Don’t overlook the year’s best documentary, Mayor. Mayor is both a dark comedy about local politics and a masterpiece of cinéma vérité that informs us about human foibles and aspirations, all nestled within the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Mayor is one of the Best Movies of 2020, and it’s still streaming on Virtual Cinema, including at Laemmle.
And here’s my tribute to Cloris Leachman and my recommendation to watch her indelible performance in The Last Picture Show on Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube or Google Play.
REMEMBRANCE
Actor Hal Holbrook, known for his one-man stage personification of Mark Twain between 1947 and 2005, has died at age 95. Holbrook was responsible for the most gripping moments in a great movie, All the President’s Men, even though he was always in the dark or on the phone, and his face was never seen.
In 1970, Holbrook played a liberal US Senator in The Bold Ones: The Senator, a fictional character that I reacted to in the way so many responded to the Martin Sheen president in West Wing (or Atticus Finch) – why can’t he be real? Holbrook was also excellent as Capt. Lloyd Bucher in the ripped-from-the-headlines TV movie Pueblo, which, alas, I can’t find streaming anywhere. I recommend this excellent NYT obit.
ON VIDEO
Some more current films:
- MLK/FBI: about America then and about America today. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
- Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer: a good man tracks down evil. Netflix.
- Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: searing, with an electric performance. Netflix.
- The Personal History of David Copperfield: Dickins alive, at last. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
- Another Round: Humanity buzzed. Amazon.
- Mank: biting the hand. Netflix.
- One Night in Miami: four icons share one pivotal moment. Amazon.
- My Psychedelic Love Story: Errol Morris and the unreliable narrator. HBO.
- Martin Eden: Jack London in an art film (link goes live soon). Laemmle.
- The Mystery of D. B. Cooper: the hijacking that keeps on giving. HBO.
- Belushi: more texture to the story that you already know. Showtime.
- Ammonite: When the slow burn is a dud. Amazon.
- On the Rocks: waste of talent. AppleTV.
- The Prom: airy confection. Netflix.
ON TV
On February 6, Turner Classic Movies presents my choice for the funniest movie all time – Mel Brooks’ 1967 masterpiece The Producers. Zero Mostel plays a human tornado of a crooked Broadway producer, who drags along his bewildered and terrified accountant (Gene Wilder). The brilliant Wilder has never been funnier, and The Producers also features career-best performances by funnymen Dick Shawn and Kenneth Mars. And, of course, there’s the unforgettable musical show stopper Springtime for Hitler. (See this INSTEAD of the 2005 remake.)
On February 11, TCM once again airs the little known and underappreciated A Man Called Adam with Sammy Davis Jr. and the late Cicely Tyson.