Right now, you can see four of my Best Movies of 2015 – So Far:
- the CAN’T MISS coming of age masterpiece Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, opening today.
- Love & Mercy, the emotionally powerful biopic of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson.
- the intensely thoughtful Ex Machina.
- the thoughtful and authentic dramedy I’ll See You in My Dreams.
The Melissa McCarthy spy spoof Spy is a very funny diversion. Far from the Madding Crowd, is a satisfying choice for those looking for a costume bodice ripper. I also liked the two-in-one Swedish comedy The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, a rich mixture of absurdity and broad physical humor.
My DVD/Stream of the Week is one of my Overlooked Noir, My Kind of Woman, where down-on-his-luck Robert Mitchum grabs a deal that he knows is just too good. His Kind of Woman is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, YouTube, Google Play and Flixster.
Don’t forget that Turner Classic Movies is filling each June and July Friday with film noir in its Summer of Darkness series, hosted by Film Noir Foundation president Eddie Muller – the Czar of Noir. The series schedule includes several favorites of my Overlooked Noir.
Last week, I told you that TONIGHT Turner Classic Movies brings us an unusually rich menu of classic film noir: Cornered, Crack-up, Gilda, The Big Sleep, The Killers, Nocturne and Crossfire.
Later this week on June 25, TCM brings us the 1973 cult sci-fi classic Soylent Green, which was utterly under appreciated until the past decade or so. Set in a dystopian future (like those so popular in today’s sci-fi), humans have pretty much destroyed the environment and most are impoverished, even homeless. The dietary staple is a green pellet provided by a mega-corporation. Charlton Heston is surprisingly effective as a jaded and solitary cop, whose investigation leads him to a horrifying discovery. The cast is very good, including Edward G. Robinson in his final performance. Soylent Green was directed by the versatile Richard Fleischer, 21 years after his noir masterpiece The Narrow Margin.
