Roma on Netflix and Green Book in theaters are still my top picks. And here’s my remembrance of actress Verna Bloom, with a recommendation for her The Hired Hand.
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.
- 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.
- 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
Here’s a really fun movie. Land Ho! features a vibrant and irascible geezer who conscripts an old friend into a rowdy road trip to – of all random places – Iceland. Land Ho! is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, and Google Play.
ON TV
On January 19, Turner Classic Movies will show The Last Hurrah (1958): The master director John Ford is famous for westerns, but this portrait of an embattled incumbent is a classic of political cinema. Spencer Tracy plays the leader of an urban political machine. He’s got years of accomplishments and a machine in his favor, but his newspaper-owning antagonist is running an empty suit against him in a campaign that is increasingly fought on the newfangled medium of television. He’s been so successful for so long that his ward heelers have become complacent, and he’s smelling the campaign getting away from him…
And on January 23, TCM will air the 1967 biker exploitation movie Born Losers, in which Tom Laughlin originated the character of Billy Jack – all discussed in my post about TCM’s recent Billy Jack Extravaganza.
Also on January 23, TCM will cablecast a film from my Bad Movie Festival – Psych-Out, a hippie exploitation movie from 1968. Features Bruce Dern as a schizophrenic Jesus and Jack Nicholson with a ponytail glued onto his head. Hilarious.
