Gourmet. This week – new reviews of Babyon and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Don’t overlook my year-end features:

• Best Movies of 2022.
• 2022 Farewells: on the screen (Sidney Poitier, William Hurt, Jean-Louis Trintignant,, Angela Lansbury, James Caan, Louise Fletcher, Ray Liotta, Bo Hopkins, Clu Gulager, Henry Silva,  L.Q. Jones, Roger E. Mosley, Anne Heche, Meat Loaf, Tony Sirico and Ronnie Hawkins).
• 2022 Farewells: behind the camera (Peter Bogdanovich, Alan Ladd Jr., Jean-Luc Godard, Bob Rafaelson, Wolfgang Peterson and Monty Norman).

CURRENT MOVIES

• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery: skewer the rich. Netflix.
• Babyon: “wanton excess” is inadequate to describe this movie. In theaters.
• The Eternal Daughter: consumed by mom. In theaters.
• Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. HBO Max.
• Stars at Noon: needs less sweat and more sizzle. Amazon.
• Aftersun: who’s coming of age is this? In theaters.
• The Fabelmans: a mom, a dad and their genius kid. In theaters.
• Decision to Leave: he’s obsessed, and she asks, “Am I so wicked?”. In theaters.
• Causeway: affecting and uplifting. AppleTV.
• The Menu: immune from pretension. In theaters.
• All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.
• Armageddon Time: coming of age – right into a moral choice. In theaters.
• The Banshees of Inisherin: no limits on stubbornness. In theaters.
• Tar: a haughty spirit before a fall. In theaters.
• Triangle of Sadness: more subtlety, please. In theaters.
• The Wonder: a visually beautiful slog. Netflix.
• The Greatest Beer Run Ever: a blowhard plans a stunt, gets an education. AppleTV.
• Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues: what Armstrong was really thinking. AppleTV.

WATCH AT HOME

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 and they shouldn’t be overlooked. Now you can watch them all at home.

• Nope: an exceptionally intelligent popcorn movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• 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

On January 9, Turner Classic Movies will air I Want to Live! Susan Hayward’s performance as a good-hearted, but very unlucky, floozy won her an Oscar. It’s about a party girl who takes up with a couple of lowlifes. The lowlifes commit a murder and pin it on her. There is a great jazz soundtrack and a dramatic walk to The Chair.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of The Eternal Daughter, Kimi and Stars at Noon. Five current movies are on my Best Movies of 2022: Aftersun, The Fabelmans, Decision to Leave, The Eternal Daughter and Armageddon Time. Coming up during the Holidays: my farewells to filmmakers on the screen and behind the camera and my year-end list of the Best Movies of 2022.

CURRENT MOVIES

• The Eternal Daughter: consumed by mom. In theaters.
• Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. HBO Max.
• Stars at Noon: needs less sweat and more sizzle. Amazon.
• Aftersun: who’s coming of age is this? In theaters.
• The Fabelmans: a mom, a dad and their genius kid. In theaters.
• Decision to Leave: he’s obsessed, and she asks, “Am I so wicked?”. In theaters.
• Causeway: affecting and uplifting. AppleTV.
• The Menu: immune from pretension. In theaters.
• All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.
• Armageddon Time: coming of age – right into a moral choice. In theaters.
• The Banshees of Inisherin: no limits on stubbornness. In theaters.
• Tar: a haughty spirit before a fall. In theaters.
• Triangle of Sadness: more subtlety, please. In theaters.
• The Wonder: a visually beautiful slog. Netflix.
• The Greatest Beer Run Ever: a blowhard plans a stunt, gets an education. AppleTV.
• Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues: what Armstrong was really thinking. AppleTV.

WATCH AT HOME

Daniel Kaluuya in NOPE. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.

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, and they shouldn’t be overlooked. Now you can watch them all at home.

• Nope: an exceptionally intelligent popcorn movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• 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.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Aftersun and The Fabelmans. I’ll be adding both Aftersun and The Fabelmans to my evolving Best Movies of 2022, along with Decision to Leave, Armageddon Time and The Eternal Daughter (which I’ll write about next week).

I also wrote about Mr. Soft Touch: noir Santa, which plays on TCM tomorrow night.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Aftersun: who’s coming of age is this? In theaters.
• The Fabelmans: a mom, a dad and their genius kid. In theaters.
• Decision to Leave: he’s obsessed, and she asks, “Am I so wicked?”. In theaters.
• Causeway: affecting and uplifting. AppleTV.
• The Menu: immune from pretension. In theaters.
• All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.
• Armageddon Time: coming of age – right into a moral choice. In theaters.
• The Banshees of Inisherin: no limits on stubbornness. In theaters.
• Tar: a haughty spirit before a fall. In theaters.
• Triangle of Sadness: more subtlety, please. In theaters.
• The Wonder: a visually beautiful slog. Netflix.
• Amsterdam: a star-studded thriller without the thrills. In theaters.
• The Greatest Beer Run Ever: a blowhard plans a stunt, gets an education. AppleTV.
• See How They Run: Is this supposed to be funny? HBO Max.
• Don’t Worry, Darling: a misfire (but with Huell Howser’s cool house). In theaters.
• Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues: what Armstrong was really thinking. AppleTV.

WATCH AT HOME

TALE OF KING CRAB. 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, and they shouldn’t be overlooked. Now you can watch them all at home.

• Nope: an exceptionally intelligent popcorn movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• 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.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Causeway, The Wonder and The People We Hate at the Wedding, and many more current movies.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Decision to Leave: he’s obsessed, and she asks, “Am I so wicked?”. In theaters.
• Causeway: affecting and uplifting. AppleTV.
• The Menu: immune from pretension. In theaters.
• All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.
• Armageddon Time: coming of age – right into a moral choice. In theaters.
• The Banshees of Inisherin: no limits on stubbornness. In theaters.
• Tar: a haughty spirit before a fall. In theaters.
• Triangle of Sadness: more subtlety, please. In theaters.
• The Wonder: a visually beautiful slog. Netflix.
• Amsterdam: a star-studded thriller without the thrills. In theaters.
• The Greatest Beer Run Ever: a blowhard plans a stunt, gets an education. AppleTV.
• See How They Run: Is this supposed to be funny? HBO Max.
• Don’t Worry, Darling: a misfire (but with Huell Howser’s cool house). In theaters.
• Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues: what Armstrong was really thinking. AppleTV.

WATCH AT HOME

Photo caption: Seidi Haarla and Yuri Borisov in COMPARTMENT No. 6. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

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.

• Nope: an exceptionally intelligent popcorn movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• 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

On December 12, Turner Classic Movies brings us Paul Newman as an iconic 1960s anti-hero in Cool Hand Luke. Along with Newman being pretty doggone cool, there’s a charismatic supporting performance by George Kennedy, the unforgettable boiled egg-eating contest and the great movie line “What we have here is a failure to communicate”.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – recent reviews of fall films big and small: Decision to Leave, The Menu, The Banshees of Inisherin, Armageddon Time, All Quiet on the Western Front, Tar, Triangle of Sadness and The Greatest Beer Run Ever. I’m still looking to see The Fabelmans, Glass Onion: a Knives Out Mystery, The Son and Aftersun, which been difficult to find outside LA and NYC.

REMEMBRANCE

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.
• The Menu: immune from pretension. In theaters.
• All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.
• Armageddon Time: coming of age – right into a moral choice. In theaters.
• The Banshees of Inisherin: no limits on stubbornness. In theaters.
• Tar: a haughty spirit before a fall. In theaters.
• Triangle of Sadness: more subtlety, please. In theaters.
• Amsterdam: a star-studded thriller without the thrills. In theaters.
• The Greatest Beer Run Ever: a blowhard plans a stunt, gets an education. AppleTV.
• See How They Run: Is this supposed to be funny? HBO Max.
• Don’t Worry, Darling: a misfire (but with Huell Howser’s cool house). In theaters.
• Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues: what Armstrong was really thinking. AppleTV.

WATCH AT HOME

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.

• Nope: an exceptionally intelligent popcorn movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• 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

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.

It’s the season of prestige films, and this week on The Movie Gourmet features recent reviews of fall films big and small: Decision to Leave, The Menu, The Banshees of Inisherin, Armageddon Time, All Quiet on the Western Front, Tar, Triangle of Sadness and The Greatest Beer Run Ever.

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.
• The Menu: immune from pretension. In theaters.
• All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.
• Armageddon Time: coming of age – right into a moral choice. In theaters.
• The Banshees of Inisherin: no limits on stubbornness. In theaters.
• Tar: a haughty spirit before a fall. In theaters.
• Triangle of Sadness: more subtlety, please. In theaters.
• Amsterdam: a star-studded thriller without the thrills. In theaters.
• The Greatest Beer Run Ever: a blowhard plans a stunt, gets an education. AppleTV.
• See How They Run: Is this supposed to be funny? HBO Max.
• Don’t Worry, Darling: a misfire (but with Huell Howser’s cool house). In theaters.
• Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues: what Armstrong was really thinking. AppleTV.

WATCH AT HOME

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.

• Nope: an exceptionally intelligent popcorn movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• 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.

Charles Laughton and Robert Taylor in THE BRIBE

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.

CURRENT MOVIES

• All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.
• Armageddon Time: coming of age – right into a moral choice. In theaters.
• The Banshees of Inisherin: a contest of absurd stubbornness. In theaters.
• Tar: a haughty spirit before a fall. In theaters.
• Triangle of Sadness: more subtlety, please. In theaters.
• Amsterdam: a star-studded thriller without the thrills. In theaters.
• The Greatest Beer Run Ever: a blowhard plans a stunt, gets an education. AppleTV.
• Don’t Worry, Darling: a misfire (but with Huell Howser’s cool house). In theaters.
• Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues: what Armstrong was really thinking. AppleTV.

WATCH AT HOME

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

• Grizzly Man: a fool’s misadventure. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
• Augustine: obsession, passion and the birth of a science. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
• Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• 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

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.