Weekly Movie Recommendations

on TV: THE GREAT BEAUTY – decadence, stunning imagery and the beauties of Rome itself

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Toni Servillo (center) in THE GREAT BEAUTY

On Sunday, November 29, Turner Classic Movies will air The Great Beauty (La grande belleza), which begins as its protagonist Gep Gambardella is celebrating his 65th birthday in a feverishly hedonistic party. Gep authored a successful novel in his twenties, which has since allowed him the indulgent life of a celebrity journalist, bobbing from party to party among Rome’s shallow rich.

Gep is having a helluva time, but now he reflects on the emptiness of his milieu and the superficial accomplishments of his past 40 years. As he alternates introspection and indulgence, we follow him through a series of strikingly beautiful Roman settings. (And, because Gep parties all night, we see lots of gorgeously still Roman dawns.)

The Great Beauty is foremost an extraordinarily beautiful art film. If you’ve been to Rome, you know that it is a generally chaotic city with unexpected islands of solitude. The Great Beauty captures this aspect of the Eternal City better than any other film I’ve seen. On one level, The Great Beauty is very successful Rome porn.

THE GREAT BEAUTY

Writer-director Paolo Sorrentino also explores the moral vacuity of the very rich and the party life. It’s the Italy of Silvio Berlusconi, whom Sorrentino blames for enabling a national culture of escapism. These themes, along with the main character and the movie’s structure are of course nearly identical to Fellini’s great La Dolce Vita (1960), but The Great Beauty is more accessible, funnier and a bit more hopeful – and much more of a showcase for the cityscape of Rome. Sorrentino provides plenty of laughs, especially with a gourmet-obsessed cardinal and a cadaverous celebrity nun with a Mephistopheles-looking handler.

It’s hard to imagine an actor better suited to play Gep than Toni Servillo. Servillo perfectly captures both the happiness Gep takes in carnal pleasure and his self-criticism for giving his entire life to it. Servillo’s Gep is brazenly proud of his own cynicism, until we see his humanity breaking through at a funeral. Servillo is even magnificent in wearing Gep’s impressive collection of sports jackets.

There’s so much to The Great Beauty – stunning imagery, introspection, social criticism, sexual decadence, fine performances, humor and a Rome travelogue – each by itself worth watching the film.  The Great Beauty won the Best Foreign Language Oscar. If you miss it on TCM, you can still stream it from Amazon, Apple TV, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play, kanopy and the Criterion Channel. Courtesy of the Criterion Channel, here’s a illustrative clip.

Movies to See Right Now (at home) – Thanksgiving Weekend Edition

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Brian Dennehy, Lucas Jaye and Hong Chau in DRIVEWAYS

While we are gathered – or NOT gathered – with family this Thanksgiving, I recommend 2020’s best family film, Driveways. It’s high on my list of the Best Movies of 2020 – So Far, and I hope it doesn’t get lost among the prestige movies poised for Holiday release.

This is the FINAL WEEKEND for Noir City International – coming TO YOUR HOME with great classic movies that you can’t find anywhere else. Please take advantage of this very rare opportunity through November 29.

ON VIDEO

Driveways: I can’t think of a more authentic movie about intergenerational relationships than this charming, character-driven indie. The more I think about Driveways, the more I admire it. It also features the final performance – so genuine and subtle – by Brian Dennehy. Driveways is available to stream on all the major platforms.

She Is the Ocean: In this visually stunning documentary, fearless and high-achieving women celebrate the oceans in science and sport. Now streaming at Laemmle’s.

Cinta Hansel in SHE IS THE OCEAN

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

ON TV

Joseph Cotten and theresa Wright in SHADOW OF A DOUBT

On Thursday and Friday, Turner Classic Movies presents a Hitchcock-a-thon: Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Birds, Psycho, Rope, The Lady Vanishes, Strangers on a Train, Saboteur, Torn Curtain, Marnie, The Trouble with Harry and Shadow of a Doubt.

What a lineup – festooned by some of the most iconic American movies, like Psycho, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window and The Birds! The most overlooked may be Shadow of a Doubt, with its great performances by Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright. And it was shot in Santa Rosa.

In the second-earliest of these films, Saboteur, the wonderful character actor Norman Lloyd got to play the villain; 78 years later, Lloyd is still alive at age 106 – and still a great raconteur.

Norman Lloyd (then 28-years-old) in SABOTEUR

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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PALE FLOWER, playing at Noir City International

Once again this week, it’s all about Noir City International – coming TO YOUR HOME with great classic movies that you can’t find anywhere else. Please take advantage of this very rare opportunity through November 29

Plus the weekly, eclectic watch-at-home recommendations.

ON VIDEO

DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD

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

ON TV

Michael Caine and Barbara Hershey in HANNAH AND HER SISTERS

On November 22, Turner Classic Movies presents Woody Allen’s 1986 near-masterpiece, Hannah and Her Sisters, a story framed by two Thanksgivings. Biting and insightful, Hannah and Her Sisters won Best Supporting Oscars for Michael Caine and Dianne Wiest, along with a Best Screenplay Oscar for Woody. I particularly enjoy the performances of Barbara Hershey as the inappropriate object of Caine’s middle-aged infatuation and Max Von Sydow as her artist-boyfriend, a ridiculously pretentious and selfish artist.

Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest in HANNAH AND HER SISTERS

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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ASHES AND DIAMONDS, playing at Noir City International

This week, it’s all about Noir City International – coming TO YOUR HOME with great classic movies that you can’t find anywhere else. Plus the most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE.

PALE FLOWER, playing at Noir City International

ON VIDEO

Lena Olin and Bruce Dern in THE ARTIST’S WIFE

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

ON TV

Michael Polley in STORIES WE TELL

On November 17, Turner Classic Movies brings us the documentary Stories We Tell, the brilliant director Sarah Polley’s exploration of her own family’s secrets. Which secret is more shocking, and which family member’s reaction is more surprising? This was #4 on my Best Movies of 2013, and it’s a Must See.

STORIES WE TELL

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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Anne Bancroft and Aldo Ray in NIGHTFALL

This week: video at home, Nightfall on TV (and you can’t stream it) and my remembrance of the late Sean Connery.

ON VIDEO

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

ON TV

On November 9, Turner Classic Movies will present A Place in the Sun, one of the great films of the 1950s.  Montgomery Clift is a poor kid who is satisfied to have a job and a trashy girlfriend (Shelly Winters in a brilliant portrayal).  Then, he learns that he could have it ALL – the CEO’s gorgeous daughter (19-year-old Elizabeth Taylor), lifelong comfort, status and career.  Did I mention Elizabeth Taylor?  The now pregnant girlfriend is the only obstacle to more than he could have ever dreamed for – can he get rid of her without getting caught?

Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in A PLACE IN THE SUN

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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BORGMAN

This week: celebrate Halloween with two unconventionally scary movies, Borgman and Freaks. Plus more 2020 films to stream at home.

ON VIDEO

Borgman: This Dutch thriller is a horror film for adults, without the gore and with lots of wit. You can stream it from all the major services.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (link will go live this week, I promise): Aaron Sorkin’s fresh look at an indelible moment in American history. Sacha Baron Cohen, John Carroll Lynch and Frank Langella are great. Streaming on Netflix.

My Octopus Teacher: A diver encounters an octopus and films her every day for a year. He’s not that interesting but the resourceful octopus and the underwater cinematography are worthwhile. Streaming on Netflix.

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

ON TV

FREAKS

Here’s a genuinely scary movie for Halloween – and it’s 88 years old. Tomorrow morning October 31, Turner Classics airs Tod Browning’s Freaks. Bad things happen at the circus. And bad things happen in Freaks. This is one of the most unsettling horror films (and the least politically correct), because it was filmed in 1932 with real circus freaks. If you have teenagers jaded by today’s empty horror flicks, this will knock them for a loop. Only 64 minutes.

Director Tod Browning and his cast of FREAKS

Movies to Watch Right Now (at home)

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John Carroll Lynch and Sasha Baron Cohen in THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

This week: The latest from Aaron Sorkin and Spike Lee. But, first, a remembrance.

REMEMBRANCE

Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming in CRY DANGER

Actress Rhonda Fleming has died at age 97. She was known as the “Queen of Technicolor” when movie studios exploited her blazing red hair, blue eyes, ivory complexion and uncommon beauty in a series of Western, sword-and-sandal and adventure films; in this period, she was a candidate for the world’s most beautiful woman, along with her age peers Gene Tierney, Lana Turner and Marilyn Monroe. But Fleming’s very best acting work was in black-and-white, in Spellbound, Out of the Past, Cry Danger and While the City Sleeps. My favorite Fleming performance is in Cry Danger, where she plays the girlfriend of the guy who had framed the hero (Dick Powell) – an irresistible woman of uncertain loyalty.

ON VIDEO

The Trial of the Chicago Seven (link to full review will go live this weekend) is Aaron Sorkin’s dramatization of the notorious 1969 political trial of Vietnam War protestors. Sasha Baron Cohen, Mark Rylance and Frank Langella are all really good. Streaming on Netflix.

David Byrne’s American Utopia, directed by Spike Lee, is the concert film for Byrne’s Broadway Show, with the Broadway glitz pared down to explore humanity itself. It’s playing on HBO.

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

ON TV

Vera Clouzot in DIABOLIQUE

Turner Classic Movies plays a lot of horror in October. But the best is coming on October 25, Diabolique from director Henri-Georges Clouzot (often tagged as the French Hitchcock).  The headmaster of a provincial boarding school is so cruel, even sadistic, that everyone wants him dead, especially his wife and his mistress. When he goes missing, the police drain the murky pool where the killers dumped the body…and the killers get a big surprise. Now the suspense really starts…

I recently saw director Rene Clement pegged as the French Hitchcock, although Claude Chabrol and Clouzot are the favorites for that title. It occurred to me that Jen-Pierre Melville loved American film noir and was such an Americanphile that he wore a Stetson and drove a Cadillac. Would he be the French Robert Siodmak, Frtiz Lang, Richard Fleischer, Jules Dassin or Jacques Toruneur? Wait a minute – isn’t Jacques Tourneur already French?

On October 27, TCM broadcasts a searing real life time capsule The Connection, a 1962 cinema vérité of NYC heroine addicts waiting for, and getting, their fixes. It’s haunting.

THE CONNECTION

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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Cinta Hansel in SHE IS THE OCEAN

This week: a doumentary, a Feel Good narrative and a docufantasy, all from a female point of view.

The Mill Valley Film Festival is still running, and you can still watch most of the films at home through this weekend. Here is my MVFF preview.

ON VIDEO

Today only – stream She Is the Ocean. In this visually stunning documentary, fearless and high-achieving women celebrate the oceans in science and sport.

The Artist’s Wife: Lena Olin’s performance as a woman facing the decline of her older husband with remarkable generosity. A Feel Good.

Dick Johnson Is Dead: A daughter and her dad face the end of his life in this funny, heartfelt and frequently bizarre docufantasy. One of a kind.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp: I wrote about 1943 Powell-Pressburger masterpiece last week. If you missed it last night on TCM, you can stream it from Amazon, AppleTV and the Criterion Channel.

SIBYL

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

ON TV

Tonight, Turner Classic Movies airs In a Lonely Place (1950). The most unsettlingly sexy film noiress Gloria Grahame falls for the troubled screenwriter Humphrey Bogart, a guy with a MAJOR anger management issue; once she’s hooked, she realizes that he might be a murderer after all…Nicholas Ray directs. In a Lonely Place justifiably made the BBC’s list of the 100 Greatest American Films. The Czar of Noir Eddie Muller has named it as his #1 film noir.

Gloria Grahame and Humphrey Bogart in IN A LONELY PLACE

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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Gay Walley in EROTIC FIRE OF THE UNATTAINABLE streaming from Cinejoy. Courtesy of Vitale Productions.

This week is all about TWO film festivals underway with new movies to watch at home. We have one more week to stream movies from Cinejoy, Cinequest’s October virtual fest. Here is my best of Cinejoy plus five more Cinejoy films.

The Mill Valley Film Festival is always the best opportunity for Bay Area film goers to catch an early look at the Big Movies – the prestige films that will be released during Award Season. This year is the same – except we don’t even have to visit Marin County in person. Watch at home. Here is my MVFF preview.

Regina King’s ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI opening at the Mill Valley Film Festival. Photo courtesy of Amazon.

ON VIDEO

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

ON TV

On October 15, Turner Classic Movies will air the 1943 masterpiece The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, a remarkably textured portrait of a man over four decades and his struggles to evolve into new eras. Written and directed by the great British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, this is a movie with a sharp message to 1940s audiences about modernity, as well as a subtle exploration of privilege that will resonate today. Set your DVRs now; I’ll be publishing about this film next Wednesday.

Roger Livesey in THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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Olivia Colman and Anthony Hopkins in THE FATHER, coming up at the Mill Valley Film Festival

This week: Not one, but TWO Watch At Home film festivals.

The Mill Valley Film Festival is always the best opportunity for Bay Area film goers to catch an early look at the Big Movies – the prestige films that will be released during Award Season. This year is the same – except we don’t even have to visit Marin County in person. Watch at home.

Cinejoy is Cinequest’s October virtual fest. More watch at home choices, especially focused on indie gems that you can’t see anywhere else.

ON VIDEO

Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story: “Actresses play characters, but stuntwoman play actresses playing characters, while driving fast and kicking ass.” Streaming on iTunes and Google Play.

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

ON TV

On October 4, Turner Classic Movies presents an afternoon and evening of Buster Keaton that is one of the best programs that TCM has ever curated. First, there’s Peter Bogdanovich’s fine 2018 biodoc of Keaton, The Great Buster: A Celebration. I had thought that I had a good handle on Keaton’s body of work, but The Great Buster is essential to understanding it.

TCM follows with four movies from Keaton’s masterpiece period: Sherlock, Jr. (1924), The General (1926), Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) and Seven Chances (1925). After 1928, Keaton’s new studio took away his creative control, and his career (and personal life) crashed.

This is a chance to appreciate Keaton’s greatest work. I just wrote about Steamboat Bill, Jr. for last year’s Cinequest. I’ve also recommended Seven Chances for its phenomenal chase scene, one that still (ninety-five years later!) rates with the very best in cinema history.

Buster Keaton in SEVEN CHANCES