Movies to See Right Now (at home)

Caption: STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET

This week, Sesame Street’s origin story and a handful of overlooked films from the past decade. And don’t forget today;s Turner Classic Movies presentation of the consensus choice for Worst Movie of All Time – Plan 9 from Outer Space.

REMEMBRANCE

Actress Olympia Dukakis died last week at 89. A stage actress of renown, she was 56 when she got a screen role in her sweet spot (Moonstruck) and knocked it for an Oscar. She was perfect as the only-in-San-Francisco Anna Madrigal in the miniseries Tales of the City in 1993, 1998 and 2019. For a completely unrestrained Olympia Dukakis performance, try the little 2011 Canadian dramedy Cloudburst (Amazon – included with Prime, AppleTV).

ON VIDEO

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street: This documentary is almost as charming as the beloved children’s television show whose origin story it chronicles. On VOD this week.

The Face of Love: Is a widow (Annette Bening) in love with her new boyfriend (Ed Harris ) – or still in love with her late husband? Amazon.

Other choices:

  • Augustine: obsession, passion and the birth of a science. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • The Brainwashing of My Dad: some insight into our national madness. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

ON TV

TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL

On May 11, Turner Classic Movies presents the recent documentary Tab Hunter Confidential. Tab Hunter was Hollywood’s dreamboat of the 1950’s – and he was a closeted gay man. That meant that he was walking a tightrope in an era when one scandal sheet revelation could erase his career. He hear Tab’s story from Tab himself – he’s still very good-looking and seems like a helluva decent guy. Also available to stream on Amazon,

Coming up on TV: the all-time worst

Caption: Vampira and Tor Johnson in Ed Wood’s PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE

On Friday, May 7, Turner Classic Movies presents Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959), often ranked as the worst movie of all time and #1 in my Bad Movie Festival.

This movie is so bad that Tim Burton made a Johnny Depp movie about it – “Ed Wood”, named for its zealously persistent, but pathetic, creator.  Ed Wood throws everything at the screen, hoping that something interesting will stick:  dying vampire star Bela Lugosi, the TV fortune teller Criswell, the horror movie hostess Vampira, zombie-look-alike pro wrestler Tor Johnson and stock footage of a nuclear explosion.  None of it is tied together with any coherence, and it’s all unintentionally funny.  This one’s good for the whole family.

Plan 9 from Outer Space can also be streamed from Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Lugosi died while making this film and was replaced by a taller, non-speaking “double” who stalks about covering his face with his cloak.  The double shows up in the trailer.