Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and with the end of the pledge drive for this show comes the end of our fall culture guide series. We've talked about music, and books, and art, and theater, and Halloween. Today, let's talk movies. Strike or not, actors promoting their work or not, there are some highly anticipated movies coming out this fall, and Newsday film critic Rafer Guzman joins us to tell us about some of them. Hey, Rafer. Good to hear you again. Welcome back to WNYC.

Rafer Guzman: Hey, Brian. Thanks for having me.

Brian Lehrer: Maybe it's just me, but the one film that seems to have gotten attention despite the lack of actor-driven publicity is Martin Scorsese's new film, Killers of the Flower Moon, which is getting raves, and it's like three and a half hours. Did you see it?

Rafer Guzman: Yes, I have. I'm one of the raves for sure.

Brian Lehrer: Tell us about it.

Rafer Guzman: It's pretty interesting. It's a true story. It's about a little known chapter in American history about the Osage Nation, a Native American tribe. Around the turn of the century, they discover oil on their land in Oklahoma and become fabulously wealthy. You might think that the government would try to take that land back in some way, but instead, a group of white Americans move in. They begin living amongst the Osage, marrying their women and killing them, thereby inheriting their oil. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a guy named Ernest Burkhart. Lily Gladstone plays his new Osage wife, Mollie, both real people. The question at the center of the film is, is he going to try to murder this woman, or does he love her, or both? It sets up a really interesting dynamic.

Brian Lehrer: Sounds fascinating. I'm also seeing Oscar buzz for the movie, The Holdovers, the new film from director Alexander Payne, who's known for the films Sideways and Election. What can you tell us about this one?

Rafer Guzman: This is Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti. They're back together again after Sideways. It's set during the Christmas of 1970. Giamatti plays a guy named Paul Hunham. He teaches ancient history at a private school, the Barton Academy in New England. He's widely disliked by his students and his colleagues, and he gets stuck babysitting a bunch of students who have nowhere else to go for Christmas break. There's one particularly troublesome kid named Tully, played by a new actor, a guy named Dominic Sessa. These two misfits strike up a friendship over the Christmas break as they discover more and more about each other. I have seen this one. Yes, it's sort of Sideways redux. Here you've got ancient history instead of the Pinot grape varietals, but it's so great. Paul Giamatti plays these kind of misfit roles so beautifully, and it's got this great ending that really got me right in the heart. I cannot recommend this one enough.

Brian Lehrer: Seems like we have two must-sees already with the Alexander Payne Holdovers and the Scorsese Killers of the Flower Moon. Another movie getting attention, and one with a local angle is Maestro, Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein.

Rafer Guzman: Yes. This is Bradley Cooper's second directing effort after A Star is Born, which got a ton of acclaim, as well. Yes, he's playing Leonard Bernstein, the great American symphony conductor. Carey Mulligan plays his wife Felicia Montealegre, who was a rising actor at the time when they got married. It's interesting because I think this movie delves into a facet of Bernstein's story that I don't think too many people knew, I certainly never knew, which is that he was gay, had affairs with men throughout their marriage. Loved his wife very much, they raised three children together, but this is the story of this very complicated, very loving relationship.

I've seen this one as well, and it's a beautiful, beautiful film, wonderfully directed. They're both so good in it. A little controversy about Bradley Cooper wearing a prosthetic nose. That got a little controversy there, but the Bernstein family came out with this very lovely statement and said, "Listen, our dad had a really nice, big, lovely nose, and we thought it was great. We think Cooper looks great in it." It's a beautiful, beautiful film, and it's a really interesting look at a lesser-known part of Leonard Bernstein's life.

Brian Lehrer: Really interesting. Well, changing direction, is there a big family film as we head close to the December holidays for a multi-generational view?

Rafer Guzman: Yes, there'll be a few of them, some animated films. Probably the big one that people are going to be talking about is Wonka, which is a Warner Brothers film. It's got -- Timothée Chalamet is playing Wonka, following in the footsteps of Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp, playing the eccentric chocolatier created by Roald Dahl. This is a brand new story, though. It's sort of the origin story, young Willy Wonka. He's an aspiring, budding businessman, trying to break into some kind of chocolatier cabal in England that he can't seem to crack. I guess I'm interested in this for a couple reasons. Paul King, the director, is the guy behind the Paddington movies, and you might laugh when I say this, but the Paddington movies are just brilliant. Paddington 2 is like a real work of genius. I will stake my critical reputation on that. And of course, you've got Hugh Grant as an Oompa-Loompa, which is pretty irresistible. That comes out December 15th, Wonka.

Brian Lehrer: Are films being available via live stream as much this year as in recent years? Obviously, that started to increase because of the pandemic. Are they pulling back on it? Because I've been seeing more of the best movie nominees in recent years, just because it's so easy, but of course they want people to go back to theaters. Do people even have that option as much as, say 2022?

Rafer Guzman: They do, and I think the streamers are kind of splitting the difference. For instance, Killers of the Flower Moon, that's an Apple TV production, but I don't think that's available on Apple TV yet. I'm not even sure they've announced when that will come out. Netflix, of course, is really flooding the zone. We talked about Maestro, that's a Netflix movie. Some of the other big, I think, kind of Oscar bait movies that are coming out like Nyad, about the swimmer Diana Nyad, with Annette Bening and Jodi Foster, that's a Netflix movie. May December with Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, that's a Netflix movie, so yes, there's -- I think particularly when you're talking about Netflix, a lot of these big movies you will be able to stream them at some point.

Brian Lehrer: All right. 15 seconds, Rafer. It's Halloween, you have a favorite scary movie?

Rafer Guzman: I do. It's Peeping Tom, a British horror movie from 1960 that was reviled when it first came out. Everyone loved Psycho, everyone hated Peeping Tom. Martin Scorsese talked it up, said it was a masterpiece, and that's how it's regarded today. It's coming to Film Forum November 24th, so you can spend your Thanksgiving weekend with Peeping Tom.

Brian Lehrer: Right around the corner from the station.

Rafer Guzman: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and a member of the New York Film Critics Circle. Thanks, Rafer. Happy Halloween.

Rafer Guzman: Thank you, Brian.

Copyright © 2023 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.