White Reindeer

Movies to See Right Now

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Jonah Hill in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
Jonah Hill in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Lots of choices, including some of my Best Movies of 2013.

Recommended:

  • American Hustle is the most gloriously entertaining movie of the year – with Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner at their best.
  • The French drama Blue Is the Warmest Color, with its stunning performance by 19-year-old actress Adèle Exarchopoulos, currently tops my list of Best Movies of 2013 – So Far.
  • The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese’s excessive, full-throttle con artist comedy – a movie that gives hedonism a bad name.
  • The city of Rome dazzles in The Great Beauty, already a favorite for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
  • I really liked and admired the funny, poignant and thought-provoking family portrait Nebraska from Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants).
  • Philomena, with Judi Dench and Steve Coogan is an emotionally satisfying gem.
  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is another fine thriller from that franchise, with another amazing performance by Jennifer Lawrence.
  • Go for Sisters has three more great characters in a thriller from indie guru John Sayles.
  • The spare survival tale All Is Lost has a grimly powerful performance by Robert Redford.
  • I also like the wickedly subversive Holiday comedy White Reindeer, which is available streaming on Amazon, iTunes, Sundance Now, GooglePlay and XBOX.

Not So Much

  • I found Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks to be sentimental and predictable.
  • The Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis is about an unlovable loser – and I didn’t love the movie, either.

Movies to See Right Now

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AMERICAN HUSTLE
AMERICAN HUSTLE

Some of this week’s recommendations are on my Best Movies of 2013. Recommended:

  • American Hustle is the most gloriously entertaining movie of the year – with Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner at their best.
  • The French drama Blue Is the Warmest Color, with its stunning performance by 19-year-old actress Adèle Exarchopoulos, currently tops my list of Best Movies of 2013 – So Far.
  • The city of Rome dazzles in The Great Beauty, already a favorite for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
  • I really liked and admired the funny, poignant and thought-provoking family portrait Nebraska from Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants).
  • Philomena, with Judi Dench and Steve Coogan is an emotionally satisfying gem.
  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is another fine thriller from that franchise, with another amazing performance by Jennifer Lawrence.
  • Go for Sisters has three more great characters in a thriller from indie guru John Sayles.
  • The spare survival tale All Is Lost has a grimly powerful performance by Robert Redford.
  • I also like the wickedly subversive Holiday comedy White Reindeer, which is available streaming on Amazon, iTunes, Sundance Now, GooglePlay and XBOX.

Not So Much

  • I found Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks to be sentimental and predictable.
  • The Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis is about an unlovable loser – and I didn’t love the movie, either.

Movies to See Right Now – Holiday Movie Guide

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american hustleLook for The Movie Gourmet’s list of this year’s top movies this Tuesday.  Until then, here is my guide to the Holiday movies.

Recommended:

  • American Hustle is the most gloriously entertaining movie of the year – with Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner at their best.
  • The French drama Blue Is the Warmest Color, with its stunning performance by 19-year-old actress Adèle Exarchopoulos, currently tops my list of Best Movies of 2013 – So Far.
  • The city of Rome dazzles in The Great Beauty, already a favorite for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
  • I really liked and admired the funny, poignant and thought-provoking family portrait Nebraska from Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants).
  • Philomena, with Judi Dench and Steve Coogan is an emotionally satisfying gem.
  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is another fine thriller from that franchise, with another amazing performance by Jennifer Lawrence.
  • Go for Sisters has three more great characters in a thriller from indie guru John Sayles.
  • The spare survival tale All Is Lost has a grimly powerful performance by Robert Redford.
  • I also like the wickedly subversive Holiday comedy White Reindeer, which is available streaming on Amazon, iTunes, Sundance Now, GooglePlay and XBOX.

Not So Much

  • I found Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks to be sentimental and predictable.
  • The Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis is about an unlovable loser – and I didn’t love the movie, either.

White Reindeer: wickedly deadpan for the Holidays

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white reindeer“Autumn is my stripper name.  My real name is Fantasia.”

I think that’s pretty funny. If you think so, too, you should watch White Reindeer on VOD. In this dark and subversive comedy, we meet a comfortable suburbanite who enjoys going overboard at Christmastime; suddenly, her husband is killed and she plunges into shock, grief and various manifestations of depression. Believe it or not, this is a comedy, and what makes it so funny is her deadpan reaction to each of the secondary indignities she undergoes. As she tries to cope with her loss, she learns some unexpected things about her late husband and winds up partying with strippers, dabbling in shoplifting and visiting a neighbors’ creepy swingers mixer. It’s all subversively funny.

White Reindeer is available streaming on Amazon, iTunes, Sundance Now, GooglePlay and XBOX.