Binge on Narcos, make a Midnight Run, stop in Atlanta and more AV hits

Thursday 9.1
The 1980s was the decade of the buddy comedy, and Martin Brest’s Midnight Run, starring Robert De Niro as a bounty hunter and Charles Grodin as his unwilling captive, was the quirkiest and most fun of the bunch. Grodin plays an annoyingly  neurotic accountant who has made off with $15 million of Mob money, and De Niro’s exasperation (later used to perfection in Meet the Parents) is the highlight of the film. Yaphet Kotto, a true ’70s/’80s “that guy,” steals scenes as an FBI agent whose identity was stolen. A new 2K scan, with bonus interviews, is available on Blu-ray from Shout Factory now.

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Friday 9.2
In the new documentary Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, luddite Werner Herzog narrates what is essentially a series of short films from his unique POV. A 60 Minutes-style approach would delve deeper into the facts, but Herzog looks at different aspects of the Internet age (as well as the onset of artificial intelligence) and poses questions about where modern society is headed. There’s not much new information here, but there are worse ways to spend 90 minutes than thinking deeply about our future. It opens today at Screenland Armour (408 Armour Road, North Kansas City).

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Saturday 9.3
It took awhile for Season 1 of Narcos, the Netflix series chronicling drug kingpin Pablo Escobar’s 1980s run, to find its legs. But thanks to a strong lead in Wagner Moura and the strategy of combining of counterintuitive choices such as archival footage and voiceover narration, its 10 episodes make for an engaging binge watch. Yesterday, Netflix dropped Season 2. You know what to do. Seriously, what else did you have planned this weekend?

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Sunday 9.4
Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? The Alamo Drafthouse (1400 Main) kicks off its month-long “Septemburton” celebration tonight and tomorrow by showing a rare 35mm print of Tim Burton’s Batman. Watching the movie today, it seems way more like a Universal monster-flick tribute with Gothic-lite tendencies than a superhero movie, which is pretty refreshing. (A soundtrack by Prince doesn’t hurt, either.) Check the Drafthouse calendar for showings later this month of Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.

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Monday 9.5
Last year’s big-budget Robert Zemeckis film, The Walk, used IMAX to stirring effect to recreate Frenchman Philippe Petit’s infamous 1974 tightrope walk between the then-unfinished Twin Towers. Unfortunately, that one scene was the only compelling part of Zemeckis’ “follow your dreams” narrative. Luckily, James Marsh’s Oscar-winning 2008 documentary, Man on Wire, is streaming on Amazon Prime this month, so you can experience the story from Petit himself, complete with large doses of narcissism, ego and contradiction. Man on Wire also proves documentaries can be every bit as thrilling as big-budget actioners.

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Tuesday 9.6
Donald Glover (Community) is also known as rapper Childish Gambino, so it’s not really a surprise that Atlanta, his new series for FX, is set in that city’s thriving hip-hop scene. Glover plays Earn, the cousin and wannabe manager of local rapper Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry). Glover looks to be keeping it in the family; the first three episodes are directed by Hiro Murai, who helmed several of his videos. The two-episode premiere is tonight …

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Wednesday 9.7
… and so is the premiere of Queen Sugar on OWN, so you better set your DVRs. Ava DuVernay’s new series, based on the 2014 novel by Natalie Baszile, is an all-female-directed show about three estranged siblings who must come together to run their deceased father’s sugarcane farm. It’s rare that two African-American-centered TV shows would premiere on the same night, and early reviews suggest both are excellent. I’m putting this one under Wednesday, but DVR them both on Tuesday and watch whichever night you choose. Queen Sugar has already been renewed for a second season.

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Eric Melin is the editor of Scene-Stealers.com and president of the KC Film Critics Circle.