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 and Netflix. I invite you to add in your thoughts on any films I haven’t seen in the comments below. I’m trying a new format this week – let me know if you like it!

Now Playing in Theatres

As I've been immersed in screening selections for both the Other Israel Film Festival and DOC NYC, there's plenty playing in regular cinemas too. The two movies I can recommend most highly I saw at SXSW and Sundance, respectively. The New Romantic is a lovely, engaging film with Jessica Barden at its center, and Jason Mantzoukas anchors the hilarious road trip buddy comedy The Long Dumb Road. It’s gotten mostly mixed reviews, but I really liked Bohemian Rhapsody and think it’s well worth seeing and experiencing. In a Relationship, which played at Tribeca earlier this year, is also a great choice. Boy Erased is an unsettling dramatization of a true story about gay conversion therapy, not quite as strong as “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” but still worthwhile. El Angel provides a compelling portrait of a notorious killer and also serves as Argentina’s Oscar submission for Best Foreign Film. Sarah Jessica Parker is the best reason to see Here and Now, which was called “Blue Night” back when I saw it at Tribeca. The Front Runner is decent but not nearly as involving as anything related to present-day elections. A Private War doesn’t quite do justice to its journalist subject Marie Colvin, but it has its moments. Despite the involvement of Julianne Nicholson and the usually dependable Alessandro Nivola, Weightless never really goes anywhere.

New to DVD

One of my favorite movies at the Sundance Film Festival this past year was Never Goin’ Back, billed as a stoner comedy but really much more than that. It features great lead performances from its female stars and is genuinely enjoyable. It’s hard not to like this year’s Israeli submission for Best Foreign Film, The Cakemaker. Likely Oscar contender BlacKkKlansman is worth watching and definitely has a valid perspective to offer, even if’s not my favorite Spike Lee film. Unless you’re a Pablo Escobar fanatic, it’s not necessary to watch Loving Pablo over “Narcos.”

Now on Netflix Instant Streaming

Alfonso Cuaron may well win his second Oscar for Best Director this year for “Roma,” but I still find Children of Men, a fantastic sci-fi film that didn’t go home with any Oscars, to be his strongest. A film that did net its director an Oscar bid that same year, United 93, is also now available, and it’s the ultimate definition of a respectful recreation of an incredibly tragic event in American history. I can also highly recommend Cloverfield and Equals, a handheld monster movie and intellectual dystopian film, respectively. A number of well-known Oscar winners can now be streamed, including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Good Will Hunting, The English Patient, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, listed in descending order of affinity from me. Both Sixteen Candles and Sex and the City: The Movie have their fans, and subscribers should know what they’re in for with either of those. Finally, enjoy the appetizing and entertaining Julie and Julia and skip the dreary and aimless Sea of Trees.