Midnight Express

Movies to See Right Now

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Buck

The cream of the crop are still the sweet, funny and thoughtful comedies Beginners and Midnight in Paris, along with the riveting documentary Project Nim.  Buck is a wonderful documentary about a real-life horse whisperer with a compelling human story.  All four are on my list of Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.

If you have kids, Pixar’s Cars 2 is an excellent choice (adults will especially enjoy the James Bond spoof thread).  So is Super 8, a wonderful coming of age story embedded in a sci fi action thriller.  The Trip delivers some chuckles.  Turkey Bowl is a delightful indie comedy available from iTunes.  Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times explores journalism’s evolution in an age of new media, and I recommend it for hard news junkies.

In Bridesmaids, Kristen Wiig plays a woman whose insecurities keep her from seeing the good and the possible in her life; it’s funny, but not one of the year’s best. The Hangover Part 2 is just not original enough, and, consequently, not funny enough. 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.

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

I haven’t yet seen Sarah’s Key or Road to Nowhere, which open this weekend, or Tabloid, which opens widely. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick is the French comedy Potiche, one of my Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.

Movies on TV this weekend include the prison classics Midnight Express and Cool Hand Luke on TCM, both on my list of 10 Best Prison Movies.

Coming up on TV: Midnight Express

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On July 23, Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting 1978’s  Midnight Express. This film is so gripping that, thirty-plus years after its release, you can’t hear “Turkish prison” without immediately thinking of Midnight Express.  It’s probably done more to keep American kids from bringing drugs into Turkey than any other factor.  Midnight Express is based on a true story, and is amped up considerably by Oliver Stone’s screenplay.  Nominated for six Oscars, it won two.

TCM is also showing Cool Hand Luke on July 23.  Both are on my list of 10 Best Prison Movies

Movies to See Right Now

by
Project Nim

The cream of the crop are still the sweet, funny and thoughtful comedies Beginners and Midnight in Paris, along with the riveting documentary Project Nim. All three are on my list of Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.

Buck is a wonderful documentary about a real-life horse whisperer with a compelling human story.  If you have kids, Pixar’s Cars 2 is an excellent choice (adults will especially enjoy the James Bond spoof thread).  So is Super 8, a wonderful coming of age story embedded in a sci fi action thriller.  The Trip delivers some chuckles.  Turkey Bowl is a delightful indie comedy available from iTunes.  Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times explores journalism’s evolution in an age of new media, and I recommend it for hard news junkies.

In Bridesmaids, Kristen Wiig plays a woman whose insecurities keep her from seeing the good and the possible in her life; it’s funny, but not one of the year’s best.  The Hangover Part 2 is just not original enough, and, consequently, not funny enough. 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.

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

I haven’t yet seen Tabloid, which opens this weekend. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD picks are the surfing classics Riding Giants and Step into Liquid.

Movies coming up on TV include the prison classics Midnight Express and Cool Hand Luke on TCM, both on my list of 10 Best Prison Movies.

10 Best Prison Movies

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So how does A Prophet stack up against other films in that time honored genre – the Prison Movie? Can a French film rank high among the Alcatraz, Sing Sing and Folsom fare?

My top ten includes familiar themes – the fact-based stories, the great escape attempts, the characters who resist the oppressive authority and those who work the system to become crime bosses.  Plus Death Row.  My list includes American penitentiaries, British, French and Turkish prisons, enemy POW camps and Southern chain gangs.  But some of the best known prison movies do NOT make the cut.

Edward James Olmos, Pepe Serna and William Forsythe in a very under rated prison movie

See my list of 10 Best Prison Movies.