I wonder if when Clint Eastwood finally sheds this mortal coil he’ll be more remembered as an actor or a director. He’s made plenty of great films as one or the other (and more than a few in which he directed himself). I’m not sure I’d be able to choose which one I enjoy the most. He’s had a long storied career, that’s for sure.
Reportedly Juror No. 2 is reportedly the 94-year-old director’s final film. It was well received by critics but sadly got an incredibly small theatrical release before being dumped on Max. It stars Nicolau Hoult as a juror on a high-profile murder case who realizes he has information he could use to sway the rest of the jury in either way he wants.
That’s all I know. That’s all I want to know. As I often say in these things I like going into movies cold, knowing very little about them. The buzz is that this is a very solidly constructed courtroom drama. The kind of thing they don’t make much of anymore. That’s good enough for me to make it this week’s pick.
Wicked: A movie based on a musical based on a book based on a movie. And they say Hollywood is out of ideas. Wicked reimagines the Wizard of Oz from the Wicked Witch of the West’s point of view, delving into her background and discovering why she became so wicked. It was originally a novel that was turned into a Broadway musical, and now it is a movie. I’ve not read the book, or seen the show, but my wife has treated me to some of the music, which is pretty good.
Werewolves: A supermoon turns millions of people into werewolves. Sounds fun.
Punch Drunk Love: Criterion is giving this wonderful PT Anderson film which proved Adam Sandler can actually act, the 4K UHD treatment.
The Sacrifice: Andrei Tarkovsky’s beautiful, meditative film gets the 4K UHD treatment from Kino Lorber. You can read my review of the Blu-ray here.
Oh, Canada: Richard Gere stars in director Paul Schrader’s latest drama about a draft dodger who fled to Canada during the Vietnam War. I’m a big fan of Schrader so I’m excited about this one.
Two Spaghetti Western Classics: Kill Them All and Come Back Alone / The Hellbenders: Kino Lorber brings these two Italian Westerns to the 4K UHD world.
I forgot to link over to Cinema Sentries for last week’s pick, you can read it here if you like.
themidnightcafe.org 
Read your great review of Tarkovsky’s final movie “The Sacrifice” and you show a wonderful appreciation and sensitivity to a great, great artist – who is surely the antithesis of our ADD sound-byte streaming push-button cullture! I highly recommend Tarkovsky’s brilliant book “Sculpting In Time”. I think my favourite of all his films is “Mirror” – although “Ivan’s Childhood” remains one of the most powerful war films that I have ever seen. The cult favourite is “Stalker,” of course – his most disturbing movie I guess and the closest to the “horror” genre that you enjoy so much. Thanks for all the music and the generous breadth of your reviews.
Thank you very much. I appreciate your kind words. I have an ebook cop of Sculpting in Time somewhere and keep meaning to read it.
I love all of his films. Stalker is probably my favorite but they are all brilliant. Strangely Solaris is probably my least favorite and that seems to be a lot of folks favorite.
I love all his films too – including the art-school film he made – “steamroller” is in the title (?) – I saw a retrospective of all his works at the Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa – a favourite haunt of my wife and I – but we walked out of the screening of “Solaris” because it featured an awful awful U.S. dub! I eventually saw a print with sub-titles (phew!) – beautiful work by a true poet of the screen.
Went to see “A Complete Unknown” last weekend – the behind the scenes promo I saw on youtube got me really hyped! The acting impressed me.