So much crap on streaming, what’s a film nerd/nut, cineaste to do?
Ignore the splash screens, read this list!
Leave behind AI-generated suggestions of "more like
this" that contain 90% stuff you don’t want to watch.
Definitions:
Film Nerd: You’ll watch Andrei Rublev willingly
Film Nut: No Andrei Rublev.
(I will do a separate post for each streaming service that has anything worthy, starting here with HBO Max)
HBO Max What to Watch This
Week Oct. 1 to 15, 2022
Film Nerd
The Méliès Mystery (2021, Eric Lange) Watch
one man age through time:
No, but seriously, he’s a filmmaker, one of the first
(almost the first) But he was definitely the first to do many things. This documentary is
NEW which is something to be said for this towering figure to Film Nerds, and
it has NEW information and, if you already knew a lot, it's got NEW perspective. It
definitely reinvigorated my enthusiasm for Méliès, so I highly recommend giving
this buried treasure a whirl.
Spielberg (2017, Susan Lacy) Run the gamut
watching this after the above. Okay I hate Spielberg, there I said it, but even I loved this
documentary, because it was him for himself, not trying to be anything else,
they covered most of his movies, and they featured the film brat culture he
grew up in and gave a really good impression of the historical setting, and the
zeitgeist.
But there’s fresh interviews with Scorsese, DiCaprio, others! It’s a focused perspective of
viewing an epochal time of transition through perhaps my least favorite lens,
but the perspective is really too valuable to miss. And the number of times
that his films were thought to be disasters (before they came out) does
generate some sympathy to root for this guy. Sharing a fellow filmmaker’s
perspective of what goes through his mind on set is really fun. Love him or hate him,
you’ll know him better, and honestly that’s worth something.
For Heaven’s Sake (1926, Sam Taylor) As Harold
Lloyd silent comedies go, people do not pitch this one to you, and instead are always saying
to watch Safety Last (1923), but this one has some even more amazing
stunts and very elaborate comedy bits that start from a simple idea and
escalate to grand scope. There’s a couple of train stunts I really wasn’t
expecting.
While I saw this in a theater out in the wilds of Agoura Hills at a
Silent Film Society screening – and yes, Harold Lloyd does play FAR better with
an audience of more than 2 people – to me, this did hold up on the small screen
with good musical accompaniment. The film quality is also great, so
while enjoying the comedy, you get a “you’re right there” feeling of back in
time in 1926, esp. interesting as Lloyd always has that cutting-edge (for the time)
approach. He seems the most irreverent, so if you want the smartest,
winking-est comedy, it tended to be Lloyd, so you get a real sense of the “times”
as well.
Film Nut
Last Night in Soho (2021, Edgar Wright) Ah,
Edgar Wright what has befallen you. Too witty/edgy with Simon Pegg to be offered a vehicle of equal wit/edge without him. Trying to
find your way without him in the modern film universe, but honestly not quite
carving out a distinct auteur niche like all those you admire. But much more film-smart
and engaging than most mainstream films these days. This one started a bit slow, but
it gets cooking eventually. Watched the whole movie, didn’t realize that was
Diana Rigg. (That's Simon Pegg below (I mean Terrence Stamp).)
The Batman (2022, Matt
Reeves) It’s not that bad! I mean, it’s kind of weird to watch basically a redo of the earlier phase. The push-pull of
keeping what they want from Nolan’s while trying to be new is pretty interesting.
The dull deadpan acting of Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz pretty much sinks this
from a strong recommend,
but honestly there is enough fun and scope and great
cinematography that I do recommend. It’s especially refreshing that the film
truly takes its time in many scenes. That is really the reason for posting this
here, as we really
need to fight against the mainstream ADD/ADHD
presentation of many films. So even the tiniest sliver of anything that is
still trying to be cinema might be worth a look.
Blue Velvet (1986, David Lynch) This is the
point at which David Lynch went too dark. And it’s also the “film school” David
Lynch movie (the one they show you a lot in film classes.)
It’s hard to say
Eraserhead (as stupendously great as it is) is what David Lynch will become. He
went Eraserhead --> The Elephant Man --> Dune and then this. So was the “David
Lynch” we know really in the cards yet at Eraserhead? Couldn’t you say this is the first
David Lynch film?
Stranger Than Paradise (1984, Jim Jarmusch) In
the kitchen-sink splash screens we see when we log in, there’s just too much. More than I ever, I want to unplug to the simplest films, the least ADD,
and imagine sitting in a theater having plonked down my bucks (paper money) to see this, and start
watching and be like, “This is all that happens?”, and eventually not minding.
Ahhh, a breath of fresh air.
Truly very little. Deadpan (well it's Jarmusch), and super-minimalist, you wonder how it got made kind of thing. It does have some recognizable
faces John Lurie and Richard Edson, just in case you were too uncomfortable.
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