Photo caption: Charlbi Dean and Harris Dickinson in in TRIANGLE OF SADNESS. Courtesy of NEON.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of three big movies – Tar, Triangle of Sadness and Amsterdam – each a disappointment in some way. This week, I’m bringing you an all new The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE. Plus an obscure but personally meaningful remembrance.
REMEMBRANCE
John Jay Osborn Jr. wrote the autobiographical novel which became the movie The Paper Chase, which has been very meaningful to me. That film, about a first-year law student, was released just before I started law school and many of the protagonist’s experiences mirrored those of my own first year.
CURRENT MOVIES
- Tar: a haughty spirit before a fall. In theaters.
- Triangle of Sadness: more subtlety, please. In theaters.
- Amsterdam: a star-studded thriller without the thrills. In theaters.
- Don’t Worry, Darling: a misfire (but with Huell Howser’s cool house). In theaters.
- The Grand Bolero: passion unlocked. Amazon.
- Spin Me Round: an unpretentious and delightful comedy. AppleTV.
- My Donkey, My Lover and I: it had me at the title. AppleTV.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Augustine: obsession, passion and the birth of a science. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
- Headhunters: from smoothly confident scoundrel to human piñata. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Her Smell: powerhouse Elisabeth Moss. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Grizzly Man: a fool’s misadventure. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Take Me to the River: fresh, unpredictable and gripping. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Lost Solace: a psychopath afflicted by empathy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
On November 8, Turner Classic Movies will present The Set-Up (1949), one of the great film noirs and one of the very best boxing movies. Robert Ryan plays a washed-up boxer that nobody believes can win again, not even his long-suffering wife (Audrey Totter). His manager doesn’t even bother to tell him that he is committed to taking a dive in his next fight. But what if he wins?
Director Robert Wise makes use of real-time narrative, then highly innovative. Watch for the verisimilitude of the bar where the deal goes down.
