This week on The Movie Gourmet – recent reviews of fall films big and small: Decision to Leave, The Menu, The Banshees of Inisherin, Armageddon Time, All Quiet on the Western Front, Tar, Triangle of Sadness and The Greatest Beer Run Ever. I’m still looking to see The Fabelmans, Glass Onion: a Knives Out Mystery, The Son and Aftersun, which been difficult to find outside LA and NYC.
REMEMBRANCE
Irene Cara won an Oscar for writing the song Flashdance … What a Feeling. She performed that song in the movie Flashdance, as she had done with another Oscar-winning title song, Fame; (she played the character of Coco in Fame).
CURRENT MOVIES
- Decision to Leave: he’s obsessed, and she asks, “Am I so wicked?”. In theaters.
- The Menu: immune from pretension. In theaters.
- All Quiet on the Western Front: the trauma of war. Netflix.
- Armageddon Time: coming of age – right into a moral choice. In theaters.
- The Banshees of Inisherin: no limits on stubbornness. In theaters.
- 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.
- The Greatest Beer Run Ever: a blowhard plans a stunt, gets an education. AppleTV.
- See How They Run: Is this supposed to be funny? HBO Max.
- Don’t Worry, Darling: a misfire (but with Huell Howser’s cool house). In theaters.
- Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues: what Armstrong was really thinking. AppleTV.
WATCH AT HOME
Photo caption: Sylvie Mix in POSER. Photo courtesy of Oscilloscope Films.
During the Holidays, I suspend my usual The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE so I can highlight the very best movies from earlier in 2022. These are on my list of Best Movies of 2022 – So Far, and they shouldn’t be overlooked. Now you can watch them all at home.
- Nope: an exceptionally intelligent popcorn movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- 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.
- Poser: personal plagiarism. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- The Tale of King Crab: storytelling at its best. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- 12 Months: an authentic relationship evolves. Amazon.
ON TV
On December 7, Turner Classic Movies airs In the Mood for Love, Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai’s steamy masterpiece. Tony Leong and Maggie Cheung play apartment neighbors in 1962 Hong Kong. They suspect, investigate and confirm that their respective spouses are having an affair -and become very personally close themselves during the process. They decide to keep the moral high ground and resist falling in bed with each other – and what’s sexier than NOT having sex? This becomes a haunting love story, complete with tantalizing near misses.
Wong Kar Wai’s regular cinematogapher Christopher Doyle combined with Mark Lee Ping-bing to shoot one of the most beautiful and atmospheric films you’ll ever see. You can feel the humidity as the men sweat in their Mad Men Era suits , and the rich color palette magnifies the passion.
Incidentally, the leading man is a different Tony Leong than the star of another art house hit, 1992’s The Lover.