OUT NOW
- The brilliantly original Chinese neo-noir Long Day’s Journey into Night is a Must See.
- The Aretha Franklin concert film Amazing Grace is, at once, the recovery of a lost film, the document of an extraordinary live recording and an immersive, spiritual experience.
- Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen are pleasantly entertaining in the improbable Beauty-and-the-Beast romantic comedy Long Shot.
- In The Chaperone, Downton Abbey’s writer Julian Fellowes and star Elizabeth McGovern reunite for a pleasing character study of self-discovery in 1921 America – it’s deeper than it first appears to be.
- Ramen Shop is a lightly-rooted dramedy about a Singaporean-Japanese family’s reconciliation. There’s also a metaphorical foodie angle.
- The bio-documentary An American Story: Norman Mineta and His Legacy is available from PBS.
ON VIDEO
This Memorial Day weekend, I’m recommending that you binge OJ: Made in America., the eight-hour ESPN documentary series. It made my list of Best Movies of 2016. The trailer is on the film’s homepage. You can watch the entire movie on ESPNWatch and on some other streaming platforms such as iTunes and Hulu.
Elisabeth Moss’ powerhouse performance as a monstrously narcissistic and drug-deranged rock star Her Smell is the acting tour de force of 2019. The movie could have been a great one if shorter, but Moss makes it worthwhile watch nonetheless. Her Smell is out of theaters, but it’s already streaming on Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play, an available on DVD from Redbox.
And I just caught up to the hypnotically compelling Burning. This 2 hour, 28 minute slow burn begins as a character study, evolves into a romance and then a mystery, and finally packs a powerful punch with a thriller climax. It’s a superb achievement for director and co-writer Chang-dong Lee. You can stream Burning from Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and Vudu.
ON TV
On May 27, Turner Classic Movies brings us two particularly authentic war films, both set in the Korean War. In Men in War (1957), an infantry lieutenant (Robert Ryan) must lead his platoon out of a desperate situation. He encounters a cynical and insubordinate sergeant (Aldo Ray) loyally driving a jeep with his PTSD-addled colonel (Robert Keith). In conflict with each other, they must navigate through enemy units to safety. Director Anthony Mann is known for exploring the psychology of edgy characters, and that’s the case with Men in War.
The Steel Helmet (1951) is a gritty classic by the great writer-director Sam Fuller, a WWII combat vet who brooked no sentimentality about war. Gene Evans, a favorite of the two Sams (Fuller and Peckinpah), is especially good as the sergeant. American war movies of the period tended toward to idealize the war effort, but Fuller relished making war movies with no “recruitment flavor”. Although the Korean War had only been going on for a few months when Fuller wrote the screenplay, he was able to capture the feelings of futility that later pervaded American attitudes about the Korean War.
For something completely different, there’s Slap Shot (1977) on TCM on May 29. Paul Newman plays the dissolute player-coach of a failing minor league hockey team in a failing Rust Belt mill town. Things look hopeless until the Hanson brothers show up – three kids who look like nerds and play like goons. Very funny and a great performance by Newman.
