Joey’s Home Movies For the Week of January 26th – Luxuriate in Ethan Hawke’s Oscar Nominated Turn in ‘Blue Moon’

Welcome back to my Home Movies! This week, another of our Oscar nominated films is hitting shelves in Richard Linklater‘s Ethan Hawke star vehicle Blue Moon. Today also features a trio of Criterion Collection selections, so don’t sleep on them, to be sure. What else is coming out? Read on to find out…

Joey’s Top Pick

Blue Moon

The latest collaboration between Hawke and Linklater is one of their best. Funny and sad in equal measure, the film is absolutely wonderful, led by Hawke’s stunning performance. I spoke to Hawke and Linklater here about the movie, as well as Bobby Cannavale here. My rave review of Blue Moon here from back at the Telluride Film Festival began like so:

Watching an actor go to town on a role is an exciting thing to witness. The joy and passion for the craft is just wafting off of them, intoxicating the audience. With Blue Moon, we have Ethan Hawke giving a tour de force performance for his frequent maestro Richard Linklater. Not only is it quite possibly Hawke’s best work to date, it’s in service of a biographical tale that’s as humorous as it is ultimately heartbreaking.

Blue Moon is a showcase for Hawke like he’s never had before, and that’s saying something. Hawke often is at his best with Linklater, so it’s no surprise that he’s bringing this out, but it’s still incredible to witness. Hawke is locked in, while Linklater focuses in on the brilliant work that’s in front of him, with us all truly benefitting.

Also Available This Week

Blackhat (4K)

George A. Romero’s Resident Evil

A Little Prayer (Blu-ray)

Married to the Mob (4K)

Ordinary People (Blu-ray)

Sabrina (Blu-ray)

Timecrimes (4K)

World War Z (4K)

Criterion Corner

Birth

From The Criterion Collection: “Jonathan Glazer’s second feature is a haunting cinematic enigma that explores the mysteries of the heart. Nicole Kidman delivers a masterfully multilayered performance as Anna, a widow still mourning the death of her husband a decade earlier when she meets Sean (Cameron Bright), a ten-year-old boy who claims to be his reincarnation—leading her into a wrenching confrontation with her own unresolved grief and desires. Featuring painterly cinematography by Harris Savides and a hypnotic orchestral score by Alexandre Desplat, Birth plays its outré premise with unflinching sincerity, yielding a profound emotional reverie on the possibilities of love beyond the physical realm.”

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House Party

From The Criterion Collection: “In this dazzlingly imaginative teen comedy, the breakthrough feature debut by writer-director Reginald Hudlin, hip-hop duo Kid ’n Play bring their star power to the big screen as aspiring MCs preparing for the party of the year. When Kid’s father (Robin Harris) forbids him from attending Play’s party, Kid sneaks out anyway, kicking off a wild night full of dance-offs and rap battles, run-ins with bullies and cops, and a bit of romance. With an ensemble cast that also includes Tisha Campbell, AJ Johnson, Martin Lawrence, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, and members of the music group Full Force, plus a hit soundtrack, House Party is a beloved, feel-good snapshot of early-1990s hip-hop culture that brought Black teenage experience to the mainstream, and that shines bright to this day.”

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Kiss of the Spider Woman

From The Criterion Collection: “Featuring indelible performances from Raul Julia and an Academy Award–winning William Hurt, Kiss of the Spider Woman is a work of radical compassion that boldly expands notions of love, gender, and revolution. In the film—directed by Héctor Babenco following his international breakthrough with Pixote, and adapted from the novel by the iconoclastic writer Manuel Puig—Julia and Hurt play Valentin and Molina, a militant leftist activist and a queer, cinema-obsessed window dresser, imprisoned together under a repressive military dictatorship. The two gradually forge a bond that transforms the way they both understand politics, sexuality, and masculinity. Blending raw realism with Molina’s imaginative escapes into sumptuous movie fantasy, this searing human drama offers a powerful vision of personal liberation embedded within broader political struggle.”

Stay tuned for more next week!