Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Aylin Tezel and Chris Fulton in FALLING INTO PLACE, US premiere at Cinequest. Courtesy of Cinequest.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – Cinequest is underway, and it’s my 14th year covering Silicon Valley’s own major film festival. My Best of Cinequest recommends films from the Thriller, Romance, Comedy, International, Art Film and Documentary categories, along with two Must Sees. All of my coverage is linked on my Cinequest 2024 page – so far, four features and reviews or capsules of ten films.

The WIfe and I are also preparing our renowned Oscar Dinner – more on that tomorrow.

Speaking of the Oscars, I’ll be especially interested in

  • How many Oscars that Oppenheimer racks up. I’m guessing AT LEAST seven: Best Picture, director Christopher Nolan, cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema, editor Jennifer Lame, composer Ludwig Göransson and actors Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr.
  • How much recognition Anatomy of a Fall gets, despite not being a Hollywood movie. I’m rooting for Justine Triet’s original screenplay and Sandra Huller’s performance (but it would be OK if Lily Gladstone wins Best Actress instead).
  • I’ll also be rooting for America Ferrara’s performance and Greta Gerwig’s adapted screenplay for Barbie.

Also note that, with Poor Things, American Fiction and The Zone of Interest going to VOD, you can now stream any and all of the major Oscar-nominated films.

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 and Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube,
  • The Taste of Things: two passions: culinary and romantic. In arthouse theaters.
  • Golden Years: when dreams diverge. In arthouse 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, Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Dream Scenario: but it can’t be my fault, can it? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Drift: escaping the horrors, but not yet the trauma. In arthouse theaters.
  • The Boys in the Boat: underdogs soar. In theaters and streaming.
  • The Zone of Interest: next door to the unthinkable. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Rustin: greatness, overlooked. Netflix.
  • Maestro: not what she bargained for. Netflix.

WATCH AT HOME

Idella Johnson, Sivan Noam Shimon and Hannah Pepper in Marion Hill’s film MA BELLE, MY BEAUTY. Courtesy of SFFILM.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

ON TV

Warren William with Loretta Young in EMPLOYEES ENTRANCE

On March 12, Turner Classic Movies airs Employees Entrance, starring Warren William, whose movies from the early 30s remain fresh today. Although he is not well-known today, William was “King of the Pre-Code”, starring in 25 movies between 1931 and 1934, many with the sexual frankness and moral ambiguity that was to be erased by the Production Code. If you want to understand Pre-Code cinema, watch Employees Entrance, and imagine the future movie censor, the supercilious Joe Breen, with his head exploding.

In the 1933 Employees Entrance, William plays a department store manager who is viciously ruthless with his competitors and suppliers.  He abuses his own employees and is indifferent to the resultant suicide attempts.  He uses his position to have sex with a young employee (Loretta Young), even after she marries someone else.  And he keeps a floozy on the payroll to distract another executive (his putative supervisor) from meddling in the business.  And for all 75 minutes of Employees Entrance, William’s joyously despicable character is richly enjoying himself.  If you’re looking for the triumph of Good over Evil, this isn’t your movie.

With his striking features (including a prominent and noble nose) and his deep and cultured voice, William was a natural for the newfangled talkies.  William excelled in the Pre-Code movies because he could play deliciously shameless scoundrels who would use their wit and position to exploit everyone else, especially for sex, power and money.  His characters are fun to watch because they take such delight in their own depravity.  His leading ladies included the likes of Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Loretta Young, Ann Dvorak and Claudette Colbert. But in 1934, the new Production Code meant that movies could no longer allow his characters to have sex and otherwise behave badly and get away with it.

One of my favorite movies is 1932’s hilarious political comedy The Dark Horse, in which William plays an equally ruthless and amoral campaign manager.  He is such a scoundrel that he must first get sprung from jail to teach his dimwitted candidate to answer every question with “Yes…and, then again, no.”  He describes his own candidate (the gleefully dim Guy Kibbee) thus:  “He’s the dumbest human being I ever saw. Every time he opens his mouth he subtracts from the sum total of human knowledge.” 

Ever the sexually predatory cad on the screen, the real-life William led a quiet life and was married to the same woman for twenty-five years until his death.