Where Eagles Dare

Movies to See Right Now

by
Photo caption: Daniel Craig in NO TIME TO DIE Photo credit: Nicola Dove © 2020 DANJAQ, LLC AND MGM.

This week, we have familiar favorites – Daniel Craig’s final fling as James Bond and Tony Soprano’s origin story. Plus, the Mill Valley Film Festival is underway through this weekend – here’s my festival preview.

Time for a rant: yesterday I saw Lamb at a midday show in a 209-seat theater auditorium. When I bought my ticket, someone had already purchased a ticket for seat P9, almost at the top of the room. I purchased seat C8, in the middle of the third row. As the trailers ended, a third patron seated himself – in seat C10 – with only one seat buffering us. This guy chose between 207 available seats and picked one only two feet from me – in a pandemic. What a tool! He probably encroaches at the urinals, too.

IN THEATERS

No Time to Die: Daniel Craig returns one last time as his world-weary James Bond – and it’s epic. No disposable women this time.

The Many Saints of Newark: This prequel of The Sopranos shows us what formed the teenage Tony Soprano, especially his role model “uncle”, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola). Also on HBO Max.

Also in theaters:

ON VIDEO

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

ON TV

Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton in WHERE EAGLES DARE

On October 16, Turner Classic Movies presents Where Eagles Dare, a crackerjack thriller from the WWII commando subgenre (think The Guns of Navarone and The Dirty Dozen). The seemingly impossible target is a cliff-side Nazi stronghold only accessible via a funicular. And not all the commandos understand the true mission. The oddly matched stars are Richard Burton (nearing the end of his second marriage to Elizabeth Taylor) and Clint Eastwood (after the Leone spaghetti westerns but before his Dirty Harry franchise). It all works.

Movies to See Right Now

by

MONROVIA, INDIANA

The film I’m most excited about is The Other Side of the Wind, a great Orson Welles film from the 1970s finally completed after his death. I’ll be writing about it and two companion documentaries soon.

OUT NOW

  • The masterful documentary Monrovia, Indiana is a fascinating movie about a boring subject.
  • Skip First Man – a boring movie about a fascinating subject.
  • The Great Buster: A Celebration is Peter Bogdanovich’s biodoc of the comic genius Buster Keaton, filling in what we need to know of Keaton’s life and body of work.
  • Lady Gaga illuminates Bradley Cooper’s triumphant A Star Is Born. Don’t bring a hankie – bring a whole friggin’ box of Kleenex.
  • Rodents of Unusual Size is a charmingly addictive documentary about a bizarre subject.
  • What They Had is an authentic and well-crafted dramatic four-hander with Hilary Swank, Michael Shannon, Blythe Danner and Robert Forster.
  • Quincy is Rashida Jones’ intimate biodoc of her father, that most important and prolific musical figure Quincy Jones.

ON VIDEO

My Stream of the Week is the wonderfully dark comedy I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore. Melanie Lynskey plays a workaday schlub who suffers one indignity too many and goes postal. This movie is available to stream on Netflix Instant.

ON TV

On November 10, Turner Classic Movies presents Where Eagles Dare, a crackerjack thriller from the WWII commando subgenre (think The Guns of Navarone and The Dirty Dozen). The seemingly impossible target is a cliff-side Nazi stronghold only accessible via a funicular. And not all the commandos understand the true mission. The oddly matched stars are Richard Burton (nearing the end of his second marriage to Elizabeth Taylor) and Clint Eastwood (after the Leone spaghetti westerns but before his Dirty Harry franchise). It all works.

Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton in WHERE EAGLES DARE