This Week on The Movie Gourmet – Noir City continues though tomorrow, but I’m back with a new review of the overlooked gem In the Summers, now available to stream. Here’s my Noir City coverage so far:
- NOIR CITY returns – with the spotlight on femmes fatale
- NOIR CITY is here – don’t miss these three femmes fatale
CURRENT MOVIES
- Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- A Complete Unknown: a genius and his time. In theaters.
- The Last Showgirl: desperation amid the rhinestones. In theaters.
- The Room Next Door: Tilda and Julianne, life and death. In theaters.
- All We Imagine as Light: three women and a society that’s not on their side In theaters.
- Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- A Real Pain: whose pain is it? In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- The Return: an ancient tale told thru a 21st Century lens. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: another smart and charming romp. Netflix.
- Blitz: one brave, resourceful kid amid the horrors. AppleTV.
- The Outrun: facing herself without the bottle. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- The Remarkable Life of Ibelin: totally unexpected. Netflix.
- In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- Queer: forty-five minutes of fine romantic drama, and then the bizarre. In theaters.
- You Are Not Me: a nightmare at mom and dad’s. Amazon, Fandango.
- The Settlers: reckoning with the ugly past. MUBI.
- It’s Not Me: his life as an art film. Amazon, Fandango.
- Lake George: when you know you’re not going to win. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.
- The Critic: who’s on top now? Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
WATCH AT HOME
From my Best Movies of 2024:
- Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
- Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- La Chimera: six genres for the price of one. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon.
- Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
- The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
- Love Lies Bleeding: obsessions and impulses collide. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
ON TV
As we enter February, Turner Classic Movies launches its 31 Day of Oscars, showing only Oscar winners and nominees. That means lots of good movies, but it’s harder for me to recommend overlooked films to you, because fewer Oscar winners are overlooked, although some have been unjustly forgotten. For example tonight kicks off with 8 1/2, Wild Strawberries and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie back-to-back – a veritable survey course in European cinema. (I also DVR very few TCM movies this month, because I’ve already seen the ones I would want to watch.)
Nonetheless, I can recommend TCM’s February 3 broadcast of one of my personal favorite movies, The Paper Chase, which traces a young man’s (Timothy Bottoms) first year at Harvard Law School and is based on the memoir of a recent grad. Although IMDb labels The Paper Chase as 1973 movie, I saw it in the summer of 1975, just as I was about to enter law school myself. It’s such a personal favorite because just about EVERYTHING in the movie is something that I experienced myself at in my first year at Georgetown Law – everything, that is, EXCEPT dating Lindsay Wagner. It’s a compelling story and the great producer John Houseman won an acting Oscar for his performance as the mentor/nemesis law professor; Houseman immediately cashed in with his ”They make money the old fashioned way… they EARN it” commercials for Smith Barney.
The Paper Chase is also notable as the first feature film credit for actors Craig Richard Nelson, Graham Beckel (Brokeback Mountain, L.A. Confidential) and Edward Herrmann (known for many portrayals of FDR). All three are stellar as members of the law school study group, and these guys have now combined for over 300 screen acting credits. John Jay Osborn Jr., who wrote the autobiographical novel which was the source material movie, died in 2022.
