Weekly Movie Recommendations

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Nina Ye and Shih-Yuan Ma in LEFT-HANDED GIRL. Courtesy of Netflix. Cr. LEFT-HANDED GIRL FILM PRODUCTION CO, LTD © 2025.

Another busy week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of the wonderful family dramedy Left-Handed Girl, the layered character-driven drama Sentimental Value, and the witty and poignant Jay Kelly. Plus two recommended movies coming up on TV this week. And here are mini-capsules on some other current films and miniseries:

  • The American Revolution: The Ken Burns five-part documentary on PBS is excellent. I learned a lot, even after multiple college courses and much reading and podcast-listening on the subject. It’s not as thrilling as The Civil War or Baseball, nut its both important and very watchable. Watch on you TV’s PBS channel, the PBS YouTube channel or the PBS website.
  • Spinal Tap II: The End Continues: More of a fond tribute to the great This Is Spinal Tap than a sequel, this film returns the original stars with chuckles and the occasional guffaw. Some of the Biggest Names in music have cameos, and Elton John’s bits are the best. Valerie Franco adds a burst of energy as the band’s fearless new drummer. I treasure the original film, so I enjoyed most of this homage, but not all of these jokes work.
  • Being Eddie: Eddie Murphy tells his version of his life and career in this Netflix doc. He is an interesting guy, but this is a puff piece.

REMEMBRANCES

Udo Kier in MY NEIGHBOR ADOLF. Courtesy of Cohen Media Group.

Udo Kier proved that one can have a prolific career (275 IMDb credits) as a character actor in both art and cult cult movies. He worked with directors like Werner Rainier Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders and Lars Von Trier, and in Hollywood films like Johnny Mneumonic, My Own Private Idaho, Armageddon, Halloween and Ace Venture: Pet Detective. His visage, scarier as he aged, worked well in horror movies. and he did many, beginning with Jim Morrisey’s Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula. I’ll be writing about Kier’s last film, the very droll My Neighbor Adolf, when it comes out in January.

Lee Tamahori directed the intense and authentic Once Were Warriors, perhaps the best contemporary film on the Māori people and widely considered the greatest New Zealand film, and several Hollywood films, involving the James Bond Die Another Day. 

CURRENT MOVIES

ON TV

Edward Andrews and John McIntyre in THE PHENIX CITY STORY

On December 9, Turner Classic Movies will broadcast The Phenix City Story; gritty, crisp and unvarnished, it’s a jarring contrast to 1950s Ozzie and Harriett American culture. It’s impossible to imagine a film noir that is more “ripped from the headlines”. The Phenix City Story is one of my Overlooked Noir; it’s hard to find to stream, so set your DVR for TCM this week.

John Larch in THE PHENIX CITY STORY

And, on December 11, TCM will air a charming 2022 documentary that I had recommended during its blink-and-you-missed-it theatrical run – The Automat. It traces the fascinating seven-decade run of the marble-floored food palaces where one could put nickels in a slot and be rewarded with a meal. Filled with unexpected nuggets, The Automat gives voice to those nostalgic about the automat, but it is clear-eyed about why it didn’t survive. The Automat is the first film for director Lisa Hurvitz, who spent eight years on the project. 

THE AUTOMAT: Actress Audrey Hepburn photographed by Howard Fried in New York City as part of a multi-day photo shoot for Esquire magazine, 1951. Courtesy of A Slice of Pie Production

Movies to See Right Now (Thanksgiving Weekend edition)

by
Photo caption: George Clooney in JAY KELLY. Courtesy of Netflix.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a plug for my favorite romantic comedy of the year, The Baltimorons, a perfect watch-at-home choice for the Holidays.

I’ll soon post a new review of the George Clooney film Jay Kelly, which is a witty and poignant screen version of the Harry Chapin song Cat’s in the Cradle. I liked it, but you can wait until it streams on Netflix on the weekend after this one.

Thanksgiving weekend is a great time catch a prestige, or even movie, or even a popcorn movie at a movie theater. Recently, I’ve enjoyed some movies at my local multiplex equipped with Dolby’s ATMOS sound. ATMOS really enhanced the thrills in A House of Dynamite and One Battle After Another and the music in Frankenstein and Deliver Me from Nowhere. Look for it.

CURRENT MOVIES

Matthew McFadyen in DEATH BY LIGHTNING. Courtesy of Netflix.

ON TV

Turner Classic Movies is airing the 1962 version of Requiem for a Heavyweight. Anthony Quinn is Mountain Rivera, a fighter whose career is ended by a ring injury by Cassius Clay (played by the real Muhammad Ali). His manager, Jackie Gleason, continues to exploit him in this heartbreaking drama. Mickey Rooney, whose acting I usually despise, is real, natural and just perfect in this film. There’s no boxing in this clip, but it illustrates the quality of the writing and the acting.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Mohammed Ali Elyasmehr, Majid Panahi and Hadis Pakbaten in IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT. Courtesy of NEON.

This week on The Movie Gourmet, new reviews of It Was Just an Accident, which won the Palm d’Or at Cannes, and Richard Linklater’s tribute to the French New Wave, Nouvelle Vague.

We’re now in prime movie season, It Was Just an Accident, Frankenstein, A House of Dynamite, and One Battle After Another are all in theaters or on Netflix – and they’re all on my Best Movies of 2025 – So Far. Die My Love, with the year’s best acting performance, by Jennifer Lawrence, is in theaters, too

Eleanor the Great and One Battle After Another are now streaming on home video, although they’re still expensive to rent.

CURRENT MOVIES

Jeremy Allen White in DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE. Courtesy of 20th Century Studios.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Jacob Elordi in FRANKENSTEIN. Courtesy of Netflix.

This week on The Movie Gourmet, new reviews of Jennifer Lawrence ablaze in Die My Love, the Netflix miniseries Death By Lightning and the artsy period allegory Harvest, to go with recent reviews of Frankenstein, A House of Dynamite, Deliver Me from Nowhere, Nuremberg and Blue Moon. The Palm d’Or winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, It Was Just an Accident, opens more widely today, so expect my review in the coming week; I’ve heard and read good things.

I will not be seeing Now You See Me Now You Don’t because the film’s trailer exposes the screenplay as stupefyingly lazy. Why would you have Woody Harrelson, born in 1961, putting down a kid born in the 2000s for using the word bummer, which came into wide use in the Hippie 1960s?

I also want to warn you off of The Summer Book, which you may see algorithm-recommended on your streaming platform and which I discussed in October.

REMEMBRANCE

Actor Tatsuya Nakadai starred in Akira Kurosawa’s two great color epics Ran and Kagemusha, and played the foil to Toshiro Mifune’s hero in Yojimbo.

CURRENT MOVIES

ON TV

THE LIFE OF BRIAN

On November 15, Turner Classic Movies airs one of the great satires, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, which brilliantly skewers Biblical epics, left-wing militants and political correctness, the origin story of Christianity, religion and human nature, generally. Life of Brian also makes my lists of Worst Teeth in the Movies and Least Convincing Movie Hair.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Oscar Isaac in FRANKENSTEIN. Courtesy of Netflix.

This week on The Movie Gourmet, new reviews of the psychodrama Nuremberg, Guillermo de Toro’s Frankenstein, and the clear-eyed biodoc Kissinger. Frankenstein, on Netflix today, and A House of Dynamite, still in theaters, are two of the Best Movies of 2025 – So Far.

I also highlighted this week’s TCM broadcast of Powwow Highway. If you missed it, you can find it on the Criterion Channel. Or, for another early indie with an Indigenous lens, you can watch Smoke Signals from 1998 on Amazon, Apple, YouTube and Fandango.

I also want to warn you off of The Summer Book, which you may see algorithm-recommended on your streaming platform and which I discussed in October.

REMEMBRANCE

Three-time Oscar nominee Diane Ladd is known for Chinatown, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Ghosts of Mississippi (she was a Mississippi native) and Primary Colors. She worked with her real life daughter Laura Dern in five movies, and in Rambling Rose, they became the first mom and daughter to be nominated for Oscars for the same movie. Early in her career, she appeared in Roger Corman’s biker exploitation film, The Wild Angels. 

CURRENT MOVIES

ON TV

Harold Russell, Dana Andrews and Frederic March in THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES

We all need to feel better about America, even if we have to go back to 1946 to justify it with Turner Classic Movies’ November 11 broadcast of The Best Years of Our Lives. One of the greatest movies of all time, The Best Years of Our Lives, is an exceptionally well-crafted, contemporary snapshot of post WW II American society adapting to the challenges of peacetime. It won seven Oscars. And it’s still a great and moving film. When Frederic March, immediately back from overseas, sneaks back into his apartment where Myrna Loy is washing the dishes, I dare you not to shed tears at her reaction.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Idris Elba in A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE. Courtesy of Netflix.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – two marvelously entertaining movies about depressives and am edge-of-your-seat movie about real people risking their lives for there families. To wit, I have new reviews of Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon with Ethan Hawke, the docudrama about Bruce Springsteen, Deliver Me from Nowhere, and the immigration thriller Roads of Fire.

I also want to warn you off of The Summer Book, which you may see algorithm-recommended on your streaming platform. An elementary school-age girl and her father, struggling with the death of her mother, spend the summer at her grandmother’s home on a tiny Finnish island. The grandmother (Glenn Close) always knows the right thing to do or say as the girl heals and comes of age. This is an adaptation of the 1972 novel by Finnish-Swedish author Tove Jansson, which is reputedly a great read.  Unfortunately, its literary merit isn’t translated to the screen. Close’s fine performance can’t save this slog. I checked the time after nothing had happened in the first 31 minutes, and decided to keep watching in case it turned out to be the most boring film I had ever seen. That most boring film ever remains Le Quattro Volte, but The Summer Book is a contender.

CURRENT MOVIES

ON TV

Robert Redford in DOWNHILL RACER

On November 2, Turner Classic Movies pay tribute to the late Robert Redford’s acting career by airing eight of his films: Downhill Racer, Barefoot in the Park, The Candidate, Jeremiah Johnson, All the President’s Men, The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Way We Were. With the exception of Barefoot in the Park, which I find dated, these are all excellent movies that stand up well today. The Candidate, Jeremiah Johnson and All the President’s Men are three of my personal favorite films.

Of course, Redford was important for being more than a fine actor. His very first effort at directing, Ordinary People, won the Best Picture Oscar. Redford’s biggest contribution was his developing the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival as incubators for other people’s independent filmmaking; that leveraged his own stardom to accelerate the careers of Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, James Wan, Darren Aronofsky, Nicole Holofcener, David O. Russell, Ryan Coogler, Robert Rodriguez, Chloé Zhao and Ava DuVernay.

To celebrate his acting, I am recommending one of Redford’s earliest and less well-known roles, Downhill Racer. Redford plays Chappellet, a talented, competitive skier with a chip on his shoulder. He becomes a rookie on the US national ski team, where he remains a social outsider. To unleash his promise, his sensitive but no nonsense coach Claire (Gene Hackman) must penetrate the issues that make Chappellet a hitherto uncoachable diva. Redford and Hackman deliver fine performances This was the first feature film for then-television director Michael Ritchie, who followed Downhill Racer with Prime Cut, The Candidate, Bad News Bears and Semi-Tough.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Rebecca Ferguson in A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE. Courtesy of Netflix.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of A House of Dynamite, one of the Best Movies of 2025 – So Far, and Urchin, which isn’t, and the droll, hard-to-find Austrian comedy Peacock. Plus a highlight of the campy horror movie The Tingler, on TV late tonight.

CURRENT MOVIES

  • A House of Dynamite: a master filmmaker reminds us of the terrifyingly plausible. In theaters and on Netflix.
  • Eleanor the Great: grief, an appalling lie, redemption. In theaters.
  • Anemone: resisting redemption. In theaters.
  • One Battle After Another: sometimes hilarious, sometimes thrilling, always outrageous. In theaters.
  • Peacock: a chameleon, lost. Limited release in select arthouses.
  • To a Land Unknown: no good choices. Amazon, AppleTV, Youtube.
  • To Kill a Wolf: mysteries revealed. Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango.
  • Urchin: no redemption here. In arthouse theaters.

ON TV

Evelyn Keyes (left) and Van Heflin (right) in THE PROWLER

On October 29, Turner Classic Movies brings us the 1951 film noir The Prowler stars the usually sympathetic good guy Van Heflin as the twisted bad guy.  Heflin is a beat cop responding to a call – a woman has reported a prowler outside her house. By the time Heflin and his partner arrive, the prowler is long gone, but Heflin is lusting after the comely woman (Evelyn Keyes), who is home alone every night because her husband works as an all-night DJ. Under the ruse of making sure that the prowler has vamoosed, Heflin returns and overcoming her reticence, seduces her. As befits a film noir, once he finds out about the husband’s insurance policy, sleeping with the guy’s wife just isn’t enough anymore.

It’s a strong screenplay, penned by the blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (who also provides the voice of the DJ).  The Prowler is one of my Overlooked Noir.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: June Squibb, Erin Kellyman and Chiwetel Ejiofor in ELEANOR THE GREAT. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of the astonishingly over-the-top One Battle After Another and a remembrance of an iconic actress. Don’t miss this week’s TV pick (below).

REMEMBRANCE

Diane Keaton in ANNIE HALL

The beloved Diane Keaton earned her status as a cinema icon with unforgettable performances in three of the 50 Greatest Movies of All Time. She won her Oscar her completely idiosyncratic portrayal of the title character in Annie Hall, my choice as the best romantic comedy ever. In The Godfather, her Kay Adams book ended the story of Michael Corleone, first accepting his “That’s my family, Kay, It’s not me.” and then ending the movie with the door to Michael literally closing in her face. The most searing moment in The Godfather Part II was Kay’s ferocity in telling Michael about a miscarriage that wasn’t. 72 more movies and three more Oscar nominations filled out Keaton’s 54-year screen career, but those three performances were indelible. A further note – my best pal in LA occasionally ran into Keaton around town, and she liked to dress like Annie Hall in real life.

CURRENT MOVIES

ON TV

Turhan Bey and Lynn Bari in THE SPIRITUALIST.

Here’s a rarity – on October 18, Turner Classic Movies brings us The Spiritualist (also The Amazing Mr. X), a 1948 B-picture that I hadn’t heard of until I saw it at last year’s Noir City in Oakland. It’s only 78 minutes long, and it’s a lot of fun. A cunning phony psychic (Turhan Bey) has convinced a wealthy widow that he can communicate with the dead, and she’s moved him into her mansion. Her world-wise daughter (Cathy O’Donnell) isn’t buying his act. But, while he is a con artist, he’s a really, really skilled one, and he pulls off illusion after illusion to keep the gullible widow believing – it’s like watching a magic show. The Spiritualist was shot by John Alton, one of the two greatest film noir cinematographers, and he makes the mansion extra spooky and the tricks extra sinister.

This was a rare leading role for Turhan Bey, and he makes a very charismatic charlatan, oozing suave charm and faux authority. Bey, an Austrian with a Turkish father and a Jewish Czechoslovakian mother, knocked around Hollywood playing exotic characters and never getting the lead in an A-picture. He has a very interesting Wikipedia page.

Cathy O’Donnell, Turhan Bey and Lynn Bari in THE SPIRITUALIST.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: June Squibb in ELEANOR THE GREAT. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Eleanor the Great and Anemone, plus To a Land Unknown, newly available on VOD. I also highlighted the top-rate thrillers now streaming for free on Amazon Prime.

Last week, I had fun with The Last Movie Title series:

REMEMBRANCES

Claudia Cardinale (right) in THE LEOPARD

Claudia Cardinale was first noticed in the Italian comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street and had a key role in Fellini’s 8 1/2, one of the greatest movies ever. Popularly seen as a voluptuous bombshell in the 1960s, she worked in 128 films through 2022. The scene in which she is re-introduced to the local nobleman (Burt Lancaster) as a nubile adult in The Leopard is one of the most stunning entrances in cinema.

Indie writer-director Henry Jaglom was known internationally among cinephiles for his artsy, individualistic, women-centered films like Eating and Venice/Venice. I attended an in-person Jaglom presentation of his film Hollywood Dreams.

CURRENT MOVIES

ON TV

John Payne, Lee Van Cleef, Nevile Brand and Preston Foster in KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL

On October 11, TCM is presenting a triple-header of important film noir:

  • Kansas City Confidential: A criminal mastermind hides his identity from his own squad of indelible goons (Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand, Jack Elam) as they pull off a heist and frame a poor flower delivery driver (John Payne). To solve the crime and clear himself, the driver has to head to Mexico, where more plot twists await.
  • The Manchurian Candidate: For a ticking bomb thriller, you really can’t top John Frankenhimer’s 1962 original. Laurence Harvey plays a victim of Commie brainwashing who has become a robotic, remote-controlled assassin. Can he be stopped in time?The Manchurian Candidate tops off a set of brilliant Frank Sinatra performances (before his directors couldn’t restrain him from mugging): From Here to Eternity, Suddenly!, The Man with a Golden Arm. Harvey, Sinatra and Janet Leigh are all good, but this is really Angela Lansbury’s movie. Not only is her character promoting the political career of her bombastic Joe McCarthy-like husband, but she is a Communist agent intent on the Communist takeover of the US government. And she is pulling the strings to direct the assassin – her own son! Lansbury’s character makes my list of Worst Movie Mothers.
  • Sweet Smell of Success: This film proves that you don’t need a murder to qualify as a film noir as long as there’s enough blackmail, police corruption and brutality, sexual harassment, criminal frames and red-baiting. In his best-ever performance, Tony Curtis plays a press agent who must suck up to a powerful, cruel and capricious columnist (Burt Lancaster).
Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster in SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Linda Fiorentino in THE LAST SEDUCTION.

This week, The Movie Gourmet has launched The Last Movie Title series, with posts on The Last Seduction, Last Days in Vietnam and The Last Valley. Next week, The Last Movie, itself.

Don’t overlook the beginning the Best Movies of 2025 – So Far, the running list that I update throughout the year. The big Oscar movies, with their November and December release dates, await. I am most eagerly anticipating Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, Lynne Ramsey’s Die My Love, Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite, Shih-Ching Tsou’s Left-handed Girl, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, Christian Petzold’s Mirrors No. 3 and the Palm d’Or winner at Cannes, It Was Just an Accident.

CURRENT MOVIES

Ivan Martin in TO KILL A WOLF. Courtesy of To Kill a Wolf.

ON TV

Roy Scheider in ALL THAT JAZZ

On October 4, Turner Classic Movies will air a big Oscar movie from 1979 that we don’t hear that much about anymore – All That Jazz. The director and co-writer Bob Fosse unsparingly tells his own story of artistic obsession peppered with compulsive womanizing and drug use. Fosse was a great and groundbreaking dancer and choreographer, and won five Tonys for Broadway choreography. He is the only person to win a directing Oscar (Cabaret), Tony and Emmy in the same year (1973). Roy Scheider garnered one of All That Jazz’s eight Oscar nominations for his searing performance as Fosse’s on-screen surrogate. The supporting performances are outstanding, especially Ann Reinking’s, essentially playing herself and Leland Palmer’s, playing a character much like Fosse’s wife and longtime collaborator Gwen Verdon. Try not to tear up at the birthday number performed by Reinking and the director’s tween daughter (Erzebet Foldi). All That Jazz is on my list of the 50 Greatest Movies of All Time.

Ann Reinking in ALL THAT JAZZ