April 9th
Dreams of a Life - DocPlay
Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates - Netflix 3 episode doco
Talented Mr Ripley - feature film - Foxtel
Fargo - feature film - Foxtel
Latest digital releases from Roadshow

What day is it??!! Keeping track under these lockdown conditions is doing my head in. But yes, it's Thursday, so movie review time. Just a handful of sweet (maybe), short recommendations this week. Plus a list of digital releases from Roadshow if you missed them in cinemas. Oh, and have a Happy Easter, Good Pesach - whatever you are or are not celebrating. And of course, stay safe - stay home!

Dreams of a Life
Docudrama showing on DocPlay
Dir: Carol Morley

© DocPlay - intriguing and terribly sad

This 2011 doco has been on my hit-list to see for a number of years. It tells an absolutely extraordinary story that starts in 2006 with the discovery of skeletal remains on a sofa in a London flat. The television is  still on, food has a 2003 expiry date and wrapped Christmas presents are on the floor. Film-maker Carol Morley didn't want the life of  the deceased, revealed to be Joyce Vincent, to go unnoticed, so she set out to find people who knew Joyce, in an attempt to fill in the gaps. There are interviews with many past lovers, friends who knew her but lost touch, someone who once recorded her singing in his studio - all people who Joyce had cut herself off from, and who are now anything from distraught to perplexed at the tragic end of a beautiful, bubbly woman who obviously had deep secrets and troubles. The doco is sad, intriguing, and a timely reminder to keep track of your friends, especially in these fraught times. 

Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates
Documentary series on Netflix
Dir: Davis Guggenheim

© Netflix - get up close and personal with a genius

For those who only know Bill Gates as billionaire founder of Microsoft, this fascinating series should show you another side of the genius now turned philanthropist. In a good-looking, cleverly-devised doco, the filmmaker cuts between many diverse aspects of BG's life - his childhood as a nerdy kid, constantly in his books, his early business ventures, and his current dedication to causes aimed to better the world. With wife Melinda, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is working on bringing sanitation and clean water to impoverished parts of the world, eradicating polio, and working on safe nuclear powered alternatives to fossil-fuels. Bill gives the director many candid interviews, and the insights into his personal life are equally as fascinating as his world-changing ventures, past and current. How inspiring that people of his intellect and humanity are working for the greater good. (Maybe he can find a cure for Covid-19??!!)

Fargo
Film on Foxtel
1996
Dir: Coen Brothers

Frances McDormand is unforgettable as 
pregnant policewoman Marge Gunderson

With an Oscar for Best Actress and Best Screenplay, (and a gazillion other nominations) this golden oldie stands the test of time a treat. In snowbound Minnesota, klutzy car dealer Jerry Lundegaard (William Macy) plots a kidnapping of his wife, to extract money from his rich father-in-law. All goes horribly wrong when the hired thugs (Peter Stormare and Steve Buscemi) kill a cop, and the highly pregnant Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) gets involved. Everything about the film is immaculate - the dry dialogue, the low-key humour, occasional laugh-out loud moments, but best of all is the tenacious but compassionate, no-nonsense Marge who is one of moviedom's great characters.  Even if you've seen it, enjoy it again. You won't be disappointed.

The Talented Mr Ripley
Film on Foxtel
1999
Dir: Anthony Minghella

Three "instant" friends - can such
idyllic times last?

Another much nominated blast from the past, this totally entertaining movie has star power, a great plot (from Patricia Highsmith's novel) , and brilliant settings, stunningly shot. Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is a bit of an aspiring nobody, who, through accidental circumstances, is asked to go to Italy to bring home Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), the wayward son of a rich man. Pretending to be Dickie's old college pal, Tom tags along with the sun-drenched decadent lifestyle of Dickie and his girlfriend Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). But what seems idyllic, soon turns ugly, and Tom becomes more caught up in pretence than ever. This is true old-fashioned enjoyable story-telling, with the three leads just superb, and the added bonus of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Cate Blanchett in lesser roles. Again, a most worthy re-watch.

Roadshow announces digital release of blockbusters
Roadshow has just announced some of its more popular recent films, along with several that could not be released in cinemas due to the pandemic, are now available to buy or rent on digital release. Some of my top films are among these: Joker, The Gentlemen, Just Mercy, Motherless Brooklyn and Richard Jewell. (Use the arrows on the right of my site to find past reviews.)
To find out more: https://roadshow.com.au/title-categories/rent-or-buy-movies 
So, the recent own-your-own (or rent) offerings are:

NEW TO OWN RELEASES	Available on
JOKER	Now
HUSTLERS	Now
THE GOOD LIAR	Now
GO!	27/03/2020
MIDWAY	27/03/2020
BIRDS OF PREY & THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN	28/03/2020
JUST MERCY	28/03/2020
MISS FISHER AND THE CRYPT OF TEARS	30/03/2020
THE GENTLEMEN	31/03/2020
RICHARD JEWELL	01/04/2020
MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN	01/04/2020
THE WAY BACK	15/04/2020