Dear friends,
I am now back at the office:
Pardon the mess. Sometimes I remember that there are people out there that I’ve never met, who receive this newsletter and make my work possible, and I get really, really overwhelmed. Today is such day, and I just wanted to say: thank you all so much.
THE TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
Get Shorty
Ray Romano and Chris O'Dowd (Bridesmaids) star in this dark comedy-thriller about a gangster who attempts a career as a Hollywood producer. It’s based on the novel that the 1995 John Travolta and Danny DeVito movie by the same name was also based on *catches breath*.
There is something undeniably funny about people in crime who try to reform themselves in Hollywood, the same thing that Bill Hader perfected in Barry. The switch from real to fake and back is equally as well-executed in Get Shorty.
📰 L.A. Times: “It's well-made and beautifully played, and one welcomes, for a change, the story of a person attempting to pull himself out of a life of crime instead of one sliding into it.”
📺 on Netflix U.S.; 🍅 rating: 78%
THE TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
Western
This realistic drama produced by the director of Toni Erdmann is about a group of German workers who are sent to the Bulgarian/Greek border to build a water pump.
Their arrogant leader harasses a local and flies a German flag, prompting a clash with the nearby village.
Unlike the reference of its title, Western doesn’t follow any format and is not interested in portraying violence. Instead, it’s a quiet look at how people handle social and cultural tensions.
📰 The Guardian wrote in 2018: “One of the films of the year has arrived - maybe the best of the year - a work of unmatched subtlety, complexity and artistry.”
📺 on Amazon Prime U.S; 🍅 rating: 96%
Readers’ top picks
I’m no Longer Here on Netflix our readers’ favorite movie for the third week in a row. It’s a unique movie about the leader of a street dance group who is forced to immigrate from Mexico to Queens, NY.
The comedy-romance Feel Good also on Netflix is our readers’ favorite show this week. It’s about the first same-sex relationship of a British girl with a Canadian stand-up comic.
New titles worth your time
The Netflix horror-romance show The Order comes back for season 2 today. It’s a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-type show: good guilty pleasure entertainment.
The 2006 documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon is now available on Amazon Prime. It’s about the Lennon’s transition from a musician into an antiwar activist.
Great titles that will soon expire
Neruda leaves Netflix this Thursday, June 25th. It’s from Pablo Larraín, the director known for Jackie (and who was announced this week to be directing a movie about Princess Diana starring Kristen Stewart.) Neruda is about the life of famous Chilean poet and political activist Pablo Neruda.
Early warning: the 2018 sci-fi Annhilation with Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac leaves Amazon Prime next Sunday, June 28th. It’s a great but awkwardly-released movie that was on Netflix everywhere except for the US. It’s about a group of scientists who try to investigate an alien disaster zone.
The Newsflash: The Oscars do one more thing wrong
The Academy announced this week that the Oscars will be delayed to April 25th, instead of the usual February date. This will make movies released between January 1st 2020, and February 28th, 2021 eligible; giving late theater releases a chance to compete in the wake of the pandemic.
If you haven’t spotted the problem yet, this week Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri detailed it in an article titled The Oscars Blew It.
The Oscars had a chance this year to do something unique: to award smaller films that didn’t get major theatrical releases or major studio campaigns. Studios have gone crazy in the past years lobbying for the Oscars. By a 2017 estimate, they spend as much as $15 million per movie on the award campaign alone.
This year, Netflix was accused of “bribing” Oscar voters, putting them up in luxury hotels such as the Four Seasons in what could only be understood as an attempt to make them softer towards The Irishman.
With theaters shut down and festivals cancelled, the Academy had a chance to set a precedent and have an edition that’s just focused on quality. But what a crazy concept, right? Awards for quality not for multi-million-dollar lobbying?
Ebiri writes:
An Oscars built around smaller releases that are nevertheless great movies might actually serve as a necessary reset for AMPAS, and return the awards back to what they should be about in the first place: honoring excellence. It would also serve as a great platform to help people discover amazing new films. Imagine that: An Oscars season that is not about glitz and glamour but about quality. An Oscars season that’s not overloaded with bloated biopics or self-important CGI spectacles.
That’s it for today, I hope there is something in there for you.
If you can, please support us by subscribing or giving it as a gift:
The next edition will be in your inbox on Friday, June 26th.
Until then,
Bilal Zou, founder [bilal@agoodmovietowatch.com]
Carried with the support of the Creative Europe Program – MEDIA.