Movies

A busy character actor, he also appeared on several science-fiction shows, including “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” on which he played a Klingon. More

“I’m tired of getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop,” says Sugar “Kane” Kowalczyk, the ukulele player with a soft spot for saxophonists. A lot of us know how she feels. Everyone could use a little candy right now, and we can’t think of a sweeter way to spend time than with Sugar and her pals Jo and Daphne watching “Some Like It Hot.”Even if it’s your first encounter with this 1959 comedy — directed by Billy Wilder from a script that he wrote with I.A.L. Diamond — it spoils nothing to know that Jo and Daphne are really Joe and Jerry, and are played by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. Marilyn Monroe, at the height of her comedic powers, is Sugar, who sings “I Wanna Be Loved By You” (and she is) and whose walk Jerry likens to “Jell-O on springs.”[embedded content]On the run from Chicago gangsters after witnessing the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, Joe and Jerry transform into Jo and Daphne and join Sugar’s all-girl band, Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators. The complications and winks come fast and furious, and nearly every line sounds naughty. Daphne, whose instrument is, ahem, the bull fiddle, is romanced by a millionaire, Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown). “Do you use a bow or do you just pluck it?” he asks. “Most of the time,” she replies, “I slap it.”As Osgood would say: Zowie! Gender-swapped comedy stretches from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” through Monty Python and the last “Ghostbusters,” but Curtis and Lemmon bring their own brand of zaniness and sex appeal to this iteration. Do movie lovers still like it hot — do you? In his review in The New York Times, A.H. Weiler warned that “a viewer might question the taste of a few of the lines, situations and the prolonged masquerade.” That may still be true, though perhaps for different reasons than Weiler thought. Nobody’s perfect.Still, “Some Like It Hot” consistently appears in polls of the greatest movies of all time. Whether it’s your first time watching it or your 50th, and whether you’re interested in Marilyn mythology or gender theory, we are eager for your thoughts. The film can be streamed or rented; here’s a guide. Stop by in the comments section afterward — the cutoff is Monday at 6 p.m. Eastern — and please bring your ukulele. More

For her first stab at writing and directing, the actor Lynn Chen imagines resolutions for characters originally introduced in Dave Boyle’s 2011-2012 movies, “Surrogate Valentine” and “Daylight Savings.” The result is “I Will Make You Mine,” described in the press notes as a “semi-sequel” to Boyle’s films and — at least in look, tone and temperature — not dissimilar to its predecessors.Coasting on easy-listening tunes and a complete absence of all but the mildest drama, the plot has an amiable innocence and uniform generosity toward its characters (more than one of whom is playing a fictional version of themselves). Everyone is inoffensively nice, especially Goh Nakamura (himself), an ultra-mellow, almost phlegmatic singer-songwriter who strolls back into Los Angeles to attend a funeral. And unwittingly resurrect dormant desires in three women who haven’t quite gotten over his wistful rhymes and crooning guitar chords.[embedded content]Most vulnerable is Rachel (Lynn Chen), a dissatisfied wife whose wealthy husband (Mike Faiola) was unfaithful and is now making cringe-worthy attempts to reconcile. Then there’s Yea-Ming (Yea-Ming Chen), a frustrated musician inspired by Goh’s arrival to write a new song (about him, naturally). Last, we have his estranged wife, Erika (Ayako Fujitani), torn between her professorial career and the demands of caring for a young daughter (Ayami Riley Tomine).As Goh reconnects with all three in a series of gently pleasurable hangout scenes, the movie accumulates a rueful nostalgia. Soft black-and-white cinematography (by Bill Otto and Carl Nenzen Loven) and low-key humor help offset the limitations of its partly crowd-funded budget, as does the naturalism of the partly improvised performances. Slight and sometimes a little sleepy, “I Will Make You Mine” is about transitions and crossroads, its characters learning that processing disappointment is as essential as pursuing love.“I just wonder if my race has already been run,” Goh says near the end, in a line that could have been spoken by any one of the women whose lives he has so unexpectedly disturbed.I Will Make You MineNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 20 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

Our culture writers offer suggestions for what to watch or listen to while we’re housebound. More

A new movie by Lewis Klahr, who makes striking, personal assemblages out of cultural detritus. More

Like a potted fern held aloft by a forest of well-positioned stakes, Dakota Johnson claims the center of “The High Note” on the strength and general excellence of the actors around her. Every one of them is a blessing, even those (condolences, Ice Cube) enduring trite roles and formulaic setups in a movie that can’t decide if it’s a musical reworking of “The Devil Wears Prada,” an underdog romantic comedy or a feminist arrow to the heart of the entertainment industry.Not that it matters in a script (by Flora Greeson, a former music-industry assistant) that sometimes requires not just the suspension of disbelief, but its assassination. It’s something of a miracle, then, that this hokey tale of an aspiring young record producer and a prematurely written-off diva unfurls almost as smoothly as the vintage soul and R&B that greases the soundtrack: Clearly, the director, Nisha Ganatra, knows that no one can resist a dash of Donny Hathaway.[embedded content]Certainly not Maggie (Johnson), a harried personal assistant to an imperious superstar named Grace Davis (a magnificently intimidating Tracee Ellis Ross, working a cackling laugh and a killer wardrobe). Fearful of becoming irrelevant, Grace is unsure of her next move: Her longtime manager (Ice Cube) would like her to slide gracefully into a lucrative residency at Caesar’s Palace, while Maggie is tentatively urging her to release an album of new material. Weary of giving her boss enemas and cleaning out her closets, Maggie has her own ambitions.Enter David (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a velvet-voiced singer-songwriter and all-around sweetie who, wouldn’t you know it, needs only a talented producer to kick his career into orbit. With neither referral nor résumé, Maggie persuades him to hire her, magically conjuring a fully equipped recording studio and session musicians, then even agreeing to sing backup — a move that astonishingly fails to derail their romantic attraction.Pulsing with beats by the likes of Sam Cooke and Corinne Bailey Rae, “The High Note” is pleasant enough but disappointingly timid and thoroughly implausible. As wary of taking chances as its three lead characters, the film relies on corny contrivances, music-industry clichés — here we go again with the multicity tour montage — and a soapy plot reveal that would mortify daytime television.Counteracting Johnson’s regrettable blandness, a clutch of agile actors in minor roles inject color and life into otherwise small moments. June Diane Raphael is an airheaded delight as Grace’s acquisitive hired companion, and Bill Pullman is cozily credible as Maggie’s music-obsessed father. But it’s Eddie Izzard, as a jaded musical legend, who adds a welcome shot of acid: His perfectly delivered monologue feels imported from a harsher, braver movie.Such a film could have sharpened its claws on any one of the music-industry prejudices that this one pretends to care about, especially those faced by female recording artists. Instead, we get flyby comments about age and race and fame that don’t stick in any meaningful way, as well as an ongoing impression of talented women having their voices suppressed. But if all you do is whisper, you can hardly complain about not being heard.The High NoteRated PG-13 for cheeky words and sexy bangs. Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, Apple TV, FandangoNOW and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More