Come on out and join us for this very poetic and beautiful film, hope to see you there!
Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18gU7pY0P-Q
Monday, March 31, 2014
April Film Club
Hey folks! Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out to see Capote last month in honor of the late, supremely talented, Philip Seymour Hoffman (if you're looking for more of his work, ask me for a list!). For the month of April, I've decided to show another, somewhat different film. Don't worry, it's not as challenging as Last Year at Marienbad, but it is hopefully outside what you're normally used to watching. The film in question is Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire (the German title is Der Himmel uber Berlin or The Heavens Over Berlin).
Wings of Desire is a 1987 romantic fantasy film directed by Wim Wenders. Set in contemporary West Berlin (at the time still enclosed by the Berlin Wall), Wings of Desire follows two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, as they roam the city, unseen and unheard by its human inhabitants, observing and listening to the diverse thoughts of Berliners: a pregnant woman in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, a painter struggling to find inspiration, a broken man who thinks his girlfriend no longer loves him. Their reason of existence is, as Cassiel says, to "assemble, testify, preserve" reality. In addition to the story of the two angels, the film is also a meditation on Berlin's past, present and future. Damiel and Cassiel have always existed as angels; they existed in Berlin before it was a city, and before there were even any humans. The film is shot in both a rich, sepia-toned black and white and color, with the former being used to represent the world as experienced by the angels.
Come on out and join us for this very poetic and beautiful film, hope to see you there!
Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18gU7pY0P-Q
Come on out and join us for this very poetic and beautiful film, hope to see you there!
Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18gU7pY0P-Q
Monday, March 3, 2014
March Film Club
Hey folks. Normally in the month of March I play something Irish in honor of St. Patrick's Day, but this year I've decided to forego that and play a film in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman who tragically passed away last month. He was a phenomenal actor, probably one of this generation's finest and he will be sorely missed. I've decided to show the film for which he was recognized with an Oscar for Best Actor: Capote.
The creation of one of the most memorable books of the 1960s-and the impact the writing and research would have on its author- is explored in this drama based on a true story. In 1959, Truman Capote (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) was a critically acclaimed novelist who had earned a small degree of celebrity for his work when he read a short newspaper item about a multiple murder in a small Kansas town. For some reason, the story fascinated Capote, and he asked William Shawn (Bob Balaban), his editor at The New Yorker, to let him write a piece about the case. Capote has long believed that in the right hands, a true story could be molded into a tale as compelling as any fiction, and he believed this event, in which the brutal and unimaginable was visited upon a community where it was least expected, could be just the right material. Capote traveled to Kansas with his close friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), herself becoming a major literary figure with the success of To Kill a Mockingbird, and while Capote's effete and mannered personal style stuck out like a sore thumb in Kansas, in time he gained the trust of Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper), the Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent investigating the murder of the Clutter family, and with his help Capote's magazine piece grew into a full-length book. Capote also became familiar with the petty criminals who killed the Clutter family, Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino) and Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.), and in Smith he found a troubling kindred spirit more like himself than he wanted to admit. After attaining a sort of friendship with Smith under the assumption that the man would be executed before the book was ever published, Capote finds himself forced to directly confront the moral implications of his actions with regards to both his role in the man's death, and the way that he would be remembered.
Philip Seymour Hoffman won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his critically acclaimed portrayal of the title role. The film holds a 90% rating on Rottentomatoes.com out of 162 critical reviews and was awarded 4 stars by Roger Ebert who had this to say of the film, "Capote" is a film of uncommon strength and insight, about a man whose great achievement requires the surrender of his self-respect. Philip Seymour Hoffman's precise, uncanny performance as Capote doesn't imitate the author so much as channel him, as a man whose peculiarities mask great intelligence and deep wounds."
This film is a great example of the monumental talent Philip Seymour Hoffman displayed in all his roles, a talent that the film world is worse off without. We will be meeting Thursday, March 20th at 6:15pm, hope to see you there!
Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4BvvJ69pIQ
Philip Seymour Hoffman won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his critically acclaimed portrayal of the title role. The film holds a 90% rating on Rottentomatoes.com out of 162 critical reviews and was awarded 4 stars by Roger Ebert who had this to say of the film, "Capote" is a film of uncommon strength and insight, about a man whose great achievement requires the surrender of his self-respect. Philip Seymour Hoffman's precise, uncanny performance as Capote doesn't imitate the author so much as channel him, as a man whose peculiarities mask great intelligence and deep wounds."
This film is a great example of the monumental talent Philip Seymour Hoffman displayed in all his roles, a talent that the film world is worse off without. We will be meeting Thursday, March 20th at 6:15pm, hope to see you there!
Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4BvvJ69pIQ
Thursday, January 30, 2014
February Film Club
Hello everyone, thank you to everyone who made it out for Last Year at Marienbad. Already we find ourselves at the second month of the year, and with it comes another film. Don't worry, this one isn't as complicated as the last one. For the month of February we will be watching the feature debut of director Sidney Lumet: 12 Angry Men
12 Angry Men is a 1957 American drama film adapted from a teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose. Written and produced by Rose himself and directed by Sidney Lumet, this trial film tells the story of a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt or acquittal of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt. In the United States, a verdict in most criminal trials by jury must be unanimous. The film is notable for its almost exclusive use of one set: with the exception of the film's opening, which begins outside on the steps of the courthouse followed by the judge's final instructions to the jury before retiring, a brief final scene on the courthouse steps, and two short scenes in an adjoining washroom, the entire movie takes place in the jury room. 12 Angry Men explores many techniques of consensus building, and the difficulties encountered in the process, among a group of men whose range of personalities adds intensity and conflict. Apart from two of the jurors swapping names while leaving the courthouse, no names are used in the film.
The film today is viewed as a classic, highly regarded from both a critical and popular viewpoint: Roger Ebert listed it as one of his "Great Movies", and the film currently holds an enviable 100% "Certified Fresh" rating on rottentomatoes.com (click link for more info) out of 45 critical reviews.
This is one of the films that if you haven't seen it, you must, and if you have seen it, you should see it again. I think we can get some really good conversation going from this film. Hope to see you there!
Here's the trailer:
Monday, January 6, 2014
January Film Club
Happy New Year everyone! A new year means a whole new lineup of films for Film Club. We will continue to meet on the third Thursday of each month at 6:15pm (unless otherwise indicated). In the tradition of previous years of Film Club, I'd like to create an experience that will challenge you as a viewer. I want to show you films that will make you think, spark up lively discussions and maybe even just entertain you. One of the goals for this year's club, I think, will be a greater emphasis on the discussion following the film. We have had some good talks this past year, but I'd love to amp that up a bit, and the best way to do this is with films that lend themselves naturally to discussion, so be prepared for some really stellar films this year.
Now, remember when I said Film Club meets on the third Thursday of each month (unless otherwise indicated)? Well, that holds true, except for this month. I will be out of town on the 16th (normal Film Club night) so I will be pushing this month's film to the following Thursday, the 23rd.
Ok, so, to kick off our exciting new year of Film Club, allow me to introduce our first film.
On Thursday, Jan. 23rd at 6:15pm we will be watching Alain Resnais' wonderful, enigmatic film: Last Year at Marienbad.
Last Year at Marienbad is a 1961 French film directed by Alain Resnais. The film is famous for its enigmatic narrative structure, in which truth and fiction are difficult to distinguish, and the temporal and spatial relationship of the events is open to question. The dream-like nature of the film has fascinated and baffled audiences and critics; some hail it as a masterpiece, others find it incomprehensible.
The film takes place at a social gathering at a chateau or baroque hotel, a man approaches a woman. He claims they met the year before at Marienbad and is convinced that she is waiting there for him. The woman insists they have never met. A second man, who may be the woman's husband, repeatedly asserts his dominance over the first man, including beating him several times at a mathematical game (a version of Nim). Through ambiguous flashbacks and disorienting shifts of time and location, the film explores the relationships among the characters. Conversations and events are repeated in several places in the chateau and grounds, and there are numerous tracking shots of the chateau's corridors, with ambiguous voice overs. The characters are also unnamed.
The film continually creates an ambiguity in the spatial and temporal aspects of what it shows, and creates uncertainty in the mind of the spectator about the causal relationships between events. This may be achieved through editing, giving the apparently incompatible information in consecutive shots, or within a shot which seems to show impossible juxtapositions, or by means of repetitions of events in different settings and decor. These ambiguities are matched by contradictions in the narrator's voiceover commentary. Among the notable images in the film is a scene in which two characters (and the camera) rush out the chateau and are faced with a tableau of figures arranged in a geometric garden; although the people cast long dramatic shadows, the trees in the garden do not. The manner in which the film is edited challenged the established classical style of narrative construction. It allowed the themes of time and the mind and the interaction of past and present to be explored in an original way. As spatial and temporal continuity is destroyed by its method of filming and editing, the film offers instead a "mental continuity", a continuity of thought.
The film received mixed reviews when it was released and even continues to receive much of the same, that said, it has cemented itself as one of the great works of cinema. It currently holds an impressive 95% on Rottentomatoes.com out of 42 critical reviews, and Roger Ebert awarded the film 4 stars and included it on his list of Great Movies. He said of the film, "The idea, I think, is that life is like this movie: No matter how many theories you apply to it, life presses on indifferently toward its own inscrutable ends. The fun is in asking questions. Answers are a form of defeat."
This is a VERY interesting film: a mystery and a romance wrapped up inside an enigma. I hope that you can make it out to see this wonderful film!
Here's the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc6n2McMAnY
Now, remember when I said Film Club meets on the third Thursday of each month (unless otherwise indicated)? Well, that holds true, except for this month. I will be out of town on the 16th (normal Film Club night) so I will be pushing this month's film to the following Thursday, the 23rd.
Ok, so, to kick off our exciting new year of Film Club, allow me to introduce our first film.
On Thursday, Jan. 23rd at 6:15pm we will be watching Alain Resnais' wonderful, enigmatic film: Last Year at Marienbad.
The film takes place at a social gathering at a chateau or baroque hotel, a man approaches a woman. He claims they met the year before at Marienbad and is convinced that she is waiting there for him. The woman insists they have never met. A second man, who may be the woman's husband, repeatedly asserts his dominance over the first man, including beating him several times at a mathematical game (a version of Nim). Through ambiguous flashbacks and disorienting shifts of time and location, the film explores the relationships among the characters. Conversations and events are repeated in several places in the chateau and grounds, and there are numerous tracking shots of the chateau's corridors, with ambiguous voice overs. The characters are also unnamed.
The film continually creates an ambiguity in the spatial and temporal aspects of what it shows, and creates uncertainty in the mind of the spectator about the causal relationships between events. This may be achieved through editing, giving the apparently incompatible information in consecutive shots, or within a shot which seems to show impossible juxtapositions, or by means of repetitions of events in different settings and decor. These ambiguities are matched by contradictions in the narrator's voiceover commentary. Among the notable images in the film is a scene in which two characters (and the camera) rush out the chateau and are faced with a tableau of figures arranged in a geometric garden; although the people cast long dramatic shadows, the trees in the garden do not. The manner in which the film is edited challenged the established classical style of narrative construction. It allowed the themes of time and the mind and the interaction of past and present to be explored in an original way. As spatial and temporal continuity is destroyed by its method of filming and editing, the film offers instead a "mental continuity", a continuity of thought.
The film received mixed reviews when it was released and even continues to receive much of the same, that said, it has cemented itself as one of the great works of cinema. It currently holds an impressive 95% on Rottentomatoes.com out of 42 critical reviews, and Roger Ebert awarded the film 4 stars and included it on his list of Great Movies. He said of the film, "The idea, I think, is that life is like this movie: No matter how many theories you apply to it, life presses on indifferently toward its own inscrutable ends. The fun is in asking questions. Answers are a form of defeat."
This is a VERY interesting film: a mystery and a romance wrapped up inside an enigma. I hope that you can make it out to see this wonderful film!
Here's the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc6n2McMAnY
Monday, December 9, 2013
December Film Club
Roger Ebert awarded the film 3 1/2 stars and praised Foster's ability to direct "the film with a sure eye for the revealing little natural moment," and Downey's performance that "brings out all the complexities of a character who has used a quick wit to keep the world's hurts at arm's length."
The film is set during Thanksgiving, but since that holiday has just passed and Christmas is on its way, it felt appropriate. Film Club will be meeting Thursday, Dec. 19th at 6:15pm. Come on out and join us!
Here's the trailer:
Monday, November 4, 2013
November Film Club
Hey everyone, guess what? It's November! Time for another film!
First, I'd like to thank everyone who was able to make it out to our Halloween Horror Fest, we had a great turnout, and it was a lot of fun, so once more, thank you.
For the month of November we will be returning to our normal Film Club structure, meeting for a film on the third Thursday at 6:15pm. We will be meeting Nov. 21st (the week before Thanksgiving), and we will be watching Joel and Ethan Coen's masterpiece of a film: No Country for Old Men.
No Country for Old Men is a 2007 American neo-Western thriller directed, written, and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin and tells the story of an ordinary man to who chance delivers a fortune that is not his, and the ensuing cat-and-mouse drama as three men crisscross each other's paths in the desert landscape of 1980 West Texas. Themes of fate, conscience and circumstance re-emerge that the Coen brothers have previously explored in Blood Simple and Fargo.
Among its four Oscars at the 2007 Academy Awards were awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, allowing the Coen brothers to join the five previous directors honored three times for a single film. The film holds an impressive 94% "Certified Fresh" rating on the aggregate review site, Rottentomatoes.com out of 232 critical reviews.
The late Roger Ebert said of the film, "No Country for Old Men is as good a film as the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, have ever made, and they made Fargo. Many of the scenes in No Country for Old Men are so flawlessly constructed that you want them to simply continue, and yet they create an emotional suction drawing you to the next scene. Another movie that made me feel that way was Fargo. To make one such film is a miracle. Here is another."
This is one of my all-time favorite films of the last decade, if not ever. I hope that you will join us for our viewing and discussion of this remarkable film. Again, we will be meeting Nov. 21st at 6:15pm. Hope to see you there!
Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cED2AKWxWJc
First, I'd like to thank everyone who was able to make it out to our Halloween Horror Fest, we had a great turnout, and it was a lot of fun, so once more, thank you.
For the month of November we will be returning to our normal Film Club structure, meeting for a film on the third Thursday at 6:15pm. We will be meeting Nov. 21st (the week before Thanksgiving), and we will be watching Joel and Ethan Coen's masterpiece of a film: No Country for Old Men.
No Country for Old Men is a 2007 American neo-Western thriller directed, written, and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin and tells the story of an ordinary man to who chance delivers a fortune that is not his, and the ensuing cat-and-mouse drama as three men crisscross each other's paths in the desert landscape of 1980 West Texas. Themes of fate, conscience and circumstance re-emerge that the Coen brothers have previously explored in Blood Simple and Fargo.
Among its four Oscars at the 2007 Academy Awards were awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, allowing the Coen brothers to join the five previous directors honored three times for a single film. The film holds an impressive 94% "Certified Fresh" rating on the aggregate review site, Rottentomatoes.com out of 232 critical reviews.
The late Roger Ebert said of the film, "No Country for Old Men is as good a film as the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, have ever made, and they made Fargo. Many of the scenes in No Country for Old Men are so flawlessly constructed that you want them to simply continue, and yet they create an emotional suction drawing you to the next scene. Another movie that made me feel that way was Fargo. To make one such film is a miracle. Here is another."
This is one of my all-time favorite films of the last decade, if not ever. I hope that you will join us for our viewing and discussion of this remarkable film. Again, we will be meeting Nov. 21st at 6:15pm. Hope to see you there!
Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cED2AKWxWJc
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
October Horror Fest
Hey folks, thanks to everyone who was able to make it out to see Melancholia last month, hope you enjoyed it!
For the month of October we will be having our annual Horror Fest. This year, though, I've decided to mix it up a bit and instead of having a film each week, we will be having a horror film marathon, split between two days. The first two films will be on Wednesday, Oct. 30th starting at 5pm and 7pm and the second two films will be on Halloween, Oct. 31st. also starting at 5pm and 7pm. Try to be there as close as possible to the starting point of the films so we can get started right away.
The other significant change to Horror Fest this year, is that instead of mainly classic horror films, I've decided to show a few newer horror films that do a decent job of delivering the scares.
Here's what the lineup looks like:
(click the title to view the trailer)
Wednesday, Oct. 30th at 5:00pm:
Insidious
Wednesday Oct. 30th at 7:00pm:
The Conjuring
Thursday, Oct. 31st at 5:00pm:
Sinister
Thursday, Oct. 31st at 7:00pm:
Evil Dead
Alright you guys, I hope you're ready for a couple nights of horror filled fun. If you aren't able to make it or if horror isn't your bag, that's ok, we look forward to seeing you at a later (non-horror) film club!
For the month of October we will be having our annual Horror Fest. This year, though, I've decided to mix it up a bit and instead of having a film each week, we will be having a horror film marathon, split between two days. The first two films will be on Wednesday, Oct. 30th starting at 5pm and 7pm and the second two films will be on Halloween, Oct. 31st. also starting at 5pm and 7pm. Try to be there as close as possible to the starting point of the films so we can get started right away.
The other significant change to Horror Fest this year, is that instead of mainly classic horror films, I've decided to show a few newer horror films that do a decent job of delivering the scares.
Here's what the lineup looks like:
(click the title to view the trailer)
Wednesday, Oct. 30th at 5:00pm:
Insidious
Wednesday Oct. 30th at 7:00pm:
The Conjuring
Thursday, Oct. 31st at 5:00pm:
Sinister
Thursday, Oct. 31st at 7:00pm:
Evil Dead
Alright you guys, I hope you're ready for a couple nights of horror filled fun. If you aren't able to make it or if horror isn't your bag, that's ok, we look forward to seeing you at a later (non-horror) film club!
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