Weekly Movie Recommendations

Movies to See Right Now (still at home)

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Danny Trejo in INMATE #1: THE RISE OF DANNY TREJO

This week – the year’s most original film, plus a Feel Good about the lovable Danny Trejo and two great surfing documentaries.

ON VIDEO

Campbell Scott in THE 11TH GREEN

The 11th Green: You won’t find a more original movie this year than Christopher Munch’s absorbing exploration of extraterrestrial visits to Earth. There are no Little Green Men, but wait until Ike and Obama talk to each other in another dimension! You can buy a virtual ticket for The 11th Green – and support the Roxie Theater – at Theatrical-At-Home.

Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo: a satisfying documentary on Danny Trejo’s extraordinarily redemptive life: from junkie/vicious thug/inmate to lovable/drug counselor/movie star. We can’t get too much redemption these days, so stream Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo from Amazon, Vudu, TouTube and Google Play.

Step into Liquid and Riding Giants: Get stoked with the two most bitchin’ surfing documentaries. Both can be streamed from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play

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

ON TV

Kirk Douglas and Woody Strode in SPARTACUS

Tune in to Turner Classic Movies on July 20, for one of cinema’s great spectacles, Spartacus. If you haven’t watched Spartacus in a while, you probably remember it for Kirk Douglas’ macho tour de force, the ever stunning Jean Simmons and the sexual cat-and-mouse between Laurence Olivier and the Bronx-accented slaveboy Tony Curtis. But you might have forgotten the strength of the supporting performances by Peter Ustinov, Charles Laughton and – my favorite – Woody Strode. And watching the recent Trumbo, I was reminded that indie producer Kirk Douglas awarded the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo the screenwriting credit that others had denied him; his decision helped to end the Hollywood blacklist (and also it really helped that Spartacus was a massive financial success).

Kirk Douglas in SPARTACUS

Hang ten this summer

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RIDING GIANTS

Let’s go surfin’ now

Everybody’s learning how

Come on and safari with me

It’s a great time to get stoked with the two most bitchin’ surfing movies, the documentaries Step Into Liquid and Riding Giants.

In Step Into Liquid (2003), we see the world’s best pro surfers in the most extreme locations.  We also see devoted amateurs in the tiny ripples of Lake Michigan and surfing evangelists teaching Irish school children.  The cinematography is remarkable – critic Elvis Mitchell called the film “insanely gorgeous”.  The filmmaker is Dana Brown, son of Bruce Brown, who invented the surf doc genre with The Endless Summer (1966) and The Endless Summer II (1994).

Riding Giants (2004) focuses on the obsessive search for the best wave by some of the greatest surfers in history. We see “the biggest wave ever ridden” and then a monster that could be bigger.  The movie traces the discovery of the Half Moon Bay surf spot Mavericks.  And more and more, all wonderfully shot.

The filmmaker is Stacy Peralta, a surfer and one the pioneers of modern skateboading, (and a founder of the Powell Peralta skateboard product company).  Peralta also made Dogtown and Z-boys (2001), the great documentary about the roots of skateboarding, and wrote the 2005 Lords of Dogtown.

Both Step into Liquid and Riding Giants can be streamed from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche in THE TRUTH. Photo courtesy if IFC Films.

This week: an insightful, wry showcase for two of France’s most iconic actresses and a tribute to movie composer Ennio Morricone.

From earlier this week, here’s my remembrance of Ennio Morricone.

ON VIDEO

The Truth: Writer-director Hirozaki Koreeda’s latest wry and authentic exploration of human behavior is a showcase for Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche.

John Lewis: Good Trouble: A revealing documentary on the Civil Rights icon.

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

ON TV

Jack “Dragnet” Webb and Peggy Lee in PETE KELLY’S BLUES

On July 14, TCM brings us something COMPLETELY different, the 1955 Pete Kelly’s Blues, directed by and starring Jack Webb, who we all know from TV’s Dragnet.   Made at the downturn of the Big Band Era, Pete Kelly’s Blues is set at during Prohibition in the infancy of Big Bands.

It’s a fairly routine drama about a small time bandleader on the outs with a dangerous crime boss, but Jack Webb loved jazz and worked hard to get the music in the movie right, resulting in quite the period document.  Peggy Lee received a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for portraying an alcoholic vocalist.  There’s an unforgettable cameo performance by Ella Fitzgerald at the top of her game.  The house band includes many real-life musicians who played with Benny Goodman, Bing Crosby and the like, including  Matty Matlock, Eddie Miller and Jud De Naut.

Webb never had much range as an actor, but the rest of the cast is excellent: Janet Leigh, Edmond O’Brien,  Lee Marvin, Andy Devine, Jayne Mansfield and Harry Morgan.  Not a great flick, but worth a look for the music.

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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Laverne Cox in DISCLOSURE. Photo courtesy of NETFLIX.

This week: four new 2020 films – The Traitor, Shooting the Mafia, Mae West: Dirty Blonde, The Ghost of Peter Sellers. Last week: five new 2020 films – Da 5 Bloods, Disclosure, Yourself and Yours, Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things and You Don’t Nomi. As a tribute to Carl Reiner, it’s time to revisit The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! Plus a great classic Western on TV.

ON VIDEO

The Traitor: A true life epic spanning four decades and three continents, The Traitor introduces us to the first and most important Sicilian Cosa Nostra informer. The Traitor can be rented from all the major streaming services.

Shooting the Mafia: Another movie about the Sicilian Mafia, this is the biodoc of Letizia Battaglia, whose photojournalistic specialty became photographing murder victims and also documented the grief, trauma and outrage of the Sicilian population. Shooting the Mafia can be streamed on iTunes, YouTube and Google Play.

Disclosure: This insightful (and even revelatory) documentary about the depiction of trans people on screen is moving and thought-provoking. Disclosure is streaming on Netflix.

Mae West: Dirty Blonde: I learned a lot from this excellent biopic: Mae West was more than a drop-in risque caricature – starting a movie career after age 40, she was an uncredited writer and producer of her films. And she did it in a prudish era when women’s aspirations were not encouraged (intentional understatement). Available on demand from PBS stations. Trailer.

The Ghost of Peter Sellers: This documentary tells the story of an uncompleted early 1970s pirate movie parody, Ghost in the Noonday Sun, sabotaged by its star, Peter Sellers. The doc is from the fraught perspective of the director, Peter Medak, whose career was harmed by the fiasco. The 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha (Amazon, iTunes) which chronicles Terry Gilliam’s disastrous attempt to film Don Quixote, is a much better and more entertaining movie than this one.

The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!: Appreciate Carl Reiner, the best Straight Man in American comedy, in this goodhearted and very, very funny Cold War parody.

Alan Arkin, Eva Marie Saint and Carl Reiner in THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING! THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!

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

ON TV

Millard Mitchell and James Stewart in WINCHESTER ’73

On July 6, Turner Classic Movies presents what is perhaps the best of director Anthony Mann’s “psychological Westerns”, Winchester ’73 (1950) with James Stewart. Winchester ’73 taps the quest and revenge genres, and it has the Western’s requisite Indian battle and climactic shootout.  Westerns were oft about Good versus Bad, but Mann makes Jimmy Stewart’s character in Winchester ’73 much more complex and morally ambiguous – and he has what we now call “unresolved issues”.  The bad guys are Dan Duryea at his oiliest and Stephen McNally at his most brutish.  The 29-year-old Shelly Winters finds herself as the object of several characters’ desires.  Millard Mitchell is perfect as Jimmy’s sidekick. One of my favorite character actors, Jay C. Flippen, shows up as a cavalry sergeant.

Stephen McNally, Shelly Winters and Dan Duryea in WINCHESTER ’73
WINCHESTER ’73

REMEMBRANCES

Carl Reiner, from earlier this week.

Director Joel Schumacher had been a department store window dresser when he broke into movies as a set designer. Then he wrote the screenplay for the wonderful guilty pleasure Car Wash, which led to directing the similar DC Cab. His career took off when he launched the Brat Pack with St Elmo’s Fire, and followed that with Batman and Robin. My favorite Schumacher film is the 2002 thriller Phone Booth, in which an Everyman – or is he? – (Colin Farrell) is trapped in a phone booth by a sniper villain (Kiefer Sutherland); Phone Booth can be streamed from all the usual sources.

Movies to See Right Now

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Delroy Lindo in DA 5 BLOODS. Photo courtesy of Netflix.

This week: an absurdist comedy from Korea, a doc that gives voice to trans creatives, an insightful jazz biodoc, a movie about a really bad movie and Spike Lee’s latest.

REMEMBRANCE

Ian Holm in THE SWEET HEREAFTER

The 5’5″ Ian Holm was a giant of the stage, where he created a definitive King Lear, and is most well-known in movies for playing Bilbo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings franchise. I remember Holm’s heartrending performance in Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter, my choice as the most profoundly sad movie ever. He also appeared in supporting roles in some of my favorite movies: Young Winston, Jesus of Nazareth and the Branagh Henry V.

ON VIDEO

YOURSELF AND YOURS. Photo courtesy of SFFILM.

Yourself and Yours: The absurdism of Luis Buñuel meets the social awkwardness of Seinfeld in Hong Sang-soo’s Korean comedy. During its Bay Area virtual run at the Roxie, you can stream Yourself and Yours at Roxie Virtual Cinema.

Disclosure: This insightful (and even revelatory) documentary about the depiction of trans people on screen is moving and thought-provoking. Disclosure is streaming on Netflix.

Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things: A Must See for jazz fans, this well-sourced biodoc brings insights into the juvenile delinquent who became an innovative genius, Includes a never-broadcast interview in which Ella makes clear her views on race. It opens today in the Roxie Virtual Cinema.

Da 5 Bloods: Spike Lee’s latest features a great performance by Delroy Lindo and a couple other compelling elements, but it’s too long and drags. How Spike reflects on the Vietnam War and on the Black experience in America is far more evocative than is the story itself. Da 5 Bloods is streaming on Netflix.

You Don’t Nomi: A deep dive into the making and cult film aftermath of a terrible big Hollywood movie, Showgirls. I don’t find Showgirls, campy as it is, that entertaining on a so-bad-it’s-good basis, but You Don’t Nomi does contain many of its funniest, most awful clips. I watched it on Roxie Virtual Cinema, but it’s available to stream on all major platforms. There are much better movies about bad movies: Ed Wood (about Plan 9 from Outer Space), The Disaster Artist (about The Room), Best Bad Movie (about Troll 2)

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

ON TV

Edward Andrews and John McIntyre in THE PHENIX CITY STORY

On June 30, 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

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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Julia Garner in ELECTRICK CHILDREN

This week: The most original teen coming of age movie you’ll ever see, and a historical documentary with insights on two forgotten years of MLK’s life. Plus the most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find anywhere.

ON VIDEO

Electrick Children: A female filmmaker, in her first faeture, has created an entirely unique teen coming of age story – a magical tale of Mormon runaways in Vegas. Julia Garner, currently the best thing about the Netflix series show Ozark, stars. Electrick Children can be streamed from Amazon (included in Amazon Prime) and can be purchased from several other VOD platforms.

King in the Wilderness: This superb documentary follows Martin Luther King, Jr., through his turbulent final two years, when he was facing a big fat case of What Have You Done For Me Lately? It originally aired on HBO and won an Emmy for best historical documentary. King in the Wilderness is now widely available on streaming platforms.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael in KING IN THE WILDERNESS. Photo by Flip Schulke Archives – ©. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

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

Hong Chau in DRIVEWAYS
  • Driveways: I can’t think of a more authentic movie about intergenerational relationships than this charming, character-driven indie.
  • The Lovebirds: A rom com with a playful plot and a truthful relationship.
  • The Bandit: A Hollywood buddy documentary that features some amazing movie stunts.
  • Wind River: “This isn’t the land of backup, Jane. This is the land of you’re on your own.”
  • Unfriended: Teenagers find horror on their own webcams.
  • Touching the Void: the gripping true life story of a mountaineer who had to cut his climbing partner’s rope.
  • Searching: A ticking clock thriller that captures the Silicon Valley vibe.
  • Outside In: A story of self-discovery with an astonishing performance by Edie Falco.
  • The T.A.M.I. Show: The first concert film, featuring eight future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.
  • Cold Case Hammarskjöld: An investigatory documentary that sends-up the genre.
  • Spaceship Earth: A visionary scientific experiment, unraveled from human foibles.
  • Night on Earth: This indie has the funniest vignette and the saddest – all in one movie.
  • Very Semi-Serious: glorious The New Yorker cartoons.
  • The Whistlers: a shady cop and a mysterious woman walk a tightrope of treachery.
  • The Wild Goose Lake: vivid nights in the Chinese underworld.
  • The Handmaiden: gorgeous, erotic and a helluva plot.
  • Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project: it seemed crazy at the time…
  • Radio Dreams: stranger in a strange and funny land.

ON TV

David Hemmings in BLOW-UP

On June 22, Turner Classic Movies will air one of my personal favorites from the 1960s, Blow-up. Set in the Mod London of the mid-60s, a fashion photographer (David Hemmings) is living a fun, but shallow, life filled with sports cars, discos and scoring with supermodels (think Jane Birkin, Sarah Miles and Verushka). Then he discovers that his random photograph of a landscape may contain a clue in a murder and meets a mystery woman (Vanessa Redgrave). After taking us into a vivid depiction of the Mod world, director Michelangelo Antonioni brilliantly turns the story into a suspenseful story of spiraling obsession. His L’Avventura, La Notte and L’Eclisse made Antonioni an icon of cinema, but Blow-up is his most accessible and enjoyable masterwork. There’s also a cameo performance by the Jeff Beck/Jimmy Page version of the Yardbirds and a quick sighting of Monty Python’s Michael Palin in a nightclub.

BLOW-UP

ELECTRICK CHILDREN – magical Mormon runaways in Vegas

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Julia Garner in ELECTRICK CHILDREN

With Electrick Children, a first-time feature filmmaker has created an entirely unique teen coming of age story. Electrick Children employs an element of magical realism that requires the audience to accept a premise which cannot be real. The result is a highly original success.

A 15-year-old Utah girl has been raised in a remote fundamentalist Mormon enclave where everyone dresses as 19th century pioneers. She has been immersed in Bible stories, but hasn’t been exposed to any modern culture or to the facts of life. She happens upon a hidden cassette tape and finds her first rock and roll song revelatory – so revelatory that she thinks that the song has moved her to pregnancy. Here comes the magical realism – she really is a virgin, and she really is pregnant.

Because of her faith, she doesn’t find immaculate conception to be the least bit implausible. Not so with her parents, who wrongly blame her 17-year-old brother. Their answer is to kick the boy out of the home and to marry off the girl to a neighboring fundamentalist. Facing the unwanted shotgun wedding, the girl commandeers the family pickup and flees; her brother, seeking a way to prove his innocence, stows away.

The kids surface in Las Vegas, where they fall in with a band of runaway teens. Of course the Mormon kids are completely unprepared to navigate any modern city, let alone Vegas. Their guides, the more streetwise kids, are more comfortable with the glitz and sleaze of Vegas, but are just as untethered. The Mormon kids and the suburban runaways have life-altering adventures on the streets.

The girl embarks on a quest to find the singer who she thinks has fathered her child through song, not understanding that there is more than one rock band in the world (or that Blondie’s Hanging on the Telephone has not made her pregnant.) Central to the film’s success is that the girl is naive but never silly. The young actress Julia Garner shines in a performance that is never ironic and always completely sincere. The girl is determined and devout, seeking teen independence in ways that are logical for someone with her isolated upbringing.  Garner is currently the best thing about the Netflix series show Ozark.

As good as Garner is, the real talent here is writer-director Rebecca Thomas, who went from growing up in Mormon in Nevada to earning an MFA from Columbia. This is her first feature film, and I can’t wait for her next one. 

Electrick Children can be streamed from Amazon (included in Amazon Prime) and can be purchased from several other VOD platforms.

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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THE LOVEBIRDS

This week: a Hollywood buddy documentary, an all-on-screens horror film, a current Netflix rom com and a sweet, heartfelt indie. Plus the most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find anywhere.

ON VIDEO

Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham in THE BANDIT. Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society.

The Bandit: The buddies in this buddy documentary are mega-star Burt Reynolds and his stuntman/friend/roommate Hal Needham, who directed the enormously successful Smokey and the Bandit franchise. The Bandit is a hoot, and features some amazing movie stunts., Stream it from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Unfriended: Teenagers convene via webcams on social media. But their computers are hijacked by an Unknown Force who starts wreaking revenge. It’s a perfect little horror film for a time when we are living our lives on Zoom. Unfriended is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and to stream from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Flixster.

The Lovebirds: Issa Rae (Insecure) and Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, The Big Sick) star in this rom com. The plot is playful, but the relationship is truthful. It’s streaming on Netflix.

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.

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

ON TV

On June 18, Turner Classic Movies will air the hard-to-find Pale Flower, one of my Overlooked Noir This Japanese neo-noir is a slow burn that erupts into thrilling set pieces. Writer-director Masahiro Shinoda’s masterpiece is pioneering neo-noir. Don’t miss it.

PALE FLOWER

UNFRIENDED – run from your webcams!!!

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UNFRIENDED

In the very satisfying horror film Unfriended, it’s the one-year anniversary of a teenage girl’s suicide, and her bullying peers convene via webcams on social media. But their computers are hijacked by an Unknown Force who starts wreaking revenge. The kids become annoyed, then worried and, finally, panicked for their lives.

Here’s something I had never seen before this 2015 film: the entire movie is compiled of the characters’ screenshots. The critic Christy Lemire says that “Unfriended is a gimmick with a ridiculous premise, but damned if it doesn’t work”, and she’s right. Writer Nelson Greaves and Director Levan Gabriadze came up with this device, and their originality pays off with a fun and effective movie.

And, just like all-on-screens Searching, it’s perfect for a time when we are living our lives on Zoom.

It’s on both my 2015 lists of I Hadn’t Seen This Before and Low Budget, High Quality Horror. Unfriended is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Flixster.

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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Lucas Jaye and Brian Dennehy in DRIVEWAYS

The best 2020 movie I’ve seen is the profoundly authentic Driveways. Yes, The Movie Gourmet is finally recommending a movie that can be described as “heartfelt”.

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.

The Lovebirds: Issa Rae (Insecure) and Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, The Big Sick) star in this rom com. The plot is playful, but the relationship is truthful. It’s streaming on Netflix.

Wind River: a smart, layered and intelligent thriller and another success from one of America’s fastest-rising filmmakers, Taylor Sheridan. “This isn’t the land of backup, Jane. This is the land of you’re on your own.” It’s available to stream from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Jeremy Renner and Gil Birmingham in WIND RIVER

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

John Cho in SEARCHING

ON TV

On June 9, Turner Classic Movies presents the character-driven thriller Woman on the Run (1950). This film is notable for its San Francisco locations, making it a veritable time capsule of the post-war City By The Bay. It’s a taut 77 minutes of an insolent, mouthy Ann Sheridan, the life-or-death manhunt and stellar period San Francisco. Woman on the Run is on my list of Overlooked Noir.

Deenis O’Keefe and Ann Sheridan in WOMAN ON THE RUN