Don’t Let October Pass You By Without Seeing Sweetheart (2019)

Sweetheart is on Netflix right now, and it will only take 82 minutes of your time. It’s time well spent. Read more here.

Small Town Crime (2017) Eshom Nelms, Ian Nelms

Here’s one that’s slipped under the radar, but if you’re a fan of crime movies, you won’t want to miss it. It’s currently streaming on Netflix, so read my review and see if you think it’s for you. (I’m betting it is.)

Hold the Dark(2018) Jeremy Saulnier

Hold the Dark is one of the best, most unappreciated and misunderstood films of the year. Read more about it here.

Movies Watched in April 2017 Part II

If you missed Part I, look no further.

I’m continuing something of an abbreviated look at these films. Maybe less is more? I hope you’ll find something of interest to check out. Here we go…

Too Late (2015) Dennis Hauck

Too Late (2016)
Written, directed and co-produced by Dennis Hauck
Also produced by Alexandra Barreto, John Taylor Feltner, Erich Lochner, Matt Miller
Cinematography by Bill Fernandez
Edited by David Heinz
Music by Robert Allaire

You could easily overlook this film while searching for something to watch on Netflix. I did. It wasn’t until I heard Leonard Maltin mention Too Late on his podcast Maltin on Movies as an overlooked film he recommends that I decided to see it. Yet Maltin seems to be one of the few critics praising the film. Some have called it awful. (One Rotten Tomatoes critic called it “perhaps the worst thing I have seen in the many years I’ve attended this [Cleveland International Film] festival.” Do I recommend it? Read on.

Movies Watched in October 2016 Part I (Pre-Noir City DC)

Noir City DC starts today, so I thought I’d post everything that I’ve seen so far this month before the festival gets started. I hope to report on the festival as it happens, so stay tuned. Like last month, many of these entries will be very abbreviated.

River (TV 2015) Abi Morgan

River (TV 2015) Created by Abi Morgan
Netflix (6 episodes, approx. one hour each)

It’s a show you probably haven’t seen and probably haven’t even heard anyone talking about, which is understandable. With all of the TV shows to choose from out there, this Netflix original (borrowed from BBC One) could easily slip past you. But it shouldn’t.

Movies and TV Watched in September 2016

September was a bear. Not only was it your typical frantic/insane atmosphere around here, we also suffered an unexpected death in the family, so the number of films watched is far below normal. I also completed one TV series in September and made significant progress on two more. Although some of my entries are very abbreviated, here’s what I watched in September:

The Request Line is Still Open

Thank you to those of you who have made streaming suggestions based on my current no-physical-media dilemma (described in yesterday’s post). Although no one commented here on the blog, several of you commented via Twitter (@awolverton77) and Facebook. I took a serious look at two of those suggestions:

See This Film Now!

This will be brief. I plan on a future post exploring this film more fully, but for now I urge you to watch Christian Petzold’s Phoenix (2014), a movie now streaming on Netflix.

The time is 1945. Nelly (Nina Hoss) is a Jewish cabaret singer who has survived the horrors of Auschwitz, although with a disfigured face. After reconstructive surgery, she returns to Berlin to find her Gentile husband (Ronald Zehrfeld) who may or may not have betrayed her to the Nazis. Although he won’t recognize her post-surgery, she’ll recognize him.

That’s all I’m going to tell you about the film, other than it’s amazing, multi-layered, brilliantly acted, and…. I must stop. Phoenix is one of the best films I’ve seen this year. (It might just be the best.)

Although Phoenix was released in 2014, it didn’t come to U.S. theaters until Summer 2015. In addition to being available on Netflix, Criterion released Blu-ray and DVD editions of the film in April 2016. This immediately goes to the top of my “to buy” list. You may feel the same way after watching it. Again, look for a full review in the near future (after I’ve watched the Criterion Blu-ray).