Let’s begin with six choices from my Best Movies of 2015:
- 45 Years with Charlotte Rampling’s enthralling Oscar-nominated performance.
- The Revenant, an awesome and authentic survival tale that must be seen on the BIG SCREEN. I predict that The Revenant will be the biggest winner at the Oscars.
- Creed, the newest and entirely fresh chapter in the Rocky franchise; it’s about the internal struggle of three people, not just The Big Fight.
- 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 Big Short – a supremely entertaining thriller – both funny and anger-provoking.
Plus two more good choices:
- The Hateful Eight, a Quentin Tarantino showcase for Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins and Jennifer Jason Leigh, but a movie that’s not for everyone.
- Carol – a vividly told tale of forbidden love.
I’m not a fan of Joy or The Danish Girl.
My Stream of the Week is the French drama In the Name of My Daughter, which uses three characters to probe the themes of obsession and betrayal. In the Name of My Daughter is available to stream from iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
It’s a really solid week at Turner Classic Movies. February 7 brings us Days of Wine and Roses, a hard-hitting and authentic exploration of alcoholism with Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon. On February 8, we can watch the Bogie and Bacall noir Key Largo with a career highlight performance by the Queen of the Bs, Claire Trevor. And on February 11, TCM presents TWO versions of the melodrama The Letter, the more famous 1940 version with Bette Davis and the rarely seen 1929 version with Jeanne Eagels, the emotions-on-her-sleeve actress who died from a heroin overdose just after filming The Letter.
