-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
ON HULU: Mommy is French-Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan’s latest film and his best since his début with I Killed My Mother. A mother removes her son from a mental institution. But her son’s emotional difficulties promise to send him back until a new neighbor helps. But is that help going to be enough? Wonderful acting by the three leads, some interesting directorial flourishes, and a deeply moving ending.
ON NETFLIX: As an actor, Tab Hunter was never a great one, maybe not even a particularly good one, and he was only a box office star for a relatively short period of time, so it may be hard to conceive that a documentary about him would be anything but fluff. But Tab Hunter Confidential, directed by Jeffrey Schwartz, is a fascinating look at the Hollywood acting machine, what is was like to be closeted in the U.S. at the time, and how Hunter came to terms with his life and found peace. Hunter, who is interviewed for most of the movie, is very candid about his life. A fascinating portrait.
FIRST RUN and OPENING: Swiss Army Man, The Shallows, Independence Day: Resurgence, The Neon Demon, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Seoul People, Les Cowboys, My Love, Don’t Cross That River, Finding Dory, Tickled, The Witness, De Palma, King Jack, Diary of a Chambermaid, The Wailing, The Nice Guys, The Lobster Continue reading 
ON AMAZON: 1945’s And Then There Were None is quite possibly the best adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic novel (I have yet to see Acorn Channel’s new version) in which a group of people are invited and then trapped in a remote location whereupon they are killed off one by one in accordance to a nursery rhyme. Directed by Rene Clair (probably his best American film) and wittily written by Dudley Nichols, one of Hollywood’s best screenwriters. It also boasts a fun cast of some our best character actors including Walter Huston, Barry Fitzgerald, Roland Young, C. Aubrey Smith, Mischa Auer, Richard Haydn and Judith Anderson.
ON NETFLIX: Carlos is a television mini-series about the terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez ‘Carlos’¸who eventually earned the nickname The Jackal after the man who tried to assassinate De Gaulle. Directed by one of France’s best director Olivier Assayas and written by Assayas, Dan Franke and Daniel Laconte, it’s a first rate political thriller in which Carlos is often portrayed as leading a gang that couldn’t shoot straight. And with a compelling performance by Edgar Ramirez in the title role.
FIRST RUN and OPENING: Finding Dory, Tickled, The Keeper of Lost Causes, From Afar, Bang Gang, Genius, The Witness, De Palma, King Jack, Diary of a Chambermaid, The Fits, The Wailing, The Nice Guys, Love and Friendship, Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero, The Measure of a Man, The Lobster
ON NETFLIX: Cold in July, written by Nick Dimici and the director Jim Mickle, is a very clever and effective neo noir with great performances by Sam Shepard and especially Don Johnson, who steals the show. A mild mannered family man shoots an intruder and it turns out he was wanted for other crimes. But the family man discovers this might not be true. One of the best films of its year.
ON HULU: Night on Earth is a portmanteau film from writer/director Jim Jarmusch. It dramatizes five different cab rides in five different locations on earth. The stand out is probably Roberto Benigni who picks up a priest late one night in Rome.
FIRST RUN and OPENING: De Palma, King Jack, Diary of a Chambermaid, The Fits, Therapy for a Vampire, The Conjuring 2, The Wailing, Chevalier, The Idol, The Nice Guys, Love and Friendship, Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero, The Measure of a Man, The Lobster Continue reading 
Howard Casner - Rantings and Ravings 