Green Book

Movies to See Right Now

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Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce in THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE

I’ve been absorbed by the 2019 Cinequest, which runs through Sunday. Here’s my Cinequest preview; I’m recommending the closing movie on Sunday evening – Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, starring Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce. Throughout the festival, I link my festival coverage to my Cinequest page, including both features and movie recommendations. Follow me on Twitter for the very latest coverage.

OUT NOW

  • In They Shall Not Grow Old, Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson has, for the first time, layered humanity over our understanding of World War I. By slowing down the speed of the jerky WWI film footage and adding sound and color, Jackson has allowed us to relate to the real people in the Great War. This is a generational achievement and a Must See.
  • Roma is an exquisite portrait of two enduring women and the masterpiece of Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men and Y Tu Mama Tambien). It won multiple Oscars. It is streaming now Netflix.
  • Green Book: This is the Oscar winner for Best Picture. Tony Lip is a marvelous character, and Viggo Mortensen’s performance is one of the great pleasures of this year in the movies.
  • Vice: in this bitingly funny biopic of Dick Cheney by writer-director Adam McKay (The Big Short), Cheney is played by a physically transformed and unrecognizable Christian Bale. A superb performance, pretty good history, biography from a sharp point of view and a damn entertaining movie.
  • Stan & Ollie: Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel and John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy deliver remarkable portraits of a partnership facing the inevitability of showbiz decline.
  • Pawel Pawlikowski’s sweeping romantic tragedy Cold War is not as compelling as his masterpiece Ida.
  • The Favourite: Great performances by three great actresses, sex and political intrigue are not enough; this critically praised film didn’t work for me.

 

ON VIDEO

My stream of the week is the Peruvian psychological drama Magallanes from the 2016 Cinequest. Magallanes can be streamed from iTunes, YouTube and Google Play.

 

ON TV

On March 19, Turner Classic Movies brings us The Best Years of Our Lives. It’s an exceptionally well-crafted, contemporary snapshot of post WW II American society adapting to the challenges of peacetime. Justifiably won seven Oscars. Still a great and moving film.

Harold Russell, Dana Andrews and Frederic Mrch in THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES

Movies to See Right Now

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Yalitza Aparicio in ROMA

It’s Oscar weekend, and here’s The Movie Gourmet’s annual Oscar Dinner (with its snarky reference to Bohemian Rhapsody). I also published my curtain raiser for the 2019 Cinequest and my recommendation for Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me on the PBS American Masters series

OUT NOW

  • In They Shall Not Grow Old, Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson has, for the first time, layered humanity over our understanding of World War I. By slowing down the speed of the jerky WWI film footage and adding sound and color, Jackson has allowed us to relate to the real people in the Great War. This is a generational achievement and a Must See.
  • Roma is an exquisite portrait of two enduring women and the masterpiece of Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men and Y Tu Mama Tambien). Will win multiple Oscars. It is streaming now Netflix.
  • Green Book: Tony Lip is a marvelous character, and Viggo Mortensen’s performance is one of the great pleasures of this year in the movies.
  • Vice: in this bitingly funny biopic of Dick Cheney by writer-director Adam McKay (The Big Short), Cheney is played by a physically transformed and unrecognizable Christian Bale. A superb performance, .pretty good history, biography from a sharp point of view and a damn entertaining movie.
  • Stan & Ollie: Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel and John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy deliver remarkable portraits of a partnership facing the inevitability of showbiz decline.
  • Pawel Pawlikowski’s sweeping romantic tragedy Cold War is not as compelling as his masterpiece Ida.
  • The Favourite: Great performances by three great actresses, sex and political intrigue are not enough; this critically praised film didn’t work for me.

ON VIDEO

The great character actor Richard Jenkins was nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role in last year’s Best Picture The Shape of Water, and we should remember that he also got an Oscar nod for his starring turn in the indie drama The Visitor.  The Visitor is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

ON TV

Turner Classic Movies, in its glorious 31 Days of Oscar series, airs John Huston’s 1949 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre on February 23. It’s still a gripping yarn – three down-and-outers improbably (and literally) strike gold. But can they trust each other enough to realize their gains once envy and greed appear? The Treasure of the Sierra Madre features one of Humphrey Bogart’s most colorful and compelling performances, which is reason enough to watch this classic.

But I also love watching director Huston’s real life father Walter Huston, who is cast as another of the trio. Most of us know Walter Huston, with his Gabby Hayes visage, from this movie, but Walter Huston was a major movie star as cinema moved to the talkies. Just between 1929 and 1939, he starred in thirty films. I love Huston’s work in this era, and I think that, with his very modern sensibility, he would be successful if he were working in today’s cinema. This is a good introduction to his work. (Walter Huston also appeared very briefly in John Huston’s directorial debut The Maltese Falcon – as Captain Jacoby, the guy who staggers into Sam Spade’s office with the titular black bird and expires.)

Walter Huston, Tim Holt and Humphrey Bogart in THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE

Movies to See Right Now

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THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD

There aren’t many MUST SEES out right now, but don’t miss They Shall Not Grow Old. The Wife and I have been catching up on the Oscar nominees and recently saw Black Panther, which is excellent for the super hero genre (faint praise from me). We also caught Bohemian Rhapsody, a perfectly fine movie that has no business being nominated for Best Picture.  I’m looking forward to seeing Green Book again this weekend, this time with The Wife – she’ll love it.

Somehow, more of my family and friends have, despite my advice, seen The Favourite.  One of my friends, a professional filmmaker and opinion leader among cinéastes, liked it; everyone else hated, hated, HATED it.  Really hated it.

OUT NOW

  • In They Shall Not Grow Old, Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson has, for the first time, layered humanity over our understanding of World War I. By slowing down the speed of the jerky WWI film footage and adding sound and color, Jackson has allowed us to relate to the real people in the Great War. This is a generational achievement and a Must See.
  • Roma is an exquisite portrait of two enduring women and the masterpiece of Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men and Y Tu Mama Tambien). Will win multiple Oscars. It is streaming now Netflix.
  • Green Book: Tony Lip is a marvelous character, and Viggo Mortensen’s performance is one of the great pleasures of this year in the movies.
  • Vice: in this bitingly funny biopic of Dick Cheney by writer-director Adam McKay (The Big Short), Cheney is played by a physically transformed and unrecognizable Christian Bale. A superb performance, .pretty good history, biography from a sharp point of view and a damn entertaining movie.
  • Stan & Ollie: Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel and John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy deliver remarkable portraits of a partnership facing the inevitability of showbiz decline.
  • Pawel Pawlikowski’s sweeping romantic tragedy Cold War is not as compelling as his masterpiece Ida.
  • The Favourite: Great performances by three great actresses, sex and political intrigue are not enough; this critically praised film didn’t work for me.

 

ON VIDEO

This week’s Stream of the Week is my pick for 2010’s best film, the Oscar-nominated, searing drama Incendies:  a young man and woman journey from Quebec to the Middle East to uncover family secrets from the Lebanese civil war. You can stream it from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

 

ON TV

This month, Turner Classic Movies  features all Oscar-nominated movies its 31 Days of Oscars, and I recommend Blow-up on February 19. Set in the Mod London of the mid-60s, a fashion photographer (David Hemmings) is living a fun, but shallow, life filled with sports cars, discos and scoring with supermodels (think Jane Birkin, Sarah Miles and Verushka). Then he discovers that his random photograph of a landscape may contain a clue in a murder and meets a mystery woman (Vanessa Redgrave). After taking us into a vivid depiction of the Mod world, director Michelangelo Antonioni brilliantly turns the story into a suspenseful story of spiraling obsession. His L’Avventura, La Notte and L’Eclisse made Antonioni an icon of cinema, but Blow-up is his most accessible and enjoyable masterwork. There’s also a cameo performance by the Jeff Beck/Jimmy Page version of the Yardbirds and a quick sighting of Michael Palin in a nightclub.

BLOW-UP

Movies to See Right Now

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Christian Bale in VICE

If you haven’t seen it, don’t miss the Mr. Rogers biodoc Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Saturday night on PBS.

OUT NOW

  • In They Shall Not Grow Old, Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson has, for the first time, layered humanity over our understanding of World War I. By slowing down the speed of the jerky WWI film footage and adding sound and color, Jackson has allowed us to relate to the real people in the Great War. This is a generational achievement and a Must See.
  • Roma is an exquisite portrait of two enduring women and the masterpiece of Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men and Y Tu Mama Tambien). Will win multiple Oscars. It is streaming now Netflix.
  • Green Book: Tony Lip is a marvelous character, and Viggo Mortensen’s performance is one of the great pleasures of this year in the movies.
  • Vice: in this bitingly funny biopic of Dick Cheney by writer-director Adam McKay (The Big Short), Cheney is played by a physically transformed and unrecognizable Christian Bale.  A  superb performance, .pretty good history, biography from a sharp point of view and a damn entertaining movie.
  • Stan & Ollie: Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel and John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy deliver remarkable portraits of a partnership facing the inevitability of showbiz decline.
  • Pawel Pawlikowski’s sweeping romantic tragedy Cold War is not as compelling as his masterpiece Ida.
  • The Favourite: Great performances by three great actresses, sex and political intrigue are not enough; this critically praised film didn’t work for me.
  • Do NOT, under any circumstances, see I Hate Kids, which I started to screen for a film festival earlier in the year, but could not bring myself to finish. Somehow, it got a theatrical release, but it only has a Metacritic rating of 12.

ON VIDEO

My Stream of the Week is Mustang, an Ocar-nominated drama about five exuberant Turkish teenage girls who challenge the repression of traditional culture. You can stream Mustang on Netflix, Amazon, iTunes. Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

ON TV

Turner Classic Movies is in the midst of its 31 Days of Oscar series, and I think that it’s time to revisit a spectacle. On February 13, TCM is broadcasting Lawrence of Arabia. For decades, many of us watched this epic squeezed into tinny-sounding TVs. In 1989, I was fortunate enough to see the director’s cut in an old movie palace. Now technology has caught up, and modern large screen HD televisions can do this wide-screen classic justice. Similarly, modern home sound systems can work with the great Maurice Jarre soundtrack.

Nobody has ever created better epics than director David Lean (Bridge Over the River Kwai, Dr. Zhivago). Peter O’Toole stars at the moment of his greatest physical beauty. The rest of the cast is unsurpassed: Omar Sharif, Jose Ferrer, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Quayle, Claude Rains, Arthur Kennedy, thousands of extras and entire herds of camels. The vast and severe Arabian desert is a character unto itself.  And master editor Anne V. Coates delivered what is called the greatest cut in cinema.

Settle in and watch the whole thing – and remember what “epic” really means.

Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia

Movies to See Right Now

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THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD

The Must See is Peter Jackson’s revelatory WW I documentary They Shall Not Grow Old. And this weekend closes out the Noir City film festival; my festival preview highlights the closing night film Blast of Silence, one of the very first (and bleakest) neo-noirs.

OUT NOW

  • In They Shall Not Grow Old, Lords of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson has, for the first time, layered humanity over our understanding of World War I. By slowing down the speed of the jerky WWI film footage and adding sound and color, Jackson has allowed us to relate to the real people in the Great War. This is a generational achievement. My complete post will go up this weekend.
  • Roma is an exquisite portrait of two enduring women and the masterpiece of Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men and Y Tu Mama Tambien). Will win multiple Oscars. It is streaming now Netflix.
  • Green Book: Tony Lip is a marvelous character, and Viggo Mortensen’s performance is one of the great pleasures of this year in the movies.
  • Vice: in this bitingly funny biopic of Dick Cheney, filmmaker Adam McKay explores the amoral grasping for power, and Christian Bale delivers a superb performance and a jaw-droppingly accurate impersonation of Cheney. My complete post will go up this weekend.
  • Stan & Ollie: Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel and John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy deliver remarkable portraits of a partnership facing the inevitability of showbiz decline.
  • Pawel Pawlikowski’s sweeping romantic tragedy Cold War is not as compelling as his masterpiece Ida.
  • The Favourite: Great performances by three great actresses, sex and political intrigue are not enough; this critically praised film didn’t work for me.
  • Do NOT, under any circumstances, see I Hate Kids, which I started to screen for a film festival earlier in the year, but could not bring myself to finish. Somehow, it got a theatrical release, but it only has a Metacritic rating of 12.

 

ON VIDEO

On February 2, it will be five years since we lost Philip Seymour Hoffman. My favorite Hoffman performance is in the 2007 dark thriller Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, which I’ve called the decade’s most overlooked American film. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is available on DVD and to stream from Netflix.

 

On TV

There are plenty of good choices on television during Turner Classic Movies 31 Days of Oscar, featuring Oscar-nominated and winning films.

  • The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (February 3): This romantic French musical is notable for three things: 1) the actors sing all of the dialogue; 2) the breakout performance by then 20-year-old Catherine Deneuve; and 3) an epilogue scene at a gas station – one of the great weepers in cinema history.
  • All the King’s Men (February 3): one of the best political movies of all time, from the novel based on the saga of Huey Long. Broderick Crawford stars as Willie Stark, the fictionalized Kingfish. Watch for the brilliant, Oscar-winning supporting performance by Mercedes McCambridge. (Note: this is the 1949 version, NOT the lousy 2006 Sean Penn remake.)
  • Perhaps the most deeply funny movie of all time, Mon Oncle (February 5), Jacques Tati’s masterful fish-out-of-water satire of modern consumerism and modernist culture. If you have strong feelings (either way) for Mid-Century Modern style, be patient and settle in. There’s very little dialogue and lots of sly observational physical humor. The use of ambient noise/sounds and the very spare soundtrack is pure genius.
Mon Oncle
Jacques Tati in MON ONCLE

Movies to See Right Now

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Anne Bancroft and Aldo Ray in NIGHTFALL playing this week at NOIR CITY

This weekend, I’m in San Francisco for the Noir City film festival; check out my festival preview.

OUT NOW

  • Roma is an exquisite portrait of two enduring women and the masterpiece of Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men and Y Tu Mama Tambien). Will win multiple Oscars. It is streaming now Netflix.
  • Green Book: Tony Lip is a marvelous character, and Viggo Mortensen’s performance is one of the great pleasures of this year in the movies.
  • Stan & Ollie: Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel and John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy deliver remarkable portraits of a partnership facing the inevitability of showbiz decline.
  • Pawel Pawlikowski’s sweeping romantic tragedy Cold War is not as compelling as his masterpiece Ida.
  • The Favourite: Great performances by three great actresses, sex and political intrigue are not enough; this critically praised film didn’t work for me.
  • Do NOT, under any circumstances, see I Hate Kids, which I started to screen for a film festival earlier in the year, but could not bring myself to finish.  Somehow, it got a theatrical release, but it only has a Metacritic rating of 12.

ON VIDEO

The Aura is a brilliant 2005 neo-noir from Argentina that I wasn’t familiar with until the Czar of Noir, Eddie Muller, programmed it into the 2017 Noir City film festival. The Aura is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Amazon and Hulu.

 

On TV

On January 27, Turner Classic Movies will present an overlooked masterwork. Set in England just before the D-Day invasion, The Americanization of Emily (1964) is a biting satire and one of the great anti-war movies. James Garner plays an admiral’s staff officer charged with locating luxury goods and willing English women for the brass. Julie Andrews plays an English driver who has lost her husband and other male family members in the War. She resists emotional entanglements with other servicemen whose lives may be put at risk, but falls for Garner’s “practicing coward”, a man who is under no illusions about the glory of war and is determined to stay as far from combat as possible.

Unfortunately, Garner’s boss (Melvyn Douglas) has fits of derangement and becomes obsessed with the hope that the first American killed on the beach at D-Day be from the Navy. Accordingly, he orders Garner to lead a suicide mission to land ahead of the D-Day landing, ostensibly to film it. Fellow officer James Coburn must guarantee Garner’s martyrdom.

It’s a brilliant screenplay from Paddy Chayefsky, who won screenwriting Oscars for Marty, The Hospital and Network.

Today, Americanization holds up as least as well as its contemporary Dr. Strangelove and much better than Failsafe.

Reportedly, both Andrews and Garner have tagged this as their favorite film.

One of the “Three Nameless Broads” bedded by the Coburn character is played by Judy Carne, later of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.

And on January 30, TCM presents the often transgressive cult classic Spider Baby, the last horror film for Lon Chaney, Jr. and the first for Sid Haig.

Sid Haig in SPIDER BABY
Sid Haig in SPIDER BABY

Movies to See Right Now

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John Huston in THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND

In case you’ve been absorbed in the Holidays, here is my annual Best Movies of 2019, farewells to filmmakers, both those behind the camera and those on screen. And my anniversary tribute to The Wife. And here’s my recent 42-minute podcast with Sara Vizcarrondo of Silicon Valley’s Cinema Club.

OUT NOW

  • Roma is an exquisite portrait of two enduring women and the masterpiece of Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men and Y Tu Mama Tambien). Will win multiple Oscars. It is streaming now Netflix.
  • Green Book: Tony Lip is a marvelous character, and Viggo Mortensen’s performance is one of the great pleasures of this year in the movies.
  • Shoplifters won the Palm d’Or at Cannes. This is a witty, and finally heartbreaking, look at a family that lives on the margins – and then is revealed to be not what it seems.
  • Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind and its companion documentaries, all available to stream on Netflix.
  • The masterful documentary Monrovia, Indiana is a fascinating movie about a boring subject.
  • Pawel Pawlikowski’s sweeping romantic tragedy Cold War is not as compelling as his masterpiece Ida.
  • The Favourite: Great performances by three great actresses, sex and political intrigue are not enough; this critically praised film didn’t work for me.
  • Skip First Man – a boring movie about a fascinating subject.

ON VIDEO

Along with Roma, you can now stream TEN of my Best Films of 2018 – So Far:

  • Leave No Trace: his demons, not hers. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • The Rider: a life’s passion is threatened. n Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • The Other Side of the Wind: Welles’ brilliance from beyond the grave. Available to stream, along with its two companion documentaries, on Netflix.
  • The Death of Stalin: gallows humor from the highest of scaffolds. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • Custody: the searing essence of domestic violence. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • Beast: finally unleashed … and untethered.  Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • Three Identical Strangers: a Feel Good until we peel back the onion. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • Quality Problems: a screwball comedy for the sandwich generation. My favorite film from last year’s Cinequest has been released on video this year: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • Outside In: she finds herself finally ready. Streaming on Netflix.

ON TV

Tomorrow night and Sunday morning, Turner Classic Movies will air one of my Overlooked Noir, this time introduced by the Czar of Noir Eddie Muller.  In His Kind of Woman. Robert Mitchum plays a down-and-out gambler who is offered a deal that MUST be too good to be true; he’s smart enough to be suspicious and knows that he must discover the real deal before it’s too late. He meets a on-the-top-of-the-world hottie (Jane Russell), who is about to become down on her luck, too. Top notch.

HIS KIND OF WOMAN
HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Movies to See Right Now

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Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen in GREEN BOOK

Here’s my Best Movies of 2018, The Movie Gourmet’s Top Ten.

OUT NOW

  • Roma is an exquisite portrait of two enduring women and the masterpiece of Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men and Y Tu Mama Tambien). Will win multiple Oscars. It is streaming now Netflix.
  • Green Book: Tony Lip is a marvelous character, and Viggo Mortensen’s performance is one of the great pleasures of this year in the movies.
  • Shoplifters won the Palm d’Or at Cannes. This is a witty, and finally heartbreaking, look at a family that lives on the margins – and then is revealed to be not what it seems.
  • Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind and its companion documentaries, all available to stream on Netflix.
  • The masterful documentary Monrovia, Indiana is a fascinating movie about a boring subject.
  • Pawel Pawlikowski’s sweeping romantic tragedy Cold War is not as compelling as his masterpiece Ida.
  • The Favourite: Great performances by three great actresses, sex and political intrigue are not enough; this critically praised film didn’t work for me.
  • Skip First Man – a boring movie about a fascinating subject.

ON VIDEO

Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn in BEAST

My Streams of the Week are eight of my Best Films of 2018 – So Far that are already available to stream: Leave No Trace, The Rider, The Death of Stalin, Beast, Custody, Monrovia, Indiana, Three Identical Strangers, Quality Problems and Outside In.

ON TV

Once again, Turner Classic Movies is giving us a wonderful New Year’s Eve present – an all day Thin Man marathon. William Powell and Myrna Loy are cinema’s favorite movie couple for a reason – just settle in and watch Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man and its sequels do what they do best – banter, canoodle, solve crimes and, of course, tipple.

Myrna Loy and William Powell as Nora and Nick Charles during the Holidays

Movies to See Right Now

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Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali in GREEN BOOK

Tis’ the Season for Holiday movies and to listen to The Movie Gourmet’s appearance on the Silicon Valley’s Cinema Club podcast. Here’s our 42-minute podcast.

OUT NOW

  • Roma is an exquisite portrait of two enduring women and the masterpiece of Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men and Y Tu Mama Tambien). Will win multiple Oscars. It is streaming now Netflix.
  • Green Book: Tony Lip is a marvelous character, and Viggo Mortensen’s performance is one of the great pleasures of this year in the movies.
  • Shoplifters won the Palm d’Or at Cannes. This is a witty, and finally heartbreaking, look at a family that lives on the margins – and then is revealed to be not what it seems.
  • Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind and its companion documentaries, all available to stream on Netflix.
  • The masterful documentary Monrovia, Indiana is a fascinating movie about a boring subject.
  • Pawel Pawlikowski’s sweeping romantic tragedy Cold War is not as compelling as his masterpiece Ida.
  • The Favourite: Great performances by three great actresses, sex and political intrigue are not enough; this critically praised film didn’t work for me.
  • Skip First Man – a boring movie about a fascinating subject.

 

ON VIDEO

Steve Buscemi and Jeffrey Tambor in THE DEATH OF STALIN

My Streams of the Week are eight of my Best Films of 2018 – So Far that are already available to stream: Leave No Trace, The Rider, The Death of Stalin, Beast, Custody, Monrovia, Indiana, Three Identical Strangers, Quality Problems and Outside In.

 

ON TV

On December 23, Turner Classic Movies brings us that Holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, and I’m talking about the 1951 version with Alastair Sim. Since the 1908 Tom Ricketts silent version, this Charles Dickens story has been made over 60 times for the screen. Scrooge has been played by George C Scott, Bill Murray, Rich Little, Cecily Tyson, Patrick Stewart, Jim Carrey and Kelsey Grammer. (But NOT, to my knowledge, by Nicolas Cage, Christopher Walken, Toshiro Mifune or Zac Efron.)

Alastair Sim’s performance as Scrooge elevates this 1951 version; Sim perfectly modulates Scrooge’s transformation from impervious meanness to vulnerability. A Christmas Carol was, by far, the highlight of Sim’s screen credits; he was primarily a stage actor, who appeared in 46 West End productions. It’s a simple but compelling story, and everyone can relate to the curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge, his touching backstory and his joyous redemption.

Alastair Sim in A CHRISTMAS CAROL

GREEN BOOK: we get to spend time with Tony Lip!

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Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali in GREEN BOOK

Set in 1962, Green Book is the story of Tony Lip (a burly Viggo Mortensen), an Italian-American bouncer at the Copacabana, who is enlisted to accompany a highbrow African-American musician Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) on a concert tour of the American South.  The title refers to the pamphlet that listed African-American-friendly accommodations in the segregated South.

These guys are an odd couple – one culturally refined and intellectually curious, the other decidedly not.    Tony uses his imposing physical presence, comfort with violence and uncommon chutzpah to navigate life.  Not surprisingly, given his Bronx working class background, he is racist by today’s standard.  Shirley, on the other hand, is a sometimes fastidious Renaissance Man.  Each underestimates the other UNTIL …

Green Book is a great movie because it transcends the odd couple movie formula by probing the depths of these characters.  Tony is irascible and  enjoys disregarding the niceties of rules; early in Green Book, he see him park his car next to a fire hydrant, dump out the contents of a garbage can and then use the can to hood the hydrant.  He knows his way around the world of Wise Guys.  His appetite for his favorite foods (even in mass quantities) is admirable.  He is comfortable in his own skin and resists self-improvement (until he needs some help with romantic letters to his wife).  In Green Book, Tony Lip is not impressed by ANYTHING until he hears Don Shirley play piano.

The hyper-achiever Shirley, in contrast, is decidedly not comfortable in his own skin.  He is isolated from whites by racism and isolated from most blacks culturally.  Shirley is moody – there are multiple roots to his dissatisfaction and unhappiness – and one particular root is revealed later in the film.  Ali’s Shirley flashes an insincere showbiz smile to accept an audience’s applause, but is otherwise obsessed with always maintaining his dignity on his terms.

To their surprise, both men are affected by the other.  As inhabited by Mortensen and Ali, these are two of the most compelling characters in any odd couple movie, road trip movie or civil rights movie.

An early title says that Green Book is “inspired by true story”, and the closing credits show us the real people who are portrayed. Peter Farrelly deserves massive praise for having snagged the rights to this story and recognizing what could be done with it.  Tony Lip is a marvelous character, and Viggo Mortensen’s performance in Green Book is one of the great pleasures of this year in the movies.