One Battle After Another — Rent or buy Apple TV+
Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest is a rollicking political satire that arrives as those wanting to do something about the increasing tyranny of powerful men are at a loss as to how to go about it.
Loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Reagan-era satirical novel Vineland the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a Bush-era activist whose justice warrior days are long behind him in a haze of nostalgia, pot smoke and decades living anonymously in a remote small town with his daughter, on the run from the government.
When a villain from the past arrives to settle an old score, the devoted father finds himself thrown back into survival mode. One of the most ambitious, freewheeling films of the century told with verve, wit and visual brilliance. Not to be missed.
Train Dreams — Netflix
Joel Edgerton stars in Clint Bentley’s quietly moody and visually beautiful adaptation of the novella by Denis Johnson as the conflicted Robert Grainier, an early 20th century travelling logger and railroad worker who leads a simple but full and nourishing life in the fast-changing America on the cusp of being forever and irrevocably altered.
Last Samurai Standing — Netflix
Lovers of classic samurai films have plenty to enjoy in this stylish Japanese action-drama series in which 292 samurai in 1892 are lured by the promise of a ¥100,000 prize to a battle royale in which they must fight each other to the death; the sole survivor will make it to Tokyo.
Packed with dazzling technical execution and epic sword fight sequences, it’s a feast for the eyes and ears, even if some of its potentially interesting characters don’t receive the complex exploration they should.
Magic Farm — Mubi.com
Chloë Sevigny stars in Argentinian director Amalia Ulman’s truly strange, sharply satirical and sometimes frustrating comedy takedown of the fickleness of fame in the digital era.
When an American documentary crew in search of the next big viral sensation find themselves lost in the wrong village in Argentina, it’s a recipe for chaotic, surreal disaster as they try their best to deliver by enlisting the villagers to create a new viral trend. Relationships form, and it soon becomes clear that life can be about far more than the internet.
A Man on the Inside Season 2 — Netflix
Ted Danson brings his laid-back charm back to full effect in the second series of this comedy about not underestimating old people. This time Charles, the retired San Francisco professor turned private investigator undercover agent, must go back to college to investigate the theft of a priceless laptop on campus.
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