By Dan Murphy
For those of us who like to take our significant other out for a simple night of dinner and a movie, I ask: What movies are out there? I thought summertime was the time for the great set of blockbuster movies?
The problem is, if – like me – you are not interested in comic book movies or other animated movies, or horror movies, or a sixth sequel to Tom Cruise’s “Mission Impossible” series, are there any adult movies that are released in an actual movie theater anymore?
My interest in movies includes historical biographies, political thrillers, mob movies, crime and the law movies, and an occasional “chick flick” for my wife. I’m also into the Star Wars movie series, but not interested in the latest “Solo,” because Han Solo was not a Jedi.
I was so desperate to get out of the house and into a movie theater for some air conditioning and overpriced popcorn that I took my wife to see “Gotti,” a biography of the life of Mob Boss John Gotti, starring John Travolta.
Like many 50-somethings my age, I have enjoyed Travolta’s film career and enjoy a good mob movie. The movie is based on the book by John Gotti Jr. and is a story with a favorable slant toward Gotti Sr. I understood all of this going in and I ignored the fact that the movie has taken years to get onto the big screen.
“Gotti” has been trashed by critics and by about half of the audience who saw the movie and posted a review. The key to this movie, in my view, is to try and allow Travolta to morph into John Gotti. The film is also only 95 minutes long, and while I enjoy all movies to be less than two hours, there’s a lot to get to in “Gotti.” I would recommend it only for those who enjoy a mob movie and/or Travolta.
I’ll also give you two Westchester angles to Gotti: One of John Gotti Jr.’s trials was held in Federal Court in White Plains, before Judge Barrington Parker. At the time, Gotti Jr. was barred from meeting with his father in prison because of prosecutors; fears that they would discuss illegal enterprises.
But Parker, in the hopes that Gotti Jr. would accept a plea deal if he could visit his father, agreed to the visitation, which is part of the book and the movie. Gotti Jr. did take a plea deal and has left the mafia (if anyone can leave).
Larchmont native and actor Chris Kerson plays Willie Boy Johnson, the real-life childhood friend of John Gotti, in the movie. Johnson became an informant for the prosecution and was subsequently shot to death. Kerson has a great part in the movie and plays it well, shooting alongside Travolta.
The easy and obvious answer to my original question – where are all the good adult movies? – is that they are on cable television and on Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc. One of my pastimes, when I’m desperate for a movie to watch at home, it to scroll through the On Demand offering of new movies.
One thing that surprises me is the number of movies with A-list actors and actresses that never make it to the big screen and that we never hear about. Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep all appear in On Demand movie offerings. For some reason, the movie studios decided not to support these movies with ads on TV, or send them to the theaters.
One of my favorite actors is Christian Bale, and when I found an On Demand movie with him in it, I took a chance last weekend. The movie is “Hostiles” (a bad and confusing name for a movie), which did appear on the big screen for a short period of time this year, although I never noticed it.
Set in 1892, “Hostiles” tells the story of a legendary Army Captain (Bale), who after stern resistance, reluctantly agrees to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) and his family back to tribal lands. Making the harrowing and perilous journey from Fort Berringer, an isolated Army outpost in New Mexico, to the grasslands of Montana, the former rivals encounter a young widow (Rosamund Pike), whose family was murdered on the plains. Together, they must join forces to overcome the punishing landscape, hostile Comanche and vicious outliers that they encounter along the way.
This was a great movie that I recommend to all. Some of my other favorites that you can find On Demand is “Sicario” (the sequel is one of the movies I will see in a theater soon) and the great cable TV series like “Homeland,” “Billions” and “Ray Donovan.” I recommend all three, and you can start from the beginning if you never started watching them.
But I still miss going to dinner and a movie with my wife once a month, or more, if there were more good movies available to see. Part of my regret feeds into another narrative that I hope to write about and discuss with you in future weeks… that we are shopping at home, and ordering takeout by delivery or Grubhub, and watching our movies at home.
The result is the death of some of our shopping, dining and entertainment experiences – especially in some of our Westchester malls. I think we need to try and make a point of shopping and spending offline.
Send us your movie ideas, in the theater or On Demand, if you have them, so we all can enjoy.
