Pick of the week: “Kings of Pastry” — Let’s start with dessert. This entertaining and mouth-watering documentary looks at the world-class confectioners who gather in France for a world pastry championship. In addition to marveling at their creation, less dessert than works of art, we learn about the chefs and their almost obsessive pursuit of perfection.
Pick of the week: “Exit Through the Gift Shop” — My full review is here. Street artist Banksy’s playful (and possibly apocryphal) documentary about a graffiti artist wannabe who ends up becoming more successful than his ideals is a wicked satire on the artist in the age of branding.
Pick of the week: “Short Term 12“ — My full review is here. Writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton drew from his own experiences working in a group home for troubled youth to make this wonderful film, shot through with humor, insight and honesty. The film doesn’t romanticize or trivialize the huge obstacles that some teens have to overcome, but shows that it can happen with a patient, constant application of love from others.
It’s all classic movies this week (well, movies that are a decade old at least), in this week’s edition of Instant Gratification.
Pick of the week: “Close Encounters of the Third Kind“: Steven Spielberg’s 1977 UFO thriller stands the test of time because it’s so grounded, with Richard Dreyfuss and the other folks obsessed with Devil’s Tower seemingly like real middle-class people. Looking back, the film plays like a bridge between the personal filmmaking of 1970s auteurs and the blockbusters still to come.
Pick of the week: “The Grandmaster” — Just like Ang Lee did with “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” Wong Kar-Wai (“In the Mood for Love”) tries his hand at the martial arts movie, and the results are similarly ravishing, as the famed Ip Man faces a rival as the Japanese invasion of China looms.
Pick of the week: “Mud“ — Writer-director Jeff Nichols’ terrific films feels like a modern-day updating of a classic boys’ adventure tale mixed with a true slice of Southern life, as two boys help a mysterious stranger (Matthew McConaughey in mid-career Renaissance) hiding out on a remote island. The film’s understanding of its characters and their environs feels authentic; this movie was made by people who’ve been there.
Pick of the week: “Gattaca“ — Every time Andrew Niccol makes another movie, I hope that he’s made another film worthy of his 1997 sci-fi classic, set in a modern society where your life is predetermined by your genetics. It’s a great combination of style, ideas and action — a formula Niccol has never been able to replicate (“In Time”?)
Pick of the week: “Das Boot: Director’s Cut“: Wolfgang Petersen’s film about the tense mission of a German U-Boat is a claustrophobic masterpiece, and this director’s cut adds another hour of footage to the film.
The start of a new month means a lot more movies arriving onto Netflix Instant, including some indie gems and bonafide movie classics of the type you might find randomly appearing in an Oscar montage.
For some reason, a bunch of really good documentaries from the past few years just went up on Netflix Instant in the last few days. So I’m going to break protocol this week and do an all-doc edition of Instant Gratification, with subjects ranging from sports to politics to a very strange romance.
Madison Movie 