This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of The Whale, Madoff: Monster of Wall Street and The Pale Blue Eye. I’m busy preparing to cover two film festivals that are both running over the same ten days, January 20-29 – Noir City in person and Slamdance virtually. Wish me luck.
Don’t overlook my year-end features:
- Best Movies of 2022.
- 2022 Farewells: on the screen (Sidney Poitier, William Hurt, Jean-Louis Trintignant,, Angela Lansbury, James Caan, Louise Fletcher, Ray Liotta, Bo Hopkins, Clu Gulager, Henry Silva, L.Q. Jones, Roger E. Mosley, Anne Heche, Meat Loaf, Tony Sirico and Ronnie Hawkins).
- 2022 Farewells: behind the camera (Peter Bogdanovich, Alan Ladd Jr., Jean-Luc Godard, Bob Rafaelson, Wolfgang Peterson and Monty Norman).
CURRENT MOVIES
- The Whale: regret to redemption. In theaters.
- Madoff: Monster of Wall Street: adding some jawdroppers to a familiar story. Netflix.
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery: skewer the rich. Netflix.
- Babyon: “wanton excess” is inadequate to describe this movie. In theaters.
- The Eternal Daughter: consumed by mom. In theaters.
- Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. HBO Max.
- Stars at Noon: needs less sweat and more sizzle. Amazon.
- Aftersun: who’s coming of age is this? In theaters.
- The Fabelmans: a mom, a dad and their genius kid. In theaters.
- Decision to Leave: he’s obsessed, and she asks, “Am I so wicked?”. In theaters.
- Causeway: affecting and uplifting. AppleTV.
- 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.
- The Pale Blue Eye: Gothic and so-so, except for a great Harry Melling. Netflix.
- The Wonder: a visually beautiful slog. Netflix.
- The Greatest Beer Run Ever: a blowhard plans a stunt, gets an education. AppleTV.
- Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues: what Armstrong was really thinking. AppleTV.
WATCH AT HOME
At year-end, I suspend my usual The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE so I can highlight the very best movies from 2022. These are on my list of Best Movies of 2022 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 January 17, Turner Classic Movies will present an overlooked masterwork. Set in England just before the D-Day invasion, The Americanization of Emily (1964) is a biting satire and one of the great anti-war movies. James Garner plays an admiral’s staff officer charged with locating luxury goods and willing Englishwomen for the brass. Julie Andrews plays an English driver who has lost her husband and other male family members in the War. She resists emotional entanglements with other servicemen whose lives may be put at risk, but falls for Garner’s “practicing coward”, a man who is under no illusions about the glory of war and is determined to stay as far from combat as possible.
Unfortunately, Garner’s boss (Melvyn Douglas) has fits of derangement and becomes obsessed with the hope that the first American killed on the beach at D-Day be from the Navy. Accordingly, he orders Garner to lead a suicide mission to land ahead of the D-Day landing, ostensibly to film it. Fellow officer James Coburn must guarantee Garner’s martyrdom.
It’s a brilliant screenplay from Paddy Chayefsky, who won screenwriting Oscars for Marty, The Hospital and Network. Today, Americanization holds up as least as well as its contemporary Dr. Strangelove and much better than Failsafe. Reportedly, both Andrews and Garner have tagged this as their favorite film.
One of the “Three Nameless Broads” bedded by the Coburn character is played by Judy Carne, later of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.