This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of The Zone of Interest. The best movies in theaters right now are American Fiction and Poor Things. The best current movies that you can watch at home are Anatomy of a Fall, Killers of the Flower Moon and The Holdovers.
CURRENT MOVIES
- Anatomy of a Fall: family history, with life or death stakes. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- American Fiction: this can’t be happening. In theaters.
- Killers of the Flower Moon: an epic tale of epic betrayal. AppleTV (subscription), Amazon.
- The Holdovers: three souls must evolve beyond their losses. In theaters, Amazon.
- Poor Things: brazen, dazzling, feminist and very funny. In theaters.
- Dream Scenario: but it can’t be my fault, can it? In theaters.
- Ferrari: his racecars are easy, his women are not. In theaters.
- The Boys in the Boat: underdogs soar. In theaters.
- The Zone of Interest: next door to the unthinkable. In theaters.
- Driving Madeleine: still spirited at 92. In arthouse theaters.
- Rustin: greatness, overlooked. Netflix.
- Maestro: not what she bargained for. Netflix.
- The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial: just what, not who, is on trial here? Showtime/Paramount+.
- The Crime Is Mine: better after Huppert shows up. In arthouse theaters.
- Cypher: the year’s most original movie? Hulu.
- Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy: a movie and its time. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- The Handmaiden: gorgeous, erotic and a helluva plot. Amazon, Vudu.
- The Gift: three people revealed. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Inez & Doug & Kira: the tangle of love, friendship and bipolar disorder. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Run & Jump: a romance, a family drama and a promising first feature. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Victoria: a thrill ride filmed in one shot. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, KinoNow.
- Youth: a glorious cinematic meditation on life. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: a Must See, perched on the knife edge between comedy and tragedy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
On February 6, Turner Classic Movies will air Harold Lloyd’s silent comedy classic Safety Last!, and this 101-year-old movie is still a zinger. Lloyd, with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, was one of the three great filmmakers of silent comedies. Safety Last! begins with a joke on the audience, when we discover we’re not watching the scene we thought we were. Off we go, bouncing through Lloyd’s rube-in-the-big-city misadventures, all the way to the iconic finale, where Lloyd himself (he did most of his own stunts) climbs the exterior of a 10-story building and hangs from the face of a clock (which was actually staged on a shorter warehouse, but still dangerous).