This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of the Arctic/Antarctic exploration documentary After Antarctica and Ethan Hawkes’ Flannery O’Connor biopic Wildcat, plus seven movies that are The best of TCM’s Memorial Day Weekend.
I also added Take Aim at the Police Van (wild title, wild movie) to my collection of Overlooked Neo-noir.
REMEMBRANCE
Dabney Coleman, a versatile and prolific character actor, perfected the clueless, boorish boss characters in 9 to 5 and Tootsie. As gifted as he was in those comedic roles, he also worked in a wide range of fine movies: Downhill Racer, Cinderella Liberty, Midway, Go Tell the Spartans, North Dallas Forty and Melvin and Howard. Coleman topped off his career with roles in Boardwalk Empire, Ray Donovan and, as John Dutton, Sr., in Yellowstone.
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.
- Wildcat: often admirable, rarely fun. In theaters.
- Civil War: a most cautionary tale. In theaters.
- Ennio: the good the bad and the transcendent. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
- After Antarctica: one man, two poles. 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.
- The Woman Who Ran: is the payoff worth the slow burn? AppleTV, YouTube.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Poser: personal plagiarism. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Leave No Trace: his demons, not hers. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The August Virgin: in search of reinvention. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Pale Flower: bracing neo-noir. Criterion.
- Eye in the Sky: thriller meets thinker. Max, Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- 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
See my The Best of TCM’s Memorial Day Weekend.
On May 28, TCM presents , the triumph of silent filmmaking, Fritz Lang’s 1927 science fiction masterpiece Metropolis. An uber-futuristic movie that is almost 100 years old. Still-spetacular sets, Lang used giant scale, Evertyone should see this film at least once. Verry trippy,