My recommended movies in theaters this week:
- The bloody thriller Green Room is a fresh and satisfying, well, bloody thriller. Very intense and very violent. Director Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin) proves again that he’s the rising master of the genre movie.
- If you like dystopian sci-fi, then the satire High-Rise is for you. Otherwise, not a Must See.
- 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 movie has been out since March and has shown remarkable staying power.
The mismatched buddy movie Dough is light, fluffy and empty – just like a Twinkie.
My Stream of the Week is a remarkable filmmaking achievement – the entire movie Victoria the was filmed in a SINGLE SHOT (and it is a successful thriller, not just a gimmick). Make sure that you watch it in one uninterrupted sitting. Victoria is available to stream from Amazon Video, iTunes, YouTube and Google Play.
On May 21, Turner Classic Movies features one of my Overlooked Noir, Pitfall (1948), a noir thriller without either a conventional sap or femme fatale.
Then, on May 23 TCM airs the 1997 political biopic George Wallace with Gary Sinise as the the segregationist Alabama governor and Presidential candidate. Made for TV by master director John Frankenheimer, George Wallace won multiple Emmys, Golden Globes and SAG awards. Sinise is brilliant, and his supporting cast includes Joe Don Baker, William Sanderson, Mare Winningham, Clarence Williams III and Angelina Jolie as sexy second wife Cornelia.
