Film Club Shakespeare Series: June

For the month of June we will be watching Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing.

June 21st at 6:15pm- Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a 1968 British-Italian romantic drama film based on the play of the same name (1591-1595) by William Shakespeare.  The film was directed and co-written by Franco Zeffirelli, and stars Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey.  It won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design; it was also nominated for Best Director and Best Picture, making it the last Shakespearean film to be nominated for Best Picture to date.  Being the most financially successful adaptation of a Shakespearean play at the time of its release, it was popular among teenagers partly because it was the first film to use actors who were close to the age of the characters from the original play.  The film holds a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert awarded the film 4/4 stars later adding it to his list of Great Movies.  He said this in his review, "I believe Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet is the most exciting film of Shakespeare ever made.  Not because it is greater drama than Olivier's Henry V, because it is not.  Nor is it greater cinema than Welles' Falstaff.  But it is greater Shakespeare than either because it has the passion, the sweat, the violence, the poetry, the love and the tragedy in the most immediate terms I can imagine.  It is a deeply moving piece of entertainment, and that is possibly what Shakespeare would have preferred."

June 28th at 6:15pm- Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing is a 2012 black and white American romantic comedy film adapted for the screen, produced, and directed by Joss Whedon, from William Shakespeare's play of the same name.  The film stars many regulars from Whedon's other works, including: Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Nathan Fillion, Clark Gregg, Reed Diamond, Fran Kranz, Sean Maher, and Jillian Morgese.  The film was shot over a period of 12 days at Whedon's home while on contractual vacation from the post-production of The Avengers.  Whedon's idea to adapt the play for the screen originated from having "Shakespeare readings" at his house with several of his friends, years prior.  The film holds an 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Sheila O'Malley, writing for Rogerebert.com, gave the film 4/4 stars saying this in her review, "Within the first 10 minutes of Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, I found myself smiling with excitement, while also holding my breath in nervous anxiety.  Would the film be able to sustain its confident manic tone, maintain its humor and smarts, its depth of characterization and innovative use of text and landscape?  Would the magic hold?  The magic holds.  It holds from beginning to end.  The adaptation by Whedon, is terrific.  The play moves from comedy to tragedy and back with dizzying speed, and while you may feel like you're getting whiplash, that's the desired effect."

Film Club Summer Series

Hey everybody!

Hope you're enjoying this crazy weather we've been having.  You never know if it's going to be 100 degrees or 70 and pouring rain, but hey, that's the Midwest for ya.  A big thank you to everyone who was able to make it out to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi last month, it was a blast.  And to everyone who brought snacks/food to share, another gigantic thank you.  Like I always say, you guys make my job very easy and very fun.

On to business.  Following the tradition of the past few years we will be having a themed summer Film Club.  This year we will be doing Shakespeare adaptations.  Each month throughout the summer we will be watching two film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays.  Without further ado, our films:

(Click the title for a trailer)

June 21: Romeo and Juliet

June 28: Much Ado About Nothing

July 19: Richard III

July 27: Henry V

Aug 16: Coriolanus

Aug 23: Macbeth

I think these movies are a good example of the variety of Shakespeare adaptations that exist, and I think we'll have a lot of fun with these!

Each showing will begin at our regularly scheduled time of 6:15pm.  Feel free to bring snacks for yourself or to share (it's never an obligation, so if you don't, don't worry about it!) and I'll bring the coffee and the movies.

I'll make more posts further detailing each film.  Stay tuned!

(I know this update is WAY late, but I thought I already made this post, so, I hope you'll forgive me.)

May Film Club

Hey everybody!

I hope everyone is enjoying this (FINALLY) nice weather we're having, I know I am.  Thank you to everyone who made it out to see Dark City last month and for your patience with the date change.  And as always, thank you to everyone who brought food to share!

For the month of May, I've decided to go with something of an easy pick because summer is coming up and we'll be having a whole series of films that I'm still kind of working on so, for the sake of convenience we will be watching Rian Johnson's addition to the Star Wars universe, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.  Also, since Star Wars day was just last Friday (May the 4th), and just about all Star Wars films (except the new ones) have been released in May, that's what we're going with.

I hate to do this to you all, but we will be meeting at 6:00pm instead of 6:15.  The movie is 152 minutes so we'll need that extra time.
We will be meeting Thursday, May 17th at 6:00pm.

Star Wars: Episode VIII-The Last Jedi is a 2017 American space opera film written and directed by Rian Johnson.  It is the second installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy and the eighth main installment of the Star Wars franchise, following Star Wars: Episode VII-The Force Awakens.  The ensemble cast includes Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels and Gwendoline Christie in returning roles, with Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern and Benicio del Toro joining the cast.  The film features the final film performance by Fisher, who died in December 2016, and it is dedicated to her memory.  The plot follows Rey as she receives Jedi training from Luke Skywalker, in hope of turning the tide for the Resistance in the fight against Kylo Ren and the First Order, while Gerneral Leia, Finn, and Poe Dameron attempt to escape a First Order attack on the dwindling Resistance Fleet.  It received positive reviews from critics, who praised its ensemble cast, visual effects, musical score, action sequences and emotional weight; some considered it the best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back.
The film currently holds a 91% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes out of 374 critical reviews.  Matt Zoller Seitz, writing for Rogerebert.com, gave the film 4/4 stars saying this in his review, "Writer/director Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a sprawling, incident-and character-packed extravaganza that picks up at the end of The Force Awakens and guides the series into unfamiliar territory.  It's everything a fan could want from a Star Wars film and then some.  Even the sorts of viewers who spend the entire running time of movies anticipating every plot twist and crowing "called it!" when they get one right are likely to come up short here.  But the surprises usually don't violate the (admittedly loose) internal logic of the universe George Lucas invented, and when they seem to, it's because the movie has expanded the mythology in a small but significant way.  Jedi does a better job than most sequels of giving the audience both what it wants and what it didn't know it wanted.  The movie leans hard into sentiment, most of it planted in the previous installment.  But whenever it allows a character to cry (or invites us to) the catharsis feels earned.  It happens rather often-this being a film preoccupied with grieving for the past and transcending it, populated by hounded and broken people who are afraid hope will be snuffed out."

I hope you guys are able to make it out to this excellent film!

Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0CbN8sfihY

April Film Club

Hello everyone!

Happy Spring! (technically at least, let's hope the cold is gone for good).

Thank you to everyone who was able to make it out for Calvary, we had a very good turnout and an excellent discussion afterwards. And it goes without saying, a metric ton of food, so as always, thank you to everyone who brought stuff to share, it is always appreciated!

For the month of April, following the tradition I've established the last few years, I'm going to show one of my favorite films (since it's my birthday month! yay!), and for this coming Film Club I've decided to show Dark City.

NOTICE:  Film Club will be meeting TUESDAY, APRIL 24th at 6:15pm for the month of April.  This is temporary to accommodate the Battle of the Books which will be held on our regular Thursday.

Dark City is a 1998 American Australian neo-noir science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas.  The screenplay was written by Proyas, Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer.  The film stars Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, and William Hurt.  Sewell plays John Murdoch, an amnesiac man who finds himself suspected of murder.  Murdoch attempts to discover his true identity and clear his name while on the run from the police and a mysterious group known only as the "Strangers".  Among mainstream critics in the U.S., the film received generally positive reviews.  It currently holds a certified fresh rating of 74% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 80 reviews.  Roger Ebert awarded the film 4/4 stars later adding it to his list of Great Movies.  He said this in his review, "Dark City by Alex Proyas is a great visionary achievement, a film so original and exciting, it stirred my imagination like Metropolis and 2001: A Space Odyssey.  If it is true, as the German director Werner Herzog believes, that we live in an age starved of new images, then Dark City is a film to nourish us.  There's such a wealth on the screen, such an overflowing of imagination and energy.  It's for anyone who still has a sense of wonder and a feeling for great visual style.  The film contains ideas and true poignance, a story that has been thought out and has surprise right to the end.  It's romantic and exhilarating.  Watching it, I realized the last dozen films I'd seen were about people standing around, talking to one another.  Dark City has been created an imagined as a new visual place for us to inhabit.  It adds treasure to our notions of what can be imagined."

NOTICE AGAIN:  Film Club will be meeting TUESDAY, APRIL 24th at 6:15pm for the month of April.  This is temporary to accommodate the Battle of the Books which will be held on our regular Thursday.

I hope you can all make it out to this wild and fantastic film!

Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt9HkO-cGGo

March Film Club

Hey everybody, it's March!

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend Meek's Cutoff, it was a fine film and we had a good discussion afterwards.  Also, big shout-out to everyone who brought snacks, we really appreciate it!

For the month of March, I usually try to show a film that somehow relates to the Irish in honor of St. Patrick's Day, so, our film for this month is going to be Calvary, the second film by Irish director John Michael McDonagh (we watched his previous film, The Guard, last year).

Calvary is a 2014 Irish drama film written and directed by John Michael McDonagh.  It stars Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran and Isaach de Bankole.  The films follows Father James (Gleeson) as he takes confession from an unseen penitent who describes being abused as a child and then informs the priest that he will kill him in one week's time.  The film covers the week before the apparent final day, as Father James tends to his flock of misfits and miscreants, while bonding with his somewhat estranged daughter.

McDonagh conceived the idea and wrote the screenplay while filming The Guard.  He explained the intentions he had for the film: "There are probably films in development about priests which involve abuse.  My remit is to do the opposite of what other people do, and I wanted to make a film about a good priest."  He elaborates that it is tonally "in the same darkly comic vein as The Guard, but with a much more serious and dramatic narrative."

The film holds a 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 144 reviews.  Glenn Kenny, writing for Rogerebert.com, awarded the film 3.5/4 stars saying this in his review, "The second feature written and directed by the prodigiously talented Irishman John Michael McDonagh opens with a quote from Saint Augustine: 'Despair not, one of the thieves was spared; presume not, one of the thieves was not.'  A mordant sense of duality that eventually takes on near-apocalyptic dimensions runs through this very darkly comic tale, telling a week in the file of Father James.  McDonagh's structuring in unusual: almost all the scenes are what are referred to in the theater as 'two-handers', that is, exchanges between only two characters.  Each scene tackles a particular variation on the movie's theme, which is the earning of forgiveness, and whether taking what's said to be the right action is sufficient to do so.  Gleeson's performance is magnificent; sharp, compassionate, bemused, never not intellectually active.  McDonagh's dialogue is similarly never not sharp.  As the picture progresses, Father James' parishioners morph from a group of perverse individuals to one of intransigently spiteful lunatics.  This is the kind of movie that galvanizes and discomfits while it's on screen, and is terrific fodder for conversation long after its credits roll."

We will be meeting Thursday, March 15th at 6:15 pm.  Hope you're able to make it out to this remarkable and interesting film!

Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGM5rq_vX4U

February Film Club

Hello again everyone!

I hope you're surviving this wonderful weather we've been having.  I don't know about you, but I'm ready for it to be over.

I'd like to start by saying thank you to everyone who made it out last month for our showing of Super 8.  We had a good turnout and, as always, a lot of good food, because you guys are the best!

For the month of February I've decided to go off-track a bit.  Where I would normally show some kind of film that incorporates a romantic element to some degree (because of Valentine's Day), I'm instead going to show Meek's Cutoff, directed by Kelly Reichardt.

Meek's Cutoff is a 2010 American western film directed by Kelly Reichardt.  The film was shown in competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.  It stars Bruce Greenwood, Michelle Williams, Will Patton, Zoe Kazan and Paul Dano.  The story is loosely based on a historical incident on the Oregon Trail in 1845, in which frontier guide Stephen Meek led a wagon train on an ill-fated journey through the Oregon desert along the route later known as the Meek Cutoff in the western United States.

The film currently holds a certified fresh rating of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes out of 108 critical reviews and Roger Ebert awarded the film 3.5/4 stars saying this in his review, "To set aside its many other accomplishments, Meek's Cutoff is the first film I've seen that evokes what must have been the reality of wagon trains to the West.  The distinctive thing here is the subservience of the characters to the landscape.  These pioneers do not stand astride the land, they wander it in misery and exhaustion.  The wheels of their wagons are little match for the terrain.  Meek's Cutoff is more an experience than a story.  It has personality conflicts, but isn't about them.  The suspicions and angers of the group are essentially irrelevant to their overwhelming reality.  Reichardt has the courage to establish that.  She doesn't just make it easy for us with simplistic character conflict.  She's genuinely curious about the hardly educated pioneers who were brave, curious or hopeful enough to set out on such a dangerous journey."

We will be meeting Thursday, Feb. 15th at 6:15pm.  I hope you will be able to join us for this great and harrowing film!

Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rhNrz2hX_o

January Film Club

Happy New Year everybody!  I hope you all had fun, safe holidays.

With a new year comes a new lineup of films for Film Club.  Most selections will probably be just as random as they have always been, especially with the limitations placed on me by the licensing, but, we'll get by, and I'll try to find films that I think you'll all enjoy.

So, for the month of January, I have decided to show J.J. Abrams' fun, nostalgia filled film from 2011, Super 8.

Super 8 is a 2011 American science fiction horror film written, co-produced, and directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg.  The film stars Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, and Kyle Chandler and tells the story of a group of young teenagers who are filming their own Super 8 movie when a train derails, releasing a dangerous presence into their town.  The film was well received, with critics praising the film for its nostalgic elements, visual effects, musical score, and for the performances of the cast, in particular, both Fanning and newcomer Courtney's acting was cited, while also being compared to such thematically similar films as E.T., Stand by Me, and The Goonies.  Super 8 was also a commercial success, grossing over $260 million against a budget of $50 million.  The film received several awards and nominations, primarily in technical and special effects categories, Giacchino's musical score, as well as for Courtney and Fanning's performances.

Super 8 received positive reviews from critics.  It holds an 82% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes out of 269 critical reviews.  Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5/4 stars and said this in his review, "It is a requirement of these films that adults be largely absent.  The kids get involved up to their necks, but the grown-ups seem slow to realize strange things are happening.  Here, the mystery centers on the cargo of the cars in the train wreck, and on the sudden materialization of U.S. Air Force investigators and troops in town.  If we don't instinctively know it from this movie, we know it from a dozen earlier ones: The authorities are trying to cover up something frightening, and the kids are on the case.  Abrams treats early adolescence with tenderness and affection.  He uses his camera to accumulate emotion, and he has the rural town locations right.  Super 8, is a wonderful film, nostalgia not for a time but for a style of filmmaking, when shell-shocked young audiences were told a story and not pounded over the head with aggressive action.

With all the recent success of the 1980s-stuffed Netflix series Stranger Things, I thought this would be a great film to revisit for those who have seen it, or to experience for the first time for those who haven't.  Either way, hope to see you there!

We will be meeting Thursday, Jan. 18th at 6:15pm.

Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-0XuYxh67w