November 20th, 2023

THE LAST RIDER - Hulu

A fascinating documentary about Greg LeMond, who in1986 became the first non-European professional cyclist to win the Tour de France. An amazing accomplishment he went on to repeat twice. LeMond had planned to defend his title in the 1987 Tour de France, but he was unable to participate. The week before returning to Europe, he went turkey hunting on a ranch co-owned by his father in Lincoln, California. LeMond was with his uncle and brother-in-law, and the trio had become separated when his uncle, who heard movement behind him, turned and fired through a bush. The movement had come from LeMond, who was hit in his back and right side with approximately 60 pellets. LeMond's injuries were life-threatening, but a police helicopter was already airborne near the scene and transported LeMond for emergency surgery. And then he went on to win the Tour de France in 1989 and 1990! Incredible.

STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING - Netflix

Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Ibram X. Kendi, this doc explores racist tropes and imagery that were developed and enshrined in American culture throughout history. Kendi, Angela Davis, Autumn Womack, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Brittney Cooper, Carol Anderson, Dorothy Roberts, Elizabeth Hinton, Honorée Jeffers, Imani Perry, Jennifer L. Morgan, Kellie Carter-Jackson, Lynae Vanee, Ruha Benjamin and Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers all appear in the film. Roger Ross Williams directs, and it’s his third film of the year after Cassandro and Love to Love You, Donna Summer. The man is prolific!

November 21st, 2023

20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL - PBS

A doc that’s favored to be short-listed for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, 20 Days in Mariupol is a harrowing but necessary chronicle of the nearly two weeks filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov spent with his colleagues during the battle of Mariupol in 2022. As the Russian invasion begins, the team of Ukrainian journalists become trapped in the besieged city and struggle to continue their work documenting the war. The film won the World Cinema Documentary prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and it will air on PBS at 10p ET as part of their Frontline series.

AFIRE - Criterion Channel

Afire was not tapped as this year’s Best International Feature Oscar submission by Germany, whose committee instead chose to go with THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE. We haven’t seen that one yet (though it’s supposedly fantastic), but it’s a shame Christian Petzold won’t get a shot at a nomination for this caustic drama. It centers on four people who are trapped in their holiday home on the Baltic Sea by uncontrolled forest fires. Lead Thomas Schubert is nominated for Best European Actor at this year’s European Film Awards, and his performance is a darkly hilarious combination of self-absorption and abrasiveness.

JOAN BAEZ: I AM A NOISE - $16.99 Sale / TBD Rental

Neither a conventional biopic nor a traditional concert film, this doc is an intimate portrait of the legendary folk singer and activist that shifts back and forth through time as it follows Baez on her final tour and delves into her vast archive, including newly discovered home movies, diaries, artwork, therapy tapes, and audio recordings. Baez is admirably revealing about her life on and off stage -- from her lifelong emotional struggles to her civil rights work with Martin Luther King Jr. and a heartbreaking romance with a young Bob Dylan. A must for music fans.

LEO - Netflix

Leo is an animated musical comedy directed by Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel and David Wachtenheim (in Marianetti and Wachtenheim's feature directorial debuts), written by Smigel, Adam Sandler, and Paul Sado, and produced by Sandler. The second animated feature from Sandler's production company Happy Madison Productions (the first was 2002’s Eight Crazy Nights), it stars him in the titular voice role, alongside Bill Burr and Cecily Strong. Smigel is a legend, in our opinion. His work as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog should win him the Mark Twain Prize for humor. Our favorite:

THE MARSH KING’S DAUGHTER - $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental

A terrific cast in this one: Daisy Ridley, Ben Mendelsohn, Garrett Hedlund, and The Florida Project’s Brooklynn Prince! Unfortunately, reviews have not been kind. The film was orphaned by STX Film’s financial woes and eventually landed with Roadside Attractions, who released it in theaters earlier this month. It looks like a perfectly serviceable thriller, so hopefully it’ll find its audience on PVOD.

OPPENHEIMER - $19.99 Sale Only

The big one this week! Christopher Nolan’s unlikely blockbuster hits streaming just as its Oscar campaign kicks in to high gear. And it’s going to win a lot of Oscars, isn’t it? We’re thinking it’s a lock nominations for Picture, Director, Actor (Cillian Murphy), Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), Supporting Actress (Emily Blunt), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Sound, Production Design, Costumes, Score, Makeup, and Visual Effects. Could Florence Pugh and Matt Damon also get in the acting categories? Could it break the record for most nominations? We’ll see. In the meantime, we’ll be working off our turkey hangover next weekend by rewatching this masterpiece.

November 22nd, 2023

GENIE - Peacock

Richard Curtis, who unleashed Love Actually in to the world twenty years ago, returns to the Christmas genre with this Melissa McCarthy vehicle. Granted, he’s only the writer, not the director. But Genie is based on Curtis’s 1991 BBC television film Bernard and the Genie, which took place in London. Genie takes place in New York City. Will a Richard Curtis Christmas story make sense in the US? He’s so singularly British. The question is not ‘Will we be watching?’ We will be watching! The real question is: "‘Will we be rewatching every year?’ Bring us the Christmas cozy, Curtis!

GOOD BURGER 2 - Paramount+ w/Showtime

26 years! That’s the amount of time that has passed between the first Good Burger film and this sequel. 1997 was quite a movie year: Titanic, LA Confidential, Good Will Hunting, Boogie Nights. When Good Burger arrived in theaters on July 25th, 1997, it opened at #5 behind Contact, Men in Black, George of the Jungle and Air Force One, which broke the record for an opening weekend by an R-rated film (previously held by Interview with a Vampire). What a weekend! We used to have choices! Anyway, Good Burger 2 is going direct to streaming on Thanksgiving weekend.

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT - Apple TV+

Based on the treasured, classic children’s book by Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit celebrates the magic of unconditional love. When 7-year-old William receives a new favorite toy for Christmas, he discovers a lifelong friend and unlocks a world of magic. The live action portion of the story was filmed over three weeks in Ireland. But the special is also told in two-dimensional animation and three-dimensional computer graphics imagery. And it’s only 40 minutes long. The anti-Oppenheimer!

November 23rd, 2023

LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING - Max

Joan Baez says: I am a Noise. Little Richard counters: I am Everything. This doc chronicles another rock pioneer, and it’s far overdue. Little Richard is often described as ‘The Architect of Rock and Roll’ who influenced singers and musicians across musical genres, from rock to hip hop. His music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations. The film also examines his complex and contradictory feelings about his own sexuality, and how his Christian faith put him in conflict with his sexual identity. It aired in September on CNN and will now be available to stream for Max subscribers.

MASTER GARDENER - Hulu

Paul Schrader returns with the third installment in what he has described as an accidental trilogy. It began with his 2018 drama First Reformed, which was about a minister (Ethan Hawke) having a crisis of faith, and continued three years later with The Card Counter, which examined a gambler (Oscar Isaac) with a brutal military past. Master Gardener stars Joel Edgerton as Narvel Roth (great name!), who works as the horticulturist of Gracewood Gardens, a beautiful estate owned by wealthy dowager Mrs. Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver). Haunted by his past, Roth finds solace in ritualistic journaling and the fine details of gardening, which he describes as "a belief in the future". It doesn’t reach the heights of First Reformed, but definitely worth checking out.

November 24th, 2023

WHAT COMES AROUND - AMC+

Director Amy Redford’s thriller came and went quickly in theaters, but deserves a second (or first) look now that it’s hitting SVOD. Redford is the daughter of Oscar-winning director Robert Redford, so she’s got the lineage. And the cast includes Summer Phoenix, the youngest sibling of River and Joaquin Phoenix. Summer’s son, Indiana Affleck, is also in the film. Indiana is the son of Oscar-winner Casey Affleck and nephew of Oscar-winner Ben Affleck. But wait…also co-starring in the film is Grace Van Dien, daughter of (non-Oscar winner) Casper Van Dien and granddaughter of movie icon Robert Mitchum. A very Hollywood Royalty-adjacent movie!

Happy Streaming Everyone!