Photo caption: THE GRAND BOLERO, playing at Cinequest. Courtesy of Cinequest.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – Cinequest’s online festival Cinejoy continues through this weekend. See my Best of Cinequest and all my Cinequest coverage. I’ve also honored Cinequest by highlighting two gems from recent festivals: the innovative docufictionErotic Fire of the Unattainable and the surreal Mexican masterpiece Buy Me a Gun.
CURRENT FILMS
Note: Oscar winners CODA, Drive My Car and Belfast are all now available to stream.
CODA: what’s not to like about this delightful Oscar-winning audience-pleaser? CODA’s success results from the textured supporting characters and complicated family dynamics in writer-director Sian Heder’s screenplay. AppleTV
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. HBO Max, AppleTV, Amazon, and Vudu.
Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies. IHBO Max, Hulu,Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
Belfast: a child’s point of view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
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.
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.
Richard Widmark running out of luck in THE NIGHT AND THE CITY
On April 16 and 17, Turner Classic Movies is airing the under appreciated film noir classic Night in the City on Noir Alley with intro and outro by Eddie Muller. Richard Widmark is superb as Harry Fabian, a loser who tries to corner the pro wrestling business in post-war London. The one thing that Harry Fabian is good at is finding suckers, but he doesn’t realize that the biggest sucker is…Harry Fabian. It’s highly recommended on my list of Overlooked Noir.
Gay Walley in EROTIC FIRE OF THE UNATTAINABLE. Courtesy of Vital Productions.
In recognition of Cinequest, now underway, here;s a gem from the 2020 Cinejoy virtual fest. Erotic Fire of the Unattainable is the captivating study of a free spirited woman of a certain age and her relationships. Gay (Gay Walley) is a NYC author in her 60s who has a boyfriend, but there are other men available to sample; she’s had a history of struggles in trying to find a guy who is the best fit.
Her relationships are all asymmetric – either she loves the man more than he loves her, or he loves her more.
We don’t see many movies about the romantic lives of women of a certain age, but assessing the relative appeal of lovers is a universal quandary. Unless you have lucked into the Ideal Partner (like I have with The Wife), there are trade offs.
As the actress Gay Walley says about the character Gay, “She is a free spirit. All the men come with strings. She clearly wants to be with someone but she can’t take the strings.”
Steve Starr and Gay Walley in EROTIC FIRE OF THE UNATTAINABLE. Courtesy of Vital Productions
Director Frank Vitale works in his own form of cinema, docufiction – “people playing themselves in stories that relate to their own real lives”. He casts non-actors and their friends, who act out stories that spring from their own real life experiences. His star, Gay Smalley, gets the screenwriting credit. Smalley, who in real life has published a novel entitled Erotic Fire of the Unattainable, plays the author Gay, who has penned a book of the same name.
He may use non-actors, but there’s nothing amateurish about Vitale’s filmmaking – Erotic Fire of the Unattainable looks great. The cinematographer is Niav Conty, who directed another Cinequest/Cinejoy gem, Small Time.
Erotic Fire of the Unattainable twas my favorite discovery at Cinequest’s 2020 online festival CINEJOY. Erotic Fire of the Unattainable is now streaming on Amazon (included with Prime) and YouTube.
Photo caption: Michael James Kelly and Elizabeth Hirsch-Tauber in 12 MONTHS, world premiere at Cinequest. Courtesy of Cinequest.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – Cinequest’s online festival Cinejoy continues and here is my Best of Cinequest and all my Cinequest coverage. I’ve also honored Cinequest by highlighting the pandemic thriller Before the Fire, a female-written and -directed film with its world premiere at a recent Cinequest.
Note: Oscar winners CODA, Drive My Car and Belfast are all now available to stream.
CODA: what’s not to like about this delightful Oscar-winning audience-pleaser? CODA’s success results from the textured supporting characters and complicated family dynamics in writer-director Sian Heder’s screenplay. AppleTV
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. HBO Max, AppleTV, Amazon, and Vudu.
Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies. IHBO Max, Hulu,Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
Belfast: a child’s point of view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
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.
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.
On April 9 and 10, Turner Classic Movies airs the delightful 1956 heist film Bob le Flambeur on Noir Alley with intros and outros by Eddie Muller. In Bob le Flambeur, Bob the Gambler (Roger Duchesne) is a very decent and cool guy, whose only character flaw is that his financial planning is based on robbing a casino. The other characters, however are a uniformly amoral bunch of blackmailers, finks and pimps, all trying to betray Bob and each other in a tangle of double crosses. Still, with all its cynicism, it’s fairly cheery for a noir and even the decidedly cynical ending is fun.
Bob le Flambeur was written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, that rare Frenchman enamored of American culture; besides adopting the surname of the American novelist, Melville tooled around 1950s Paris in a Cadillac, wearing a Stetson. Melville went on to create a great string of neo-noirs in the 1960s starring Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Lino Ventura – Le Doulos, Le deuxième souffle, Le Cercle Rouge, Le Samourai and Un Flic.
Bob le Flambeur influenced the young filmmakers of the upcoming French New Wave, as well as many American filmmakers. You can also stream Bob le Flambeur from Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
A moment of telling kindness in a global shit show.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – Cinequest is underway today, as is my Cinequest coverage. Plus a new review of The Automat and a rant on the Oscars.
Oscar winners CODA, Drive My Car and Belfast are all now available to stream.
Reflecting on the shit show that was this year’s Oscars:
The second-worst moment was the desecration of the In Memorium segment, with peppy dancers in front of the images of the dead people; no one is properly revered when someone is bouncing to Norman Greenbaum’s one hit in front of their portrait. Shameful. (And why should Betty White, however beloved, get special recognition on a cinema awards show when she only made four forgettable movies?)
The best moment was Lady Gaga’s kindness and graciousness in helping Liza Minnelli through presenting the Best Picture award. Liza clearly didn’t have enough cognitive capacity to navigate the situation, and I feared she would announce La La Land as the winner. But Lady Gaga let her have her moment without messing up CODA’s.
CURRENT FILMS
CODA: what’s not to like about this delightful Oscar-winning audience-pleaser? CODA’s success results from the textured supporting characters and complicated family dynamics in writer-director Sian Heder’s screenplay. AppleTV.
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. HBO Max, AppleTV, Amazon, and Vudu.
Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies. IHBO Max, Hulu,Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
Belfast: a child’s point of view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
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.
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.
This week at The Movie Gourmet – I previewed Noir City, underway through Sunday, reviewed my final list of theBest Movies of 2021 and tossed in a belated review of The Last Duel. Plus – a sneak peek at tomorrow night’s Oscar Dinner.
Taylor Hawkins, the Foo Fighters’ drummer, has died at 50. He is featured extensively in HBO’s Alanis Morissette documentary Jagged.
CURRENT FILMS
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. In theaters.
Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies. In theaters.
Belfast: a child’s point of view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled. 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. Netflix.
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.
Parallel Mothers: Pedro Almodovar gives us a lush melodrama, sandwiched between bookend dives into today’s unhealed wounds from the Spanish Civil War. In theaters.
Jagged: Insightful biodoc of Alanis Morissette, who is really not that angry, after all. HBO.
The Lost Daughter : Great, Oscar-nominated performances by Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley in this dark, unsettling exploration of the obligation of parenting. Netflix.
House of Gucci: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver shine in this modern tale of Shakespearean family treachery. In theaters.
Licorice Pizza: When nine years is a big age difference. In theaters.
The Hand of God: Filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino’s own coming of age story – and a time capsule of 1986 Naples. Netflix.
Being the Ricardos: a tepid slice of a really good story. Amazon (included with Prime).
ON TV
THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK
On March 28, Turner Classic Movies airs one of the greatest political movies of all time – The Times of Harvey Milk, the documentary Oscar winner from 1984. It’s the real story behind the 2008 Sean Penn narrative Milk – and with the original witnesses. If you pay attention, The Times of Harvey Milk can teach you everything from how to win a local campaign to how to build a societal movement. One of the best political movies ever. And watch for the dog poop scene!
This week at The Movie Gourmet – remembrances of Alan Ladd Jr and William Hurt. Remember that A Song for Cesaris now in Bay Area theaters.
REMEMBRANCES
Alan Ladd Jr. (left) with George Lucas.
I don’t often celebrate Hollywood suits, but studio exec and producer Alan Ladd, Jr., had a major artistic and social impact on American cinema. Ladd is being remembered now chiefly for being the guy who greenlit Star Wars, which seems like a no-brainer now, but it wouldn’t have happened without Ladd; then in his thirties, Ladd was younger than his Hollywood peers, but old enough to have enjoyed the Flash Gordon series as a kid. Ladd also supported Mel Brooks’ vision to shoot Young Frankenstein in black and white.
We don’t immediately think of Ladd as a feminist warrior, but it was Ladd who changed the character of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in Alien from male to female. And Ladd was the key player behind the most groundbreaking of 1970s feminist cinema, An Unmarried Woman, Norma Rae and 9 to 5, and, 15 years later, the iconic Thelma and Louise.
Ladd’s body of work was astounding: Chariots of Fire (Best Picture Oscar), Braveheart (Best Picture Oscar), Body Heat, To Live and Die in LA, The Right Stuff, Moonstruck, A Fish Called Wanda, The Man in the Moon, Gone Baby Gone, All that Jazz, Breaking Away, a wedding, Julia, The Three Musketeers, Harry and Tonto, The Scent of a Woman, The Omen and even Kagemusha.
William Hurt in BODY HEAT.
Actor William Hurt, broke through unforgettably in his first feature film Altered States, which began a stunning run in the 1980s, of which my favorites were Body Heat, The Big Chill and Broadcast News. Hurt’s characters were frequently cerebral, contained and deliberate. His Ned Racine in Body Heat was always thinking, too, just not thinking as quickly or diabolically as Kathleen Turner’s femme fatale Matty Walker. Even after his A-list days had passed, Hurt was uniformly excellent supporting others in films like History of Violence and Into the Wild .
CURRENT FILMS
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. In theaters.
Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies. In theaters.
Belfast: a child’s point of view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled. 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. Netflix.
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.
Parallel Mothers: Pedro Almodovar gives us a lush melodrama, sandwiched between bookend dives into today’s unhealed wounds from the Spanish Civil War. In theaters.
Jagged: Insightful biodoc of Alanis Morissette, who is really not that angry, after all. HBO.
The Lost Daughter : Great, Oscar-nominated performances by Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley in this dark, unsettling exploration of the obligation of parenting. Netflix.
House of Gucci: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver shine in this modern tale of Shakespearean family treachery. In theaters.
Licorice Pizza: When nine years is a big age difference. In theaters.
The Hand of God: Filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino’s own coming of age story – and a time capsule of 1986 Naples. Netflix.
Being the Ricardos: a tepid slice of a really good story. Amazon (included with Prime).
Turner Classic Movies is in its 31 Days of Oscars series and, on March 20, will present Babette’s Feast (1987), one of my Best Foodie Movies. Two aged 19th century Danish spinster sisters have taken in a French refugee as their housekeeper. The sisters carry on their father’s severe religious sect, which rejects earthly pleasures. After fourteen years, the housekeeper wins the lottery and, in gratitude, spends all her winnings on the ingredients for a banquet that she prepares for the sisters and their friends. As the dinner builds, the colors of the film become warmer and brighter, reflecting the sheer carnality of the repast. The smugly ascetic and humorless guests become less and less able to resist pleasure of the epicurean delights.The feast’s visual highlights are Caille en Sarcophage avec Sauce Perigourdine (quail in puff pastry shell with foie gras and truffle sauce) and Savarin au Rhum avec des Figues et Fruit Glacée (rum sponge cake with figs and glacéed fruits). This was the first Danish film to win Best Foreign Language Oscar.
Photo caption: Kodi Smit-McPhee in THE POWER OF THE DOG. Courtesy of Netflix.
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. In theaters.
Belfast: a child’s point of view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled. In theaters.
Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies. Hulu, HBO Max.
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.
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.
Parallel Mothers: Pedro Almodovar gives us a lush melodrama, sandwiched between bookend dives into today’s unhealed wounds from the Spanish Civil War. In theaters.
Jagged: Insightful biodoc of Alanis Morissette, who is really not that angry, after all. HBO.
The Lost Daughter : Great, Oscar-nominated performances by Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley in this dark, unsettling exploration of the obligation of parenting. Netflix.
Licorice Pizza: When nine years is a big age difference. In theaters.
The Hand of God: Filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino’s own coming of age story – and a time capsule of 1986 Naples. Netflix.
Being the Ricardos: a tepid slice of a really good story. Amazon (included with Prime).
Edih Chatterton and Walter Huston in DODSWORTH. Photo by Goldwyn/Kobal/Shutterstock (5880310c) Goldwyn USA Scene Still
On March 24, Turner Classic Movies airs the compelling Dodsworth, William Wyler’s 1936 film version of the Sinclair Lewis novel. The title character is a guy who has worked hard to get rich enough to step away from the rat race and take his wife on an extended European holiday. He thinks that he finally has it all – until he discovers that his wife has conflicting needs.
In one of his greatest performances, Walter Huston plays Sam Dodsworth as a guy supremely confident in his own skin, until he is devastated in learning who his wife really is. Unlike many stars from the Classic Era, Huston’s naturalistic acting would work in today’s cinema. Ruth Chatterton, who was a big Broadway star just ending a ten-year movie career, is equally good as Sam’s unashamedly selfish wife Fran (you’ve just got to let me have my fling!).
The third great performance is Mary Astor’s most sympathetic, as Edith, the straight-shooting anti-Fran. Astor shot Dodsworth during the daytime and then suffered through a humiliating child custody trial, held at night (with Chatterton at her side for support). Astor won over the court on the stand by channeling the character of Edith.
“Love has to stop somewhere short of suicide.” I just discovered Dodsworth in 2020, thanks to TCM guru Sandy Wolf.
Photo caption: Herbert Nordrum and Renate Reinsve in THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD. Courtesy of NEON.
This week at The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of The Worst Person in the World and Pig, along with the current movies in theaters and on home video.
CURRENT FILMS
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. In theaters.
Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies. In theaters.
Belfast: a child’s point of view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled. 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. Netflix.
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.
Parallel Mothers: Pedro Almodovar gives us a lush melodrama, sandwiched between bookend dives into today’s unhealed wounds from the Spanish Civil War. In theaters.
Jagged: Insightful biodoc of Alanis Morissette, who is really not that angry, after all. HBO.
The Lost Daughter: Great, Oscar-nominated performances by Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley in this dark, unsettling exploration of the obligation of parenting. Netflix.
House of Gucci: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver shine in this modern tale of Shakespearean family treachery. In theaters.
Katia Pascariu in BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
ON TV
We’re in Turner Classic Movies’ 31 Days of Oscars, and, on March 9, TCM will present Henry Fonda at his most appealing in the subversive WW II comedy Mister Roberts. Fonda gets to play off of James Cagney, William Powell and Jack Lemmon.
Photo caption: Renate Reinsve in THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD. Courtesy of NEON.
This week at The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of My Best Part and Sundown. And here’s my rant on the troubled state of Bay Area cinema. I’ m going to strongly recommend The Worst Person in the World, which is now out in theaters, but I’ll have to mull it over before I write about.
Since its Oscar nomination, the year’s best film, Drive My Car, has opened more widely, including at the AMC Mercado 20 in Santa Clara, the AMC Eastridge 15 in San Jose and the Landmark Aquarius in Palo Alto.
CURRENT FILMS
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. In theaters.
Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies. In theaters.
Belfast: a child’s point of view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled. 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. Netflix.
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.
Parallel Mothers: Pedro Almodovar gives us a lush melodrama, sandwiched between bookend dives into today’s unhealed wounds from the Spanish Civil War. In theaters.
Jagged: Insightful biodoc of Alanis Morissette, who is really not that angry, after all. HBO.
The Lost Daughter : Great, Oscar-nominated performances by Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley in this dark, unsettling exploration of the obligation of parenting. Netflix.
House of Gucci: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver shine in this modern tale of Shakespearean family treachery. In theaters.
Licorice Pizza: When nine years is a big age difference. In theaters.
The Pact: a pawn in someone else’s story. In theaters.
The Hand of God: Filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino’s own coming of age story – and a time capsule of 1986 Naples. Netflix.
Sundown: Checked out – really checked out. In theaters.
Being the Ricardos: a tepid slice of a really good story. Amazon (included with Prime).
On February 28, Turner Classic Movies airs a WOWZER – the 1960 Korean horror/noir The Housemaid. A couple hires a maid, who turns out to be the domestic from hell. Seduction, deception, threats follow…and who will poison whom? I screened this film for a recent Noir City, and although I can’t say that it’s one of my favorites, it does keeping stunning the audience with ever darker twists. Often considered one of the top Korean films of all time.
On March 1, TCM airs Laura, perhaps my favorite thriller from the noir era, with an unforgettable performance by Clifton Webb as a megalomaniac with one vulnerability – the dazzling beauty of Gene Tierney. The musical theme is unforgettable, too.
Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry in DON’T LOOK BACK. Courtesy of Netflix.
This week on the Movie Gourmet – a reminder that The Pact is opening in art houses this weekend and that you can catch up on streaming many of the Oscar Movies at home (The Power of the Dog, Don’t Look Up, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Lost Daughter, Being the Ricardos (and Belfast if you’ll pay $19.99).
CURRENT FILMS
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. In theaters.
Nightmare Alley: enough burning ambition for a thousand carnies. In theaters.
Belfast: a child’s point of view is universal. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled. 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. Netflix.
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.
Parallel Mothers: Pedro Almodovar gives us a lush melodrama, sandwiched between bookend dives into today’s unhealed wounds from the Spanish Civil War. In theaters.
Jagged: Insightful biodoc of Alanis Morissette, who is really not that angry, after all. HBO.
The Lost Daughter : Great, Oscar-nominated performances by Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley in this dark, unsettling exploration of the obligation of parenting. Netflix.
House of Gucci: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver shine in this modern tale of Shakespearean family treachery. In theaters.
Licorice Pizza: When nine years is a big age difference. In theaters.
The Hand of God: Filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino’s own coming of age story – and a time capsule of 1986 Naples. Netflix.
Being the Ricardos: a tepid slice of a really good story. Amazon (included with Prime).
On February 20, Turner Classic Movies airs Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment, which takes us behind the scenes of the the two-day University of Alabama integration crisis of 1963. Defying a federal court order, Alabama Governor George Wallace LITERALLY stands in the schoolhouse door to bar Black students from registering at the University of Alabama; Wallace is emboldened by (and politically trapped) by howling mobs of racist constituents. The Kennedy Administration must find a way to enforce the law while minimizing violence. Documentary director Robert Drew (Primary) got unheard-of access, and Crisis traces the episode in real time with actual recordings of conversations between JFK, RFK and Wallace. JFK and Wallace engage in a remarkable verbal dance. It’s edge-of-your-seat history. Famed documentarian D.A. Pennebaker was one of the cinematographers.
George Wallace literally at the schoolhouse door facing Nicholas Katzenbach in CRISIS.
