Weekly Movie Recommendations – Page 76

Stream of the Week: TRUMBO – the personal cost of principles

April 19, 2016 by movie gourmet

In the movies, going to jail for your principles is overrated. But in the historical drama Trumbo – about the 1950s Hollywood blacklist – we get to see the real extent of the sacrifices made by the principled man and his family.

Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) was a novelist and Hollywood screenwriter who was named as a Communist, was sent to prison for contempt of Congress and then blacklisted by the Hollywood studios. After prison, Trumbo had to earn his living by writing without credits (the credit going to other writers as “fronts” or to fictional “writers”). He received no screen credit for the Oscar-winning screenplays for Roman Holiday and The Brave One. Nor for the noir classics Gun Crazy and The Prowler. Eventually, the end of the blacklist period was signaled when Trumbo received screen credits for his work on Exodus and Spartacus.

It’s a compelling story and Trumbo was a very compelling character – flamboyant, full of himself, wily but sometimes politically naive. Cranston is really quite brilliant in capturing Trumbo’s wit, signature eccentricities and his emotional turmoil.

Families are often collateral damage, and that was the case here. We see the impact on Trumbo’s wife (Diane Lane) and daughter (Elle Fanning) – not just the financial and social hardships, but in living with a man under so much stress.

To tell the story of this historical period, some characters are compressed – but not distorted. Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) is portrayed as the leader of the blacklist (which would have flattered her), and John Wayne’s (David James Elliot) role is prominent. There’s a composite character who represents the other victims of the blacklist, played by Louis C.K. (another really fine performance from C.K.). Edward G. Robinson (Michael Stuhlbarg) represents the good liberals who caved under pressure and named names. Kirk Douglas (Dean O’Gorman) and Otto Preminger (Christian Berkel) are historical good guys (but not without self-interest). John Goodman has a hilarious turn as a low budget producer. The entire cast does a fine job, but Cranston, Stuhlbarg, C.K. and Fanning are extraordinary.

We see also actual file footage of Ronald Reagan, Robert Taylor and Joe McCarthy, along with some still photos of the ever-ominous Richard Nixon.

Trumbo is a very successful and insightful historical study, and Cranston’s performance was Oscar-nominated. Trumbo is now available to stream on Amazon Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and a host of PPV outlets.

DVD/Stream of the Week: DAZED AND CONFUSED

April 12, 2016 by movie gourmet

Richard Linklater’s newest movie Everybody Wants Some!! is coming out in theaters, which he describes as a “spiritual sequel” to his coming of age classic Dazed and Confused. So let’s all go back to the last day of high school in 1976 and refresh ourselves. All of these high school kids are up for a massive year-end party, and they are either thinking about or avoiding thinking about the next phase in their lives. It all adds up to the defining coming of age film for its generation.

Linklater is the master of coming of age (Boyhood) and coming of age in relationships (the Midnight trilogy). In Dazed and Confused the most unforgettable – and cautionary – character is Wooderson; as played with sheer genius by Mayygew McConaughhey, Wooderson is the one character who aggressively embraces NOT coming of age – kind of a shady, dissolute Peter Pan.

Dazed and Confused is known for launching McConaughey’s career, as well as unleashing indie fave Parker Posey as a Mean Girl of uncommon enthusiasm. This was Ben Affleck’s first main role, although his character is more of a one-dimensional bully, and doesn’t hint at his future success as an Oscar-winning screenwriter or major movie star. The rest of the cast includes then-newcomers Milla Jovovich, Adam Goldberg, Joey Lauren Adams and Jason London. I especially enjoy the turns by Wiley Wiggins and the hilarious Rory Cochrane (Black Mass).

Dazed and Confused is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Amazon Video (free with Amazon Prime), iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Flixster.

Dazed and Confused is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Amazon Video (free with Amazon Prime), iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Flixster.

Movies to See Right Now

April 9, 2016April 8, 2016 by movie gourmet

I liked the evocative French drama My Golden Days, the beautiful tale of first love, with all its passion, importance, obsession, angst, conflict, breakups and makeups. My Golden Days opens widely in the Bay Area today.

Try to find the entirely fresh and unpredictably contemporary drama Take Me to the River, an impressive directorial debut by San Jose native Matt Sobel.

Ethan Hawke’s performance makes the Chet Baker biopic Born to Be Blue a success.

Tom Hiddleston makes a believable Hank Williams, but that can’t save the plodding I Saw the Light, which fails to capture any of the pathos in Hank’s life and death.

Because Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!! open today, my DVD/Stream of the Week is its “spiritual prequel” – the coming of age Dazed and Confused is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Amazon Video (free with Amazon Prime), iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Flixster.masterpiece Dazed and Confused.

OK, serious movie buffs – on April 13, Turner Classic Movies presents an evening of early German cinema to frame the documentary From Caligari to Hitler. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) is generally recognized as the first horror film in the history of cinema; it features Conrad Veidt (23 years later, Major Strausser in Casablanca). The Blue Angel (1930) is the classic old-fool-falls-for-a-girl story. I’ve only seen clips from Faust (1926), and I haven’t seen The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1927). If you’re going to watch just one, I recommend the 1922 Nosferatu, the Dracula tale with a hideously monstrous vampire played by Max Schreck.

Movies to See Right Now

April 1, 2016 by movie gourmet

I recommend the totally unpredictable and well-crafted drama Take Me to the River, a very strong feature debut for writer-director Matt Sobel, a San Jose native.

Thriller meets thinker in Eye in the Sky, a parable from modern drone warfare starring Helen Mirren and with a wonderful final performance from the late Alan Rickman.

My DVD/Stream of the Week is the character-driven The Gift, even more than the satisfying suspense thriller that it is. It’s also a surprisingly thoughtful film and a filmmaking triumph for writer-director-producer-actor Joel Edgerton. The Gift is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and to stream from Amazon Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and a host of cable/satellite PPV platforms.

On April 7, Turner Classic Movies showcases the films of one of the earliest female directors, the movie star Ida Lupino. In her early 30s,she broke the glass ceiling by writing and producing her own low-budget topical movies. TCM is screening Hard, Fast & Beautiful, Never Fear,The Bigamist and Outrage (one of the very first movies about rape). Lupino’s signature movie is the noir thriller The Hitch-Hiker. The bad guy is a sadistic serial killer played by William Talman (most well known as DA Hamilton Berger in Perry Mason). He kidnaps and terrorizes two guys played by noir favorites Edmond O’Brien and Frank Lovejoy. It’s a tension-filled story that still holds up today.

Frank Lovejoy, William Talman and Edmond O’Brien in THE HITCH-HIKER

DVD/Stream of the Week: THE GIFT – three people revealed

March 29, 2016 by movie gourmet

Rebecca Hall, Jason Bateman and Joel Edgerton in THE GIFT

The character-driven The Gift is more than a satisfying suspense thriller – it’s a well-made and surprisingly thoughtful film that I keep mulling over. It’s a filmmaking triumph for writer-director-producer-actor Joel Edgerton, the hunky Australian action star (the Navy Seal leader in Zero Dark Thirty).

Simon (Jason Batemen), a take-no-prisoners corporate riser, has moved back to Southern California with his sweetly meek and anxiety-riddled wife Robyn (Rebecca Hall). In a chance encounter, they meet Gordo (Edgerton), who knew Simon in high school. Gordo is an odd duck, but the couple feels obligated to meet him socially when he keeps dropping by with welcome gifts. At first, The Gift seems like a comedy of manners, as Jason and Robyn try to figure out a socially appropriate escape from this awkward entanglement. But then, the audience senses that Gordo may be dangerously unhinged, and it turns out that Simon and Gordo have more of a past than first apparent. Things get scary.

Edgerton uses – and even toys with – all the conventions of the suspense thriller – the woman alone, the suspicious noise in the darkened house, the feeling of being watched. And there’s a cathartic Big Reveal at the end.

But The Gift isn’t a plot-driven shocker – although it works on that level. Instead it’s a study of the three characters. Just who is Gordo? And who is Simon? And who is Robyn? None of these characters are what we think at the movie’s start. Each turns out to be capable of much more than we could imagine. I particularly liked Bateman’s performance as a guy who is masking his true character through the first half of the movie, but dropping hints along the way. Hall is as good as she is always, and Edgerton really nails Gordo’s off-putting affect.

And, after you’ve watched The Gift, consider this – just what is the gift in the title?

The Gift is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and to stream from Amazon Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and a host of cable/satellite PPV platforms.

Movies to See Right Now

March 29, 2016March 25, 2016 by movie gourmet

Thriller meets thinker in Eye in the Sky, a parable from modern drone warfare starring Helen Mirren and with a wonderful final performance from the late Alan Rickman.

This week, I featured the documentary Last Days in Vietnam. If you miss it on PBS’ American Experience, you can still stream it from Netflix Instant, Amazon Video, iTunes, YouTube and Google Play.

One of the most underrated films of the 1990s will be on Turner Classic Movies on March 29. Ulee’s Gold (1997) features Peter Fonda as a keep-to-himself rural beekeeper who finds himself in a thriller when actions of his no-good adult son threaten the rest of the family; watch for a 15-year-old Jessica Biel. For a more sordid choice on TCM, Sam Fuller’s typically sensationalistic psych ward movie Shock Corridor (1959) plays on March 30.

Movies to See Right Now

March 18, 2016 by movie gourmet

Thriller meets thinker in Eye in the Sky, a parable from modern drone warfare starring Helen Mirren and with a wonderful final performance from the late Alan Rickman.

I also really liked the gripping Norwegian disaster movie The Wave, with its ticking clock tension and cool disaster effects. (Now hard to find.)

You have to look hard to find it now, but you should still try to see the awesome and authentic survival tale The Revenant on the BIG SCREEN.

Silicon Valley’s film fest ended this week, and here’s my Cinequest festival wrap-up.

In honor of the recently concluded Cinequest, my DVD/Stream of the Week is from the 2013 fest: The Sapphires, a triumph of a Feel Good Movie. The Sapphires is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and to stream from Amazon Video, iTunes, Vudu, GooglePlay and Flixster.

The best movie pick on TV this week will come on March 20, when Turner Classic Movies will present Touch of Evil (1958). This Orson Welles masterpiece begins with one of cinema’s great opening scenes, as our lead characters walk from a Mexican border town into an American border town in a single tracking shot of well over 3 minutes. Unbeknownst to them, they are being shadowed by a car bomb. There’s a lot to enjoy here in this cesspool of corruption: a repellent sheriff-gone-bad played by Welles himself, one of Joseph Calleia’s finest supporting turns, one of Dennis Weaver’s first roles (written just for him by Welles) and Charlton Heston as a Mexican.

DVD/Stream of the Week: THE SAPPHIRES

March 15, 2016 by movie gourmet

In honor of the recently concluded Cinequest, here’s a nugget from the 2013 fest: The Sapphires is a triumph of a Feel Good Movie. Set in the 1960s, a singing group from an Australian Aboriginal family faces racial obstacles at home, but blossoms when the girls learn Motown hits to entertain US troops in Vietnam. Remarkably, Tony Briggs based the screenplay on his mother’s real experience – make sure you stay for the Where Are They Now end credits.

The ever amiable Chris O’Dowd (one of the best things about Bridesmaids) is funny and charming as the girls’ dissolute manager. Jessica Mauboy, who plays the lead singer, has a great voice for soul music. A surprisingly beautiful song by the girls’ mom, played by veteran actress Kylie Belling, is an especially touching moment.

The Sapphires is not a deep movie, but it is a satisfying one. It’s predictable and manipulative, but I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t enjoy it. The Sapphires is a guaranteed good time at the movies.

The Sapphires is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and to stream from Amazon Video, iTunes, Vudu, GooglePlay and Flixster.

Movies to See Right Now

March 11, 2016 by movie gourmet

I really liked the gripping Norwegian disaster movie The Wave, with its ticking clock tension and cool disaster effects. I saw The Wave last week at Cinequest, and it opens in theaters this weekend. I also liked Cinequest’s Eye in the Sky, with Helen Mirren, and I’ll be writing about that by next week before it opens widely in the Bay Area.

I remain completely absorbed with Silicon Valley’s own film festival, Cinequest. Check out my up-to-the-moment coverage both on my Cinequest page and follow me on Twitter for the latest. I especially recommend the exquisite Chilean contemplation of grief The Memory of Water, which plays Cinequest tomorrow evening; I’ve seen 25 Cinequest movies so far, and this is the best one. Tomorrow night, I’ll be checking out two movies I haven’t seen yet: The Adderall Diaries with James Franco, Ed Harris and Amber Heard, Christian Slater and Cynthia Nixon and February, a horror flick with Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka.

Then there are the Oscar winners and contenders, whose theatrical runs are winding down but still out in theaters:

Spotlight – a riveting, edge-of-your-seat drama with some especially compelling performances.
The Revenant, an awesome and authentic survival tale that must be seen on the BIG SCREEN. I predict that The Revenant will be the biggest winner at the Oscars.
The Irish romantic drama Brooklyn, an audience-pleaser with a superb performance by Saoirse Ronan.
The deserved Oscar winner for Screenplay, The Big Short – a supremely entertaining thriller – both funny and anger-provoking.

The Italian drama My Mother is a deeply personal film about loss with some comedic highlights from John Turturro. The Coen Brothers’ disappointingly empty comedy Hail, Caesar contains some cool Hollywood parodies.

In honor of Cinequest, my Stream of the Week is the delightful dark comedy Gemma Bovery from last year’s festival. Gemma Bovery is available to stream from Amazon Video (free with Amazon Prime), iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

This week, watch for two wonderfully fun gender-crossing comedies on Turner Classic Movies on March 13: Victor/Victoria and Tootsie. TCM is playing Blow-up on March 17. 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 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 Michael Palin in a nightclub.

Stream of the Week: GEMMA BOVERY

March 8, 2016 by movie gourmet

Fabrice Luchini and Gemma Arterton in GEMMA BOVERY

In honor of Cinequest, here’s a highlight from last year’s fest. In the delightful dark comedy Gemma Bovery, Fabrice Luchini plays a guy who has left his Type A job in Paris to take over his father’s bakery in a sleepy village in Normandy. He gets new neighbors when a young British couple named Bovery moves in. The young British woman (played by the delectable Gemma Arterton) is named Gemma Bovery, and only the baker notices the similarity to Emma Bovary. But, like the protagonist of Madame Bovary, the young British woman is also married to a Charles, becomes bored and restless and develops a wandering eye. The baker rapidly becomes obsessed with the Flaubert novel being re-enacted before his eyes and soon jumps into the plot himself. Gemma Bovery, which I saw at Cinequest 2015, is a French movie that is mostly in English.

Fabrice Luchini is a treasure of world cinema. No screen actor can deliver a funnier reaction than Luchini, and he’s the master of squeezing laughs out of an awkward moment. For me, his signature role is in the 2004 French Intimate Strangers, in which he plays a tax lawyer with a practice in a Parisian professional office building. A beautiful woman (Sandrine Bonnaire), mistakes Luchini’s office for that of her new shrink, plops herself down and, before he can interrupt, starts unloading her sexual issues. It quickly becomes awkward for him to tell her of the error, and he’s completely entranced with her revelations, so he keeps impersonating her shrink. As they move from appointment to appointment, their relationship takes some unusual twists. It’s a very funny movie, and a great performance.

Gemma Bovery is directed and co-written by Anne Fontaine (The Girl from Monaco, Coco Before Chanel). Fontaine has a taste for offbeat takes on female sexuality, which she aired in the very trashy Adore (Naomi Watts and Robin Wright as Australian cougars who take on each other’s sons as lovers) and the much better Nathalie (wife pays prostitute to seduce her cheating hubby and report back on the details).

Gemma Bovery isn’t as Out There as Nathalie, but it’s just as good. The absurdity of the coincidences in Gemma Bovery makes for a funny situation, which Luchini elevates into a very funny movie. Gemma Bovery is available to stream from Amazon Video (free with Amazon Prime), iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.