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Well, it’s movie recommendation time — NO SPOILERS. Perhaps I’ve been missing the good stuff, but this has been such a weak year for interesting films that I can barely remember what that the high points were. I finally saw two in a row that were knockouts.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a terrific drama from Martin McDonagh, the writer-director of In Bruges. It popped up on the movie radar just three or four weeks ago, and it’s presently THE hot item for good reason. It’s wickedly tense, funny and deeply affecting, and the performances are bound to attract awards — Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell for sure. A grieving mother purposely makes herself the most hated woman in town; the result is a richly entertaining, dark comedy. I won’t say any more — it was great seeing it stone cold, without a hint of what to expect (try it some time). The show would make an excellent anti-matter pure-opposite double bill with an old Judy Holliday movie. McDormand is always good, but this must be her most impressive performance since Fargo.

The second picture is the one I’ve been waiting for, for months — Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water. I love Del Toro’s nigh-perfect Spanish language horror fantasies but this is his masterpiece to date, a fusion of great monster picture ideas that transcends every category of judgment. It sounds like it might be derivative, but it’s not – every time I was reminded of an older movie, it was clear that Del Toro had done something better with the borrowed ideas. The obvious parallels are Universal’s The Creature and the lesser-known Russian The Amphibian Man, but everything here is so new in so many ways that the result is breathtaking.

The movie has wide, wide audience appeal – expect an E.T.– like groundswell of approval, for a film not appropriate for little kids. When was the last time we could say that a monster movie was a powerful emotional experience? Think Starman without so much obvious bathos. Sally Hawkins has my vote for Best Actress of the year. She goes above and beyond a ‘mime’ performance, playing opposite another superb mime performance by the great Doug Jones.

Saying any more would be a serious disservice – I’m so glad I turned off the teaser last summer and didn’t read any reviews. The show opens in just a few days. I’m happy to see Mr. Del Toro hitting one so far out of the park — we were fascinated and thrilled. The Shape of Water is going to go down as one of the great ones.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Savant’s new reviews today are:

Hello — It’s become Manson Week in the media!

Joe Dante sent along this YouTube link to a funny-creepy Manson Skit from The Ben Stiller Show in 1992, featuring Bob Odenkirk. Younger viewers may not know its context, from a specific 1950s TV show.

By the time you read this the most cherished denizen of Tin Can Alley may already on his way to some lucky owner: an original Robby the Robot will be sold at auction today. The article From ‘Forbidden Planet’ to the Auction Block give the details, but the best thing on view is Robby’s official auction photo — they polished that boy up nice and shiny. I only saw Robby once, but he gave me some excellent advice: “3-In-One.” Words of wisdom.

It’s Thanksgiving week and I have visitors showing up any hour now, so I have a perfectly good for any delay in today’s post. As for Saturday, we’ll have to see if I end up with any time to write . . . I have a couple of things half-done, but things get pretty wild at Savant Central during the holidays – we might even watch a movie newer than 1980!

Indicator Harryhausen on Saturday — thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Savant’s new reviews today are:

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I’m buried in discs but happy for it — and I tossed in a review from a company that’s not sending out screeners, because it was a fun picture to write about. I think I’m covering the bases fairly well here, especially with the help of Charlie Largent and Lee Broughton.

Release news: Twilight Time just announced their February offerings: Woody Allen’s Manhattan Murder Mystery, Mark Rydell’s Harry and Walter Go To New York, Larry Peerce’s The Incident and Paul Newman’s The Effect of Gamma Rays On Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds. Their November titles are all in house and reviews are on the way.

Meanwhile, Criterion in February will be getting a lot of attention, with new discs of Night of the Living Dead (in George Romero’s ‘preferred’ flat ratio, fudgesicles), Silence of the Lambs (I’ve always wanted to review it), Tony Richardson’s Tom Jones, An Actor’s Revenge, The Hero and Louis Malle’s Elevator to the Gallows.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Savant’s new reviews today are:

Hello!

Joe Baltake has some amusing reminiscences of actors Larry Keating and Fred Clark this week at The Passionate Moviegoer. Plus John McElwee does the same for a lesser-known Bulldog Drummond feature, over at his Greenbriar Picture Shows (11.13.17). And David Cairns relates a typically strange incident from a Ken Russell film, today at his criticism page Shadowplay.

I’ve got some German discs of American westerns on the way from Explosive Media, and I’m eager to see how they look in HD. I now have more foreign Blu-rays of Universal library titles than I do domestic releases. The three I’m most interested in are Anthony Mann’s Bend of the River, the almost- Anthony Mann Night Passage (both with James Stewart) and Robert Aldrich’s scorchingly violent Burt Lancaster western Ulzana’s Raid, which I can’t say I’ve ever seen in a really satisfactory presentation. And I’ll find out whether or not the discs are encoded all-region.

I’m waiting on Arrows, Twilight Times and more Kinos, plus a book or two to review. And it’s time to get a list going of possible ‘best of’ discs for this year.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

Savant’s new reviews today are: