Weekly Movie Recommendations

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Pavel Talankan in MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN. Courtesy of the SLO Film Fest.

This Week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of the character-driven indie drama To Kill a Wolf. If you missed today’s TCM broadcast of my TV pick, the rare serial killer movie El Vampiro Negro, you can still stream it on kanopy. And you can stream Caught by the Tides, the top film on my Best Movies of 2025 – So Far, on Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango and Criterion.

CURRENT MOVIES

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is tamara-de-lempicka.jpg
Tamara de Lempicka (right) in Julie Rubio’s THE TRUE STORY OF TAMARA  DE LEMPICKA & THE ART OF SURVIVAL. Courtesy of Mill Valley Film Festival.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: James Sweeney (facing) and Dylan O’Brien in TWINLESS. Courtesy of Roadside Attractions.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – I’m focused on NashFilm, The Nashville Film Festival, which opened last night. Here’s my Must See at NashFilm. Plus, new reviews of the fine documentaries Mr. Nobody Against Putin and The True Story of Tamara de Lempicka & the Art of Survival.

Don’t overlook my first cut at the Best Movies of 2025 – So Far, the running list that I update throughout the year.

Here’s my remembrance of Robert Redford, one of the very most significant filmmakers of his generation.

CURRENT MOVIES

Photo caption: Porshia Zimiga (left) in EAST OF WALL. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

\

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Dylan O’Brien and James Sweeney in TWINLESS. Courtesy of Roadside Attractions.

This week on the Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Twinless, one of the best movies of 2025, and Caught Stealing, which is not. Plus, the historical drama Shoshana is finally accessible to most of you via streaming. And I previewed the upcoming Nashville Film Festival.

CURRENT MOVIES

ON TV

Joan Crawford in SUDDEN FEAR.

On September 13, the classic noir suspenser Sudden Fear plays on Turner Classic Movies’ Noir Alley with intro and outro by Eddie Muller. Sudden Fear showcases Joan Crawfor as a highly successful woman who marries a guy (Jack Palance) who really just wants her money; he plots with his longtime girlfriend (Gloria Grahame) to do in his wife for the inheritance. The wife discovers their scheme, and plans to get them before they can get her.

The riveting final twelve minutes is movie perfection. Now, it’s a pretty good movie for the first hour and thirty-eight minutes, but its ending takes Sudden Fear up a couple of notches.

Jack Palance and Joan Crawford in SUDDEN FEAR.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Graham Greene in WIND RIVER.

Coming up next week on The Movie Gourmet – reviews of some movies just opening in theaters this week and a preview of the Nashville Film Festival.

REMEMBRANCE

Graham Greene in DANCES WITH WOLVES

Dignified yet down-to-earth Canadian actor Graham Greene, a member of the Oneida First Nation, garnered almost 200 screen credits, including Dances with Wolves, Powwow Highway, The Green Mile, Longmire and Wind River.

CURRENT MOVIES

ON TV

Paul Newman and Edmond O’Brien in THE RACK

On September 10, Turner Classic Movies offers the overlooked Korean War film The Rack. A returning US Army captain (Paul Newman) is court-martialed for collaborating with the enemy while a POW. He was tortured, and The Rack explores what can be realistically expected of a prisoner under duress. It’s a pretty good movie, and Wendell Corey, Edmond O’Brien, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Marvin and Cloris Leachman co-star.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Tabatha Zimiga in EAST OF WALL. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

This Week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of the kinda funny, but disposable, Honey Don’t and the raunchy Spanish absurdist comedy The Fantastic Golem Affairs, plus a preview of the upcoming NashFilm.

REMEMBRANCE

Artist Joe Caroff created the unforgettable movie posters for West Side Story, The Last Temptation of Christ and many others, including the iconic 007 for the James Bond franchise. His comprehensive NYT obit includes other examples of his work.

CURRENT MOVIES

ON TV

Victor Buono in THE STRANGLER

Coming up on Turner Classic Movies, the 1964 serial killer movie The Strangler; it’s the masterpiece of director Burt Topper, who specialized in low-budget exploitation movies. First, we see that lonely lab tech Otto Kroll (Victor Buono in an especially brilliant and eccentric performance) is twisted enough to murder random women and return to his lair to fondle his doll collection. Then we learn his motivation – he dutifully visits his hateful mother (Ellen Corby – later to play Grandma Walton) in her nursing room; she heaps abuse on him in every interaction. Pretty soon, even the audience wants to kill Mrs. Kroll, but Otto sneaks around taking out his hatred for his mom by strangling other women. Because Otto is outwardly genial to a fault, it takes a loooong time to fall under the suspicion of the cops. The character of Otto and Buono’s performance elevate The Strangler above its budget and launches it into the top rank of serial killer movies.

Victor Buono and Helen Cory in THE STRANGLER

Movie to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Porshia Zimiga (left) in EAST OF WALL. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

This Week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of the engrossing indie family drama East of Wall and the totally unexpected reveal of the familiar, Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan on Netflix.

REMEMBRANCE

Terence Stamp in THE LIMEY

I loved Terence Stamp. Stamp, of course was a 1960s British star as a dreamy leading man (Billy Budd, The Collector, Far from the Madding Crowd). I’ve felt that his best work was in his middle age and since: still magnetic in The Hit, The Limey, and The Adjustment Bureau. And as recently as 2021, in Last Night in Soho, with his still striking features and dead-cold eyes, he looked dangerous from at the first glimpse.

CURRENT MOVIES

MADE IN ETHIOPIA. Courtesy of POV.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Liam Neeson in THE NAKED GUN. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

This Week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of the surprising hypnotic documentary Architecton, the character-driven indie mystery To Kill a Wolf. Plus, my thoughts on the popular spoof The Naked Gun.

I enjoyed the raucous comedy The Naked Gun (and so did The Wife, although somewhat less than I did). I didn’t post a full review because this is not an overlooked movie, nor does anyone need me to deconstruct it. Liam Neeson ably deadpans his version of the clueless Leslie Nielsen-created character through dignity-sapping situations. Pamela Anderson, so good in The Last Showgirl, has fun, too. Danny Huston is all in as the bad guy – a Bond villain whose billions come from an electric car company. The jokes are stupid, which is the whole point.This ain’t a comedy for the ages, like Annie Hall, Sullivan’s Travels or even There’s Something About Mary, but it’s a fun 90-minute diversion for August 2025.

Watch for my upcoming recommendation of a totally unexpected reveal of the familiar, Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan on Netflix.

CURRENT MOVIES

ON TV

Van Heflin and Mary Astor in ACT OF VIOLENCE

The great film noir Act of Violence is on TCM late tonight, with its career-topping performances by Van Heflin and Mary Astor. You need to DVR it because it’s not available to stream.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Eva Victor and John Carroll Lynch in SORRY, BABY. Courtesy of A24.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of Sorry, Baby. Unusual for the month of August, there is a strong selection of movies in theaters, but they’re hard to find among our vanishing inventory of arthouse screens.

CURRENT MOVIES

  • Sorry, Baby: smart, funny and on the path to healing. In theaters.
  • Oh, Hi!: romantic disappointment becomes absurdly unhinged. In theaters.
  • Shoshana: two lovers amid a deepening conflict. In theaters.
  • To a Land Unknown: no good choices. In arthouse theaters.
  • Made in Ethiopia: it’s just like China used to be. PBS POV
  • Diciannove: coming of age – his way. In arthouse theaters.
  • Kill the Jockey: surrealism in the stables. In theaters.
  • Sew Torn: a thriller like none you’ve seen before. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • Bonjour Tristesse: not the life lesson she was expecting. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
Irina Starshenbaum and Douglas Booth in SHOSHANA. Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Logan Lerman as Isaac and Molly Gordon as Iris in OH, HI!. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

Wow, what a busy week here at The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of the smartly absurd rom com Oh, Hi!, the historical drama Shoshana, the immigration thriller To a Land Unknown, and a very individualistic coming-of-age film, Diciannove.

CURRENT MOVIES

  • Oh, Hi!: romantic disappointment becomes absurdly unhinged. In theaters.
  • Shoshana: two lovers amid a deepening conflict. In theaters.
  • To a Land Unknown: no good choices. In arthouse theaters.
  • Made in Ethiopia: it’s just like China used to be. PBS POV
  • Diciannove: coming of age – his way. In arthouse theaters.
  • Kill the Jockey: surrealism in the stables. In theaters.
  • Sew Torn: a thriller like none you’ve seen before. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • Bonjour Tristesse: not the life lesson she was expecting. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

RIFIFI

On July 26, Turner Classic Movies will broadcast the top heist film ever, the pioneering French classic Rififi: After the team is assembled and the job is plotted, the actual crime unfolds in real-time – over thirty minutes of nerve-wracking silence. TCM’s broadcast will be on Noir Alley with an intro and outro by Eddie Muller.

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Eve Connolly in SEW TORN. Courtesy of Vertigo Releasing.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of No Sleep Till, the sensational debut of indie director Alexandra Sampson, No Sleep Till – I’ll let you know when it releases more widely. I also have recommendations for the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, currently underway, including The Stamp Thief. And the scintillating documentary Made in Ethiopia is now playing on PBS’ POV series.

REMEMBRANCE

Rebekah Del Rio’s rendition of Llorando, the Spanish language version of Roy Orbison’s Crying, was one of the most transfixing scenes in Mulholland Drive.

CURRENT MOVIES

Ursula Corbero and Nahuel Perez Biscayart in KILL THE JOCKEY. Courtesy of Music Box Pictures.