“Don’t Look Up!” December 28, 2021, Netflix. “Dr. Strangelove” is one of my 10 Top Films of all time. But hardcore topical satire is tough to work. Adam McKay’s in-your-face look at our refusal to face the existential crisis of our time (climate) shows us how it has and may or, likely will, play out…
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” December 25, 2021 (1975), DVD. Oscars for director Milos Foreman, Best Movie, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress (Louise Fletcher), and best adapted screenplay. My book group re-read this one and we all liked both Ken Kesey’s 1962 book and the film despite their stylistic datedness. They are of…
Ida
“Ida,” Polish, subtitled. December 22, 2021 (2013), DVD [Criterion Collection]. Polish director/writer Pawel Pawlikowski works in black-and-white for a reason. The starkness and hard edges make for heightened intensity even when the subjects are human interiors. Raised by nuns as an orphan after World War II, Anna (Agata Trzbuchowska) is a novice about to take…
Ikiru
“Ikiru,”/“To Live,” Japanese, subtitled, December 21, 2021 (1952), DVD [Criterion Collection.] Set in the slowly redeveloping wreckage of post-war Japan, this brilliant and profound black-and-white look at one man confronting meaning and moral dilemmas at the end of his life is one of the finest films I’ve ever seen. Akira Kurasawa shows us Kanji Watanabe…
Hamilton
“Hamilton,” December 20, 2021 (2020), Disney Channel. Regardless of where one stands in the Jefferson-Hamilton debates, and regardless of the simplifications of the issues, it’s impossible not to marvel at this Broadway show filmed over four performances. Lin Manuel Miranda stars in this 2016 version along with a brilliant diverse cast (mostly People of Color)…
Get Back
“Get Back,” (3 parts), December 10-15, 2021, Disney Channel, 9 hours, non-narrative documentary. Composed by Peter Jackson from 60 hours of film and 120 hours of music, plus a variety of stills and earlier footage, this chronicles the month leading up to the Beatles’ rooftop performance, their last, that yielded some of the materials from…
The Power of the Dog
“The Power of the Dog,” December 7, 2021, Netflix. I’ve been a fan of Jane Campion’s filmmaking for many years. This one is especially welcome. Set in Montana (shot in New Zealand along the South Island plains and Alps), this is set in 1925 and drawn from a novel by Thomas Savage, himself a closeted…
Pig
“Pig,” November 29, 2021, Hulu. I’ve not been a big fan for Nicholas Cage for a very long time. His macho posturing and faux sensitivity have left me cold. Or worse. I’ve not liked the films he was in either, which certainly didn’t help. And his tax problems left him doing whatever he had to…
Passing
“Passing,” November 10, 2021 (Netflix). Written and directed by Rebecca Hall (first film) from a novel by Nella Larsen, this black-and-white film charts the arc of reconnection between Irene, “Reenie,” (Tessa Thompson), and Clare (Ruth Negga) in Harlem Renaissance Harlem. These former childhood friends, mixed race and beautiful, meet again by chance on the street…
The Sparks Brothers
“The Sparks Brothers,” December 1, 2021, Netflix. See this film. For years I’ve seen Spartks albums at the radio stations I’ve been at. Who could miss the duo of brothers Ron and Russell Mael (one of the Chaplinesque mustache and almost skeletal presence, the other a boy-band pretty face). I’ve not been particularly interested in…
Ragtime
“Ragtime,” November 19, 2021 (1981), DVD. My book group is reading and discussing E.L. Doctorow’s novel and so we decided to contrast it with the Milos Foreman movie presentation of the book. I loved the book’s sweep, complexity, awareness, and insight into early 20th c. American culture. The movie has a bangup cast, including Mary…
The Long Riders
“The Long Riders,” October 20, 2021 (1980), DVD. The brothers Carradine, Quaid, Keach and the Guests star in this energetic and interesting Walter Hill Western charting the rise and fall of the James-Younger gang of bank and train robbers whose exploits terrorized and captivated the nation’s interest after the Civil War. Guerilla secessionist racist raiders…
Riders of Justice
“Riders of Justice,” Danish with subtitles, September 30, 2021 (2020), Hulu. This dark serio-comic film from Anders Thomas Jensen has much to recommend it, although I didn’t have the over-the-top pleasure of so many reviewers. His admiration for Quinton Tarantino’s work, including the mix of philosophy, humor, and carnage, is evident. Mads Mikkelsen is Markus,…
Hell or High Water
“Hell or High Water,” September 11, 2021 (2016), DVD. Heist flicks are usually not my/our thing, but both Bronwen and I really liked this very intelligent and exceptionally well-written, well-directed, well-acted, and photographed film. The West Texas landscape of towns declining in The Last Picture Show and ranches dustier than they were in Hud are…
The Constant Gardener
“The Constant Gardener,” September 7, 2021 (2005), DVD. We both appreciated the chance to see this British film adaptation of John Le Carre’s novel about love, corruption and abuse of third world populations by corporations. It packs a lot in. Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) is an unassuming British diplomat stationed in Kenya. He’s much more…
Jaws
“Jaws,” August 15, 2021 (1975), DVD. I had the unusual experience of watching this with an adult who had never seen it before. Hard to imagine. And she’s a serious swimmer in open water including oceans and Long Island Sound. Now she swims miles in Walden Pond every week. My wife, Bronwen, has always been…
Blancanieves
“Blancanieves,” July 27, 2021 (2012), DVD. Watched down on Fire Island. This Spanish black-and-white silent film homage to the ‘golden age’ of silent in the 1920s from Pablo Berger reconfigures the Grimm story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Bullfighter Antonio Villalta (Daniel Gimanez Cacho) is the tragic wounded king whose wife dies in…
First Cow
“First Cow,” July 10, 2021 (2019), DVD. Kelly Reichardt (director and co-writer) and her writing partner Jonathon Raymand (co-writer and author of the novel The Half Life, from which this is derived) work together a lot, and I’ve loved their collaborations. They do wonderful, thoughtful and contemplative films like Wendy and Lucy (2008) and Meeks…
Summer of Soul: (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
“Summer of Soul: (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), July 4, 2021, Hulu. 1969 marked a momentous year for popular music. Woodstock brought 400-500,000 fans together for the concert in rain and mud. It became both a free concert and a hugely successful movie that sanctified the moment. The months prior to Woodstock…
The Father
“The Father,” June 26, 2021 (2020), DVD. Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for best actor for this difficult role and it is quite remarkable. Based on Florian Zeller’s play (he co-wrote the screenplay and directs), Hopkins plays Anthony, a man in his 80s who is sliding deeper into dementia. His daughter Anne (Olivia Coleman in…
Bo Burnham: Inside
“Bo Burnham: Inside,” June 4, 2021, Netflix. My nephew Kyle was right in recommending this one to me. Accomplished director (“8th Grade”), actor (“Promising Young Woman”) and established solo-comedian, Burnham spent many months of Covid worrying this into being. It’s funny, terribly serious, sarcastic, insightful, and often very painful. It’s about self-conscious, self-critical privilege. It’s…
Tenet
”Tenet,” May 29, 2021 (2020), DVD with special features. Chris Nolan does big movies. At 250 million dollars, with filming in six countries, a huge cast and crew, an amazing set of stunts, sets, technological innovations, and grand ideas, this certainly qualifies. He prefers real special effects rather than CGI and some of these…
News of the World
“News of the World,” May 4, 2021 (2020), DVD with attached special features. This is my third western in a month after years of not watching one. Quite a binge for me. Tom Hanks and the amazing new young German actress Helena Zengel star in, and make this underappreciated and beautifully filmed Paul Greengrass…
Haymarket: The Bomb, the Anarchists, the Labor Struggle
“Haymarket: The Bomb, the Anarchists, the Labor Struggle,” May 4, 2021, directed by Adrian Prawica , 2021, documentary, 83 minutes, now at various festivals. Americans’ collective sense of history is weak at best, and their knowledge of labor history is frequently non-existent. Though most Americans work, the institutional labor movement struggles to survive, and…
My Happy Family
“My Happy Family,” April 13, 2021 (2017), Netflix (Georgian with English subtitles.) I really liked this well-acted Georgian film written and directed by Nana Ekytimishvili.. It provides an engaging and informative look at the creaking process of change and movement in this developing Caucasian nation. 52-year old Manana (Ia Shugliashvili), a teacher of Georgian…