Weekly Movie Recommendations

Hang ten this summer

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RIDING GIANTS

Let’s go surfin’ now

Everybody’s learning how

Come on and safari with me

It’s a great time to get stoked with the two most bitchin’ surfing movies, the documentaries Step Into Liquid and Riding Giants.

In Step Into Liquid (2003), we see the world’s best pro surfers in the most extreme locations.  We also see devoted amateurs in the tiny ripples of Lake Michigan and surfing evangelists teaching Irish school children.  The cinematography is remarkable – critic Elvis Mitchell called the film “insanely gorgeous”.  The filmmaker is Dana Brown, son of Bruce Brown, who invented the surf doc genre with The Endless Summer (1966) and The Endless Summer II (1994).

Riding Giants (2004) focuses on the obsessive search for the best wave by some of the greatest surfers in history. We see “the biggest wave ever ridden” and then a monster that could be bigger.  The movie traces the discovery of the Half Moon Bay surf spot Mavericks.  And more and more, all wonderfully shot.

The filmmaker is Stacy Peralta, a surfer and one the pioneers of modern skateboading, (and a founder of the Powell Peralta skateboard product company).  Peralta also made Dogtown and Z-boys (2001), the great documentary about the roots of skateboarding, and wrote the 2005 Lords of Dogtown.

Both Step into Liquid and Riding Giants can be streamed from Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: JAZZFEST: A NEW ORLEANS STORY. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

This week on The Movie Gourmet – James Stewart, Robert Mitchum: The Two Faces of America, coming up tomorrow on TCM and an unusually personal review of Jazzfest: A New Orleans Story. Plus two very contrasting remembrances.

Frameline —the world’s largest LGBTQ film festival— runs through Sunday, June 26, 2022. Here are my four recommendations.

REMEMBRANCES

Bo Hopkins in AMERICAN GRAFFITI.

A few weeks ago, we lost actor Bo Hopkins, who left us with some absolutely indelible performances in his heyday, a decade starting in the late 1960s. No one has ever been better at portraying a smirking, dimwitted redneck. I liked him best as the ill-fated young robber in The Wild Bunch, the greaser hard guy in American Graffiti and Burt Reynold’s moonshining partner in White Lightning. In this period, he appeared in .
Cat Ballou, The Getaway, Monte Walsh and Midnight Express.

Burt Reynolds and Bo Hopkins in WHITE LIGHTNING.
Jean-Louis Trintignant in THE CONFORMIST.

Actor Jean-Louis Trintignant starred in some of the most prestigious European movies of the past six decades: Roger Vadim’s …And Man Created Woman with Brigitte Bardot (1956), Claude Leloach’s A Man and a Woman (1966), Claude Chabrol’s Les Biches (1968), Costa-Gravras’ Z (1969), Éric Rohmer’s My Night at Maud’s, Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist (1970), Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Red (1994) and Michael Haneke’s Amour (2012). He even made a Sergio Corbucci spaghetti western The Great Silence in 1968. Trintignant was 91.

Jean-Louis Trintignant in AMOUR.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

Julia Garner in ELECTRICK CHILDREN

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

  • Electrick Children: magical Mormon runaways in Vegas. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • Dick Johnson Is Dead: funny, heartfelt and frequently bizarre. Netflix.
  • The Women’s Balcony: a righteous man must keep his woman happy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • The Handmaiden: gorgeous, erotic and a helluva plot. Amazon (included with Prime), Vudu.
  • Very Semi-Serious: glorious The New Yorker cartoons. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • Touching the Void: the gripping true life story of a mountaineer who had to cut his climbing partner’s rope. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • The Women’s Balcony: a righteous man must keep his woman happy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • NUTS!: the rise and fall of a testicular empire. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • The Imposter: you gotta see this. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Lina Al Arabi and Esther Esther Bernet-Rollande in BESTIES, playing at Frameline. Courtesy of Frameline.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of My Donkey, My Lover and I, plus four recommendations for the Frameline film festival – opening today in San Francisco and next week online.

CURRENT MOVIES

ON VIDEO

Dick Johnson in DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD. Courtesy of Netflix.

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

  • Dick Johnson Is Dead: funny, heartfelt and frequently bizarre. Netflix.
  • The Women’s Balcony: a righteous man must keep his woman happy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • The Handmaiden: gorgeous, erotic and a helluva plot. Amazon (included with Prime), Vudu.
  • Very Semi-Serious: glorious The New Yorker cartoons. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • Touching the Void: the gripping true life story of a mountaineer who had to cut his climbing partner’s rope. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • The Women’s Balcony: a righteous man must keep his woman happy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Electrick Children: magical Mormon runaways in Vegas. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • NUTS!: the rise and fall of a testicular empire. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • The Imposter: you gotta see this. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

ON TV

hep cats in BUCKET OF BLOOD

On June 21, Turner Classic Movies will air A Bucket of Blood, a campy, minor horror film from 1959, more interesting as a window into beatnik culture.  Can you dig it?

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Ben Fong-Torres in LIKE A ROLLING STONE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BEN FONG-TORRE. Courtesy of Netflix.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Fanny: The Right to Rock (hard to find in theaters, but a hoot-and-a-half) and A Hero (streamable, but a lesser film from a great filmmaker).

I’m currently screening films that will playing at the Frameline film fest June 16-26.

CURRENT FILMS

ON VIDEO

THE WOMEN’S BALCONY

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

  • The Women’s Balcony: a righteous man must keep his woman happy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • The Handmaiden: gorgeous, erotic and a helluva plot. Amazon (included with Prime), Vudu.
  • Very Semi-Serious: glorious The New Yorker cartoons. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • Touching the Void: the gripping true life story of a mountaineer who had to cut his climbing partner’s rope. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • Dick Johnson Is Dead: funny, heartfelt and frequently bizarre. Netflix.
  • The Women’s Balcony: a righteous man must keep his woman happy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Electrick Children: magical Mormon runaways in Vegas. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • NUTS!: the rise and fall of a testicular empire. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • The Imposter: you gotta see this. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

ON TV

Humphrey Bogart and Martha Vickers in THE BIG SLEEP

On June 11, Turner Classic Movies presents Humphrey Bogart as Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled LA detective Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep. Bogart’s performance is iconic, and The Big Sleep is famous for its impenetrably tangled plot. It’s also one of the most overtly sexual noirs, and Lauren Bacall at her sultriest is only the beginning. The achingly beautiful Martha Vickers plays a druggie who throws herself at anything in pants. And Dorothy Malone invites Bogie to share a back-of-the-bookstore quickie.

Dorothy Malone and Humphrey Bogart in THE BIG SLEEP

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Maggie Smith in DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA, Courtesy of Focus Features.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres and Downton Abbey: A New Era, two remembrances and a comic swashbuckler on TV. Plus, here’s my preview of the world’s largest LGBTQ film fest: Get ready for Frameline.

And this past week, I’ve completely refreshed most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE.

REMEMBRANCES

Actor Ray Liotta became a star with his leading role in 1990’s iconic Goodfelllas and was still at the absolute top of his game this past year in The Many Saints of Newark and No Sudden Move.

Musician Ronnie Hawkins is best known as the irrepressible, earthy rockabilly mentor of The Band. In the movies, he was unforgettable in stage in The Band’s concert film The Last Waltz; (who is THAT guy on stage with Dylan, Clapton, Neil Young and Van Morrison?) He also had an acting role in Heaven’s Gate.

CURRENT FILMS

Owen Teague in MONTANA STORY. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.

ON VIDEO

THE HANDMAIDEN

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

  • The Handmaiden: gorgeous, erotic and a helluva plot. Amazon (included with Prime), Vudu.
  • Very Semi-Serious: glorious The New Yorker cartoons. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • Touching the Void: the gripping true life story of a mountaineer who had to cut his climbing partner’s rope. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • Dick Johnson Is Dead: funny, heartfelt and frequently bizarre. Netflix.
  • The Women’s Balcony: a righteous man must keep his woman happy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Electrick Children: magical Mormon runaways in Vegas. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • NUTS!: the rise and fall of a testicular empire. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • The Imposter: you gotta see this. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

ON TV

Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain and Frank Finlay in THE THREE MUSKETEERS

On June 4, Turner Classic Movies is airing Richard Lester’s boisterous The Three Musketeers from 1973. Watch Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, Michael York and Frank Finlay swashbuckle away against Bad Guys Christopher Lee, Faye Dunaway and Charlton Heston. Geraldine Chaplin and Raquel Welch adorn the action. [If you like it, you can stream the second volume, The Four Musketeers, from Criterion Collection, Amazon and YouTube; it was filmed in the same shoot and released the next year.]

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Hasan Majuni and Amin Simiar in HIT THE ROAD. Courtesy of Kino Lorber.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Hit the Road, 18 1/2 and Jane by Charlotte, plus a completely refreshed the most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE. The best new movie is still Montana Story.

CURRENT FILMS

  • Montana Story: a family secret simmers, then explodes. In theaters.
  • The Duke: he finally gets his audience. In theaters.
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once: often indecipherable and mostly dazzling. In theaters.
  • Hit the Road: a funny family masks their tough choice. In theaters.
  • 18 1/2: the paranoid thriller meets the darkly silly. In theaters, including Laemmle’s Monica Film Center and soon the Glendale and the NoHo 7.
  • Jane by Charlotte: as mildly interesting as the subject. AppleTV.
  • Mau: fact-based optimism and thinking big. In theaters.

ON VIDEO

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

VERY SEMI-SERIOUS
  • Very Semi-Serious: glorious The New Yorker cartoons. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • The Handmaiden: gorgeous, erotic and a helluva plot. Amazon (included with Prime), Vudu.
  • Touching the Void: the gripping true life story of a mountaineer who had to cut his climbing partner’s rope. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • Dick Johnson Is Dead: funny, heartfelt and frequently bizarre. Netflix.
  • The Women’s Balcony: a righteous man must keep his woman happy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Electrick Children: magical Mormon runaways in Vegas. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • NUTS!: the rise and fall of a testicular empire. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • The Imposter: you gotta see this. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

ON TV

SOLARIS

On June 1, Turner Classic Movies will air the sci-fi classic Solaris (1972), the masterpiece of Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky. A psychologist, with that common Russian name of Kris Kelvin, is sent to check out a space mission orbiting the oceanic planet Solaris. He finds things ominously awry, with a suicide and suspiciously furtive behavior by the surviving crew. Then he is face-to-face with his own dead wife from Earth; and after he dispatches her into space, she reappears on the spacecraft. Things are seriously messed up.

Much of Solaris’ two hours and 47 minutes – watching this movie is  a commitment – consists of trippy shots of the ocean planet, with waves breaking across its colored surface. Solaris is not so much an enjoyable art movie as it is a fascinating one. It won the Grand Prix at Cannes and is firmly placed in the sci-fi canon. Solaris is a must see for sci-fi fans [Note: This is NOT the inferior 2002 Steven Soderbergh remake.]

SOLARIS

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Haley Lu Richardson (right) and Owen Teague (left) in
MONTANA STORY. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of The Duke, a surefire crowdpleaser, and Montana Story, one of the best films of 2022 so far.

CURRENT FILMS

ON VIDEO

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

ON TV

Maggie Cheung and Tony Leong in IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE.

On May 25th, 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.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu in EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. Courtesy of A24.

This week on The Movie Gourmet:, new reviews of The Tale of King Crab and Mau.

CURRENT FILMS

  • Compartment No. 6 is the best new film in theaters now, but hard to find. It’s an insightful and unpredictable dual character study set on a train ride to Murmansk. In theaters.
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once: often indecipherable and mostly dazzling. In theaters.
  • The Automat: nickels in, memories out. In theaters.
  • Mau: fact-based optimism and thinking big. In theaters.

ON VIDEO

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

Gay Walley in EROTIC FIRE OF THE UNATTAINABLE. Courtesy of Vital Productions.

Movies to See Right Now

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

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of the bittersweet A Love Song with Dale Dickey and Wes Studi and the wildly exuberant Everything Everywhere All at Once with Michele Yeoh. Here’s my personal remembrance of Norm Mineta, the most distinguished of my own mentors, and a note on the documentary An American Story: Norman Mineta and His Legacy .

CURRENT FILMS

Here’s a final reminder from me that Oscar winners CODA, Drive My Car and Belfast are all now available to stream.

ON VIDEO

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

BUY ME A GUN. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.

Movies to See Right Now

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

This week, the Movie Gourmet is emerging from a run of film festivals –

  • The San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM), now underway; here’s my my Preview and Top Picks.
  • The recently concluded Cinequest.
  • The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, which I attended for the first time last night. Stay tuned on this one.

I’ve also highlighted two overlooked films to stream: Strawberry Mansion and Oscar Micheaux: Superhero of Black Filmmaking.

CURRENT FILMS

This year’s crop of Oscar films is fading into Old News, but note that Oscar winners CODA, Drive My Car and Belfast are all now available to stream.

The best new film in theaters is hard to find: the insightful and unpredictable dual character study Compartment No. 6.

ON TV

Roger Livesey in THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP

Tomorrow morning (April 30, Turner Classic Movies will air the 1943 masterpiece The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, a remarkably textured portrait of a man over four decades and his struggles to evolve into new eras. Written and directed by the great British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, this is a movie with a sharp message to 1940s audiences about modernity, as well as a subtle exploration of privilege that will resonate today.