The Covid-19 PHZ-Sicks Movie Watch (4/10/20)
With the Covid-19 virus keeping everyone inside, sometimes its really hard to take your mind off what’s going on. Sometimes we need a way to escape and for me, outside of writing, movies are the way I escape.
As long as the virus is here, I will be doing a weekly blog of first watch movies I’ve seen as well as giving you my opinion on it. If you want to follow it in real time, follow the hashtag #covid19moviewatch on Twitter or follow my Twitter account.
3 Days of the Condor
Watch on Amazon Prime
Plot: A bookish CIA researcher finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Starring Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, and Max von Sydow
Rating: 7/10
A classic spy espionage film with some dated man-woman dynamics but Max von Sydow is amazing and you’re always wondering what’s going to happen next.
The World of Kanako (渇き。)
Watch on Roku, Vudu, Kanopy, Realeyz, Tubi and Shudder
Plot: When Kanako, a model daughter and a brilliant student, disappears, her mother asks her ex-husband, a violent former policeman, to find her. As his investigation progresses, his idealized image of Kanako cracks: the girl hides a dark life that her father can not even imagine.
Directed by Tetsuya Nakashima
Starring Kōji Yakusho, Nana Komatsu, and Satoshi Tsumabuki
Rating: 4/10
118 minutes of horrible people being horrible. I’ll pass.
The Hunt
Watch on any Video On Demand Service
Plot: Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know where they are—or how they got there. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, ruthless elitists gather at a remote location to hunt humans for sport. But their master plan is about to be derailed when one of the hunted turns the tables on her pursuers.
Directed by Craig Zobel
Starring Betty Gilpin, Ike Barinholtz, and Hilary Swank
Rating: 7/10
This political satire isn’t as smart as it think it is but it is fun. Minus the CGI blood, the action is fun and the actors pull off each of these crazy characters.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness
Watch on Netflix
Plot: A zoo owner spirals out of control amid a cast of eccentric characters in this true murder-for-hire story from the underworld of big cat breeding.
Directed by Eric Goode & Rebecca Chaiklin
Rating: 7/10
Colorful personalities abound this twisting and turning sensational documentary. If you need your fix of trash TV, this is it!
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu)
Watch on Hulu
Plot: On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
Directed by Céline Sciamma
Starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel.
Rating: 8/10
This beautiful and wanting picture about an artist and her subject takes its time as it sets the relationship up. If you’re looking for a film made with the same care and love as the portrait shown in the film, watch this.