Joel Cohen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth with Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand is now streaming on AppleTV. I’ll be writing about it next week.
REMEMBRANCES
Sidney Poitier was an actor whose great intelligence, charisma and intensity, which combined into a righteous power. He was the first black A-list movie star and a man who changed things forever by insisting on playing empowered, non-degraded roles. Revisit the moment in In the Heat of the Night when his detective informs Carroll O’Connor’s redneck lawman, “They call me Mister Tibbs“. He wasn’t just an iconic actor, either – he was a also an accomplished director and a bona fide civil rights leader.
And ICYMI, here’s last week’s remembrance of Peter Bogdanovich.
IN THEATERS
Licorice Pizza: This entertaining coming of age story has a lot going for it – the originality of an age mismatch, two fresh and interesting lead actors and a 1973 time capsule of the San Fernando Valley. A little too much length and an odd segment with Bradley Cooper as Jon Peters keep this from being among the best films of the year.
ON VIDEO
The Heist of the Century: This delightful crime tale from Argentina, tells a story that would be unbelievable – except it all really happened. HBO Max, Amazon, Vudu, YouTube.
Light from Light: This indie gem ingeniously embeds three portraits of personal awakening into what looks like a familiar haunted house movie. Amazon, AppleTV.
Some of my choices for Best Movies of 2021 are already on video:
- Riders of Justice: Thriller, comedy and much, much more. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
- The Power of the Dog: One man’s meanness, another man’s growth. Netflix.
- Don’t Look Up: Wickedly funny. Filmmaker Adam McKay (The Big Short) and a host of movie stars hit the bullseye as they target a corrupt political establishment, a soulless media and a gullible, lazy-minded public. Netflix.
- Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain: Bad ass romantic. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
- Lamb: This dark, cautionary fable of karma is a brilliant and unsettling debut by writer-director Valdimar Jóhannsson. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
More 2021 movies on video:
- The Hand of God: Filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino’s own coming of age story – and a time capsule of 1986 Naples. Netflix.
- Being the Ricardos: a tepid slice of a really good story. Amazon (included with Prime).
- Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road: An unusual documentary about an unusual man. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
- The Lost Leonardo: Is it a hustle? Does it matter? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
- The Real Charlie Chaplin: As far as it goes. Showtime
- CODA: a thought-provoking audience-pleaser. AppleTV.
- The Velvet Underground: Immersing us in a cultural moment. AppleTV.
- No Time to Die: I went to a James Bond movie, and a romance broke out. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
- Passing: navigating a racist society and the value of one’s identity. Netflix.
- Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time: when tragedy begets humor Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
- Listening to Kenny G: derision, devotion and a hard-working guy. HBO Max
- Old Henry: too late for redemption. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
- Wildland: giving family ties a bad name. Laemmle.
- The Many Saints of Newark: Tony Soprano’s origin story. HBO Max.
- The Unknown Saint: a shrine to really bad luck. Netflix.
ON TV
On January 18, Turner Classic Movies airs The Friends of Eddie Coyle, a neo-noir triumph for Robert Mitchum. Mitchum plays a world-weary, low-level hood being squeezed between Boston’s Irish Mob and law enforcement. Double crosses abound. Sandwiched between his turns in The Candidate and Young Frankenstein, Peter Boyle delivers one of his best – and sleaziest – performances. For more details, see the The Friends of Eddie Coyle page in my Overlooked Neo-noir.
