Movie News
The Movie Committee has announced that movies are now showing every Tuesday and Saturday evening at 7 p.m In the Auditorium
Saturday, July 18: Laura (Amazon rental)
A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating. Produced and directed by Otto Preminger. With Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney. Several Oscar nominations; won for Best Black and White Cinematography.
1944 1 hr 28 min
Tuesday, July 21: Day for Night
A filmmaker struggles to complete a melodrama, “Meet Pamela,” while coping with various crises. Directed by François Truffaut, who also plays the director, Jacqueline Bisset, Valentina Cortese, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Jean-Pierre Léaud.
1973 1 hr 56 min
Saturday, July 25: In a Lonely Place (Amazon rental)
A violence-prone screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lonely neighbor clears him, but she soon starts to have doubts. Directed by Nicholas Ray; with Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy.
1950 1 hr 43 min
Tuesday, July 28: No Movie
Saturday, August 1: Touch of Evil (Amazon rental)
A Mexican official and his American wife are targeted in a Texas border town by the crime family he's trying to put behind bars for drug trafficking. His concern grows over the tactics of the local detective whose cooperation he needs. Written and directed by Orson Welles, recut by Universal-International, and re-edited and restored by Walter Murch in 1998. With Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia, Marlene Dietrich, and Welles.
1958 1 hr 48 min
Tuesday, August 4: Late Autumn (Criterion Channel)
The film follows the attempts of three older men to help the widow (Setsuko Hara) of a late friend marry off her daughter (Yōko Tsukasa), but the daughter is reluctant to leave her mother alone. Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.
1960 • Family drama • 2 hr 8 min
Saturday,August 8: The Lady Eve (Amazon rental)
Three card sharks target a socially awkward brewery heir, until one of them falls in love with him. Directed by Preston Sturges; with Barbara Stanwick, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn.
1941 • Comedy • 1 hr 34 min
Tuesday, August 11: No Movie
Saturday, August 15: Ninotchka (Amazon rental)
A Soviet apparatchik (Greta Garbo) arrives in Paris to ensure the sale of jewels seized during the Russian Revolution. Meanwhile, Count Leon d'Algout (Melvyn Douglas) attempts to intercept the jewels on behalf of their former owner, Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire). Directed by Ernst Lubitsch.
1939 • Comedy • 1 hr 50 min
Tuesday, August 18: Rashomon (Kanopy, Amazon rental)
The film is a jidaigeki (period drama), a very popular genre in Japan. The story concerns the murder of a samurai in the forest. The story is told from four points of view, including the dead samurai. Directed by Akira Kurosawa, it was the first Japanese film to gain significant international acclaim and introduced Toshiro Mifune to Western audiences.
1950 • 1 hr 28 min
Thursday, August 20: High and Low (Kanopy, Amazon rental)
Toshiro Mifune plays Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a kidnapper. The screenplay is a loose adaptation of Ed McBain’s novel King’s Ransom. The film was directed by Akira Kurosawa, and stars Toshiro Mifune. It was remade recently by Spike Lee as Highest to Lowest.
1963 • Police procedural • 2 hr
Saturday, August 22: Airplane! (Amazon rental)
A parody of the airplane disaster film. With Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
1980 • Comedy • 1 hr 28 min
Tuesday, August 25: Tampopo (Kanopy, HBO Max)
A truck driver (Gorō) is enlisted to help the widowed owner (Tampopo) of a noodle shop perfect her noodles. She and Gorō visit other noodle shops to assess her competitors. Written and directed by Juzō Itami. Ken Watanabe appears in his first movie role as Gorō’s younger colleague, Gun.
1985 • Comedy • 1 hr 55 min
Saturday, August 29: Some Like it Hot (Kanopy, Amazon rental)
Set in the Prohibition era, the film is about two musicians (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) who disguise themselves as women to escape Chicago mobsters they saw commit murder. Co-written and directed by Billy Wilder; with Marilyn Monroe, George Raft.
1959 • Comedy • 2 hr
Tuesday, September 1: After Life (Amazon rental, Criterion Channel)
The recently deceased find themselves in a limbo realm where they must select a single memory from their life to be recreated on film that they can take into the next world. Some of the scenes in the film are real-life interviews, but the main stories use actors. Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters).
1999 • Fantasy • 2 hr
The Movie Committee always appreciates feedback. Thank you to all the residents who have suggested movies for future showings. These suggestions are always welcome.
Streaming Movies
Many residents prefer to watch movies at home for a variety of reasons, or they miss a particular movie because they have other plans for that night.
Almost all the movies now shown at Broadmead are available from streaming services. (See the end of this post for the services used for this month’s movies.)
For most services you sign up on your computer or phone. Newer TVs have the apps for Amazon and Netflix already on them and may have others as well. Of course you can also use Roku and similar devices.
Amazon rentals are the major source of our movies. You need an Amazon account but you don’t need Prime to rent movies. The Prime service includes a number of new movies; they are available free for a limited period of time and then they move to rentals. Oppenheimer, for example, is now free on Amazon Prime, and costs $6 as a rental. At the end of January, Amazon is raising the cost of a Prime subscription if you want to see movies without ads.
Most Amazon rentals are $4 to $6, except when the movies are brand new and popular. (They can be as much as $20 at first, but after a while the price drops.) You have 48 hours to watch a rented movie once you start to stream it.
Kanopy is a free service sponsored by libraries and has increased the number and depth of its offerings. You sign up online using your Baltimore County library card. Kanopy has always regulated the number of movies you can watch each month. It used to be 15 movies; they have now moved to a different method. You get 45 “tickets” a month, and each movie “costs” 2 to 4 tickets. Again, once you start streaming, you have a limited time to complete the movie.
Netflix is a subscription service with various levels: ads, no ads, etc. There are no restrictions on the number of movies you watch or a limited time in which to complete them. But Netflix doesn’t carry many older movies and its focus is shifting to series.
An excellent source for locating movies is the website www.JustWatch.com.
JustWatch - The Streaming Guide All your streaming services in one app.
It tells you which streaming services are carrying the movie and the cost (not always accurate, but close). I use JustWatch to track movies that are still playing in theaters. I’m then notified when they become available for streaming.
The Voice movie listings will now indicate the streaming source (if available) for each movie.
Movie Reviews
For those looking for movie reviews, most major movies are reviewed on the Roger Ebert site, which has a rotating group of reviewers. The reviews give a detailed plot summary. Four stars is the highest rating.
Wikipedia has entries for most movies. In addition to a very detailed plot summary (including spoilers), the entries give the production history, cast, summary of critical reviews, and awards for which the movie was nominated or won.
The Guardian, one of the few major newspapers without a pay wall, also has reviews.
If you have access to the New York Times, their reviewers are excellent, and their recommendations are noted as “Critics’ Choice.”
Movie History
For those interested in movie history, MIT, in its Open Courseware program, has a series of recorded lectures by David Thorburn, with an associated list of suggested films. The lectures include some movie clips. Thorburn has a very animated style of lecturing. His approach is particularly interesting because he places cinema in the context of society and points to connections with the other arts. His lectures are carried on YouTube, so you can view them on your TV, but you have to search for them. You can find information about the lectures at https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/21l-011-the-film-experience-fall-2013/video_galleries/lecture-videos-notes/