It’s the 21st night of September…
… which also means a whole lot of great titles are beginning the final countdown of their availabilities on streaming platforms. Need to know what to prioritize in your viewing choices for the rest of the month? I’ve got you.
The Apartment, Amazon Prime
I don’t know what kept me from loving this one right out of the gate, but it took a second watch for a big piece I wrote on The Apartment’s director Billy Wilder to lock into the love so many others feel for this movie. Among its many virtues, this is such a great New York movie about that peculiarly isolating sensation of feeling alone whilst surrounded by people all the time. As much rom-com as anti-romance, this Best Picture winner both charms with its empathetic core and cuts to the bone with its corporate commentary.
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Netflix
Before a new James Bond finally comes out and fills our lives with the brooding and self-serious spy drama, maybe it’s time to get some laughs from the absurdity of British espionage. All three Austin Powers films are on Netflix through the end of September, all of which are worth a watch or rewatch. The cultural memory has really only retained the lowest common denominator portions of the series, but Mike Meyers’ spy spoofs are quite clever in concept and execution. They’re clearly made by someone with a true love of what’s being sent up.
Boogie Nights, Netflix
There’s a new Paul Thomas Anderson flick coming out later this year (supposedly titled Licorice Pizza, lol wut) … and set in the same general vicinity and timeframe as his breakout hit, 1997’s Boogie Nights. This is quickly rising as an all-time favorite of mine. Through the funhouse mirror of the adult entertainment business, PTA provides trenchant analysis of film, family, business, and ‘70s and ‘80s America.
Caddyshack, Hulu
This is more of throwing a bone to the large paying population of uncles and other male family members of the generation that got to enjoy Caddyshack in theaters. It’s going away from easy access on Hulu at the end of the month! (If you want more movies specifically tailored to your niche, I would encourage you to organize and mobilize a bloc to pay for subscriptions.)
Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?, Criterion Channel
This ruminative documentary on the legacies of slavery and racism that still haunt the contemporary South has lingered in my mind for several years now. Filmmaker Travis Wilkerson investigates an apocryphal family story about a family member in Alabama killing a Black man and finds a story misremembered and a wound still festering. Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? startles with its intimacy, insight, and immediacy.
Galaxy Quest, Hulu
Whether you appreciate this more a satire of Trekkies or a send-up of spoiled rotten TV actors, Galaxy Quest has something to offer you. It’s an action-comedy that does both exceptionally well, delivering the good stuff in its own right rather than merely decrying the bad. I find myself quoting this one often in conversation with few people recognizing the references, so it’d be great if we could all align on this as a cult classic everyone should know!
Marie Antoinette, Amazon Prime/HBO Max
Sofia Coppola’s anachronistic take on the clueless French queen/celebrity was deeply misunderstood upon its release where it got booed at Cannes. (In retrospect, an American making a mockery of a famous French figure and premiering it in their own backyard was perhaps not the wisest move.) But we’re coming up on the film’s fifteenth anniversary, and there will likely be many thinkpieces and lookback pieces. Don’t read those wishing you had seen it again recently when it was at your fingertips!
Night Moves, Criterion Channel
I randomly went through a big Gene Hackman phase last year during the early months of the pandemic. In terms of sturdy ‘70s stars, he’s hard to beat! A deeply underrated Hackman fronted feature from the era is Night Moves, a grim detective story steeped in the era’s post-Watergate cynicism. It’s also got quite the panache courtesy of director Arthur Penn of Bonnie and Clyde fame, perfecting many of the editing techniques he introduced into the Hollywood vocabulary with his watershed film.
Something’s Gotta Give, Amazon Prime
Funny how Broadway is reopening and they couldn’t find room for an Erica Barry show … I kid, I kid. But everyone could use a little Nancy Meyers in their life, even if it’s just to rewatch one of her easygoing comedies for the umpteenth time. I think I’ve watched Something’s Gotta Give twice in the last year, and it’s no worse for the wear. Diane Keaton simply sparkles as Meyers’ on-screen avatar, a playwright juggling life and art when two surprise romances land in her lap.
Whip It, Hulu
“I want you to direct more, I loved Whip It so much!” — Steven Spielberg to Drew Barrymore, 2/27/21
(What other endorsement do you need?!)
WHAT I WATCHED
A one-week reprieve between film festivals yielded an eclectic assortment of viewing:
Among new releases, I cannot say I would recommend Blue Bayou. This drama about an immigrant adoptee forcing deportation because he slips through a loophole in the citizenship net shines a light on an important issue … but does so with such a ham-fisted approach that it becomes a brutal watch.
I also took the occasion of Norm Macdonald’s passing to finally watch his star vehicle Dirty Work, which is available on HBO Max. It’s quite clever for a crude ‘90s comedy! Makes you realize just how lazy whatever is left of broad studio comedy has become.
Also, if anyone ever tries to show you the short film Theme Song, please run as far as you can in the opposite direction. And then question if you still need that person in your life.
WHAT I HEARD
My random earworms of the week:
Also, since there’s really no better place to put this … I guested on my buddy Max Covill’s podcast It’s the Pictures last week to talk all things Venice Film Festival! If you want to consume even more of my blabberings and get really in the weeds with the festival’s big movies (including some of my favorites I won’t be writing about), give it a listen.
WHAT I READ
There’s no one better at writing about the nexus of religion and pop culture than Vox’s Alissa Wilkinson, and she’s got the piece you need to read about the recently released The Eyes of Tammy Faye. It’s both contextualizing and reckoning with the film and the history of televangelism it documents. Highly recommend a read, whether or not you’ve seen the movie.
For Ted Lasso fans, one of my Venice flatmates interviewed the actress who plays Ted’s season 2 therapist Sharon (Sarah Niles) over on Vulture. I started off really dour on the character and have since grown to appreciate her as a person, not just a plot device. The conversation gives a lot of insight into how we’ve watched her evolve.
Two non-film things: first, some good reasons why you should get your flu shot NOW (or at least in the coming weeks) to avoid a “twindemic.” Second, it’s well past the 20th anniversary, but this epic cover story for The Atlantic charting the reverberations of a single death on 9/11 is absolutely worth clearing a large chunk of time to read in its entirety. I was moved to tears while waiting for laundry to finish.
WHAT I WROTE
Two late-breaking reviews from Venice! I was a little more mixed on Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog (available 12/1 on Netflix) but absolutely adored Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut The Lost Daughter (available 12/31 on Netflix).
That’s all for today! I’m likely delaying the paywall launch for another week, but if you want to ensure you don’t miss a post, it wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and sign up now.
Yours in service and cinema,
Marshall