What to Watch This Weekend: “Licorice Pizza,” “The Beatles: Get Back,” “The Waltons” Homecoming, and “Nash Bridges” spark nostalgia over Thanksgiving

Music plays a pretty big role in all of this, unsurprisingly, with director Peter Jackson’s multi-part documentary “The Beatles: Return” debuted on Disney+, days after another ’60s action movie, the Beach Boys, hit theaters and on demand with the heartwarming hit “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road”.

There were also strong musical movements for the films “Licorice Pizza,” an unorthodox look at the San Fernando Valley in Southern California during the 1970s, from director Paul Thomas Anderson; and “Gucci House,” A famous true crime story about the battle for fashion empire that lasted from the late 70’s (disco dominated the soundtrack) to the mid 90’s.

That’s obviously a relatively small part of the holiday viewing party, which includes customary Christmas-themed movies (which seem to start every year earlier) and other nostalgic items like Disney+’s “Home Sweet Home Alone” trapped another unlucky child more than 30 years after the initial bad parenting exercise.

Here are a few meat thoughts on some of these titles. And whatever you choose to see before, during, or after Thanksgiving, Bon Appetit.

“Licorice Pizza” (cinema, November 26)

In a way, “Licorice Pizza” embodies emotionless nostalgia, capturing a time and place in the 1970s when Nixon was on TV, Vin Scully called a Dodger game on the radio, sugar Gas lines form because of shortages and a boss can be brazen. slap his female employee on the back without fear of consequences.

Several realistic ’70s characters found their way into the pair’s Hollywood storylines, with Bradley Cooper portraying producer Jon Peters as a flamboyant maniac who actually bought one of the cars. bed. Sean Penn also became an actor (name has been changed, but only slightly) with strange stories, though it’s not entirely clear that he can separate reality from his movies.

“Licorice Pizza” really doesn’t have much of a plot, playing like a series of loosely connected episodes, in a way that becomes more apparent throughout the second half. It also doesn’t really address some of the nagging questions about Alana, whose recurring tantrums are among the film’s only poorly written scenes.

Those disclaimers aside, for the most part Anderson (who has directed several Haim videos since his last film, “Phantom Thread”) has provided yet another highly entertaining film. , which captures a very specific moment but also the enduring and pervasive nature of developing relationships. in the most unexpected ways.

The title, incidentally, comes from a popular ’70s but defunct chain of record stores – a fitting symbol of the desire to give this bygone era another spin.

“The Beatles: Return” (November 25, Disney+)

Director Peter Jackson essentially let loose the “Lord of the Rings” approach on the Beatles, in a three-part documentary that lasted nearly eight hours. With access to never-before-seen footage of Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the filmmaker dives into the Fab Four’s creative process as they work on 1970’s landmark album “Let It Be.” .

It’s a beautiful attempt at love, offering a fascinating look at the group’s interpersonal dynamics – and creative tensions – in what feels like defenseless moments despite the odds. camera presence. The only drawback is the full length, which in some respects requires wading through the active material in a smaller lock, although there’s an obvious method to that madness.

While Jackson was clearly content to let the Beatles do the talking, a little more management certainly wouldn’t hurt. However, for any music history student, “Get Back” presents the kind of direct approach and insight into why the band then disbanded, it’s pretty irresistible. even if it is perhaps better consumed in smaller pieces as opposed to a large sip.

Then again, that’s not bad advice for this weekend in general.

As a footnote, Jackson’s tribute to The Beatles comes from the latter part of “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road,” a special look at the life and career of the Beach Boys mastermind with all All the right voices praised him, including Bruce Springsteen and Elton John.

Surprised John: “He has an entire orchestra in his head. “The Beatles were [producer] George Martin to do it for them, but Brian did it for himself. “

Not every mainstay in music can guarantee this kind of broad treatment, but as Wilson himself wrote, wouldn’t it be nice?

“The Waltons’ Homecoming” (November 28, 8 p.m. ET, CW)

Fifty years after the movie debuted the original series, Richard Thomas returns to introduce and recount this very serious return (what else?) to Waltons Mountain, once again in TV series form. The story revolves around whether dad will come home for Christmas or not. The new cast features “Scandal”‘s Bellamy Young as Olivia, with Logan Shroyer (“This is us”) as John Boy. And yes, everyone says “good night”. (That’s from Warner Bros. Television, which, like CNN, is part of WarnerMedia.)

“Nash Bridge” (November 27, 9 p.m. ET, US)

Nash and Joe return for a movie-length adventure, packed with young co-stars who tease the former was a dinosaur and the occasional grumpy old man about things like using navigation apps direction in a car chase.

In perhaps the most inspired wrinkle, Marin’s character has achieved success running a cannabis dispensary, which has certainly been branded with his Cheech & Chong comedy routes.

“Aren’t you glad you came back for this?” Nash asked him. Whether fans are excited or not remains to be seen, but the whole thing is murky in a way that could easily go up in smoke.