Dear friends,
Today’s top movie pick is probably the most exciting Netflix film since … at least Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma. And to keep with its eerie theme, the top TV pick is an Amazon Prime sci-fi series from earlier in the year.
THE TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
I’m thinking of ending things
📺 New on Netflix everywhere today; 🍅 rating:87%
Toni Collette, Jessie Buckley, and Jesse Plemons star in this mind-bending drama from Charlie Kaufman, the writer of Being John Malkovich.
The Young Woman, as she is known in the movie, takes a day trip with her boyfriend to his family’s secluded farm in Oklahoma. On the way, she thinks about breaking up with him.
But once there, she meets her boyfriend’s unusual mom (Colette), and the weather deteriorates, forcing her to stay longer. Things get progressively weirder for The Young Woman and, I don’t know how else to describe it: reality starts to shift.
THE TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
Tales From the Loop
📺 On Amazon Prime everywhere.; 🍅 rating: 84%
Paul Schneider and Rebecca Hall star in this sci-fi drama about a town whose people live above a machine that causes a variety of strange things to happen.
Each episode is about a different town inhabitant and their interaction with that machine (called The Loop).
Based on a famous book by Swedish author Simon Stalenhag where he tried to reimagine his childhood in rural Sweden. This series takes that aesthetic to a fictional town in Ohio.
Readers’ top picks
And Then We Danced on Amazon Prime is our readers’ favorite movie. It’s an award-winning drama from Georgia.
For the third week, Immigration Nation, a look at ICE, is our readers’ favorite show.
New titles worth your time
The three seasons of the Danish show that inspired House of Cards, Borgen, are now on Netflix. Also new is this week’s top movie pick.
The superhero show The Boys is back for a second season on Amazon Prime today.
Great titles that will soon expire
No notable titles leaving Netflix this week.
Colette with Keira Knightley about the life of the famous author leaves Amazon Prime this Friday, September 11th.
And an early warning: The U.S. vs. John Lennon, a great documentary on the history of political activism by the late Beatle, leaves Amazon Prime next Sunday, September 13th.
The Newsflash: going to a film festival in a pandemic
This week I am attending the Venice Film Festival, the first major festival to take place since the pandemic started.
I hesitated a lot before going, and news from earlier this week didn’t help. The $200 million production The Batman was halted one week into shooting in the UK after the star, Robert Pattinson, tested positive. I mean if they can’t keep things safe for $200 million, how can anyone keep anything safe?
Not to mention, even as I’m writing this, headlines like this one keep playing in my head: “newsletter author talks about going to a film festival, catches the virus. Hospitalized.”
Too sinister? Ok, maybe. But why go, then? Love for film, wishing festivals and cinemas don’t die forever, I guess. It’s completely irrelevant that they’re showing a new Shia Leboeuf movie. ~shhh~.
In the coming editions of the newsflash, I will report on the movies I see, but today I wanted to share with you what the event looks like:
The red carpet has a two-meter wall so that no-one lines-up for autographs
Compulsory masks everywhere (naturalmente)
Every other seat of every screening is kept empty
They tested every star coming from outside Europe on arrival
Some of the press conferences are taking place on Zoom
Perhaps more importantly, the selection this year is very limited, with hardly any big releases. It’s a great edition to hunt down non-mainstream movies, but for reference, some of the premieres for last year were: Joker, Marriage Story, Ad Astra, The King, Seberg, and Atlantis.
The notable premieres this year are Nomadland, a Chloé Zhao movie (The Rider) with Frances McDormand, One Night in Miami by Regina King which is a story about Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, and, *queue the heart emojis*, Pieces of a Woman with Shia Laboeuf and Vanessa Kirby.
I booked the aisle seats for every screening, I have a box of 50 masks and a bottle of hand sanitizer in every pocket (I packed only cargo pants). I’ll tell you all about it next week.
That’s it for today, I hope there is something in there for you.
If you can, please support the newsletter by subscribing or giving it as a gift:
The next edition will be in your inbox on Friday, September 11th.
Until then,
Bilal Zou, founder [bilal@agoodmovietowatch.com]
Carried with the support of the Creative Europe Program – MEDIA.
Stay safe, and have a blast !