Weekly Movie Recommendations

This week on The Movie Gourmet – the fall movies, many of which I’ve been waiting for since the Canes Film Festival in May, are flooding into theaters. So, The Movie Gourmet is following last week’s review of Conclave with new reviews of award-winners Anora and Emilia Pérez. The genre-busting Netflix documentary The Remarkable Life of Ibelin rounded out one of my best movie-watching weeks ever. (I also immersed myself in French cinema and rewatched Jean-Pierre Melville’s neo-noir Second Wind and introduced myself to six of Jean-Paul Belmondo’s films.)

Next week – a new review of A Real Pain, which The Wife and I saw last night.

REMEMBRANCE

I didn’t remember the name of actor Jonathan Haze, who worked in a score of Roger Corman’s low budget exploitation films.  His most memorable starring role was in Little Shop of Horrors, where his character cultivated a flesh-eating houseplant and pulled a tooth from a masochistic dental patient (Jack Nicholson).

CURRENT MOVIES

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters.
• Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters.
• The Outrun: facing herself without the bottle. In theaters.
• The Remarkable Life of Ibelin: totally unexpected. Netflix.
• Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.
• Kneecap: sláinte! Amazon, AppleTV.
• Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid!: rascal truth-teller. In theaters.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon..
• Will & Harper: old friends adjust. Netflix.
• Wolfs: two charming stars and a chase. AppleTV.

ON TV

On November 19, Turner Classic Movies presents the taut 77 minutes of Woman on the Run, one of my Overlooked Noir. When the police coming looking for a terrified murder witness, they are surprised to find his wife (Ann Sheridan) both ignorant of his whereabouts and unconcerned. And the wife has a Mouth On Her, much to the dismay of the detective (Robert Keith), who keeps walking into a torrent of sass. She starts hunting hubbie, along with the cops, a reporter (Dennis O’Keefe) and the killer, and they all careen through a life-or-death manhunt. Another star of Woman on the Run is San Francisco itself, from the hilly neighborhoods to the bustling streets to the dank and foreboding waterfront.

This week on The Movie Gourmet, new reviews of Edward Berger’s Vatican thriller Conclave, the first of this fall’s big Hollywood prestige pictures, and Hong Sang-soo’s little meditation In Water.

Note: In the Summers, director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio’s hihly recommended debut film, is now available to stream on Amazon.

REMEMBRANCE

Quincy Jones, one of the giants of American music, left a huge imprint on American cinema, with contributions to literally hundreds of films. Starting with The Pawnbroker in 1965, he composed scores of soundtracks and earned seven Oscar nominations for original score or original song.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters.
• The Outrun: facing herself without the bottle. In theaters.
• The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
• My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock: a trickster and his signatures. In theaters.
• Kneecap: sláinte! Amazon, AppleTV.
• Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid!: rascal truth-teller. In theaters.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon..
• Will & Harper: old friends adjust. Netflix.
• Wolfs: two charming stars and a chase. AppleTV.
• Tokyo Cowboy: he came, he saw, he changed. In arthouse theaters, but hard to find.
• Didi: learning to get out of his own way. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Mother Couch: obstreperous mom, surreal situation. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Evil Does Not Exist: not so mesmerizing. Amazon, AppleTV, Criterion.
• In Water: waiting for Hong Sang-soo. AppleTV.

ON TV

On November 12, Turner Classic Movies is airing Mean Streets, the explosive showcase for Marin Scorsese, Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. In 1973, the three were essentially unknown, although De Niro had gained some notice as the slow-wited and dying catcher in the weeper Bang the Drum Slowly earlier in the year. Keitel’s first credit was in Scorsese’s debut film Who’s That Knocking at My Door?. De Niro’s next two films were The Godfather Part II and Taxi Driver. In the next five years, Keitel would make three more Scorsese films and work with Paul Schrader, Robert Altman and Francis Ford Coppola. Scorsese followed Mean Streets with the popular and affecting drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and then embarked on his historic run of masterpieces (Taxi Driver, The Last Waltz, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Goodfellas) and some of recent cinema’s most ambitious films: The Last Temptation of Christ, Gangs of New York, and Killers of the Flower Moon).

In Mean Streets, Keitel plays a low-level gangster ridden with Catholic guilt and worried about his wild and self-destructive friend (played by De Niro), who seems destined to piss off one too many loan sharks. Scorsese’s introduction to these vivid characters and the verisimilitude with his setting in Little Italy demonstrated his filmmaking promise.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of Joanna Arnow’s deadpan comedy The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed – brave, transgressive and brilliant. I also wrote about the 1960 movie even more scary than Psycho – Peeping Tom; if you missed it on TCM this week, you can still stream it on Amazon, AppleTV and Criterion.

REMEMBRANCES

I was surprised that Teri Garr had 44 screen credits (many as a dancer, including Viva Las Vegas) before her breakthrough role as Inga in Young Frankenstein.  Then she played the mom in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, earned an Oscar nod for her most memorable role in Tootsie and went on to work in 200 more movies and shows.

You’ve seen David Harris in Brubaker, A Soldier’s Story, and NYPD Blue, but his most memorable role was early on, in Walter Hill’s indie cult classic The Warriors.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Sweetheart Deal: a triumph of cinéma vérité. In arthouse theaters.
• The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
• The Outrun: facing herself without the bottle. In theaters.
• My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock: a trickster and his signatures. In theaters.
• Kneecap: sláinte! Amazon, AppleTV.
• Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid!: rascal truth-teller. In theaters.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. In arthouse theaters and VOD on November 5..
• Will & Harper: old friends adjust. Netflix.
• Wolfs: two charming stars and a chase. AppleTV.
• Tokyo Cowboy: he came, he saw, he changed. In arthouse theaters, but hard to find.
• Didi: learning to get out of his own way. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Mother Couch: obstreperous mom, surreal situation. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Evil Does Not Exist: not so mesmerizing. Amazon, AppleTV, Criterion.

ON TV

On November 7, Turner Classic Movies airs Martin Scorsese’s documentary Made in England: The films of Powell and Pressberger: It’s like a auditng a Scorsese guest presentation in film school.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Saiorse Ronan’s bravura performance in The Outrun and the clever doc My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Sweetheart Deal: a triumph of cinéma vérité. In arthouse theaters.
• The Outrun: facing herself without the bottle. In theaters.
• My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock: a trickster and his signatures. In theaters.
• Kneecap: sláinte! Amazon, AppleTV.
• Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid!: rascal truth-teller. In theaters.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. In arthouse theaters.
• Will & Harper: old friends adjust. Netflix.
• Made in England: The films of Powell and Pressberger: Scorsese’s film class. In theaters, but increasingly hard to find.
• Wolfs: two charming stars and a chase. AppleTV.
• Megalopolis: pretentious, cartoonish, incoherent. In theaters.
• Tokyo Cowboy: he came, he saw, he changed. In arthouse theaters, but hard to find.
• Didi: learning to get out of his own way. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Mother Couch: obstreperous mom, surreal situation. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Evil Does Not Exist: not so mesmerizing. Amazon, AppleTV, Criterion.

ON TV

On October 27, Turner Classic Movies airs The Bad Seed (1956). Very bad things are happening – the chill comes from the revelation that the murderous fiend is a child with blonde pigtails. It’s gotta be tough to be cute and creepy at the same time, but child star Patty McCormack pulled it off. McCormack went on to161 screen credits, including iconic TV shows from Route 66 and Death Valley Days to Murder, She Wrote and The Sopranos. Patty is the queen of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, having worked with everyone from Karl Malden and Angela Lansbury to Ron Howard, Michael Douglas, Philip Seymour Hoffman and of course, Kevin Bacon himself.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Sweetheart Deal and Evil Does Not Exist.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Sweetheart Deal: a triumph of cinéma vérité. In arthouse theaters.
• Kneecap: sláinte! Amazon, AppleTV.
• Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid!: rascal truth-teller. In theaters.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. In arthouse theaters.
• Will & Harper: old friends adjust. Netflix.
• Made in England: The films of Powell and Pressberger: Scorsese’s film class. In theaters, but increasingly hard to find.
• Wolfs: two charming stars and a chase. AppleTV.
• Megalopolis: pretentious, cartoonish, incoherent. In theaters.
• Tokyo Cowboy: he came, he saw, he changed. In arthouse theaters, but hard to find.
• Didi: learning to get out of his own way. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Mother Couch: obstreperous mom, surreal situation. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Evil Does Not Exist: not so mesmerizing. Amazon, AppleTV, Criterion.

ON TV

On October 22, Turner Classic Movies will be broadcasting one of the great movies that you have likely NOT seen, having just been released on DVD in 2009: The Earrings of Madame de… (1953). Max Ophuls directed what is perhaps the most visually evocative romance ever in black and white. It’s worth seeing for the ballroom scene alone. The shallow and privileged wife of a stick-in-the-mud general takes a lover, but the earrings she pawned reveal the affair and consequences ensue. The great Italian director Vittorio De Sica plays the impossibly handsome lover.

This Week on the Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Kneecap, Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid! and The True Story of Tamara De Lempicka & the Art of Survival.

Note: this summer’s fine coming of age film Didi and the unabashedly surreal Mother Couch are now on VOD.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Kneecap: sláinte! Amazon, AppleTV.
• Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid!: rascal truth-teller. In theaters.
• The True Story of Tamara De Lempicka & the Art of Survival: an icon revealed. Mill Valley Film Festival.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. In arthouse theaters.
• Will & Harper: old friends adjust. Netflix.
• Made in England: The films of Powell and Pressberger: Scorsese’s film class. In theaters, but increasingly hard to find.
• Wolfs: two charming stars and a chase. AppleTV.
• Megalopolis: pretentious, cartoonish, incoherent. In theaters.
• Tokyo Cowboy: he came, he saw, he changed. In arthouse theaters, but hard to find.
• Didi: learning to get out of his own way. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Mother Couch: obstreperous mom, surreal situation. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

On October 17, Turner Classic Movies presents the seminal 1960s neo-noir Point Blank, starring Lee Marvin. Marvin stars as Walker, a heist man who is shot and left for dead by his partner Reese (John Vernon, Animal House’s Dean Wormer), who absconded with Walker’s share of the loot and Walker’s wife. When Walker recovers, he is hellbent on revenge, aided by his sister-in-law Chris (Angie Dickinson).

It turns out that Walker needs to trace the money through a cavalcade of Mr. Bigs (Lloyd Bochner, Keenan Wynn, Carroll O’Connor). There’s a great set piece where Walker invades a highrise penthouse, despite the heavily guarded elevator being the only entrance. Point Blank ends in a thrilling nighttime finale at Fort Point.

Walker is a very uncomplicated character, all he wants is to kill Reese and reclaim his $93,000. Anyone in Walker’s situation would be pissed off, but Lee Marvin plays Walker in a constant state of cold rage. Lee Marvin’s unique charisma animates this relentless killing machine.

Marvin, just coming off The Dirty Dozen and having won an Oscar for Cat Ballou, was at the peak of his stardom. Marvin’s other contribution to the film was handpicking the then unheralded John Boorman to direct; (this was five years before Boorman’s masterpiece Deliverance). Boorman intentionally delivered a morally bleak story in the most deserted of locations: empty parking lots, the Los Angeles River channel. and San Francisco’s two icons of abandonment – Alcatraz and Fort Point.

If you’re wondering why Angie Dickinson was a movie star, Point Blank is for you. Angie was ballsy, sexy and always unashamedly very direct, and she rocked midcentury fashion. (She plays one unforgettable scene in a dress with bold horizontal stripes in the colors of Denny’s restaurants.)

Watch for James B. Sikking as the professional sniper; Sikking became well-known as the supercilious SWAT team commander Lt. Howard Hunter in Hill Street Blues. Future horror icon Sid Haig pops up as the security guard in the penthouse lobby.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a spate of new reviews and an all-updated Current Movies. The five new reviews are Will & Harper, Wolfs, In the Summers, Made in England: The films of Powell and Pressberger and Megalopolis. The best of this week’s crop is the one with the fewest movie stars, In the Summers, which marks the debut of an impressive female director.

REMEMBERANCES

Maggie Smith’s career began in the 1950s, and she was accomplished enough by the mid-1960s to play Desdemona to Laurence Olivier’s Othello. She won Oscars in the 70s for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and California Suite.  Her popularity soared in the 2000s with Gosford Park, the Harry Potter franchise and her unforgettably withering Lady Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey.

After establishing himself as a great American songwriter, Kris Kristofferson turned to acting and amassed 121 screen credits. Originally cast for his fame as a music star and for his hunky magnetism, Kristofferson proved himself a fine actor who chose to work with talented directors: Sam Peckinpah in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Martin Scorsese in Alice Doesn’t Live Anymore, Michael Ritchie in Semi-Tough, and John Sayles in Lone Star,. Limbo, and Silver City. He also chose little indies with really good scripts, like Deadfall and The Motel Life. My favorite Kristofferson performance was as the villainous sheriff in Lone Star.

Recognizable character actor John Amos earned 112 screen credits, with recurring roles on TV series from Good Times to West Wing and scads of guest appearances.  He also worked in films including Sweet Sweetback’s Badassss Song, Coming to America and Die Hard 2.

CURRENT MOVIES

• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. In arthouse theaters.
• Will & Harper: old friends adjust. Netflix.
• Made in England: The films of Powell and Pressberger: Scorsese’s film class. In theaters, but increasingly hard to find.
• Wolfs: two charming stars and a chase. AppleTV.
• Megalopolis: pretentious, cartoonish, incoherent. In theaters.
• Tokyo Cowboy: he came, he saw, he changed. In arthouse theaters, but hard to find.

ON TV

Tomorrow, Turner Classic Movies present the recent documentary Ennio, about Ennio Morricone, one of the greatest composers of movie music and certainly the most original (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). Ennio takes two hours and 36 minutes to comprehensively survey Morricone’s entire career, and I would have preferred a shorter film more focused on the highlights, but the highlights are pretty great. Just skip the last 20 minutes of redundant accolades.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – Harry Dean Stanton’s masterpiece in Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas has been restored and re-released in theaters. In Paris Texas, Harry Dean plays Travis, a man so traumatized that he has disappeared and is found wandering across the desert and mistaken for a mute.  As he is cared for by his brother (Dean Stockwell), he evolves from feral to erratic to troubled, but with a sense of tenderness and a determination to put things right.  We see Travis as a madman who gains extraordinary lucidity about what wrong in his life and his own responsibility for it.

At the film’s climax, Travis speaks to Jane (Natassja Kinski) through a one-way mirror (she can’t see him).  Spinning what at first seems like parable, Travis explains what happened to him – and to her – and why it happened.  It’s a 20-minute monologue so captivating and touching that it rises to be recognized as one of the very greatest screen performances.

Paris, Texas is on my list of the fifty or so Greatest Movies of All Time. It’s been playing the Laemmle theaters in LA this week, opens at San Francisco’s Roxie today and opens at the Palm in San Luis Obispo next week.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Thelma: too proud to be taken. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Perfect Days: intentional contentment. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango, Hulu (included).
• How to Come Alive: addicted to his own turmoil. In theaters.
• Didi: learning to get out of his own way. In theaters.
• Between the Temples: prodded out of his funk. In theaters.
• Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
• I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Back in some theaters and Amazon, AppleTV; Fandango.
• The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango, Peacock (included).
• Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
• Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• La Chimera: six genres for the price of one. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Daddio: intimacy between strangers. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Sorry/Not Sorry: revelatory, and posing the smartest questions. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Grab: important, engrossing and sobering. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• Relative: a loving, but insistent investigation. Amazon (included with prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube. 
• Wicked Little Letters: a sparkling Jessie Buckley and an interesting take on repression. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Netflix.
• How to Have Sex: searing and authentic. MUBI.
• Civil War: a most cautionary tale. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

On September 10, Turner Classic Movies offers Born to Kill (1947). Lawrence Tierney (no cupcake in real life, either), plays the nastiest, most predatory and savage male character in film noir history. Set in the world of Reno quickie divorces, the characters seem to compete to demonstrate the most venal behavior; (spoiler: the psychopath played by Tierney wins.) Claire Trevor, the Queen of Noir, was often wore flamboyant hats, but she just keeps topping herself in this film. Walter Slezak and Elisha Cook, Jr., play dregs of the underworld.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – my irreplaceable father-in-law died this week, so I’m honoring him with a photo from his favorite BritBox crime show, Vera.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Thelma: too proud to be taken. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Perfect Days: intentional contentment. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango, Hulu (included).
• How to Come Alive: addicted to his own turmoil. In theaters.
• Didi: learning to get out of his own way. In theaters.
• Between the Temples: prodded out of his funk. In theaters.
• Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
• I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Back in some theaters and Amazon, AppleTV; Fandango.
• The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango, Peacock (included).
• Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
• Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• La Chimera: six genres for the price of one. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Daddio: intimacy between strangers. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Sorry/Not Sorry: revelatory, and posing the smartest questions. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Grab: important, engrossing and sobering. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• Relative: a loving, but insistent investigation. Amazon (included with prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube. 
• Wicked Little Letters: a sparkling Jessie Buckley and an interesting take on repression. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Netflix.
• How to Have Sex: searing and authentic. MUBI.
• Civil War: a most cautionary tale. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

WATCH AT HOME

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

• I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore: a schlub goes postal. Netflix.
• Headhunters: from smoothly confident scoundrel to human piñata. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• Very Semi-Serious: glorious The New Yorker cartoons. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• John Adams: the most overlooked giant of our Founding Fathers. MAX included), Amazon, AppleTV.
• Black Bear: ever surprising. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• Ruby Sparks: be careful what you ask for. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary: ordinary humans enabling monstrous acts. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• Much Ado About Nothing (2013): it’s not homework, it’s a screwball comedy. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• Midnight Family: an all-night race for pesos. YouTube.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Didi and Between the Temples, a remembrance of a European film icon, and an underappreciated 1964 drama that showcased a future movie star.

REMEMBRANCE

Impossibly handsome and dashing, no one ever removed their sunglasses with more of a flourish than iconic French leading man Alain Delon.  Delon had eyes that could switch off any glimmer of empathy – perfect for playing sociopaths. Accordingly, he broke through internationally playing Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley in Purple Noon (1960). Delon is best known for being a favorite of top European directors, starring in Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers and The Leopard, Antonioni’s L’Eclisse, and Melville’s Le Samouri and Le Cercle Rouge. I also like Delon in the less famous caper movies Any Number Can Win and The Sicilian Clan. Mr. Klein, in which Delon played a sleazy French art dealer who took advantage of Nazi persecution of Jews, was a Lost Film, only becoming available again in the past five years.

Sheila O’Malley has written most insightful essays on Delon and has posted the most playful photo of him.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Thelma: too proud to be taken. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Perfect Days: intentional contentment. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango, Hulu (included).
• How to Come Alive: addicted to his own turmoil. In theaters.
• Didi: learning to get out of his own way. In theaters.
• Between the Temples: prodded out of his funk. In theaters.
• Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
• I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Back in some theaters and Amazon, AppleTV; Fandango.
• The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango, Peacock (included).
• Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
• Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• La Chimera: six genres for the price of one. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Daddio: intimacy between strangers. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Sorry/Not Sorry: revelatory, and posing the smartest questions. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Grab: important, engrossing and sobering. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• Relative: a loving, but insistent investigation. Amazon (included with prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube. 
• Wicked Little Letters: a sparkling Jessie Buckley and an interesting take on repression. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Netflix.
• How to Have Sex: searing and authentic. MUBI.
• Civil War: a most cautionary tale. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

WATCH AT HOME

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

• Midnight Family: an all-night race for pesos. YouTube.
• Headhunters: from smoothly confident scoundrel to human piñata. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
• Very Semi-Serious: glorious The New Yorker cartoons. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• John Adams: the most overlooked giant of our Founding Fathers. MAX included), Amazon, AppleTV.
• Black Bear: ever surprising. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• Ruby Sparks: be careful what you ask for. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary: ordinary humans enabling monstrous acts. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• Much Ado About Nothing (2013): it’s not homework, it’s a screwball comedy. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
• I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore: a schlub goes postal. Netflix.

ON TV

In the underappreciated 1966 drama, A Man Called Adam, Sammy Davis Jr. plays Adam, a self-destructive jazz star. Adam draws people in with his talent and charisma, and, racked by guilt, pushes away those closest to him with selfish and cruel behavior. You can catch A Man Called Adam on Turner Classic Movies on August 27.

Claudia (Cicely Tyson) is drawn to Adam and tries to save him, anchoring herself in the roller coaster of his life. Remember that, after all the ups and downs, a roller coaster always ends up at the bottom.

Cicely Tyson, in her first credited movie role, is radiant. Two great speeches, in which she absolutely commands the screen, showcase her talent; you can tell that this is going to be a movie star. While no Cicely Tyson, Sammy Davis, Jr., is excellent as the protagonist.