Dating Amber (Streaming November 10, FandangoNOW)
In Ireland, it’s 1995 when closeted gay friends, Amber (Lola Petticrew) and Eddie (Fionn O’Shea) decide to pose as a couple in order to throw high school classmates off the scent. Eddie doesn’t admit his sexual orientation to himself, let alone to others, but time spent with Amber—who knows exactly who she is— shines new light on his perspective. As individuals and as a pair, these characters are brightly drawn and capably explored. Their friendship—and the ideas and feelings shared—are central, leading to a refreshing “coming-of-age” drama. (Lisa Miller)
The Beguiled (Kino Lorber Blu-ray)
Director Don Siegel’s 1971 adaptation of Thomas P. Cullinan’s Southern gothic novel opens with battlefield photographs from the Civil War revealing scenes of carnage. Clint Eastwood plays a wounded Union soldier who staggers into a Southern girls’ academy in the waning months of the war. The cinematography captures multiple perspectives as does the ensemble cast (including Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Hartman, Jo Ann Harris and Melody Thomas Scott). While remaining cinematic, the film is novelistic in its emotional and moral complexity as the women wrestle over what to do with the enemy soldier and the soldier proves disingenuous. The new Blu-ray includes short features and interviews. Sofia Coppola directed an elegant and morally ambiguous remake in 2017 with Colin Farrell in Eastwood’s role. (David Luhrssen)
The Eiger Sanction (Kino Lorber Blu-ray)
Clint Eastwood stars as the improbable Dr. Hemlock, a mountain-climbing art historian who affords his impressive collection of paintings through a side job as assassin for a U.S. agency so deep state that the CIA probably never heard of it. Naturally, he wants to retire from killing and enjoy his etchings, but the agency forces him into one last (especially dangerous) mission in the Alps. The Eiger Sanction (1975) has a claptrap plot (and a screenplay borderline offensive in today’s sensibility); the author whose novel it adapted described the film as “vapid.” However, Eastwood put together an excellent crew of cinematographers and a score by John Williams in one of his best movies (cinematically) as a director. The new Blu-ray includes special features.
Hosts (Blu-ray, FandangoNOW, VUDU & AppleTV)
No, not Host—a summer 2020 entry in a horror genre already infested with similarly titled movies—but Hosts, a new release by British directors Adam Leader and Richard Oakes. A loving couple, Jack (Neal Ward) and Lucy (Samantha Loxley), are ready to join their neighbors for Christmas dinner but before you can scream “St. Nick!” mysterious lights appear. By the time they ring the neighbors’ bell, they have become robotic with flashlight eyes. Although visually adept at moments, the story seems underdeveloped as dark family secrets vie with demonology for attention. Hosts is something of a throwback to ‘50s body-snatching sci-fi but with lots more fake blood. (David Luhrssen)
Jungleland (Streaming November 10, FandangoNOW, VUDU & AppleTV)
In the underground world of bare-knuckle boxing, Stan (Charlie Hunnam) manages his talented brother, a fighter known as Lion (Jack O’Connell). When a fight bet goes wrong, Stan and Lion are ordered on a cross-country drive by their debtholder, Pepper (Jonathan Majors). They must deliver a young woman named Sky (Jessica Barden), to a Reno, NV crime boss, and then enter “Jungleland,” a $100,000 bare-knuckle boxing contest in San Francisco. Fronted a car, along with a roll of cash, the gig doesn’t seem too bad other than the Chekhovian gun stashed in the glove box. Dreamers in search of a better life, the brothers are tested by Sky who reads them like yesterday’s news. Their questioning of long-cherished beliefs ushers in a thriller denouement. (Lisa Miller)
