Going to the movies is either feast or famine, and right now it's a banquet.
I'm often asked for movie recommendations by friends and family — and even perfect strangers. And most of the time I suggest they just stay home with an old DVD.
In local theaters at the moment, however, there are so many new movies that are good movies that when people ask, I'm finding it hard to narrow a suggestion down to one.
Not that I'm complaining about this embarrassment of riches.
"New York Doll"
This documentary about Arthur "Killer" Kane — a drugged-out, cross-dressing rocker during the 1970s glam-rock era with the band New York Dolls, who eventually hit rock bottom and found redemption by joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — is quite affecting in its own low-key way.
OK, it's not low-key during the concert scenes, but the most moving moments are quite quiet.
The film is also a little light (which could easily have been remedied with pre-New York Dolls biographical info), but it's still a solid film loaded with amazing sequences.
"God's Army 2: States of Grace"
Richard Dutcher's follow-up to the LDS movie that started an entire genre is tough, tender, harsh, sad, funny, harrowing and mighty compelling. The narrative structure is solid, the performances are first-rate and the technical aspects belie the film's low budget.
This story of Mormon missionaries in Santa Monica, Calif., and how they gain a convert in the form of a rough gang member after a drive-by shooting is unflinching in its view. The film also deals with the aftermath of an ill-thought-out sexual encounter, and does so much more realistically than most films, which tend to treat sex as casually as a handshake.
And the film achieves all of this without resorting to the obvious. There's no on-screen sex or nudity. There's no plethora of profanity. And the violence makes its point without exploitation.
Even subplots that could feel like needless digressions, such as a side story about a street preacher, add to the film's texture.
My one complaint is that it feels long, in both its overall arc and a few individual scenes. Like auteur John Sayles, Dutcher is his film's sole editor. But it is apparent he could use an objective eye in the editing room.
"Good Night, and Good Luck."
For me, the fact that this film is in black and white is a plus, though I'm fully aware that most moviegoers will disagree. But it really helps establish the time and place for this time-capsule look at bullying Joe McCarthy, the "red scare," and network television in its first decade, through the eyes of respected TV newscaster Edward R. Murrow (a pitch-perfect David Strathairn).
George Clooney co-wrote, co-stars and directed this gem, which is a jarring example of how much things change and yet remain the same.
Murrow's speech that opens and closes the film should be a journalism requirement.
Among family films that are recommendable and most enjoyable are "Dreamer," the true story of a girl and her horse; "Wallace & Gromit," the fictional story of a man, his dog and their cursed were-rabbit; and "Chicken Little," a comical riff on the familiar fable mixed with sci-fi spoofery (and, in one theater, in a sharp new 3D process.)
In the good-but-not-great category are "North Country" (which works quite well until the finale, a lengthy courtroom scene that falls apart) and "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" (with a great performance by Julianne Moore as a chipper 1950s homemaker/"contester," whose husband is a drunken lout much of the time). (These two films also show opposite sides of Woody Harrelson's acting talent.)
And disappointing are "Prime," a far-too-raunchy and underdeveloped romantic comedy; "Shopgirl," with too many wrong writing/directing choices; and "Jarhead," a self-indulgent war film that could be called "Jughead."
E-mail: hicks@desnews.com