This week brings us a bewildering contrast. We have the masterful documentary Monrovia, Indiana – a fascinating movie about a boring subject. And First Man – a boring movie about a fascinating subject.
OUT NOW
-
- Lady Gaga illuminates Bradley Cooper’s triumphant A Star Is Born. Don’t bring a hankie – bring a whole friggin’ box of Kleenex.
- Rodents of Unusual Size is a charmingly addictive documentary about a bizarre subject.
- What They Had is an authentic and well-crafted dramatic four-hander with Hilary Swank, Michael Shannon, Blythe Danner and Robert Forster.
- Quincy is Rashida Jones’ intimate biodoc of her father, that most important and prolific musical figure Quincy Jones.
- Museo is a portrait of alienation that plays out in a true life heist, but the alienation is just not that compelling.
ON VIDEO
My DVD/Stream of the Week for Halloween Week is the 1960 masterpiece Peeping Tom – far scarier and more unsettling than Psycho. Until the last decade, Peeping Tom was unavailable, but you can find it now on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon, iTunes and Google Play. There’s also a Criterion Collection DVD with lots of extra features. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
ON TV
On November 3, Turner Classic Movies will air Director Elia Kazan’s noirish thriller Panic in the Streets. This Kazan’s other movie set in a gritty waterfront, and he shot it on location in New Orleans. In his screen debut, Jack Palance plays a hoodlum who commits a murder and unknowingly becomes infected with pneumonic plague. Richard Widmark plays the public health expert who is trying to prevent an epidemic by tracking down Patient Zero (Palance) without causing a panic in the city. Of course, the cops are trying to solve the murder, and the man hunt for the murderer will lead them o the same target. Jack Palance was nothing if not intense, and he brings the right combination of viscious thuggery and escalating desperation to his performance. In an unusual dramatic role, Zero Mostel plays a Palance henchman.
And here’s a curiosity – TCM also airs the 1933 submarine movie Hell Below on November 9. It’s a pretty contrived Robert Montgomery vehicle, but there are some elements worth fast-forwarding to. The comic relief is provided by Jimmy Durante, who plays the cook Ptomaine; Baby Boomers tend to remember Durante for his shtick on variety shows of the 1950s and 1960s – here’s the unadulterated Durante. Durante even boxes with a kangeroo! Hell Below also features Walter Huston, who was a major star at the time and who I think would be very successful today.
