(Hopefully) everyone is hunkered down at home and enjoying some fine films and television shows that you have all wanted to watch, but never had the time to experience. This is the first of what will be many features on The Movie Mensch to introduce you to some of the entertainment options that I personally have been a fan of, that I don’t hear mentioned by many in my field.
There are comedies, science fiction, action flicks and yes, a few dramas that will inspire, enlighten and above all else—entertain. We all need something fresh these days to help take our minds off of the headlines that dominate our lives currently.
These ten flicks detailed below share one thing in common … they will each take viewers away in a way that will allow for a little escape when we couldn’t need it more. Stay safe, everyone, stay healthy and … keep being entertained.
The Gods Must Be Crazy
I’ll never forget heading into the local “arts” theater back in 1980 with my parents and had absolutely no idea what to expect from The Gods Must Be Crazy. As I emerged from the darkness of the theater into the light of the day, the smile on my face must have been blinding.
The South African movie hilariously looked at one Bushman whose world turned upside down when he was hit in the head by an empty glass Coca Cola bottle that strangely had fallen from the sky. Imagine not even being aware that such a thing exists, much less how it got into the sky in the first place? The Jamie Uys written and directed classic doesn’t get a lot of notice these days and didn’t honestly receive much notice upon its release. But one thing is for certain. Anyone who has experienced its blissful brilliance cannot ever forget it.
Hours
One of Paul Walker’s final performances was a gut wrenching turn as a father trying to keep his newborn baby alive after the child’s mother and Walker’s wife dies in childbirth. This all occurs, as Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans. The film chronicles the tragedy of Katrina on the Crescent City and does so from the most fascinating of angles. One gets the impending doom feeling as Katrina gets closer, as the rains get heavier and the city slowly empties out (for those who could get out).
Meanwhile, Walker’s character is dealing with unfathomable grief. It’s a fascinating turn because the actor does something so challenging to achieve. The death of his wife was not the baby’s fault, but the birth of the baby was what caused her demise. At first, he wants nothing to do with the infant, but nurses implore him to grapple with his new reality and be the man his wife would want him to be. While this is all going on, slowly but surely, the hospital where he is at empties out as the storm approaches. What progresses over the next 90 minutes is stunning, harrowing, heart wrenching and above all else, hopeful.
Hanna
It’s hard to remember a time when Saoirse Ronan wasn’t a multiple Oscar nominee and whose Irish name alone meant the film was sure to be outstanding. But back in 2011, Ronan tackled the title character in Hanna and blew us away. The titular soul was a genetically engineered superspy/killer who when her father starts to see the future that is predetermined for her, Eric Bana’s Erik takes matters in his own hands and takes her off the grid.
Cate Blanchett is a government spook whose career and standing in the spy community is all on the line if she cannot bring Hanna in. The youthful Ronan dazzled in all arenas of her performance, from the action sequences to the tender emotional moments that are all central to what it means to be a young woman of that age. It all adds up to a thrill ride, yes, but it hits you in the head as much as it speeds up the heartrate from the unadulterated organically conceived and executed cinematic excitement.
Tender Mercies
Robert Duvall has always been one of the best thespians of his generation. He received some major kudos throughout his career for many a bombastic performance, a la Apocalypse Now. Nothing he had done prior could have prepared audiences for what he delivered as a down on his luck, former country music star who finds his life anew (and maybe even love) after hitting rock bottom.
Director Bruce Beresford crafted the most stirring of emotive journeys from Horton Foote’s (for lack of a better word) tender script. The guy who wrote the screenplay for To Kill a Mockingbird had just the right touch and crafted a movie miracle with this 1983 Oscar winning gem. It won Duvall an Oscar for Best Actor and Foote an Academy Award for Best Screenplay.
The Big Hit
For a fun ride featuring performances that are utterly electric, look no further than one of Mark Wahlberg’s first flicks—The Big Hit. Wahlberg plays a hitman and immediately his cinematic charm and charisma leaps off the screen, serving almost as a preview for all the greatness that was to come from the former rapper turned actor.
The 1998 flick also possesses a (oh my gosh they’re in this too) cast that includes Christina Applegate, Lou Diamond Phillips and Elliott Gould. Wahlberg’s Melvin is a socially awkward and anxiety-ridden assassin whose interaction with a kidnapping victim (China Chow) alters the fate of so many, including his girlfriend … who is a handful to say the least (Applegate). In the process, everything turns into pure chaos—all for our entertaining delight.
Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid
Fan of Hollywood noir flicks, but don’t want something so serious during these tumultuous times? Look no further than Steve Martin’s 1980s black and white comedy that spoofed those classic noir films. Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid found Martin playing a private detective (what else?!) named Rigby Reardon (they all have great names like that, don’t they) who uncovers the most nefarious of plots.
It’s up to him to bring justice to this lot and in the process, some real scenes from noir flicks are interspersed in a move that could have been extremely risky. Instead, it’s comedy gold from writer-director Carl Reiner (The Jerk, Summer School). Just a sample of some of the iconic noir stars that appear in archive footage that make Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid pop with trueness include Alan Ladd, Barbara Stanwyck, Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Bette Davis.
Four Lions
The British film Four Lions does something extraordinary—it makes us laugh at terrorism. The thing is … comedy has long been a priceless tool for bringing the raw reality of a situation to the masses in a manner that is palatable and palpable.
That is so the case of this 2010 comedy paints a picture of a quartet of British aspiring terrorists who seek to launch their own little jihad and let’s just say, it goes horribly and hilariously wrong.
Moon
Sam Rockwell won an Oscar, after turning in years upon years of incredible work, for his turn in Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri. That type of excellence was front and center with his solo work in the science fiction stunner, Moon.
Duncan Jones (David Bowie’s son) directs (and co-wrote the script) the tale of an astronaut stuck on the titular rock. What he has to do to continue his solo mission, as well as stay sane–as it has been months upon months of his doing research on the Moon before he is relieved of his post, is beyond compelling. He’s been there for three years, all by himself, and just as his time is about to end, he discovers something that is so astronomically insane, he may never recover. I saw the flick a decade ago and I still haven’t recovered.
The Limey
One of the most underrated actors in the world must be Terence Stamp. Sure, everyone knows he was Zod in Superman with Christopher Reeve and possesses an acting skillset that is second to none. He caught the entire world by surprise with his searing turn as the titular character in The Limey in 1999. This is a story of revenge, with a twist. Stamp is a British citizen in Los Angeles searching for the person he believes is responsible for the death of his daughter.
Central to his vengeance filled journey is Peter Fonda’s Hollywood heavy. Stamp goes from subtle to seismic on a dime and Fonda’s Terry Valentine has the unlucky fate of being the subject of The Limey’s ire.
Strange Days
Future Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow (for The Hurt Locker) put people on notice that her talent was fierce with the mind-blowing and eye-popping Strange Days. Her husband at the time, James Cameron, wrote the script, and the combination of these two artists added up to one majorly explosive and entertaining look at an alternative future that (thankfully) never came to pass (or did it?).
It’s got a stellar cast, including Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Vincent D’Onofrio and William Fichtner. As is the case with comedy, so too is the case with science fiction in how it can deal with tough issues head-on in an entertaining manner that is also enlightening. Strange Days deals with many things, but most astutely it puts a spotlight on race relations in a fictional future that was, sadly, not far off.