Anatomy of a Murder

Movies to See Right Now

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Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Pacino in ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLWOOD

The Movie Gourmet is having a busy week: Wednesday night at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival for Curtiz, last night with the remarkable Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood and a date with The Wife tonight for The Farewell. I’ll be writing these up soon – stay tuned.

OUT NOW

  • The Last Black Man in San Francisco is an absorbing exploration of inner lives reacting to a changing city – and it’s one of the best films of the year.
  • The wildly successful comedy Booksmart is an entirely fresh take on the coming of age film, and a high school graduation party romp like you’ve never seen. Directed and written by women, BTW.
  • Mindy Kaling’s very smart, privilege-skewering comedy Late Night stars Emma Thompson (and contains a performance gem by John Lithgow).
  • The Kid is a little movie that works, chiefly because of Dustin DeHaan’s performance, for fans of Westerns. The Kid can be streamed from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

ON VIDEO

My stream of the week is Mud, a great film to watch with middle schoolers and teens on summer vacation. At its heart, Mud is a coming of age story in which the kids get a big dose of realism about love and human constancy. You can stream Mud on Amazon (free on Prime), iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play; it’s also available on DVD from Netflix.

ON TV

I’m recommending Anatomy of a Murder, which I featured yesterday; it airs tomorrow on TCM.

There’s also an early neo-noir on TCM on July 27 – 1962’s Experiment in Terror. It’s not one of the great noirs, but it’s a nailbiter with some high points and some curiosities. A criminal (Ross Martin) tries to heist a bank by threatening a bank teller’s little sister; he’s stalking her and scaring her over the phone, so the FBI leader (Glenn Ford) only has the crook’s asthmatic voice as a clue. The bank teller is played by Lee Remick, who is always worth watching, and the role of the little sister was one of the first for 20-year-old Stefanie Powers. Like Stefanie Powers (The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. and Hart to Hart), Ross Martin became a well-known TV star (Artemus Gordon in The Wild, Wild West). The climax is a chase in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park – right where the departing throngs bottle-necked at the entrance to the long escalator – a point always to be remembered by Giants fans; oddly, the bad guy is trying to be inconspicuous by being the only person in the crowd to wear a hoodie – not yet ubiquitous ballpark fashion. Blake Edwards, much more well known for comedies, directed.

Lee Remick catching a Giants game at Candlestick in EXPERIMENT IN TERROR
Ross Martin and Lee Remick in EXPERIMENT IN TERROR
Ross Martin in EXPERIMENT IN TERROR

Movies to See Right Now

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Emily Blunt (left) in A QUIET PLACE

So there are about a hundred movie screens in Silicon Valley, and this weekend you can see Avengers: Infinity War on THIRTY of them. I have nothing against Avengers: Infinity War, which I do not plan to see even though I really like Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, Christ Pratt, Tom Hiddleston and Robert Downey, Jr. It’s just that this latest from the Marvels franchise is taking up a third of our theater capacity. If only we could devote twenty-five screens to the Marvel movie and make room for another five movies about and for adults…I’m getting grouchy, because in the last year we’ve lost most of our art house screens with the closure of Camera 7, Camera 3 and the Bluelight, all after losing Camera 12 the year before. Still waiting for the opening of Pruneyard Dine-in Cinema…

OUT NOW
This week’s top picks:

  • A Quiet Place is as satisfyingly scary as any movie I’ve seen in a good long time. Very little gore and splatter, but plenty of thrills. I’m not a big fan of horror movies, but I enjoyed and admired this one.
  • Godard, Mon Amour is, at the same time, a tribute to the genius of Jean-Luc Godard’s early cinema and a satire on the insufferable tedium of the political dilettantism that squandered the rest of Godard’s filmmaking career.   This is a very inventive film, written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist).  The more Godard films that you’ve seen, the more you will enjoy the wit of Godard, Mon Amour.
  • The wonderfully dark, dark comedy The Death of Stalin is still in a few theaters, and it’s worth the drive.
  • Outside In: Now on Netflix (and in one Bay Area theater), this fine Lynn Shelton drama about a man returning to his community after 20 years in prison is an acting showcase for Kaitlin Dever (Justified), Jay Duplass (Transparent) and, especially, Edie Falco. Falco’s performance is stunning.
  • Thom Zimny’s excellent HBO documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher explores Elvis’ artistic journey.
  • I liked Al Pacino’s portrayal of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno as his storied career was killed by scandal in HBO’s Paterno.

ON VIDEO
My DVD/Stream of the Week is a comedy, Miloš Forman’s bitingly satire of Communism, The Firemen’s Ball (which is also sometimes listed as The Fireman’s Ball). It can be streamed from Amazon Prime and rented on DVD from Netflix.

ON TV
On April 30, Turner Classic Movies presents the Otto Preminger masterpiece Anatomy of a Murder (1959). This movie has everything: Jimmy Stewart’s portrayal of a wily lawyer, content to underachieve in the countryside, Stewart’s electrifying courtroom face-off with George C. Scott, great performances by a surly Ben Gazzara and a slutty Lee Remick, a great jazz score by Duke Ellington and a suitably cynical noir ending. That jazz score is one of the few movie soundtrack CDs that I own. The music perfectly complements the story of a murder investigation that reveals more and more ambiguity as it proceeds. Stewart’s character relaxes by dabbling in jazz piano, and Duke himself has a cameo leading a bar band in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (of all places).

James Stewart and George C. Scott tangle in ANATOMY OF A MURDER

Movies to See Right Now

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Melissa Leo in NOVITIATE

So the highly acclaimed Novitiate, Lady Bird, Last Flag Flying, Darkest Hour and The Square have reached the Bay Area, but only in a few theaters.  The festival audience favorite Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri arrives next weekend.  Of these, I’ve only seen The Square, an ambitious satire that I liked, but which is not for everyone; I’ll be posting about it soon.  I liked LBJ, an effective Cliff Notes history lesson.  I’ll also soon be writing about LBJ and Murder on the Orient Express.  Stay tuned.

IDA

Because the big Prestige Movies are arriving in theaters and Oscar campaigns are being launched,  I’m giving you a movie that you can compare to 2017’s Oscar Bait. The Polish drama Ida won the 2015 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Picture and the International Critics’ Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Ida was my pick as the best film at Cinequest, where it won the Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature.  Ida is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon Instant, YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Video.

On November 15 , Turner Classic Movies presents the Otto Preminger masterpiece Anatomy of a Murder (1959). This movie has everything: Jimmy Stewart’s portrayal of a wily lawyer, content to underachieve in the countryside, Stewart’s electrifying courtroom face-off with George C. Scott, great performances by a surly Ben Gazzara and a slutty Lee Remick, a great jazz score by Duke Ellington and a suitably cynical noir ending. That jazz score is one of the few movie soundtrack CDs that I own. The music perfectly complements the story of a murder investigation that reveals more and more ambiguity as it proceeds. Stewart’s character relaxes by dabbling in jazz piano, and Duke himself has a cameo leading a bar band in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (of all places).

James Stewart and George C. Scott tangle in Anatomy of a Murder
James Stewart (right) and George C. Scott (seated) tangle in ANATOMY OF A MURDER

Movies to See Right Now

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Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in CREED
Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in CREED

I really like Bay Area filmmaker Ryan Coogler’s Creed – the newest and entirely fresh chapter in the Rocky franchise.  I’ll write about it soon, but don’t wait for my post.

Also in theaters now:

  • The Irish romantic drama Brooklyn is an audience-pleaser with a superb performance by Saoirse Ronan.
  • Spotlight – a riveting, edge-of-your-seat drama with some especially compelling performances;
  • The Martian – an entertaining Must See space adventure – even for folks who usually don’t enjoy science fiction;
  • Bridge of Spies – Steven Spielberg’s Cold War espionage thriller with Tom Hanks, featuring a fantastic performance by Mark Rylance.
  • Sicario – a dark and paranoid crime thriller about the drug wars.
  • 3 Left Standing – the wistful stand-up comedy documentary.
  • Trumbo – the historical drama that reflects on the personal cost of princliples.
  • Spectre – action and vengeance from a determined James Bond.

My Stream of the Week is the raucous and raunchy high energy comedy Tangerine (which you can’t tell was shot on an iPhone). You can stream Tangerine on Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and some cable/satellite PPV.  (Or you can buy the DVD from a retailer.)

On December 12, there is a real curiosity on Turner Classic Movies, the 1933 anti-war movie Men Must Fight, which predicts World War II with unsettling accuracy.  Then, on December 14, TCM will screen Anatomy of a Murder, with its great courtroom scene, great performances by James Stewart, George C. Scott, Ben Gazzara and Lee Remick and for its superb jazz soundtrack.

TANGERINE
TANGERINE

Movies to See Right Now

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Rebecca Hall, Jason Bateman and Joel Edgerton in THE GIFT
Rebecca Hall, Jason Bateman and Joel Edgerton in THE GIFT

In the movie theaters, we are still in the dreaded Mid August Doldrums, but there are some good choices:

  • The End of the Tour is the smartest road trip movie ever, starring Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg. Be sure to see it.
  • Joel Edgerton’s The Gift is a satisfying thriller – and much more.
  • In Mr. Holmes, Ian McKellen is superb as the aged Sherlock Holmes, re-opening his final case.

Woody Allen’s Irrational Man is not bad, but empty.  Skip the failed comedy Mistress America, which opens today.

My DVD/Streams of the Week are Cockfighter and Two-Lane Blacktop, with unforgettable performances by Warren Oates.  There’s a Criterion Collection DVD for Two-Lane Blacktop, which is available from Netflix. You can stream Cockfighter on Amazon Instant Video.

On August 29, Turner Classic Movies presents the Otto Preminger masterpiece Anatomy of a Murder (1959). This movie has everything: Jimmy Stewart’s portrayal of a wily lawyer, content to underachieve in the countryside, Stewart’s electrifying courtroom face off with George C. Scott, great performances by a surly Ben Gazzara and a slutty Lee Remick, a great jazz score by Duke Ellington and a suitably cynical noir ending.

On September 3 on TCM, we meet Robert Young as one of cinema’s least sympathetic protagonists in They Won’t Believe Me (1947). A decade before Father Know Best and two decades before Marcus Welby, M.D., Young plays a weak-willed and impulsive gold-digging womanizer. He’s married for money, but he also wants his girlfriend (the rapturous Jane Greer) AND his second girlfriend (a gloriously slutty Susan Hayward) AND his wife’s money. He’s making every conceivable bad choice until, WHAM BANG, circumstance creates a situation where he can get everything he wants …until it all falls apart. They Won’t Believe Me has one of the most ironic endings in the movies.

James Stewart and George C. Scott tangle in Anatomy of a Murder
James Stewart (right) and George C. Scott (seated) tangle in ANATOMY OF A MURDER

12 movie classics coming up on TV

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SEVEN DAYS IN MAY

Turner Classic Movies is celebrating the Oscars with its annual 31 Days of Oscars, filling its broadcast schedule with Academy Award-winning films.   On this Thursday through Sunday, the TCM lineup is especially rich, including these gems:

Seven Days in May:  “I’m suggesting Mr President, there’s a military plot to take over the Government of these United States, next Sunday…”   John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate) is a master of the thriller, and his 1964 Seven Days in May is a masterpiece of the paranoid political thriller subgenre.  Edmond O’Brien’s performance is best among outstanding turns by Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Frederic March and Whit Bissell.

A Place in the Sun: One of the great films of the 1950s.  Montgomery Clift is a poor kid who is satisfied to have a job and a trashy girlfriend (Shelly Winters in a brilliant portrayal).  Then, he learns that he could have it all – the CEO’s daughter Elizabeth Taylor, lifelong comfort, status and career.  Did I mention Elizabeth Taylor?  The now pregnant girlfriend is the only obstacle to more than he could have ever dreamed for – can he get rid of her without getting caught?

Anatomy of a Murder (1959): Otto Preminger delivers a classic courtroom drama that frankly addresses sexual mores.  James Stewart is a folksy but very canny lawyer defending a cynical soldier (Ben Gazzara) on a murder charge; did he discover his wife straying or is he avenging her rape?  Lee Remick portrays the wife with a penchant for partying and uncertain fidelity. The Duke Ellington score could be the very best jazz score in the movies. Joseph Welch, the real-life lawyer who stood up to Sen. Joe McCarthy in a televised red scare hearing, plays the judge.

All this and more!  There’s Double Indemnity one of the masterpieces of film noir, Marlon Brando’s tour de force in On the Waterfront, the great trial movie The Caine Mutiny, the historically important Easy Rider (and one of my Best Drug Movies) and the political classic All the King’s Men.  If you’re looking for an epic, you can try out The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia on your big screen TV.  For a comedy, there’s Tootsie.

And don’t miss an overlooked great Jack Nicholson performance in The Last Detail.

Tune up that TiVo!

Movies to See Right Now

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Jude Law in SIDE EFFECTS

The best new movie is Steven Soderbergh’s psychological thriller Side Effects with Rooney Mara, Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones.  In Stand Up Guys, Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin play old mobsters gearing up for one last surge of adrenaline. Quartet is a pleasant lark of a geezer comedy with four fine performances. The charmingly funny Warm Bodies has made my list of Zombie Movies for People Who Don’t Like Zombie Movies. The pretty good horror movie Mama (with Jessica Chastain) can send chills down your spine without any slashing or splattering.

Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook are on my list of Best Movies of 2012 and all are nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. The French language drama Amour, also nominated for Best Picture, is a brilliantly made film about the end of life – it’s also an almost unbearable viewing experience.

If, like me, you worship the spaghetti Western, the Quentin Tarantino blockbuster Django Unchained is gloriously pedal-to-the-metal, splattering exploitation. The intelligent drama Rust and Bone is the singular tale of a complicated woman and an uncomplicated man. Ang Lee’s visually stunning fable Life of Pi is an enthralling commentary on story-telling.

Skip the unoriginal mob movie Gangster Squad, which wastes its fine cast. Also pass on the lavish but stupefying all-star Les Miserables, with its multiple endings, each more miserable than the last. The FDR movie Hyde Park on Hudson is a bore. The disaster movie The Impossible is only for audiences that enjoy watching suffering adults and children in peril. I have not seen Movie 43 – it is the most critically reviled movie in a looooong time.

You can read descriptions and view trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD of the week is the underrated 2012 thriller Deadfall.

Turner Classic Movies is celebrating the Oscars with its annual 31 Days of Oscars, filling its broadcast schedule with Academy Award-winning films. In the next week, the especially rich lineup will include Double Indemnity, A Place in the Sun, Seven Days in May, All the King’s Men, Anatomy of a Murder with its great jazz score, On the Waterfront, The Caine Mutiny, Easy Rider, The Last Detail, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Tootsie.

Coming up on TV: Anatomy of a Murder and its great jazz soundtrack

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Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting Anatomy of a Murder on December 9.  I love this film for its great courtroom scene, for the great performances by James Stewart, George C. Scott, Ben Gazzara and Lee Remick and for its exquisite pacing.  But today, I want to recommend it because of its great jazz soundtrack by none other than Duke Ellington.  It’s one of the few movie soundtrack CDs that I own.

The music perfectly complements the story of a murder investigation that reveals more and more ambiguity as it proceeds.  Stewart’s character relaxes by dabbling in jazz piano, and Duke himself has a cameo leading a bar band in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (of all places).

Here’s the music under the opening credits.

Here’s Duke Ellington’s cameo.

Movies to See Right Now

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Brendan Gleeson in THE GUARD

The best choice in theaters this week is the Irish dark comedy The Guard, starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle.

There are three movies now in theaters from my list of Best Movies of 2011 – So Far, including Woody Allen’s sweet, funny and thoughtful comedy Midnight in Paris.  Buck is an extraordinary documentary about a real-life horse whisperer with a compelling human story.  You might still be able to find Errol Morris’ documentary Tabloid, the hilarious story of Joyce McKinney, a beauty queen jailed for manacling a Mormon missionary as her sex slave and, decades later, cloning her dog.

A Little Help is a funny Jenna Fischer vehicle about a sad sack mom.  Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are excellent in the romcom Crazy Stupid Love.   The Names of Love is an amusing but forgettable French comedy about a flighty leftwinger who seeks to educate and convert conservatives by sleeping with them.

If you have kids, Pixar’s Cars 2 is an excellent choice (adults will especially enjoy the James Bond spoof thread).

Turkey Bowl is a delightful indie comedy available from iTunes.

Despite Rachel Weisz’s performance, The Whistleblower is a misfire – a potentially riveting story clumsily told.  Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life contains a good 90-minute family drama that is completely derailed by an additional hour of mind-numbingly self-important claptrap.

You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick is Kill the Irishman.

Movies on TV this week include two Jimmy Stewart classics: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Anatomy of a Murder on TCM.

Movies to See Right Now – Updated

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The Fighter: For better or worse, Mark Wahlberg has Christian Bale in his corner

This is the time of year that I live for –  lots of great choices in the theaters.  I strongly recommend Rabbit Hole, an exquisite exploration of the grieving process with great performances by Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhardt, Diane Wiest, Sandra Oh and Miles Tenner.  Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is a rip roaring thriller and a showcase for Natalie Portman and Barbara Hershey. The Fighter is an excellent drama, starring Mark Wahlberg as a boxer trying to succeed despite his crack addict brother (Christian Bale) and trashy mom (Melissa Leo).  Fair Game, the Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson story with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, is also excellent.  I Love You, Phillip Morris is an entertaining offbeat combo of the con man, prison and romantic comedy genres.  For some delectable food porn, see Kings of Pastry.

Morning Glory is a passable comedy, as is Love and Other Drugs.

There are some Must See films still kicking around in theaters this week: Inside Job and The Social Network. Both are on my list of Best Movies of 2010 – So Far.

For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

I have not yet seen Somewhere, True Grit or The King’s Speech, opening this weekend.  You can see the trailers at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD of the Week is the surprising Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.

Movies on TV include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Anatomy of a Murder, Requiem for a Heavyweight and Arsenic and Old Lace on TCM.