April Film Club

 Hey everyone! Since April is my birthday month, I generally pick one of my favorite movies for us to watch. This time around we will be watching the utterly bizarre Borgman by Dutch director, Alex van Warmerdam. I think it will get us ready for our Summer Series: Directors of the Weird and Wonderful.

Borgman is a 2013 Dutch psychological thriller drama film directed by Alex van Warmerdam. The film follows a vagrant as he and his team turn the lives of arrogant upper-class people into a psychological nightmare. It currently holds an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes and Brian Tallerico, writing for Rogerebert.com, gave it 3/4 stars saying this in his review, "Van Warmerdam is clearly commenting on class issues, however, the social commentary feels like background more than thematic centerpiece. He is way more interested in mood, malevolence, and the general sense of unease that permeates every frame of "Borgman". Like a religious parable designed to present more questions than answers, "Borgman" can sometimes frustrate but it is an accomplished piece of work, driven by a uniquely malevolent tonal balance and two fantastic central performances. It sometimes simmers when I wish it would boil over but damn if it isn't fascinating to watch the water bubble."

We will be meeting Thursday, April 25th at 5:30pm

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Tgt-qAdJM&ab_channel=FilmIsNowMovies

Hope to see you there!

March Film Club

 Happy March everyone! In keeping with past Film Club tradition, I have tried to find a film that is in some part Irish, whether its actors, director, writer, setting, etc. and for this year I have chosen John Crowley's Brooklyn.

Brooklyn is a 2015 romantic period drama film directed by John Crowley and written by Nick Hornby, based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Colm Toibin. A co-production between the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada, it stars Saoirse Ronan in the lead role, with Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, and Julie Walters in supporting roles. The plot follows Eilis Lacey, a young Irishwoman who emigrates to Brooklyn in the early 1950s to find employment. After building a life there, she is drawn back to her home town of Enniscorthy and has to choose where she wants to forge her future. 

It currently holds a certified fresh rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and Glenn Kenny, writing for Rogerebert.com, gave the film 4/4 stars saying this in his review, "The persistent feeling that this movie so beautifully creates is that even when the world is bestowing blessings upon us, it's still at the bottom a sad place, and the key to an emotionally healthy existence involves some rooted acceptance of that. The movie ends with Eilis having made some substantial steps to that accepting place, and also determined to move purposefully forward. People have spoken about how understated and old-fashioned "Brooklyn" is, to the extent that it might come across as a pleasant innocuous entertainment. Don't be fooled. "Brooklyn" is not toothless. But it is big-hearted, romantic and beautiful."

We will be meeting Thursday, Mar. 28 at 5:30 pm

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15syDwC000k

Hope to see you there!

February Film Club

 Hey it's February already! Hopefully we're all done with the snow and negative weather, bring on the spring! For the month of February, I've decided to show the Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou?

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 satirical comedy-drama film written, produced, co-edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson, with Chris Thomas King, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning in supporting roles. The film is set in rural Mississippi during the 1930s, and it follows three escaped convicts searching for hidden treasure while a sheriff relentlessly pursues them. Its story is a modern satire which, while incorporating social features of the American South, is loosely based on Homer's epic Greek poem the Odyssey.
The film currently holds a certified fresh rating of 78% on Rotten Tomatoes and Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian said this in his review, "O Brother, Where Art Thou? has brio, wit, and style, and the whole picture is air-cushioned with appealing comedy and its own unassuming good nature. Simply: this is a film which is impossible to dislike, and moves with an easy, approachable swing through the bleached and steaming landscape of bluegrass Mississippi, with its ornery confidence men and cracker-barrel politicians. It is made with marvelous clarity and fluency, and Joel and Ethan Coen attain a comic simplicity that other film-makers can only dream of."

We will be meeting Thursday, Feb. 22 at 5:30 pm

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9UlbxlM5nE

Hope to see you there!

January Film Club

 Happy New Year! Here we are, another year, another lineup of great films. Let's get to it! To kick things off, I've decided to show the newest Wes Anderson feature film, Asteroid City.

Asteroid City is a 2023 American comedy-drama film written, directed and produced by Wes Anderson, from a story he wrote with Roman Coppola. It features an ensemble cast, including Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Steve Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan  and Jeff Goldblum. Its metatextual plot simultaneously depicts the events of a Junior Stargazer convention in a retro-futuristic version of 1955, staged as a play, and the creation of the play. It is Anderson's homage to popular memory and mythology about extraterrestrials and UFOs witnessed in the Southwestern desert in close proximity to atomic test sites during the post-war period of the American 20th century.

The film currently holds a certified fresh rating of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes and Glenn Kenny, writing for Rogerebert.com, gave it 4/4 stars saying this in his review, "All of the film's action-and there's so much of it, and all of it revels in the joy of creation, of performance, of human invention that seeks a cosmic splendor-eventually concentrates on the banal and yet all-consuming question, "what is the meaning of life?" of course, the movie's characters don't always put the inquiry so plainly. Here it takes the form of the statement, articulated like a plea: "I don't understand the play." Followed by the heartbreaking query, "Am I doing it right?" Asteroid City portrays a gorgeous gallery of people in various guises, performing art and performing life, all trying to do it right."

We will be meeting Thursday, Jan. 25 at 5:30 pm

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FXCSXuGTF4

Hope to see you there!