Watch List Weekly Recap 11/27/21
Just in time for the holidays: Thanksgiving family-dysfunction movies, a long steep in the Beatles' final days, and a tribute to a titan of American theater.
This is the Friday recap of Ty Burr’s Watch List postings for the week. If you’d like to receive this weekly email ONLY, please go to your account page and under “Email notifications” uncheck every box except “Weekly Digest.” If you’d prefer to not receive it at all, uncheck just “Weekly Digest.”
In the run-up to Turkey Murder Day, I took a look at Thanksgiving movies from “Avalon” (1990, below) to “The Humans” (2021) and wondered why they’re such dark, dark meat. Featuring an appearance by my cousin Bill and his annual holiday reminder that I was wrong about “Pieces of April” (2003).
Friday I was still digesting Thanksgiving dinner and still digesting “The Beatles: Get Back,” Peter Jackson’s nearly eight-hour documentary reassessment of the famously acrimonious “Let It Be” sessions. It’s like having John, Paul, George, and Ringo over for the weekend.
I wasn’t expecting to write anything for the rest of the week, but then Stephen Sondheim died, and I was moved to appreciate his enormous talents and consider the ways in which he transformed musical theater from top to bottom.
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