THE BULLETIN • MAY 20 - 26, 2021
TV • PAGE 25
What’s Available NOW On
“Movie: Hotel Artemis”
Drew Pearce wrote and made his
feature directorial debut with this
2018 thriller set in a dystopian near-
future Los Angeles, where Jean Thomas
(Jodie Foster), a severely agoraphobic
nurse, runs a secret facility that caters
to criminals (house rules include “no
killing of other guests”). The impressive
ensemble also includes Sterling K.
Brown, Jeff Goldblum, Charlie Day,
Jenny Slate and Zachary Quinto.
BY JAY BOBBIN
“Maverick”
“Grand Prix”
“The Rockford Files”
“Movie: Trumbo”
Bryan Cranston scored a well-deserved
Oscar nomination as best actor for
his performance in the title role of Jay
Roach’s 2015 biopic about the life of
esteemed screenwriter Dalton Trumbo,
who landed on the infamous Hollywood
blacklist after he declined to cooperate
fully with the House Committee on Un-
American Activities looking into possible
Communist propaganda in film. Diane
Lane, Helen Mirren and John Goodman
also star.
“Panic”
“Movie: Nobody”
Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”)
stars as a seemingly milquetoast family
man who turns out to be so much
more after invaders attempt to rob his
home in this joint Spanish/Russian/
American production. Connie Nielsen,
Christopher Lloyd and Michael Ironside
star in this 2021 actioner from director
Ilya Naishuller (“Hardcore Henry”).
Creator Lauren Oliver used her young
adult novel of the same name as the
basis for this hourlong drama about a
group of graduating Texas high-school
seniors who compete in an annual series
of challenges that this year has ramped
up to dangerous levels. Olivia Welch,
Mike Naist, Jessica Sula and Enrique
Murciano (“Without a Trace”) head the
cast. (ORIGINAL)
BEST JAMES GARNER PROJECTS
“Maverick” (1957-62) Though he left the
popular, often-lighthearted Western series early over
a contract dispute (not the only one he’d have in
his career), Garner became a star as gambler and
ladies’ man Bret Maverick.
“The Great Escape” (1963) In this all-time-
great adventure movie, based on a true story, Garner
plays one of the Allied prisoners plotting a getaway
from a World War II camp.
“36 Hours” (1964) This clever World War II
drama – being shown Saturday, May 29, as part
of Turner Classic Movies’ Memorial Day Weekend
marathon – casts Garner as an imprisoned officer
whose captors try to convince him the war is over, to
get him to give up vital information.
“Grand
Prix”
(1966) Director John
Frankenheimer’s drama, which uses exciting driver’s
point-of-view and split-screen techniques plentifully,
sees Garner lead an all-star cast as a veteran of the
international racing circuit.
“Hour of the Gun” (1967) Garner makes a fine
Wayatt Earp in this mature Western that reunited him
with “The Great Escape” director John Sturges.
“Support Your Local Sheriff!” (1969) After
making several serious Westerns, Garner spoofed
the genre in this comedy about an unlikely lawman
who grows into the job.
“The Rockford Files” (1974-80) Garner’s
famously laid-back personality gave him another
television hit, as he played a flawed private detective
who still managed to get his cases solved. After the
weekly run ended, Garner made several TV-movie
sequels.
“Victor/Victoria” (1982) Reunited with Julie
Andrews and directed by her husband, Blake
Edwards, Garner plays a Chicago gangster who
can’t believe her character is the female impersonator
she’s posing as.
“Murphy’s Romance” (1985) Garner earned
his only Oscar nomination as a pharmacist who
develops a May-December romance with a divorced
mom (Sally Field, who has called Garner the best
kisser she ever worked with) new to his small town.
“Promise” (1986) This Emmy-winning drama
boasts superb work by Garner as a man who has
to assume custody of his troubled younger brother
(James Woods).
“Barbarians at the Gate” (1993) This terrific,
fact-based cable movie takes a whimsical approach
as Garner plays the chief of RJR Nabisco, whose
bid to take over the company sets up a labyrinth of
financing complications,
“8 Simple Rules” (2003-05) Producers wisely
enlisted Garner to help carry this series forward as
the father-in-law of the character played by John
Ritter, who suddenly passed away during the show’s
run.
“The Notebook” (2004) One of Garner’s most
popular projects came toward the end of his career,
a relationship drama that spans several decades.
And if you don’t have tissues for the ending, at least
you’ve been forewarned.