Movies for the Rest of Us with Bill Newcott: They Shall Not Grow Old
Saturday Evening Post movie critic Bill Newcott Bill Newcott reviews the extraordinary World War I documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old, created by Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. He also previews the new box set of Audrey Hepburn’s seven best films — just in time for Valentine’s Day!
Movies for the Rest of Us with Bill Newcott: The 11 Most Anticipated Movies of 2019
Saturday Evening Post movie critic Bill Newcott reviews the 11 movies he’s most looking forward to this year, including the Elton John biopic Rocketman, Jordan Peele’s Us, Tom Hanks’ Greyhound, Toy Story 4, and the next movie in the Star Wars saga. Bill also sits down with Stan & Ollie director Jon S. Baird to talk about what he loves so much about this classic comedy duo.
Seriously Good Films to Watch This New Year
Stan & Ollie (December 28)
The greatest comedians are funny in ways no one has been funny before. That was certainly true of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, who elevated the vaudevillian fat guy/skinny guy shtick to a realm of ethereal bliss. Stan & Ollie finds the boys past their prime and reduced to rehashing their classic bits in decrepit British music halls. But while they’ve lost their adoring public, they still have each other, and they cling to that bond like castaways on a floating plank. Steve Coogan was born to play Laurel, and John C. Reilly, wearing a fat suit and laboring under a quivering mass of makeup, is Ollie. It’s the toughest kind of screen acting, but Reilly succeeds handsomely.
The Upside (January 11)
Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart make a delightful odd couple in this based-on-fact buddy picture. Cranston stars as a bitterly depressed Manhattan businessman who’s paralyzed in an accident. Verging on suicidal, he hires a decidedly unqualified ex-con (Hart) as his caregiver, half-hoping the guy will accidentally kill him. They get off to a rough start but become the best of friends, learning from each other that life brings rewards no matter how the odds are stacked against you. Nicole Kidman flits in and out as the long-suffering, Harvard-educated executive assistant who clearly has a thing for her oblivious boss.
Under the Eiffel Tower (February 8)
Veep co-star Matt Walsh channels the awkward id of Woody Allen in this rom-com about Stuart, a 50-something businessman in the throes of a midlife crisis, who impulsively proposes to his best friend’s 24-year-old daughter in Paris. She rebuffs him, his friend rejects him, and so the sad sack wanders the French countryside in the company of a roguish former soccer star (Reid Scott, also a Veep alum). They happen on an idyllic winery run by a beautiful woman (Judith Godrèche), inspiring Stuart to snap out of his funk and find the best
in himself.
For biweekly video reviews of the latest films, go to saturdayeveningpost.com/movies or check out Bill Newcott’s website, moviesfortherestofus.com.
This article is from the January/February 2019 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.
Movies for the Rest of Us with Bill Newcott: Humbug! 11 Special Scrooges
Which movie Scrooge is your favorite? Albert Finney? Michael Caine? Scrooge McDuck? Bill Newcott shares his favorites.
Movies for the Rest of Us with Bill Newcott: The Oscar-Worthy Movies You’ve Got to See
This week, Bill Newcott sits down with Wolf Blitzer about his role in Mission: Impossible — Fallout. He also shares the Oscar hopefuls coming to theaters this month that you’ve just got to see, including Mary Poppins Returns, Destroyer, Vice, and On the Basis of Sex. Finally, he takes a look at a new nine-disc set celebrating the work of Ernie Kovacs.
Seriously Good Films to Watch Over Thanksgiving
The Front Runner (November 21)
Australian Wolverine star Hugh Jackman disappears into the meaty role of Gary Hart, the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee and a philanderer of the first magnitude who famously dared reporters asking about his womanizing to follow him around — and was utterly destroyed when they took him up on the challenge. Director Jason Reitman’s film is a poignant account of the moment when the tide turned against politicians who thought their private lives would remain private.
Green Book (November 21)
This fact-based buddy flick teams Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali as Dr. Don “Doc” Shirley, a distinguished African-American concert pianist, with plumped-up Viggo Mortensen as “Tony Lip” Vallelonga, his driver and bodyguard, as they motor through a perilous 1962 Deep South performance tour. On the road, they learn about the ugly side of humanity as Doc is hit with one indignity after another, and Tony, ironically, exposes Doc to the marvels of popular black music, including Aretha Franklin and Little Richard.
Ben Is Back (December 7)
Moviegoers who would never dream of enduring the starkest visions of opioid addiction on screen will willingly enter a theater to see this poignant and accessible family drama about a concerned mom and her struggling son. With her trademark smile, Julia Roberts portrays a mother putting on a happy face when her troubled boy Ben (Lucas Hedges), fresh out of rehab, arrives home for Christmas to the minefield of temptations and often nearly imperceptible triggers that face the addicts among us.
For biweekly video reviews of the latest films, go to saturdayeveningpost.com/movies-for-the-rest-of-us or check out Bill Newcott’s website, moviesfortherestofus.com.
This article is from the November/December 2018 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.
Movies for the Rest of Us with Bill Newcott: Melissa McCarthy Gets Serious
Saturday Evening Post movie critic Bill Newcott reviews Can You Ever Forgive Me, a dramatic film starring Melissa McCarthy; What They Had with Blythe Danner, Hilary Swank, and Michael Shannon, including Bill’s interview with director Elizabeth Chomko; Indivisible starring Grey’s Anatomy actors Justin Bruening, Sarah Drew, and Jason George; and Rowan Atkinson’s Johnny English Strikes Again. On the home video front, Bill reviews the off-the-wall brilliance of Sorry to Bother You, as well as I Think We’re Alone Now, and Roger Corman’s The Wasp Woman, with commentary by comedian Dennis Miller.
Movies for the Rest of Us with Bill Newcott: 13 Smartest Monster Movies
Tremors, Forbidden Planet, King Kong: Does Bill Newcott’s list of the smartest monster movies match yours?
Movies for the Rest of Us with Bill Newcott: Robert Redford’s The Old Man and The Gun
Saturday Evening Post movie critic Bill Newcott reviews what is likely Robert Redford’s last movie, The Old Man and The Gun, including an interview with director David Lowery. He also takes a look at the documentary about the life of Gilda Radner, Love, Gilda, and the exhaustive boxed set Sid Caesar: The Works.