This very busy week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of the enormously fun Hit Man, the Senegalese fable Banel and Adama, the searing coming-of-age drama How to Have Sex, and the re-release of the most kinetic movie you’ll ever see, Run Lola Run.
La Chimera, one of the year’s best films, may now be watched at home on Amazon, AppleTV or YouTube. So is the Jessie Buckley/Olivia Colman comedy Wicked Little Letters.
CURRENT MOVIES
- Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
- Challengers: three people and their desire. In theaters.
- La Chimera: six genres for the price of one. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
- Run Lola Run: still sprinting after 25 years. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV and YouTube.
- Banel and Adama: we want to be together and left alone. In arthouse theaters.
- Relative: a loving, but insistent investigation. Amazon (included with prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Origin of Evil: the angry, the unhinged and the evil. Amazon, AppleTV.
- Wicked Little Letters: a sparkling Jessie Buckley and an interesting take on repression. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
- How to Have Sex: searing and authentic. MUBI.
- Wildcat: often admirable, rarely fun. In theaters.
- Civil War: a most cautionary tale. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango, but still expensive.
- Ennio: the good the bad and the transcendent. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
- The Taste of Things: two passions – culinary and romantic. Amazon, AppleTV.
- Golden Years: when dreams diverge. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube.
- Chasing Chasing Amy: origins of love, fictional and otherwise. Waiting for release.
- 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:
- Witness to Murder: can she believe her own eyes? AppleTV.
- 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.
- Poser: personal plagiarism. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road: a genius opens up. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- 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 June 19, Turner Classic Movies will air a 1970s time capsule, the unpretentious ground-breaker Car Wash. Car Wash portrays the raucous hijinks and foibles of the crew at a downtown LA car wash and samples a range of African-American perspectives, from an angry African nationalist to a corrupt preacher. Car Wash was the first film by an African-American director shown in competition at Cannes (and possibly the most unabashedly low brow Cannes entry). Three cast members – Bill Duke, Ivan Dixon and Melanie Mayron – became prolific directors themselves. Comedians George Carlin, Richard Pryor and “Professor” Irwin Corey have cameos. And the title song became a major disco hit. This is a very fun movie. I’ll be posting a complete review on Sunday, but go ahead and DVR it. now