Weekly Movie Recommendations

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

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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

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Benedict Cumberbatch in THE POWER OF THE DOG. Credit: Kirsty Griffin; courtesy of Netflix.

This week – three more movies in theaters, five more now streaming and a note on my own William Randolph Hearst movie-going fantasy.

Every once in a loooong while, I have an experience that I treasure – seeing a movie as the only patron in a theater. Since I visited Hearst Castle as a kid, I’ve loved the idea of posing as the magnate at his very own private theater. One would think that this would happen more than it does. In a non COVID year, I will see 100+ movies in theaters, and I see lots of obscure movies at sparsely-attended weekday matinees. But, almost always, there’s at least one more audience member.

Anyway, it happened for the third time last Monday – The Souvenir Part II at San Francisco’s Landmark Embarcadero. My previous two solo screenings were of The Mariachi in 1992 at the Los Gatos and of Not Fade Away in 2012 at the AMC Cupertino Square.

IN THEATERS

The Power of the Dog: Jane Campion’s simmering drama of hostility that, most unexpectedly, meets its match. Brilliant performances by Benedict Cumberbatch and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Also now streaming on Netflix.

Julia: This charming documentary, affectionate and clear-eyed, tells the unlikely story of how Julia Child broke through every expectation of her gender, class and upbringing to become an icon in her fifties.

The Souvenir Part II: An exquisite art film about a young woman’s emotional recovery. This won’t be in theaters for very long.

Also in theaters:

ON VIDEO

Brian Wilson (seated left) in BRIAN WILSON: LONG PROMISED ROAD. Courtesy of Nashville Film Festival.

A slew of movies have become widely available to stream, by which I mean that they can be rented for $3.99-$6.99 from Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube:

If you are willing to pay $19.99, you can already stream Lamb, No Time to Die, Last Night in Soho and The Many Saints of Newark. Or you can wait just a few weeks for these films to get down to $6 territory.

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

ON TV

On December 6, Turner Classic Movies airs Caged, the 1950s prototype for Orange Is the New Black?  Eleanor Parker played the naive young woman plunged into a harsh women’s prison filled with hard-bitten fellow prisoners and compassion-free guards. Parker was nominated for an acting Oscar, but her performance pales next to that of Hope Emerson, whose electric portrayal of a hulking guard also got an Oscar nod. Caged also features the fine character actresses Thelma Moorhead, Jane Darwell (Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath) and Ellen Corby (Grandma Walton here as a young woman).  Sixty-four years later, Caged might still be the best women’s prison movie ever.

Hope Emerson and Eleanor Parker in CAGED
Hope Emerson and Eleanor Parker in CAGED

Movies to See Right Now (Thanksgiving weekend edition)

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Photo caption: Judi Dench, Jude Hill and Ciarán Hinds in BELFAST. Courtesy of Focus Features.

On the Thanksgiving weekend – take the family to the theater to see Belfast. Or gather the family to stream CODA on AppleTV.

IN THEATERS

ON VIDEO

Keep Sweet: This documentary traces the remarkable aftermath of the Warren Jeffs child sexual abuse scandal in an isolated settlement of fundamentalist Mormons. A decade after, a tiny community tries to wrangle a new future. Opens November 24 on discovery+.

Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin and Daniel Durant in CODA. Courtesy of AppleTV.

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

ON TV

Dean Martin in KING OF COOL. Courtesy of Turner Classic Movies.

Turner Classic Movies’ will re-air the new Dean Martin documentary King of Cool on November 26. King of Cool is filled with insight into an icon who was extremely successful at being unknowable. Set your DVR.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Caitriona Balfe and Jamie Dornan in BELFAST. Courtesy of Focus Features.

Plenty of recommendations this week, but the Must See is Belfast – mask up, get yourself to a theater and see it.

IN THEATERS

Belfast: In Kenneth Branagh’s superb coming of age story, we see Northern Ireland’s Troubles through the eyes of eight-year-old. If you have heartstrings, they are gonna get pulled. Belfast is justifiably one of the Oscar favorites. #2 on my Best Movies of 2021 – So Far.

Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road: An unusual documentary about an unusual man.  Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys’ songwriting and arranging genius weighs in on his life and work. 

Also in theaters:

ON VIDEO

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

ON TV

Irène Jacob in THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE

On November 21, Turner Classic Movies airs the exquisitely written The Double Life of Veronique (1991). Two women, one French and one Polish, both played by Irène Jacob, are living separate lives hundreds of miles apart yet somehow they are connected… Writer-director Krzysztof Kieślowski was on the verge of his 1993-1994 masterpiece, the Three Colors Trilogy (Blue, Red and White), which is high on my list of Greatest Movies of All Time. Kieślowski died in heart surgery just two years after the trilogy at the age of 54, robbing cinema of yet more masterworks (he was reportedly working on another trilogy).

Movies to See Right Now

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Ruth Negga in PASSING. Courtesy of Netflix.

This week, the big movie on Netflix is Passing, and Oscar favorite Belfast opens in theaters – stay tuned for my reaction.

Cinequest’s online festival CINEJOY is running through November 17, and here are my five top Cinejoy recommendations (and capsules on nine other Cinejoy films).

REMEMBRANCE

Dean Stockwell in BLUE VELVET.

Dean Stockwell‘s 70-year acting career contained at least four distinct chapters, between which he took mostly voluntary breaks. He started as a child star – one of the biggest; he was spanked by William Powell in Son of the Thin Man and acted with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in Anchors Aweigh. After walking away as a teenager, he returned for serious, original roles in Compulsion and Long Day’s Journey Into Night. During his hippie drop-out phase, he dropped back in for the Roger Corman hippie exploitation movie Psych-out. Then Stockwell played Harry Dean Stanton’s sympathetic brother in Wim Wenders masterpiece Paris, Texas. He followed that with hos most indelible performance, as his friend Dennis Hopper’s terrifying henchman in Blue Velvet, where he unforgettably lip-synchs a Roy Orbison tune. Stockwell topped of his career with the popular television series Quantum Leap. Here is Sheila O’Malley’s marvelous tribute at RogerEbert.com.

IN THEATERS

Passing: Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson star in Rebecca Hall’s thought-provoking drama about the value of one’s identity and navigating in a racist societ. Also streaming on Netflix.

Also in theaters:

ON VIDEO

An American Story: Norman Mineta and His Legacy: Celebrate Norm’s 90th birthday this November by streaming it for free here: An American Story: Norman Mineta and His Legacy.

Son of Monarchs: A promising young NYC biologist must revisit his home in rural Michoacán to resolve his own identity. HBO Max.

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

ON TV

Eli Wallach, Mary LaRoche, Cindy Calloway, Robert Keith and Richard Jaeckel in THE LINEUP

On November 13 and 14, Turner Classic Movies broadcasts Don Siegel’s The Lineup, one of my very favorite San Francisco movies. The villains and the final chase scene are unforgettable, as are the movie’s iconic San Francisco locations. It’s on TCM’s Noir Alley, so Eddie Muller will present the intro and outro. Don’t miss it.

Cynda Williams and Billy Bob Thornton in ONE FALSE MOVE

Moving from classic film noir to neo-noir, on November 14, TCM airs the gripping contemporary neo-noir One False Move. A Los Angeles crime is solved right away – the cops know who did it and that the murderers are headed to a small town in Arkansas, where the cops lay in wait. One False Move is a ticking time bomb as we wait for the criminals to drive across the Southwest to the inevitable confrontation. There are guys overreaching for greed and ambition, a femme fatale, and a very dark secret, but America’s original sin – race – is at the core of One False Move.

Bill Paxton in ONE FALSE MOVE