I regularly complain that there is just too much good television out these days. It’s more than any one person can watch. This is especially true of me this past year as I have mostly concentrated on watching movies over television. Sometimes, I tell myself to take a week and binge-watch a few shows, but then the question becomes which one?
Sharp Objects is a good place to start, I think. Based upon Gillian Flynn’s debut novel of the same name, it stars Amy Adams as an alcoholic reporter recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital after years of self-harming. She returns to her home town to investigate the murders of two young girls and must confront her mother and her own personal demons.
It has received great reviews and I’m a fan of HBO, Gillian Flynn, and Amy Adams so I’m all on board with this.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Picnic at Hanging Rock: TV series based upon a novel of the same name in which a group of schoolgirls mysteriously disappear, the aftermath of which impacts the community in strange ways. Peter Weir made an exceptional movie based upon the same material. The series will be hard pressed to better it.
True Stories (Criterion Collection): David Byrne wrote (along with Stephen Tobolowsky), directed, and stars in this oddball story about a quirky small town in Texas. Also stars Swoosie Kurtz, John Goodman, and Spalding Gray.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post: Chloe Grace Moretz stars as a young girl forced into gay-conversion therapy. Matthew St. Clair has our review.
Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2: Blue-Underground is releasing a new HD transfer of Fulci’s classic and disgusting zombie film. Come for the eyeball-piercing, stay for the zombie-versus-shark action.
Gosford Park: Arrow Academy has loaded up Robert Altman’s sly take on the upstairs/downstairs genre with extras and a new transfer.
The Magnificent Ambersons (Criterion Collection): Joseph Cotton stars in this Orson Welles film about a spoiled young heir who comes between his mother and the man she loves.
The Little Stranger: Domhnall Gleeson stars in this horror movie about a quiet doctor who is sent to a mysterious great hall that may be haunted.
Deep Throat: If you ever wanted to see this “classic” ’70s porn in high definition, then now’s your chance, I guess.
The Critters Collection: Shout Factory brings us the entire four-film collection of this horror franchise about some flesh-eating critters from outer space.
Searching: John Cho and Debra Messing star in this thriller about a 16-year-old girl who goes missing and her father who searches her computer for clues. It unfolds entirely on computer screens, which could be interesting or really, really horrible.
