if you WANT A star performance

meet joe black

Vincent Georgie: As great as Anthony Hopkins is in this film, Brad Pitt is at the height of his magnetic, star-quality gifts in this drama. While not a big hit upon its initial release, it remains a pillar in the 90s cannon of Pittdom. A terrific story, to be sure. 

Synopsis: Bill Parrish, businessman and devoted family man, is about to celebrate his 65th birthday. However, before he reaches that landmark, he is visited by Death, who has taken human form as Joe Black, a young man who recently died. Joe and Bill make a deal: Bill will be given a few extra days of his life, and Joe will spend the same time getting to know what it’s like to be human. It seems like a perfect arrangement, until Joe falls in love — with Bill’s daughter.

Available on iTunes, Amazon Prime and YouTube.

if you want a singular vision

under the skin

Vincent Georgie: Jonathan Glazer’s bizarre, absorbing, memorable, disturbing and magnificently produced film is, above all, the trumpeting of a filmmaker with a point of view. Aided immeasurably by the cinematography, score, production design and star Scarlett Johansson, Glazer’s full gifts are on unforgettably unusual display. 

Synopsis: Disguising itself as a human female, an extraterrestrial drives around Scotland attempting to lure unsuspecting men into her van. Once there, she seduces and sends them into another dimension where they are nothing more than meat.

Available on iTunes and YouTube.

if you want a terrific young adult film

holes

Vincent Georgie: Based upon the very popular Young Adult novel, Holes is considered by many as the gold standard of what an entertaining, exciting and engaging film adaptation looks like for the 9 to 13 crowd. 

Synopsis: A boy is wrongfully sent to a brutal camp, where the camp warden and her staff force the children in their care to mysteriously dig holes all day long in the desert. Their rehabilitation is questioned, as they think something sinister is involved.

Available on iTunes, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and YouTube.

DOUBLE FEATURE

french new wave

One of the most influential and discussed periods of modern film is beautifully illustrated in these two works of pure cinematic joy by French filmmaker Jacques Demy. Sit back and effortlessly enjoy these two gems. 

the umbrellas of cherbourg

Geneviève, a beautiful young Frenchwoman who works at a small-town boutique selling umbrellas, falls for dashing mechanic Guy. Their brief romance is interrupted when Guy is drafted to serve in the Algerian War. Though pregnant by Guy, Geneviève marries an older businessman, Roland, and begins to move on with her life. Throughout the musical film, all the characters’ dialogue is conveyed through song.

Available on iTunes and YouTube.

the young girls of rochefort

Delphine and Solange are twin sisters who each want to find romance and leave their small seaside town of Rochefort, France. Soon they befriend a couple of visiting carnival workers who frequent their lonely mother’s café and hire the girls to sing in the carnival. Wanting a career as a songwriter, Solange falls for an American musician, Andy, while Delphine dumps her beau and searches Rochefort for her ideal man.

Available on iTunes.

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