Condor — Prime Video
Inspired by Sydney Pollack’s Robert Redford-starring classic 1970s’ paranoid thriller, this series adaptation begins with a familiar setup before venturing into smart, engaging territory of its own.
Max Irons stars as CIA analyst Joe Turner, who stumbles on information he shouldn’t have. His team is murdered and he finds himself on the run from dark forces embroiled in a potentially globe-altering conspiracy.
The first season features sterling work from the late William Hurt and veteran slippery customer Bob Balaban. Corporate decisions beyond its control affected the show when the second, and sadly final, season was released in 2020, but its thoughtful approach to shadow politics, greed and government mistrust resonates now, allowing it to enjoy a well-deserved second life.
Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat — Mubi.com
Director Sara Driver was a key figure of the avant-garde New York scene in the 1970s, so perfectly placed to observe the meteoric rise of 1980s’ golden boy, painter Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Driver’s documentary draws on her own experiences of the period as well as the memories of her New York art scene friends and colleagues — including Jim Jarmusch, Patricia Field and Fab 5 Freddy — to offer a bittersweet portrait of Basquiat’s teenage, pre-fame years that shaped his artistic vision. His brief reign over the city’s art scene ended in his tragic death in 1988 from a heroin overdose.
The Story of Adele H — Prime Video
Francois Truffuat’s 1975 period drama draws on the diaries of Adele Hugo, daughter of legendary French novelist Victor, and stars Isabelle Adjani in an Oscar-nominated performance as the titular tragic heroine.
The film depicts how her obsessive unrequited love for a 19th-century British army officer ultimately consumed and destroyed her. It’s a complicated love story that finds space for often dryly funny observations of the mores of its period.
Sunday, Bloody Sunday — Prime Video
John Schlesinger’s 1971 polyamory drama, written by film critic Penelope Gilliatt, remains a quietly understated film within the career of one of the boldest directors of the 1960s and 70s.
Albert Finney and Glenda Jackson give Oscar-nominated performances as the two lovers of a bisexual, free-spirited young artist played by Murray Head. The pioneering work has continued to influence generations of LGBTQ+ filmmakers and offers a darkly controlled vision of the fates of its central trio.
Crutch — Showmax
Tracy Morgan returns to the sitcom world with this old-school series that offers some pertinent reflections on the realities of family life.
Morgan plays a Harlem widower whose big plans for his new empty-nest life are rudely upended when his millennial son and independent daughter move back in with him and force him to learn to navigate a whole new set of social and family dynamics.
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