This week’s MUST SEE is The Hunt – the best movie of 2013 so far.
I haven’t yet see the critically acclaimed heart breaker Fruitvale Station, which also opens today. You can read descriptions and view trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.
My other recommendations:
- Melissa McCarthy’s comic genius in the cop buddy comedy The Heat.
- Pedro Almodovar’s Spanish daffy sex comedy I’m So Excited.
- The magic documentary Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay.
- The rock documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, essential for music fans.
- the satisfying shocker The Conjuring.
- The HBO documentary The Cheshire Murders, which us beyond the familiar police procedural;
- Another HBO documentary, this one about Southern public defenders, Gideon’s Army.
Also out right now:
- the gross-out comedy This is the End, which has its moments.
- There’s cleverness in the psychological thriller Berberian Sound Studio, but just not enough thrills for a thriller.
- Also out on VOD, Nancy, Please is a dark comedy about neurotic obsession among the over-educated. Not that funny.
- Neither is the VOD comedy Bert and Arnie’s Guide to Friendship.
- Do not see the wretched crime thriller Only God Forgives, which I’ll write about next week.
My most recent DVD/Stream of the Week picks are the unintentionally hilarious Troll 2 and the documentary about it, Best Worst Movie. Troll 2 is available streaming on Amazon, iTunes and Vudu. Best Worst Movie is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming on Amazon, iTunes and Vudu. You can see some of the finer bits of Troll 2 by doing a YouTube search for “You can’t piss on hospitality” and “Troll 2 O my God”.
On August 1, Turner Classic Movies is showing In a Lonely Place, an under appreciated film noir. Two of my favorite classic stars, Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, each deliver one of their signature performances. Bogie plays a screenwriter with a drinking problem and a volatile temper – exactly the perpetrator profile for a local murder; good time girl Grahame wants to fall for him…and things will go better if he’s innocent.