Page 26 - Demo_HS)Midsummer2022

THE LYONS DEN
Your breakdown of the top four movies that you
need to see this summer!
BY JEFFREY LYONS
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences an- nounced that to be Oscar-eligible, films will once again have to be screened for at least
one week in specific cities. This ends the two-year period when cities on lockdown kept moviegoers at home and viewers
were watching films exclusively on streaming channels. Since then, skyrocketing gas prices and new virus strains have kept attendance in theaters well below pre-pandemic numbers. Some movies that pre- viously headed directly to DVD are turning up on various platforms instead. So today, a look at worthy films now playing or soon to arrive on a streaming service near you.
Waiting for Anya, streaming on Amazon Prime, is a touching story about brave citizens living under the yoke of German occupa- tion in France during World War II. They were subjected to contin- uous harassment by German soldiers who’d arrived in the previously autonomous Vichy region in November 1942. The Germans soon began searching for fleeing Jewish refugees, especially children.
One is a girl named Anya, hastily given by her father to strangers in
a train station to avoid deportation and certain death. The film is narrated by a now-elderly villager; as a boy he’s played effectively by Noah Schnapp. With his father away at the war, the boy tends to the family’s flock of sheep in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Oscar winner Angelica Huston costars as a widow. Under pain of death, she’s been hiding escaped children on her small farm and arranging for them to be spirited away over the border to the safety of neutral Spain. Vet- eran actor Jean Reno costars in a rare English-speaking role as the boy’s grandfather. Although adapted from a novel, the film is based on true events and brings overdue praise to the brave French villagers who saved some 7,500 Jewish children.
Row 19 is an effective if predictable horror thriller. This Russian movie, available on DVD and Blue Ray, arrived here before the sanctions, and so it’s doubtful any profits will ever
go to Russia. Its 78 minutes is just the right amount for a film such as this. Moscow-born Svetlana Ivanova plays a young mother who, as a 7-year-old, had been the only survivor of a
plane crash. She’s since been plagued by visions and nightmares but nevertheless is flying with her own daughter on a nearly emp- ty domestic flight. When the plane flies into a fierce storm, sev- eral passengers and crew suffer shocking deaths as Ivanova tries to fend off her demons and save her daughter. The terror grows exponentially as the special effects increase. Previously unknown here, Ivanova is a revelation. One only hopes she and her family will soon defect and make Hollywood movies instead.
Toscana, available on Netflix, is a picturesque romantic drama set in Denmark and Italy. Anders Matthesen plays a prickly, short-tempered top chef and restaurant owner. He berates his staff for minor infractions and is a perfectionist to a fault. Facing bankruptcy, he learns his father has left him a Tuscan castle
and restaurant. Intending to sell his inheritance, his life takes a major turn when he visits the site. Intriguing Cristiana Dell’ Anna costars as a childhood girlfriend. When the two rekindle their friendship, the story takes an implausible turn. Still, it’s adequate entertainment, and foodies will drool over the close- ups of fancy dishes.
Operation Mincemeat on Netflix recreates one of the most amazing feats of deception of World War II. Also depicted in 1956’s The Man Who Never Was, which starred Clifton Webb, this version stars Colin Firth as Lt. Commander Ewen Mon- tagu. In July 1943 Montagu loaded the corpse of a Royal Marine drowning victim carrying fake secret documents onto a subma- rine. The corpse was dumped off in neutral Spain in hopes of
convincing the Germans that the Allied invasion of Europe would begin in Greece, not Sicily. This version of the operation delves into Montagu’s private life but is nearly effective as the earlier film, which is available on demand and worth seeing as well. n
STEAMY BEACH READS
Ralph Lauren’s Polo Shirt (Rizzoli) Embodying a chic casualness that is uniquely American,
the iconic polo shirt has become a cool cultural symbol, worn by everyone from presidents to movie stars to athletes to artists. This unique tome includes the full range of colors and styles that have been produced during the polo’s over 50-year history. It celebrates the full spectrum of Polo, which makes it a collector’s dream.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,
and Tomorrow (Random House
In this novel by the best-selling author of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin tells the tale of Sam and Sadie—lifelong friends and creative partners in the world of video game design who were “often in love but never lovers.” You will have a hard time putting down this modern-day love story as you read about Sam and Sadie’s successes, fame, ups and downs, and, finally, a form of immortality.
For those of you currently sitting on the beach even though you’re “technically” supposed to be working from home, maybe you should pick up
a copy of Conan O’Brien’s longtime assistant Sona Movsesian’s The World’s Worst Assistant (Plume), a hilarious how-to guide on becoming a terrible yet un-fireable employee. Achieving such greatness is a gradual process, starting with long hours and hard work before eventually descending into napping on your boss’s couch.
Henry Gilles—one of the world’s wealthiest indus- trialists—is facing his untimely death. But to the surprise of his estranged and dysfunctional twin daughters, he has a plan to have himself cloned
so he can perpetuate his existence and complete his life goals. His daughters, who are set to inherit his billions, will not see a dime of their inheritance unless they accomplish the task set forth by their father before his death: to raise his clone from infant to the age of maturity. The two sisters must combat their extreme loathing of their father and their fear
of motherhood as well as their mutual distaste and distrust of each other in order to have a chance to succeed. With a plot that twists and turns, Raising Father, a novel by first-time author M. Lee Fox (Simms), is a story of life-changing growth with the requisite controversy and scandal.
Before the kiddos all cut the cords and switched
to streaming, there was basic cable. But there was nothing basic about it. Take a nostalgic trip down memory lane in Directed by JAMES BUR- ROWS: Five Decades of Stories from the Leg- endary Director of Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Friends, Will & Grace, and More (Random House Publishing Group). In this must-binge-read book, legendary sitcom director James Burrows—who helped launch the careers of Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, Woody Harrelson, Jennifer Aniston, and
countless others—reveals five decades’ worth of never-revealed stories behind the dozens of great sitcoms he directed.
26 HAMPTON SHEET MIDSUMMER 2022