This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of A Love Song with Dale Dickey and Wes Studi, the how-could-this-happen? documentary My Old School, and the fluffy Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. I’ve also completely refreshed most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE. Plus my preview of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, now underway.
I’m traveling and don’t have time to write a review, but I saw Nope and it is excellent – an unusually intelligent popcorn movie. I’m not a big horror/sci fi guy and I loved it. One of the best movies of 2022.
REMEMBRANCE
Bob Rafaelson was a New Hollywood director, a peer of Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, William Friedkin, Peter Bogdanovich and Brian De Palma. But Rafaelson only made one great movie, Five Easy Pieces, which he co-wrote. Five Easy Pieces, though, is by itself an eternal legacy.
ICYMI here are my remembrances of actor L.Q. Jones and composer Monty Norman (scroll down).
CURRENT MOVIES
- A Love Song: bittersweet, heartfelt and funny. In theaters.
- My Old School: how could this happen? In theaters.
- Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris: nothing wrong with a dose of sentimentality once in a while. In theaters.
- Official Competition: egos, power and a perfect ending. In theaters.
- Bitterbrush: two women at work. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, redbox.
- Both Sides of the Blade: not your conventional love triangle. In theaters.
- Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song: reflective artist, reflective movie. In theaters.
- Montana Story: a family secret simmers, then explodes. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Compartment No. 6: a surprising journey to connection. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Cha Cha Real Smooth: decent people and their foibles, navigating life. AppleTV.
- Everything Everywhere All at Once: often indecipherable and mostly dazzling. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- My Donkey, My Lover and I: it had me at the title. In theaters.
- Hit the Road: a funny family masks their tough choice. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres: tell me more. Netflix.
- The Tale of King Crab: storytelling at its best. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead: for Philip Seymour Hoffman. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Jockey: he finally grapples with himself. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Visitor: self-isolation no longer. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Bra: Just your average silent Azerbaijani comedy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The East: how do we punish corporate crime? HBO, Amazon, AppleTV, redbox.
- Project Nim: a chimp learns the foibles of humans. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
- Bombshell: The Hedy Lamar Story: the world’s most beautiful woman and her secrets. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, KINO Now.
- The Gatekeepers: winning tactics make for a losing strategy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Colma: The Musical: a refreshing hoot. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube.
- Auggie: Who do you see when you put on the glasses? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube
- Step Into Liquid: “insanely gorgeous” surfing. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Riding Giants: obsessive search for the biggest wave to surf. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
Tomorrow night, July 30, Turner Classic Movies presets Raw Deal, featuring some of the best dialogue in all of film noir, a love triangle and the superb cinematography of John Alton. A con (Dennis O’Keefe) escapes from prison and goes on the run with his girlfriend (Claire Trevor) and a hostage, his prison social worker (Marsha Hunt). None of them know that the jailbreak had been engineered by the convict’s ruthless partner (Raymond Burr), who was expecting that he would be killed in the attempt. On the desperate road trip, attractions blossom, and the Bad Girl and the Good Girl begin to share the Good/Bad Guy.
Raw Deal is one of my Overlooked Noir, and TCM will air it Saturday night and Sunday morning on its Noir Alley with an intro and an outro by Eddie Muller.
