Saturday Night Movie Recommendations with Abe

Welcome back to a weekly feature here at Movies With Abe. I'm going to be providing a handy guide to a few choice movies currently playing in theatres as well as several films newly released on DVD. I invite you to add in your thoughts on any films I haven’t seen in the comments below. Understandably, some weeks will have considerably fewer releases to address than others.

Now Playing in Theatres

Nothing to report this week, but I’ll have plenty to cover in the coming weeks!

New to DVD

Listen Up Philip (highly recommended): Jason Schwartzman is the centerpiece of this New York Film Festival entry about a self-obsessed writer intent on alienating everyone in his life. The script is superb, and Schwartzman, Elisabeth Moss, and the rest of the cast are too.

Now on Netflix Instant Streaming

Crash (highly recommended): Many malign this 2005 Best Picture winner, but it’s actually a tremendously moving and powerfully intense look at multiculturalism and racism in Los Angeles with excellent performances from a diverse cast including Ludacris, Thandie Newton, Matt Dillon, and Terrence Howard.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (recommended): I liked this sequel, which took home the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature this year, much more than the first film, which I found to be overrated. It wasn’t the best animated film of the year, but still a creative and thoroughly enjoyable ride.

Rich Hill (recommended): This documentary, which took home the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, is an honest, involving portrait of three young boys facing tough circumstances but proudly talking about their lives to an interested camera.