Very Good Girls

Movies to See Right Now

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PEEPING TOM, coming up on Turner Classic Movies and better than PSYCHO
PEEPING TOM, coming up on Turner Classic Movies and better than PSYCHO

Opening today, the startling documentary Art and Craft is about an art fraud. Of prolific scale.  Apparently not illegal.  By a diagnosed schizophrenic.

Also in theaters:

    • The exceptionally well-acted dramedy The Skeleton Twins contains several inspired moments.
    • The smart and hilarious The Trip to Italy showcases the improvisational wit of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, along with some serious tourism/foodie porn.
    • Feedback from my readers is almost unanimous – Richard Linklater’s family drama Boyhood is a special movie experience – and possibly the best film of the decade.
    • I really liked The One I Love – a relationship romance, a dark comedy and a modern day episode of The Twilight Zone rolled into one successful movie. Although it’s leaving theaters this weekend, it remains available streaming from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Video.

Terry Gilliam’s sci-fi fable The Zero Theorem is visually arresting, but the story becomes tedious. Poor writing and directing sabotage the delightful performances of Alfred Molina and John Lithgow in the romantic drama Love Is Strange. I was also disappointed by the tiresome Frank Miller’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.

Here’s my preview of the upcoming Mill Valley Film Festival.

This week’s DVD/Stream of the Week is this year’s outstanding coming of age movie Very Good Girls starring the fine young actresses Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen. Very Good Girls is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Video.

On October 4, Turner Classic Movies brings us what may be the best-ever psycho serial killer movie, Peeping Tom from 1960, the same year as Psycho.  The British film critics didn’t know what to make of a thriller where the protagonist was so disturbing, and they trashed Peeping Tom so badly that its great director Michael Powell (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Stairway to Heaven, Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes) wasn’t able to work again in the UK.  But I think Peeping Tom is an overlooked masterpiece and even better than its iconic counterpart.

And on October 5, TCM broadcasts Cool Hand Luke, with Paul Newman as an iconic 1960s anti-hero, a charismatic supporting performance by George Kennedy, the unforgettable boiled egg-eating contest and the great movie line” What we have here is a failure to communicate”.

DVD/Stream of the Week: VERY GOOD GIRLS: two girlfriends and one guy

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Dakota Fanning in VERY GOOD GIRLS
Dakota Fanning in VERY GOOD GIRLS

This week’s DVD/Stream of the Week is this year’s outstanding coming of age movie Very Good Girls.  Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen play best buds who graduate from high school and decide they need to lose their respective virginities before heading to college. Both fall for the same guy, and they’re each drawn to him and wary of him.  But what elevates this story above those with similar set-ups is that it’s not so much about girl-and-boy but about girl-and-girl and how the circumstances affect their lifelong friendship.

Although there’s potential conflict over the boy and each girl’s family goes through a crisis, Very Good Girls is completely free of emo pretension.  Genuine through and through, the story lets us relate to these girls and keep us engaged in what is happening to their bond.

Olsen is 25 and Fanning is 20, but they are entirely believable as 18-year-olds.  Fanning and Olsen are right up there with Jennifer Lawrence, Shailene Woodley and Bree Larson as our best young film actresses.  Fanning recently made an indie breakthrough in The Motel Life.  Olsen has been excellent in Martha Marcy May Marlene and even in the awful In Secret. 

The girls’ parents are played by Richard Dreyfuss and Demi Moore and Clark Gregg and Ellen Barkin.  It’s kind of a hoot to see the actresses that gave played some of the hottest scenes in 1989/1990 cinema (Ghost and Sea of Love) play the curfew-enforcing moms.  Peter Sarsgaard also shows up, at his most pervy.

Very Good Girls is the first film directed by screenwriter Naomi Foner (Oscar-nominated for Running on Empty), mother of Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal.  Foner has a wonderful touch, and I hope we see her direct some more.

It pisses me off that, if Very Good Girls had been about high school boys getting laid, it would have gotten the theatrical release that eluded this film.  But we can make up for hat by watching it at home. Very Good Girls is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Video.