July Film Club #2

 Our second film of the month of July is another Humphrey Bogart offering, John Huston's The Maltese Falcon.

The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 American film noir written and directed by John Huston, marking Huston's directorial debut. It is the second film adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel, following the 1931 version directed by Roy Del Ruth.

The film stars Humphrey Bogart as the hard-boiled private detective Sam Spade, in a role that would cement his status as a Hollywood icon, alongside Mary Astor as the enigmatic and manipulative femme fatale Brigid O'Shaughnessy. Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet portray the memorable villains whose shifting alliances and hidden motives drive much of the story’s tension. Set in San Francisco, the plot revolves around the pursuit of a priceless, jewel-encrusted falcon statuette, with each character willing to resort to deceit, betrayal, and even murder to claim it.

The film currently holds a 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert awarded it 4/4 stars, adding it to his list of the Great Movies, said this in his review, "

Among the movies we not only love but treasure, “The Maltese Falcon” stands as a great divide. Consider what was true after its release in 1941 and was not true before:

(1) The movie defined Humphrey Bogart’s performances for the rest of his life; his hard-boiled Sam Spade rescued him from a decade of middling roles in B gangster movies and positioned him for “Casablanca,” “Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” “The African Queen” and his other classics.

(2) It was the first film directed by John Huston, who for more than 40 years would be a prolific maker of movies that were muscular, stylish and daring.

(3) It contained the first screen appearance of Sydney Greenstreet, who went on, in “Casablanca” and many other films, to become one of the most striking character actors in movie history.

(4) It was the first pairing of Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, and so well did they work together that they made nine other movies, including “Casablanca” in 1942 and “The Mask of Dimitrios” (1944), in which they were not supporting actors but actually the stars.

(5) And some film histories consider “The Maltese Falcon” the first film noir. It put down the foundations for that native American genre of mean streets, knife-edged heroes, dark shadows and tough dames."

We will be meeting Thursday, July 23 @ 5:30 pm

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv-BPuqhW9U

Hope to see you there!

July Film Club #1

It's July! Summer is in full swing and we're onto our 3rd film in our series. Our first July film in our Noir Series is The Big Sleep.

The Big Sleep is a 1946 American film noir directed by Howard Hawks. William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman co-wrote the screenplay, which adapts Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel. The film stars Humphrey Bogart as private detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge in a story that begins with blackmail and leads to multiple murders.

The film currently holds a 96% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert awarded it 4/4 stars, adding it to his list of the Great Movies, said this in his review, "It is one of the great film noirs, a black-and-white symphony that exactly reproduces Chandler’s ability, on the page, to find a tone of voice that keeps its distance, and yet is wry and humorous and cares. Howard Hawks is one of the great American directors of pure movies (“His Girl Friday,” “Bringing Up Baby,” “Red River,” “Rio Bravo”), and a hero of auteur critics because he found his own laconic values in many different kinds of genre material."

We will be meeting Thursday, July 16 @ 5:30 pm

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-K49CUaeto

Hope to see you there!

June Film Club #2

 Our second film for the month of June comes to us from the master of suspense himself, Mr. Alfred Hitchcock. 

Strangers on a Train is a 1951 American psychological thriller film noir produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and adapted by Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde from the 1950 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. 

The story concerns two strangers who meet on a train, one of whom is a psychopath who suggests that they "exchange" murders so that neither will be caught. The film initially received mixed reviews, but has since been regarded much more favorably.

The film currently holds a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert gave it 4/4 stars, adding it to his list of the Great Movies, saying this in his review, "The abiding terror in Alfred Hitchcock’s life was that he would be accused of a crime he did not commit. This fear is at the heart of many of his best films, including “Strangers on a Train”. The movie is usually ranked among Hitchcock’s best, and its appeal is probably the linking of an ingenious plot with insinuating creepiness. It is a plot made of ingenuity and amorality, based on the first novel by Patricia Highsmith, who in her Ripley novels and elsewhere was fascinated by brainy criminals who functioned not out of passion but from careful calculation, and usually got away with their crimes. Strangers on a Train is not a psychological study, however, but a first-rate thriller with odd little kinks now and then."

We will be meeting Thursday, June 25 @ 5:30 pm

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1iSS5r0OVE

Hope to see you there!

June Film Club #1

To kick off our Summer Series: Film Noir, we will be watching Carol Reed's The Third Man

The Third Man is a 1949 film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene, and starring Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, Alida Valli as Anna Schmidt, Orson Welles as Harry Lime and Trevor Howard as Major Calloway. Set in post-World War II Allied-occupied Vienna, the film centres on American writer Holly Martins, who arrives in the city to accept a job with his friend Harry Lime, only to learn that he has died. Martins stays in Vienna to investigate Lime's death, becoming infatuated with Lime's girlfriend Anna Schmidt.

It currently holds a 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert who awarded it 4/4 stars, adding it to his list of The Great Movies, said this in his review, "The Third Man reflects the optimism of Americans and the bone-weariness of Europe after the war. It’s a story about grownups and children: Adults like Calloway, who has seen at first hand the results of Lime’s crimes, and children like the trusting Holly, who believes in the simplified good and evil of his Western novels. Of all the movies I have seen, this one most completely embodies the romance of going to the movies."

We will be meeting Thursday, June 18 at 5:30 pm.

Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9yyDEDGlr0

Hope to see you there!

Summer Series: Film Noir

Hey everyone! Summer is upon us and with that comes the Film Club Summer Series!

Each summer, our Film Club alternates between exploring the work of influential directors and diving into a cinematic genre. Following last year's spotlight on the Coen Brothers, we're turning our attention to one of film's most enduring and influential styles: Film Noir. Join us as we journey through a world of shadowy streets, hard-boiled detectives, dangerous schemes, and moral ambiguity, exploring classic noir films and their lasting impact on cinema. 

(Keep an eye out each month for posts and booklets specific to each film.)

Here's our lineup for the summer (click the title for a trailer):

June 18 @ 5:30- The Third Man

June 25 @ 5:30- Strangers on a Train

July 16 @ 5:30- The Big Sleep

July 23 @ 5:30- The Maltese Falcon

Aug 20 @ 5:30- Sunset Boulevard

Aug 27 @ 5:30- Double Indemnity

May Film Club

 Hello all, thanks to everyone who made it out for the ludicrous Dr. Strangelove. For the month of May I have selected a film from recent years that I really enjoyed and that is Ford v. Ferrari. I love a good racing biopic and this is no exception.

Ford v Ferrari is a 2019 American biographical sports drama film directed by James Mangold and written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Jason Keller. It stars Matt Damon and Christian Bale, with Jon Bernthal, Caitríona Balfe, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Noah Jupe, Remo Girone, and Ray McKinnon in supporting roles. The plot follows a determined team of American and English engineers and designers, led by automotive designer Carroll Shelby and his English driver, Ken Miles, who are hired by Henry Ford II and Lee Iacocca to build a race car to defeat the perennially dominant Italian racing team Scuderia Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France. At the 92nd Academy Awards, the film received four nominations, including Best Picture, and won Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing. It currently holds a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Glenn Kenny writing for Rogerebert.com gave the film 3/4 stars saying this in his review, "Lest all of this sound heavy, I should assure you that Ford v Ferrari is exactly as fun, maybe even more fun, than its well-put-together trailer makes it out to be. The dialogue is replete with zingers and the racing sequences are a blast. Mangold sticks to the verities and conveys high speeds and potentially deadly impacts with a lot of gusto; there’s very little that looks tricked-up or obviously animated. Ford v Ferrari delivers real cinema meat and potatoes."

We will be meeting Thursday, May 28 at 5:00 pm (it's a little longer, so earlier start time)

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyYgDtY2AMY

Hope to see you there!

April Film Club

 Hello all! It's the month of April, the greatest month of the whole year! Why you ask? Well, it's the month of my birthday and in following my own egotistical tradition, we'll be watching one of my favorite movies! This year, it happens to be Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove: or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (known simply and more commonly as Dr. Strangelove) is a 1964 political satire black comedy film co-written, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is loosely based on the thriller novel Red Alert (1958) by Peter George, who wrote the screenplay with Kubrick and Terry Southern. The film, financed and released by Columbia Pictures, was a co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom.  Dr. Strangelove parodies Cold War fears of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union and stars Peter Sellers (portraying three different characters), George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, and Tracy Reed. The story concerns an insane brigadier general of the United States Air Force who orders a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. It follows the President of the United States (Sellers), his scientific advisor Dr. Strangelove (Sellers), a Royal Air Force exchange officer (Sellers), and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Scott) as they attempt to stop the crew of a B-52 from bombing the Soviet Union and starting a nuclear war.

The film is widely considered one of the best comedy films and one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. The film received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for Sellers. It currently holds a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert gave it 4/4 stars later adding it to his list of The Great Movies, saying this in his review, " Kubrick made what is arguably the best political satire of the century, a film that pulled the rug out from under the Cold War by arguing that if a “nuclear deterrent” destroys all life on Earth, it is hard to say exactly what it has deterred. “Dr. Strangelove’s” humor is generated by a basic comic principle: People trying to be funny are never as funny as people trying to be serious and failing. The laughs have to seem forced on unwilling characters by the logic of events. A man wearing a funny hat is not funny. But a man who doesn’t know he’s wearing a funny hat … ah, now you’ve got something. The characters in “Dr. Strangelove” do not know their hats are funny."

We will be meeting Thursday, April 23 at 5:30 pm 

Here's a trailer: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftZUbEu6WeA

Hope to see you there!