Weekly Movie Recommendations

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH. Photo courtesy of A24.

This is simple: stream The Tragedy of Macbeth, Don’t Look Up or The Power of the Dog. If you’re game for a theater experience, see Drive My Car, Nightmare Alley or Belfast.

IN THEATERS

  • Drive My Car: director and co-writer Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s engrossing masterpiece about dealing with loss – and it’s the best movie of 2021. Layered with character-driven stories that could each justify their own movie, this is a mesmerizing film that builds into an exhilarating catharsis.
  • Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies.
  • Licorice Pizza: When nine years is a big age difference.
  • Belfast: a child’s point if view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled.
  • Red Rocket: a genius at burning bridges.
  • C’mon C’mon: In Mike Mills’ charming and authentic film, Joaquin Phoenix plays a well-intentioned, emotionally intelligent guy who gets an immersion course in parenting.
  • House of Gucci: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver shine in this modern tale of Shakespearean family treachery.
  • Benedetta: Paul Verhoeven’s entertaining parable of belief and class, wrapped in scandal and sacrilege.

ON VIDEO

The Tragedy of Macbeth: No surprise here: Joel Coen, Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand deliver a crisp and imaginative version of the Bard’s Scottish Play. AppleTV.

Styx: In this gripping drama, a skilled and resourceful woman embarks on an open-sea solo voyage, and we think we’re about to watch a survival tale. But then she is confronted with a situation that presents all bad choices – and, this time, she can’t fix it by herself. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu.

Western: In the evocative and thought-provoking German drama, an alienated man goes native. Western played the Cannes and Toronto film festivals in 2017, and then five US film fests, but never got a US theatrical release.  Western can be streamed from The Criterion Channel, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.

Some of my choices for Best Movies of 2021 are already on video:

  • Riders of Justice: Thriller, comedy and much, much more. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
  • The Power of the Dog: One man’s meanness, another man’s growth. Netflix.
  • Don’t Look Up: Wickedly funny. Filmmaker Adam McKay (The Big Short) and a host of movie stars hit the bullseye as they target a corrupt political establishment, a soulless media and a gullible, lazy-minded public. Netflix.
  • Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain: Bad ass romantic. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
  • Lamb: This dark, cautionary fable of karma is a brilliant and unsettling debut by writer-director Valdimar Jóhannsson. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.

More 2021 movies on video:

ON TV

Spencer Tracy and Robert Ryan in BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK

On January 24, Turner Classic Movies serves up the John Sturges masterpiece Bad Day at Black Rock. Spencer Tracy investigates a disappearance in an especially hostile, racist and sinister town. Besides having Tracy at his best and being a great looking movie, Bad Day at Black Rock is notable for its menacing crew of Bad Guys – Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin.

WESTERN: alienated man goes native

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Meinhard Neumann in WESTERN

In the evocative and thought-provoking German drama Western, a crew of German hardhats sets up a construction camp on a remote Bulgarian mountainside to build a water power plant.  They aren’t cultural tourists and certainly not diplomats, and they see the nearby Bulgarian village as a distraction from, even an impediment to, their project.  Of the Germans, only Meinhard (Meinhard Neumann) seeks out contact with the Bulgarians.

Writer-director Valeska Grisebach lets the audience connect the dots about what’s going on. The Germans and the Bulgarians have encounters at the camp, at the riverside swimming hole and in the village.  As one would expect from any modern German filmmaker, Grisebach shines a harsh light on the German sense of superiority and entitlement.  One German even says, “They know we’re back. 70 years later, but we’re back.”  But the characters have dimension.  The blustery project boss Vincent (Reinhardt Wetrek) is an asshole, but even he has his own personal and job problems.

Of the Germans, only Meinhard makes Bulgarian friends.  Meinhard is a loner among his co-workers, yet he seems to be searching for something among the Bulgarians and their alien language and culture.  Meinhard is well-traveled and looks like he Has Lived a Life.  He’s not a misfit (he’s very functional), but he hasn’t found where he DOES fit.

What has caused Meinhard’s alienation?  That’s not clear, but it doesn’t need to be.  Hell, Jack Nicholson just shows up alienated in every movie from Five Easy Pieces through The Passenger, and that works out just fine.

Meinhard has no ties.  Asked if he is homesick, he queries, “what is homesick?” He thrives in the simpler culture, and this solitary man finds himself becoming social.  He develops a deep trusting friendship with a local leader, Adrian (Syuleyman Alilov Letifov).

We have the advantage of subtitles, so we know what is being said in German and in Bulgarian. The characters are not understanding about 90% of what is spoken in the other language.  The friendship between Meinhard and Adrian transcends language. The highlight of Western is a beautiful dialogue in which the two don’t understand all (or even most) of each other’s words.

Meinhard goes native.  Will it work out for him?  The Germans and the Bulgarians learn that they are competing for the same scarce resource.  The Germans are always on the verge of provoking a riot.  The insular Bulgarians are wary of strangers.

Western is not a brisk movie, but Grisebach paces it just about perfectly.  This character-driven story is a sequence of revelations, and we need Grisebach to take her time. Grisebach uses the handheld camera effectively to plunge us right into the experience of the characters, who are often trying to discover something about the other guys.

Meinhard Neumann and Syuleyman Alilov Letifov in WESTERN

So that’s what is on the screen. I was astounded to learn that Grisebach used no professional actors in Western.  She reportedly auditioned 600 working folks to get her cast.  She snagged two sublime natural talents in Meinhard Neumann and Syuleyman Alilov Letifov. Not only that, but Grisebach did not use a script.

Quoted by Stefan Dobroiu in Cineuropa, Grisebach said, “I wanted to get closer to the solitary, inflated, often melancholic male characters of the western.”  Grisebach may not have intended it, but she nailed the Going Native subgenre of Westerns, where a first world man becomes immersed into a native culture, which he ultimately embraces.  Examples include A Man Called Horse and Dances with Wolves.

Western played the Cannes and Toronto film festivals in 2017, and then five US film fests, but never got a US theatrical release.  Western can be streamed from The Criterion Channel, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.

STYX: a confident woman with no good choices

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Susanne Wolff in STYX

In the gripping drama Styx, Rieke (Susanne Wolff) is a woman who intends to pilot her sailboat on a solo voyage from Europe to Ascension Island off the coast of Africa. That’s one woman, all alone on her boat for 3,000 miles of open ocean.

Oozing matter of fact confidence, Rieke seems well-equipped for the adventure. She is fit, highly skilled, an experienced sailor and provisioned up with top quality gear and supplies. Rieke’s day job is as an emergency physician, and we see that no crisis situation seems to faze her.

In the first part of Styx, we think we’re watching a survival tale – woman against nature. But when a dramatic storm hits, we’re afraid for her but she’s not.

After the storm, she faces the first situation that she can’t handle on her own – one of life-and-death that has been spawned by a humanitarian crisis bigger than any individual. Frustratingly, she knows exactly what must be done, but she can’t do it herself; instead, she must rely on civilized nations behaving according to expected norms. But are those expected norms available to everyone? And will everyone act as they should?

Rieke’s persona is based on acting to solve every problem. But here, there are no good choices.

This is a German film about a German character, but almost all the dialogue is in English, the international language of navigation.

The second feature for director Wolfgang Fischer, Styx has won film festival awards, including at the Berlin International Film Festival. Styx can be streamed from Amazon, AppleTV and Vudu.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Denzel Washington in THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH. Photo courtesy of A24.

Joel Cohen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth with Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand is now streaming on AppleTV. I’ll be writing about it next week.

REMEMBRANCES

Sidney Poitier in THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT

Sidney Poitier was an actor whose great intelligence, charisma and intensity, which combined into a righteous power. He was the first black A-list movie star and a man who changed things forever by insisting on playing empowered, non-degraded roles. Revisit the moment in In the Heat of the Night when his detective informs Carroll O’Connor’s redneck lawman, “They call me Mister Tibbs“. He wasn’t just an iconic actor, either – he was a also an accomplished director and a bona fide civil rights leader.

And ICYMI, here’s last week’s remembrance of Peter Bogdanovich.

IN THEATERS

Licorice Pizza: This entertaining coming of age story has a lot going for it – the originality of an age mismatch, two fresh and interesting lead actors and a 1973 time capsule of the San Fernando Valley. A little too much length and an odd segment with Bradley Cooper as Jon Peters keep this from being among the best films of the year.

ON VIDEO

The Heist of the Century: This delightful crime tale from Argentina, tells a story that would be unbelievable – except it all really happened. HBO Max, Amazon, Vudu, YouTube.

Light from Light: This indie gem ingeniously embeds three portraits of personal awakening into what looks like a familiar haunted house movie. Amazon, AppleTV.

Some of my choices for Best Movies of 2021 are already on video:

  • Riders of Justice: Thriller, comedy and much, much more. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
  • The Power of the Dog: One man’s meanness, another man’s growth. Netflix.
  • Don’t Look Up: Wickedly funny. Filmmaker Adam McKay (The Big Short) and a host of movie stars hit the bullseye as they target a corrupt political establishment, a soulless media and a gullible, lazy-minded public. Netflix.
  • Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain: Bad ass romantic. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
  • Lamb: This dark, cautionary fable of karma is a brilliant and unsettling debut by writer-director Valdimar Jóhannsson. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.

More 2021 movies on video:

ON TV

Robert Mitchum in THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE

On January 18, Turner Classic Movies airs The Friends of Eddie Coyle, a neo-noir triumph for Robert Mitchum. Mitchum plays a world-weary, low-level hood being squeezed between Boston’s Irish Mob and law enforcement. Double crosses abound. Sandwiched between his turns in The Candidate and Young Frankenstein, Peter Boyle delivers one of his best – and sleaziest – performances. For more details, see the The Friends of Eddie Coyle page in my Overlooked Neo-noir.

Peter Boyle in THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE

LIGHT FROM LIGHT: a haunted house movie that isn’t

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Marin Ireland and Jim Gaffigan in LIGHT FROM LIGHT

Writer-director Paul Harrill’s indie gem Light from Light ingeniously embeds three portraits of personal awakening into what looks like a familiar haunted house movie.

Single mom Sheila (Marin Ireland) has been a paranormal investigator (a ghost hunter), but she isn’t sure that she even believes in ghosts; she had taken up this pursuit because her most recent ex was a true believer. A clergyman asks for her help with a widower that he is counseling; the man (Jim Gaffigan) has experienced some odd happenings and wonders if his dead wife is haunting the house. And so we think we’re off on a thrill ride of chills and jump scares…

Instead, the phenomena that Light from Light explores are down-to-earth: the impacts of absence and loneliness.

Scarred by one too many failed relationships, Sheila is closed down. She’s working a dead-end job behind a rental car counter, doing her best to raise her sensitive teen son and not doing much else; she has isolated herself in her routine. Her son mirrors his mom – a girl is sweet on him, but he’s afraid to have a relationship with her lest it bring him the heartbreak that his mom has experienced. The widower is both immersed in grief and mulling over something about his wife that complicates his feelings.

The plot is about looking for the ghost, but the movie is really about these three people and whether they can self-liberate from their social paralysis and engage with others.

Light from Light is centered around an astonishing performance by Marin Ireland (Hell or High Water, Sneaky Pete and Tony-nominated for reasons to be pretty). Elisabeth Moss is a producer, and she suggested Marin Ireland for the role of Sheila.

The well-known comedian Jim Gaffigan (who also had a serious supporting turn in Chappaquiddick) has impressive screen-acting chops. The grief of Gaffigan’s character does not look “dramatic”; it’s all the more powerful for being matter of fact. Harrill wrote the part with Jim Gaffigan in mind after listening to him on NPR’s Fresh Air, and learning that Gaffigan had almost lost his wife to cancer and understood facing this loss.

This is the second feature for Harrill. Besides successfully subverting a genre, he makes effective use of a quiet, restrained, spare soundtrack. Set and shot in Knoxville, Tennessee and the Great Smoky Mountains, Light from Light excels in bringing us into a very specific time and place.

Light from Light can be streamed from Amazon and AppleTV.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett in NIGHTMARE ALLEY. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.

No better time to see the year’s best movies than this week. My year end coverage has expanded:

IN THEATERS

  • Drive My Car: director and co-writer Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s engrossing masterpiece about dealing with loss – and it’s the best movie of 2021. Layered with character-driven stories that could each justify their own movie, this is a mesmerizing film that builds into an exhilarating catharsis.
  • Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies.
  • Belfast: a child’s point if view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled.
  • Red Rocket: a genius at burning bridges.
  • C’mon C’mon: In Mike Mills’ charming and authentic film, Joaquin Phoenix plays a well-intentioned, emotionally intelligent guy who gets an immersion course in parenting.
  • House of Gucci: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver shine in this modern tale of Shakespearean family treachery.
  • Benedetta: Paul Verhoeven’s entertaining parable of belief and class, wrapped in scandal and sacrilege.

ON VIDEO

The Real Charlie Chaplin: This biodoc seeks to reveal Charlie Chaplin’s childhood in poverty, his manipulation of very young wives and his blacklisting, but not his filmmaking. Showtime.

Photo caption: Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio in DON’T LOOK BACK. Courtesy of Netflix.

Some of my choices for Best Movies of 2021 are already on video:

  • Riders of Justice: Thriller, comedy and much, much more. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
  • The Power of the Dog: One man’s meanness, another man’s growth. Netflix.
  • Don’t Look Up: Wickedly funny. Filmmaker Adam McKay (The Big Short) and a host of movie stars hit the bullseye as they target a corrupt political establishment, a soulless media and a gullible, lazy-minded public. Netflix.
  • Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain: Bad ass romantic. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
  • Lamb: This dark, cautionary fable of karma is a brilliant and unsettling debut by writer-director Valdimar Jóhannsson. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.

More 2021 movies on video:

ON TV

Gary Sinise in WALLACE

Yesterday, I wrote about George Wallace, coming up on January 12 on Turner Classic Movies, with its brilliant performance by Gary Sinise. George Wallace is not available to stream and is rarely broadcast, so set your DVR.

Movies to See Right Now – New Year’s Edition

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Here’s my Best of 2021 list, along with the rest of my year-end coverage:

IN THEATERS

Drive My Car: director and co-writer Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s engrossing masterpiece about dealing with loss – and it’s the best movie of 2021. Layered with character-driven stories that could each justify their own movie, this is a mesmerizing film that builds into an exhilarating catharsis.

Also in theaters:

  • Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies.
  • Belfast: a child’s point if view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled.
  • Red Rocket: a genius at burning bridges.
  • C’mon C’mon: In Mike Mills’ charming and authentic film, Joaquin Phoenix plays a well-intentioned, emotionally intelligent guy who gets an immersion course in parenting.
  • House of Gucci: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver shine in this modern tale of Shakespearean family treachery.
  • Benedetta: Paul Verhoeven’s entertaining parable of belief and class, wrapped in scandal and sacrilege.

ON VIDEO

Being the Ricardos: a tepid slice of a really good story. Amazon (included with Prime).

The Hand of God: Filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino’s own coming of age story – and a time capsule of 1986 Naples. Netflix.

Some of my choices for Best Movies of 2021 are already on video:

  • Riders of Justice: Thriller, comedy and much, much more. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
  • The Power of the Dog: One man’s meanness, another man’s growth. Netflix.
  • Don’t Look Up: Wickedly funny. Filmmaker Adam McKay (The Big Short) and a host of movie stars hit the bullseye as they target a corrupt political establishment, a soulless media and a gullible, lazy-minded public. Netflix.
  • Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain: Bad ass romantic. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.

More 2021 movies on video:

ON TV

Myrna Loy and William Powell as Nora and Nick Charles during the Holidays

Once again, Turner Classic Movies is giving us a wonderful New Year’s Eve present – an all-day Thin Man marathon. William Powell and Myrna Loy are cinema’s favorite movie couple for a reason – just settle in and watch Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man and its sequels do what they do best – banter, canoodle, solve crimes and, of course, tipple.

Stars abound in supporting roles in the series. James Stewart had only made one feature film before 1936, the year, he appeared in After the Thin Man. Dean Stockwell, who died in November, played Nick and Nora’s son Nick Charles Jr in Song of the Thin Man. Film noir goddesses Gloria Grahame and Marie Windsor also both appear in Song of the Thin Man.

The pre-notoriety Tom Neal has a key role in in Another Thin Man. Classic film aficionados will also recognize Maureen O’Sullivan, Keenan Wynn, Leon Ames, Sheldon Leonard, C. Awbrey Smith, Joseph Calleia and Sam Levene.

These six movies from 1934-47 are still first-rate escapist entertainment. Love ’em.

Movies to See Right Now (Holiday edition)

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Photo caption: Bradley Cooper in NIGHTMARE ALLEY. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.

See the year’s best movies now: Drive My Car, Belfast and Nightmare Alley in theaters and The Power of the Dog and Don’t Look Up on streaming services.

ICYMI here’s my year-end coverage to date. (I’ve been holding off on posting my Best Movies of 2021 until I see Licorice Pizza, The Tragedy of Macbeth and Parallel Mothers. ) But here’s my year-end list so far.

IN THEATERS

Reika Kirishima and Hidetoshi Nishijima in DRIVE MY CAR. Courtesy of The Match Factory.

Drive My Car: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s engrossing masterpiece about dealing with loss. Layered with character-driven stories that could each justify their own movie, this is a mesmerizing film that builds into an exhilarating catharsis.

Nightmare Alley: Guillermo del Toro’s absorbing remake of the 1947 film noir classic, a cautionary fable of overreaching. Del Toro has deepened the minor characters, creating a showcase for many of our finest film actors.

Red Rocket: Sean Baker’s dark comedy is a portrait of a human trainwreck and the Texas City, Texas, residents whose lives he touches (and none for the better). Once again, Baker makes inspired use of non-actor to tell his story.

The Humans: Stephen Karam’s film version of his Tony Award-winning play introduces us to a family that is guaranteed to be more depressing than yours. Remarkably cinematic and non-stagey for a play that takes place in one apartment. Its very brief theatrical run is over, but you can look or it on video soon.

Also in theaters:

  • Belfast: a child’s point if view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled.
  • C’mon C’mon: In Mike Mills’ charming and authentic film, Joaquin Phoenix plays a well-intentioned, emotionally intelligent guy who gets an immersion course in parenting.
  • House of Gucci: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver shine in this modern tale of Shakespearean family treachery.
  • Benedetta: Paul Verhoeven’s entertaining parable of belief and class, wrapped in scandal and sacrilege.

ON VIDEO

Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry in DON’T LOOK BACK. Courtesy of Netflix.

Some of my choices for Best Movies of 2021 are already on video:

  • Riders of Justice: Thriller, comedy and much, much more. It’s the year’s best movie so far. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
  • The Power of the Dog: One man’s meanness, another man’s growth. Netflix.
  • Don’t Look Up: Wickedly funny. Filmmaker Adam McKay (The Big Short) and a host of movie stars hit the bullseye as they target a corrupt political establishment, a soulless media and a gullible, lazy-minded public. Netflix.
  • Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain: Bad ass romantic. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.

More 2021 movies on video:

Eugenio Derbez in CODA. Courtesy of AppleTV.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Hidetoshi Nishijima and Tôko Miura in DRIVE MY CAR. Courtesy of The Match Factory.

I’ve seen three of the best movies of the year in the past week: Drive My Car, Don’t Look Up and Nightmare Alley. I’ve written up Don’t Look Up and will get to the other two soon. Drive My Car is the very best movie that I’ve seen in 2021. Another of the year’s best, The Power of the Dog, is now streaming on Netflix.

I’m dismayed that Drive My Car is so difficult to find. It is currently playing in only three Bay Area theaters, in Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco, plus a couple For Your Consideration screenings in San Rafael. It is currently the number one movie on many top ten lists, including mine and Barack Obama’s.

Note that the fabulous Noir City film festival returns in-person in January – this time to the 600-seat Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. 100 passes were sold in the first day, so check it out.

IN THEATERS

Don’t Look Up: Wickedly funny. Filmmaker Adam McKay (The Big Short) and a host of movie stars hit the bullseye as they target a corrupt political establishment, a soulless media and a gullible, lazy-minded public. I saw Don’t Look Up in a theater, but it will be streaming on Netflix beginning December 24.

Also in theaters:

  • Belfast: a child’s point if view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled.
  • C’mon C’mon: In Mike Mills’ charming and authentic film, Joaquin Phoenix plays a well-intentioned, emotionally intelligent guy who gets an immersion course in parenting.
  • House of Gucci: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver shine in this modern tale of Shakespearean family treachery.
  • Benedetta: Paul Verhoeven’s entertaining parable of belief and class, wrapped in scandal and sacrilege.

ON VIDEO

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time: This uncommonly rich biodoc of the social critic/humorist/philosopher benefits from having been paused and restarted several times, resulting in hours of filmed interviews with Vonnegut in different decades. Very entertaining because Vonnegut was so damn funny. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.

Listening to Kenny G: Penny Lane’s surprisingly revelatory is a good watch even if you never ever think of Kenny G. HBO Max.

Some of my choices for Best Movies of 2021 are already on video:

More 2021 movies on video:

ON TV

Allen Baron in BLAST OF SILENCE

Any film noir aficionado will want to take advantage of Turner Classic Movies’ rare broadcast of Blast of Silence on December 18 and 19. Arguably the first neo-noir (and among my my Overlooked Neo-noir), Blast of Silence features a solitary professional hit man who is NOT emotionally detached. Instead, he has to work himself into a cauldron of seething hatred before he performs each murder-for-hire. Perversely, this most nihilistic story is juxtapositioned against a New York City Christmastime.

Blast of Silence is not available to stream, so the only ways you can see it are to purchase the Criterion DVD or to tune in this weekend to TCM’s Noir Alley, with intro and outro by Eddie Muller.

The juxtaposition of Christmas in BLAST OF SILENCE

Movies to See Right Now

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The Power of the Dog: Kodi Smit-McPhee on his breakout performance | EW.com
Photo caption: Kodi Smit-McPhee in THE POWER OF THE DOG. Courtesy of Netflix.

This week – three new movies in theaters, but your best bet is The Power of the Dog on Netflix.

And it happened AGAIN, for the second time this month and the fourth time in thirty years: I had the whole theater all to myself at a Monday 1 PM screening of Benedetta at the Shattuck.

IN THEATERS

House of Gucci: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver shine in this modern tale of Shakespearean family treachery.

C’mon C’mon: In Mike Mills’ charming and authentic film, Joaquin Phoenix plays a well-intentioned, emotionally intelligent guy who gets an immersion course in parenting.

Benedetta: Paul Verhoeven’s entertaining parable of belief and class, wrapped in scandal and sacrilege.

Also in theaters:

ON VIDEO

Some of my choices for Best Movies of 2021 are already on video:

More 2021 movies on video:

ON TV

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is thenarrowmargin1952.1919.jpg
Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor in THE NARROW MARGIN

On December 13, Turner Classic Movies is airing eight of the most important films noir, including:

  • The Naked City
  • The Asphalt Jungle
  • Kansas City Confidential
  • Crime Wave
  • The Big Sleep
  • Out of the Past
  • Mildred Pierce.

I’m highlighting The Narrow Margin, a taut 71 minutes of tension from my Overlooked Noir. Growly cop Charles McGraw plays hide-and-seek with a team of hit men on a claustrophobic train. Marie Windsor is unforgettable as the assassins’ target. McGraw and Windsor’s performances are first-rate, and their hardboiled dialogue is terrific. Director Richard Fleisher, early in his career, imaginatively stages the woman-hunt up and down the tight corridors and compartments of the moving train. Masterpiece.

I love this movie, and a replica of the poster is next to my TV.

Director Richard Fleischer’s use of reflection in THE NARROW MARGIN