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

The Film Critic (recommended): This Argentinean comedy about a film critic – a fascinating subject, certainly – is an entertaining and enjoyable parody about a man whose life is movies and who can’t do anything to stop his life from turning into a movie. Now playing at Cinema Village and also available on iTunes. Read my review from yesterday.

Slow West (recommended): Kodi Smit-McPhee and Michael Fassbender star in this slow-moving but decent Western from the United Kingdom and New Zealand that should please fans of the genre as well as those who like the actors. Now playing at the Angelika. Read my review from Sundance.

New to DVD

The Sleepwalker (recommended): This Sundance feature from debut director Mona Fastvold is an intimate look at two couples and how they communicate and clash during one volatile weekend. Stephanie Ellis, as the eccentric and unpredictable Christine, is the film’s standout.

Still Alice (recommended): Julianne Moore won an Oscar for playing a mother and wife diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at age 50 in this affecting portrait of a woman and family coming apart. Moore is great, and the film, while upsetting, is very good too.

Now on Netflix Instant Streaming

Dirty Girl (recommended): Juno Temple stars in this fun comedy that surpasses its title and manages to become a hybrid road movie and high school movie with its own personality and a handful of strong performances.

Fruitvale Station (highly recommended): This Grand Jury Prize winner at Sundance 2013 deserved its prize. Michael B. Jordan, who will be familiar to TV audiences, delivers an outstanding performance as a doomed young father and ex-con living out the last day of his life in this extremely powerful dramatization of true events.

The Sixth Sense (highly recommended): I’m not a fan of horror films, but there’s no denying the quality of M. Night Shyamalan’s first big movie, which was the ultimate ghost story. I don’t think I could watch it again since I might still have nightmares, but it’s an excellent, mesmerizingly-structured film.