Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Thomas Schubert and Paula Beer in AFIRE. Courtesy of Janus Films.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – binge your own international film festival – free on kanopy. One of these film is Afire (image above), directed by Christian Petzold, whose Mirrors No. 3 is one of this year’s best.

REMEMBRANCE

Luise Lasser in TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN

I first noticed Louise Lasser in her then-husband Woody Allen’s Take the Money and Run, Bananas and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex etc.. I didn’t know that she had been the first actress win a Clio award for her work in commercials. She’s best remembered for starring in Norman Lear’s pioneering Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, but she also worked with other top movie directors Todd Solondz (Happiness) and Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream).

CURRENT MOVIES

  • Maddie’s Secret: a bracingly inventive comic melodrama. In theaters.
  • Pressure: engrossing study of high-stakes decision-making. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
  • Power Ballad: what (and who) makes a hit song? Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
  • Exit 8: nightmare on a loop. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
  • Mirrors No. 3: two enigmas explained. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
  • Is God Is: an extraordinary new story-teller. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
  • The Last One for the Road: the party never ends. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
  • Marty, Life Is Short: an engaging profile. Netflix.
  • The Christophers: twisty, watchable and disposable. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
  • In the Hand of Dante: the heist and the impenetrable. Netflix
  • Earth, Wind & Fire: To Be Celestial and That’s the Weight of the World: underwhelming. HBO Max.

ON TV

Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburgh and Burt Reynolds in SEMI-TOUGH.

On July 16th, Turner Classic Movies brings us the 1977 comedy Semi-Tough with Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson and Jill Clayburgh. It’s set in the world of pro football, but it’s really a romantic triangle and a send-up of est training. Real life football stars Paul Hornung, Ed “Too Tall” Jones and Joe Kapp appear, as do sportscasters Lindsey Nelson and Dick Schaap. Along with creating the role of Apollo Creed in Rocky, this was an early role for former Raiders linebacker Carl Weathers, who went on to amass 80 acting credits and become a top TV director (Law & Order, Chicago Med, The Mandalorian).