This week on The Movie Gourmet – a review of the new audience-pleaser BlackBerry, opening today. Also streaming recommendations of The Last Lullaby, an overlooked neo-noir, and Best Worst Movie, an entertaining documentary about a laughably bad horror movie. I also highlighted Preston Sturges’ wickedly funny satires Sullivan’s Travels and Hail the Conquering Hero; if you missed them on TCM this week, you can still stream them from the major services – after eighty years, they’re still hilarious.
CURRENT MOVIES
- BlackBerry: woulda, coulda, shoulda. In theaters.
- Little Richard: I Am Everything: never denying his identity, but renouncing it. In theaters.
- Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song: a reflective artist, a reflective movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Jews of the Wild West: desperadoes, cowpunchers…and Jews. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Hannah Ha Ha: what makes for human value and fulfillment? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Lost King: not all cranks are cranky. In theaters.
- Living: what is it to live? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- A Dark, Dark Man: rounding up the usual suspects in Kazakhstan. MHz.
- The Last Lullaby: backing out of a contract hit. Amazon (included with Prime), Vudu, redbox.
- Best Worst Movie: a romp through cinematic awfulness. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- The Wave: Everything you want in a disaster movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Satan & Adam: more than an odd couple. Amazon, AppleTV.
- Reggie: it’s not just about Reggie. Netflix.
- Levinsky Park: refuge for refugees? Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
- The Speed Cubers: odd, and then profound. Netflix.
- Rodents of Unusual Size: 5 million orange-toothed critters and a Cajun octogenarian. Amazon, AppleTV.
- The 11th Green: a thinking person’s paranoid conspiracy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Magallanes: some wrongs cannot be righted. AppleTV.
ON TV
On May 16, Turner Classic Movies will present the deliciously sordid Tension, where Quimby (Richard Basehart), the wimpy night manager of a drugstore, has one of the worst wives in film noir. Claire (Audrey Totter) spends her daytime hours belittling Quimby and her nighttime hours cuckolding him. When she moves into Barney’s beach house and lets the hairy-chested Barney (Lloyd Gough) beat up her nerdy hubbie, the humiliated Quimby has had enough. There’s a murder and a frame. Will the cops find the real murderer? Rising star Cyd Charisse plays the good girl, and Barry Sullivan plays the cop who outsmarts them all.
