Movie Recommendations (August 2023)

If you are like me, your streaming queues are out-of-control. Too many streaming services. Too many titles. If you love movies but have ever felt paralyzed by choice, then this is the place for you. In this column, I’ll detail what I’ve been watching, making recommendations and periodically highlighting the films I found interesting. To help describe the appeal of each title, I’ve started including “Recommended if you like…” or RIYL titles for each one.

I’m still catching up on recent months worth of viewings… September and October coming soon!
New this time – To sneak in a few more recommendations, I’ve added “recommended if you like…” (RIYL) suggestions after each blurb. Enjoy!

1. The War of the Roses (1989)

A deliciously dark comedy about the many ways a marriage can go wrong. This was the third Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner pairing, which doesn’t quite make them the Tracy & Hepburn of the eighties, but three movies together (two classics) in 5-6 years is pretty good! King Danny DeVito directed the film and also plays an supporting character. The acidic comedy won’t be for everyone but if you like real movie star showcases, then there is a lot to love here.

Recommended if you like: Romancing the Stone (1984); Intolerable Cruelty (2003)

2. Disobedience (2017)

A quiet drama headlined by Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams with some unexpected but deeply-felt character turns. On its surface Disobedience features a queer love triangle. It is elevated by the lead performances but also deepened by its earnest exploration of how these relationships can exist within a devout faith community, Orthodox Jewish in this instance. This is a beautiful film that should be a pleasant surprise for those who appreciate nuance.

RIYL: Carol (2015); Silence (2016)

3. Jackson (2016)

Are the best documentaries the ones that make you mad? It has been said and sometimes it’s probably true. Anyway, if that’s what you’re into, Jackson should fit the bill. If being driven to impotent rage isn’t the best sales pitch, Jackson also has many instances of real interview subjects looking into the camera and saying truly evil things. There is some spectacle in the brazen villainy on display.

RIYL: Last Week Tonight; Funny Games (1997)

4. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

I love fantasy films but was highly skeptical of this one upon seeing the trailer. Game Night was a lot of fun but, “From the directors of…,” did not sell me on this type of film at all. I was wrong. D&D is a blast from start to finish. It manages to be very funny within the confines of the genre while avoiding the metatextual references that seem to pass for jokes in other less-funny comedies. Give it up to John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein for cracking the code. It’s a fun adventure and a real breath of fresh air.

RIYL: Stardust (2007); Enchanted (2007); Game Night (2018); or just actually playing ‘Dungeons and Dragons‘

5. Dolores Claiborne (1995)

My first time seeing this gem. If the works and adaptations of Stephen King make you feel warm and cozy then you should give Dolores Claiborne a shot immediately. It’s a great story that still resonates today and revolves around great performances by Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh. With its sumptuous on-location cinematography (set in Maine; filmed in Nova Scotia) and Danny Elfman score, Dolores Claiborne also represents the kind of competent 1990s studio filmmaking that feels a little harder to come by these days.

RIYL: Misery (1990); The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

6. The Card Counter (2021); Bonus: Master Gardener (2022)

Paul Schrader continues to pump out stories about “God’s Lonely Men.” This character type is a long-running trope but Schrader has actually been on a hot streak in recent years. The Card Counter features a captivating lead performance by Oscar Isaac, as a former war criminal who scrapes by on a modest and principled gambling career until his demons catch up with him. Fairly violent and bleak but nothing too outrageous if you’re already a Schrader fan. I also caught up with last year’s Master Gardener which features a similarly strong Joel Edgerton performance albeit in a film that feels a little less focused.

RIYL: First Reformed (2017); Hardcore (1979); Taxi Driver (1976) [Schrader really is the king of this stuff]

7. I am Love (2009)

Gorgeous Italian drama from Luca Guadagnino starring Tilda Swinton. This story follows the affairs of a fictional Italian industrialist family and features plenty of romance, melodrama and intergenerational strife. It comes especially recommended to those who don’t mind luxuriating in beautifully crafted films even when they get a tad slow.

RIYL: Call Me By Your Name (2017); House of Gucci (2021)

8. Norma Rae (1979)

Still highly resonant in 2023 considering not only the recent entertainment industry strikes but the general sense of upheaval pervading much of the working world in recent years. It’s a strong movie powered by a great Sally Field performance (I don’t know who reads these things but this one should be a real eye-opener for anyone who is more familiar with her playing Aunt May than they are with her 70s work).

RIYL: Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976); Erin Brockovich (2000); Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

9. Blue Bayou (2021)

A visceral drama about a Louisiana man who faces deportation to a country he has never known. Highly affecting. No doubt that this one manipulates your emotions hard but I found it riveting enough to go along for the ride and think that director/writer/star Justin Chon showed a lot of exciting talent here.

RIYL: Minari (2020); Fruitvale Station (2013); or if you were intrigued by Justin Chon’s comedic secondary character in the Twilight movies (2008-2012)

10. The New Legend of Shaolin (a.k.a. “Legend of the Red Dragon,” 1994)

First time viewing, so thank you to the Screen Drafts podcast for the recommendation. This Jet Li action comedy just kinda has everything. You’ll be laughing at the gags when not admiring the great fight sequences and slapstick performances. And there’s a zany plot featuring kids with different parts of a treasure map tattooed to their backs. Wild stuff but a real crowd-pleaser in the best sense. Not every good movie should be called a hidden gem but I think this one qualifies.

RIYL: Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Odds and Ends (alphabetical)

The Accused (1988)

A great pre-Silence of the Lambs role for Jodie Foster (and Kelly McGillis while we’re at it), though the film is bound to be a tough watch due to its depiction and discussion of a rape case. I also found the film to be striking and unique for its interest in societal complicity in violence and in the ethics of plea bargaining. Content warnings aside, this should be a rewarding experience for the way it pushes into territory not often explored in legal dramas.

RIYL: Anatomy of a Murder (1959); A Time to Kill (1996)

Airport 1975 (1974); Bonus: Airport ’77 (1977)

The Airport movies occupy an interesting place somewhere in between natural disaster survival movies and pure melodrama. It’s an oddly comforting and nostalgic combination for me. I had previously seen the original Airport (1970) and would now say that moving through these three films in order brings diminishing marginal returns. Still pretty fun and each movie has a stacked cast. Disaster movies from this era comprise a really fun swath of films.

RIYL: Airport (1970); The Poseidon Adventure (1972); Earthquake (1974)

Arkansas (2020)

I like Clark Duke, he of Sex Drive and the final season of The Office. If you also like Clark Duke, you might be interested to know that he wrote and directed the pulp crime thriller, Arkansas, adapted from a John Brandon novel and dumped in the forsaken early-pandemic era that was Spring 2020. It’s a solid genre entry with an impressive cast including Vince Vaughn and John Malkovich. While it doesn’t necessarily reach the heights of Blood Simple or Fargo, it is reaching for something Coens-esque and gets close enough that you can have a good time with it.

RIYL: Clark Duke

Captain America (1990)

Kind of amazing how the mere existence of the Chris Evans movies boosts the credibility of this goofy little movie. The plot of the 2011 Joe Johnston film is pretty much an exact port of the first act of this 1990 movie. Not sure I can really recommend this one to anyone but I guess if you like oddball pre-MCU Marvel misfires…

RIYL: Howard the Duck (1986)

Dragonball Evolution (2009)

I don’t recommend this movie. Watch any incarnation of the anime instead.

Robin Hood (1991)

The “other” Robin Hood movie from 1991. Though not as bombastic as the Kevin Costner film from the same year, this version starring Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman is arguably more intimate and evocative of the period. To be honest, I didn’t even know this movie existed until I recently encountering it in the “Last Chance” section on Max. Worth seeking out for fans of Robin Hood stories in their many forms.

RIYL: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938); Ivanhoe (1952); Robin Hood (1973); Robin and Marian (1976)

Sinister (2012)

The 8mm film sequences deliver some truly haunting imagery. “Grisly images plus Ethan Hawke” can go a long way with me. I think I’m late to the game on this one but if you are a Blumhouse fan and somehow haven’t seen Sinister yet, it should do the trick.

RIYL: Insidious (2010); The Conjuring (2013)

Sully (2016)

Not unlike Paul Schrader with his lonely men, Clint Eastwood has, somewhat improbably, continued to find new things to say with his “old guys who know best,” archetype. Sully owes a lot to ever-reliable leading man Tom Hanks, and the flight simulator sequence might be the most laughably luddite thing I’ve seen in modern cinema, but I also can’t shake the feeling that Clint did indeed “still have it” at 86 years of age. Since most people have probably already seen Sully – and American Sniper for that matter – I’ll leave you with some other recent Eastwoods I liked a little more…

RIYL: The Mule (2018); Richard Jewell (2019); Cry Macho (2021)

Unknown (2011)

Hadn’t seen this one before but it’s pretty fun and I continue to be surprised that Liam Neeson’s post-Taken CV is fairly rich with decent-to-good thrillers. Likely to make you wish you were watching legit classics such as North by Northwest (1959), The Manchurian Candidate (1962) or Total Recall (1990) but at the very least, Unknown – almost certainly – deserves to be held in higher regard than the Taken sequels that I haven’t seen.

RIYL: Chloe (2009); The Grey (2011); Non-Stop (2014); Cold Pursuit (2019)

A Vigilante (2018)

Think Olivia Wilde as Batman but without gadgets and she works for tips. This thriller takes a fairly novel approach adding genre flourishes to a story otherwise centered on victims of abuse trying to escape their circumstances. It’s worth a look.

RIYL: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Revenge (2017)