Three new movies in theaters this week, but I’m only recommending one of them. Of course, I’ll try to catch the new James Bond movie, the last with Daniel Craig, No Time to Die.
I just got back from covering the Nashville Film Festival, and here’s my preview of the Mill Valley Film Festival, opening tonight.
IN THEATERS
Old Henry: If you appreciate a good western, then Old Henry is your movie. The big shootout is thrilling, and Tim Blake Nelson is so good as a man who knows he can’t have redemption and only seeks some solace. Old Henry is now playing nationally, including for one-week run at San Francisco’s Roxie.
The Nowhere Inn: In this comedy, Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia) plays herself directing a documentary about her real life friend, the avant-garde musician Annie Clark, who performs as St. Vincent. These are two smart and talented women, and the movie is maybe half as funny as they are. If you need a dose of St. Vincent’s sexy vibrancy, then watch her perform instead.
Titane: Demented, icky and excessive, the Cannes Palme d’Or winner is intentionally unpleasant to watch. A maniac stripper has sex with, and becomes impregnated by, a Cadillac; she’s also a serial killer with a fetish for impaling her victims. I felt punished, even tortured, when I was watching Titane.
Also in theaters:
- The Eyes of Tammy Faye: some dignity for the clown.
- The Card Counter: a loner, his code and his past.
- Best Sellers: orneriness goes viral.
- Respect: struggling to take command of her own artistry
ON VIDEO
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Wildland: giving family ties a bad name. Laemmle.
- The Unknown Saint: a shrine to really bad luck. Netflix.
- CODA: a thought-provoking audience-pleaser. AppleTV.
- Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal and Greed: Improbability squared. Netflix.
- Searching for Mr. Rugoff: the best movie taste of any barbarian. Laemmle.
- Curiosa: erotic, but do we care? Laemmle.
- Riders of Justice: Thriller, comedy and much, much more. It’s the year’s best movie so far. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube. #1 on my Best Movies of 2021 – So Far
- Dirt Music: a gorgeous bodice-ripper with a WTF ending. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
- Kansas City Bomber: self-discovery at the roller derby track. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
- No Sudden Move: Steven Soderbergh’s neo-noir thriller has even more double-crosses than movie stars – and it has plenty of movie stars. HBO Max.
- The Neutral Ground: the supremacist legacy of old statues. PBS.
- Mama Weed: it’s always fun when Huppert gets outrageous. Laemmle.
- Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Laemmle.
- What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael: the drive for relevance. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
- Truman and Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation: Two gay Southern geniuses, revealing themselves. Laemmle.
- The Dry: a mystery as psychological as it is procedural. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
On October 13, Turner Classic Movies brings us one of my favorites – 83 minutes of noir hysteria titled D.O.A. This gripping whodunit opens with a man walking into a police station to report HIS OWN MURDER. The man (Edmond O’Brien) finds out that he has been dosed with a poison for which there is no antidote – and that he has only a few days to live. He desperately races the clock to find out who has murdered him and why. Much of D.O.A. was shot on location in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and one SF scene has one of the first cinematic glimpses into Beat culture. The little known director Rudolph Maté gave the film a great look, which shouldn’t be a surprise because Maté had been Oscar-nominated five times as a cinematographer. The next year, he followed D.O.A. with another solid noir, Union Station, with William Holden and Barry Fitzgerald.