This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of the reflective documentary Relative and my suggestion to watch the Oscar-winning documentary Amy at home INSTEAD of seeing Back to Black in a theater.. And, Challengers and La Chimera, both on my running list of Best Movies of 2024 – So Far, are still in theaters.
CURRENT MOVIES
- Challengers: three people and their desire. In theaters.
- La Chimera: six genres for the price of one. In arthouse theaters.
- Relative: a loving, but insistent investigation. Amazon (included with prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Civil War: a most cautionary tale. In theaters.
- Ennio: the good the bad and the transcendent. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
- Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s: real, uplifting, essential. On PBS and the PBS App.
- Monkey Man: a massacre, one bad guy at a time. In theaters.
- The Taste of Things: two passions – culinary and romantic. Amazon, AppleTV.
- Golden Years: when dreams diverge. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Pale Flower: bracing neo-noir. Criterion.
- Leave No Trace: his demons, not hers. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The August Virgin: in search of reinvention. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Eye in the Sky: thriller meets thinker. Max, Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Poser: personal plagiarism. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road: a genius opens up. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Witness to Murder: can she believe her own eyes? AppleTV.
- The Rider: a life’s passion is threatened. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Lost City of Z: the historical adventure revived. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
On May 23, Turner Classic Movies airs The Battle of Algiers, the story of 1950s French colonialists struggling to suppress the guerrilla uprising of Algerian independence fighters. Although it looks like a documentary, it is not. Instead, filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo recreated the actual events so realistically that we believe that we are watching the strategy councils of each side. Among the great war films, it may be the best film on counter-insurgency. In 2003, the Pentagon screened the film for its special operations commanders.