watch mpls

watch mpls has moved

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:04:00 +0000

Hello everyone. I recently moved the website to watchmpls.com. There will be no more postings on this blogger site. Please update your subscriptions and bookmarks to be directed toward the new site. Thanks for reading everyone.

mpls movie screenings: weekend of june 24 (happy anniversary mom & dad!)

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:46:00 +0000

You all go to the 48 hour film fest ceremony last night? Any surprises or craziness you want to share with us all here? I missed the event due to a familial obligation (darn those familials), but I'm sure it was a blast.

Trylon
The Black Pirate; Fri & Sat - 7:00 & 9:00; Sun - 5:00 & 7:00 (Pirates! Pirates! Pirates!)
There's a lot of good trivia on this film: Fairbanks fired the original director, Fairbanks performed his own stunts, this is only the third film shot in technicolor, etc. While the film is apparently public domain and therefore able to be viewed for free, I would think that Fairbanks' impressive stunts, including riding down a sail using the blade of his knife, are better suited for the big screen.

The Heights
Midnight In Paris; Fri & Sat - 2:20, 4:40, 7:10 & 9:30; Sun - 2:20, 4:40 & 7:10
In Our Name; Sun - 11:00 (From Britain With Love)
The film In Our Name, about a veteran of the Iraq war whose paranoia and sense of guilt negatively impact her family and her ability to care for her child, won the main actress, Joanne Froggatt, a British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer, and Time Out London says the film shows traces of Ken Loach. Midnight In Paris, on the other hand, is directed by Woody Allen, the opposite of a newcomer (an old-timer?). The film is on the cover of the most recent copy of Film Comment, and once I get through it I'll let you know what they say. Or I suppose you could just go out and see it yourself without knowing what I've read about the movie. Your call.

Film Society at St. Anthony
Earthwork; playing nightly Friday through Sunday
When I hear crop artist I for some reason think seed art at the Minnesota state fair. Seeing as crop artist Stan Herd is being played by Minnesota-born John Hawkes, I like to think he was channeling those same seed artists for the role. The film was a hit at the Santa Fe and SXSW film festivals, garnering an audience award at the former.

Also this weekend we have a few movies playing in the park, including Grease tonight at Folwell, and Saturday screenings of 4 Little Girls at MLK and Michael Jackson's Is This It at Minnehaha (all at sundown), some late night retro flicks are playing at Willow Creek (Psycho), Riverview (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), and Uptown (The Room), and also playing at Uptown is the sure-to-be-hilarious Steve Coogan/Rob Brydon improvisational comedy feast The Trip, which got a nice write up in Switchblade.

Now get watching!

'round cyberspace: vegetables, netflix envelopes, miranda july

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:34:00 +0000

"Sometimes a Vegetable is Just a Vegetable." A NY Times discussion with A.O. Scott, Mahnola Dargis, and Dan Kois.
This article doesn't delve very deep, and doesn't necessarily ask intriguing questions, but this back and forth on slow versus boring cinema is a worthwhile read for film fans at any level. Scott gets the best of this article, but I do disagree on one point:

I don’t feel guilty about not caring for “Last Year at Marienbad“ or persisting in my skepticism that the films of Pedro Costa are as transcendent as some of my colleagues believe. But until I can argue my case, the benefit of the doubt goes to Mr. Costa and the burden of proof rests on me.

I would think it would be the opposite, with the directors and the fans having to prove themselves while the unmoved critic has nothing to prove. Thoughts?

"Netflix Envelope Doodles". Netflix art.
I wouldn't think to do this, but I'm not much of a doodler. (H/T Unplggd)

"(Almost) 20 Questions With Miranda July." A questionnaire by the folks at the Walker.
On Friday, July 8th, Miranda July comes to town to present her second feature, The Future. In anticipation of this event, the Walker posted an interview with the director on their blog. Her first film, Me And You And Everyone We Know, was a fun, light-hearted affair, and I'm certainly interested to see what she has in store this time, some six years later.

what am i watching?: beginners, yojimbo, odds against tomorrow and keith haring

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 18:53:00 +0000

Beginners: Uptown Theater
Starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer, this Mike Mills film is stuck somewhere between populist and flim-snob territory. It's not necessarily a bad place to be, so long as there's something charming or endearing about the characters and the story. Seeing as there's no real resolution and the main character is completely depressing, you wish the film had been more challenging. Instead, the light-hearted moments tend to be a bit confusing and out of place. It's not a bad film, but it just seems to be stuck somewhere in the middle between mass and niche appeal.

Yojimbo: Instant Netflix
Just yesterday the Criterion Collection took another step towards moving their catalog from Instant Netflix to Hulu Plus when they removed works by Jean Renoir and Akira Kurosawa, among others. Before they did so I watched this samurai flick that inspired Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars. There are better Kurosawa flicks, but I always love old Japanese films that contain lessons on life during depressions and how that makes individuals and societies reach lows they previously thought were impossible.

Odds Against Tomorrow: Instant Netflix
I saw this after a friend recommended I check out the work of actor Robert Ryan. One of the things that struck me about this film noir was the extent to which the interior spaces seemed to completely dwarf our two main actors (Ryan being one, Harry Belafonte being the other). I also found it interesting that, while both of the protagonists were total sleazebags, the film goes a little way toward redeeming Belafonte's character in certain scenes while doing absolutely nothing for Ryan's.

Rare Keith Haring Clip: YouTube
Keith Haring, the 80's graffiti/pop artist, is "boogieing on a Saturday night." That's supposedly a criticism leveled at him in this video, but I can't trust anyone who uses the term "boogieing" seriously. If I had to guess, I'd say this clip comes from a taped episode of 60 Minutes. So to whoever kept their nearly 30 year old VHS of this episode: kudos.

best of the 48 hour film fest: thursday at riverview

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:13:00 +0000

This Thursday there will be an award presentation and screening of the best films from this year's 48 Hour Film Project at the Riverview, starting at 7pm. For the competition, contestants had exactly 48 hours to conceive, write, produce and edit their short features. Tomorrow night's festivities will include screenings of the ten finalists for Best Film as well as the award ceremony. Following the show there will be an after party in the lobby and at the Riverview Wine Bar across the street. The event costs $15.

mpls movie screenings: week of june 20

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:46:00 +0000

Summer starts tomorrow. Which reminds me, aren't there movie screenings in parks right about now:

Mpls Park Screenings
Letters to Juliet @ Father Hennepin Bluffs Park; Tues - 9:15
Goonies @ Luxton Park; Wed - 9:15
Mega Mind @ Bottineau Park; Thur - 9:15
There was supposed to be a screening of Shrek tonight, but it looks like it was cancelled due to weather. I'm familiar with Goonies and Mega Mind, but how did last year's Letters to Juliet completely fail to register in my mind? Maybe having Amanda Seyfried and Gael Garcia Bernal trying to carry a Hollywood film by their lonesome isn't the best idea.

Trylon
The Big Uneasy; Tues - 7:00 & 9:00 (Trylon Premiere Tuesdays)
Harry Shearer trades in mockumentary for documentary in this examination of the flood in New Orleans following Katrina.
Tampopo; Wed - 7:30 (Trash Film Debauchery)
I'm totally unfamiliar with the genre "noodle western" (and really, that name does nothing to distance itself from the more popular "spaghetti western"). This 1985 Japanese film seems different from most trash film screenings, but there looks to be plenty of laughs, stemming from a variety of characters coming in and out of this fast food noodle shop (something about "erotic noodle foreplay" just sounds funny, no?).

St Anthony
Never Stop Singing; Mon - 7:00
Thicker Than Water; Tue - 7:00
Rough Tender; Wed - 7:00
The Film Society continues their run of MSPIFF favorites, this time showing locally-produced award winners. Tuesday and Wednesday feature the winners of MN Made Documentary and Fiction Feature, respectively, and Monday night features a free screening as part of Film Society's series "Documenting America." Director Peter Myer will be on hand to discuss his film Never Stop Singing, a documentary on Minnesota's rich choral history.

The Heights
The Pirate; Mon - 7:30 (Pirates! Pirates! Pirates!)
Of course there's a movie in the "Pirates! Pirates! Pirates" series simply titles The Pirate! Although it should be noted that this pirate film is a musical (in case having Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in the lead roles didn't give it away). Although this is one of the lesser known works by Vincente Minelli, that's no reason to skip out on a film by one of the greatest directors of American musicals (An American in Paris) and melodramas (The Bad and the Beautiful).
Laura; Thur - 7:30 (The Lighter Side of Homicide)
This film, on the other hand, is one of the more popular films in this director's repertoire. Ebert had this to say on the Otto Preminger noir classic (via wikipedia):

Film noir is known for its convoluted plots and arbitrary twists, but even in a genre that gave us The Maltese Falcon, this takes some kind of prize ... That Lauracontinues to weave a spell—and it does—is a tribute to style over sanity ... All of [the] absurdities and improbabilities somehow do not diminish the film's appeal. They may even add to it ... [T]he whole film is of a piece: contrived, artificial, mannered, and yet achieving a kind of perfection in its balance between low motives and high style. What makes the movie great, perhaps, is the casting. The materials of a B-grade crime potboiler are redeemed by Waldo Lydecker, walking through every scene as if afraid to step in something.

That should suffice for now.

mpls movie screenings: weekend of june 17

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:01:00 +0000

You all going to Rock the Garden this weekend? The Saturday concert might explain why the Walker isn't showing any movies this week. That's ok, cause we got all of these folks to pick up the slack:

Trylon
Captain Blood, 1935 (Pirates! Pirates! Pirates!). Fri (7:00, 9:15), Sat (7:00, 9:15), Sun (4:45, 7:00).
Michael Curtiz directed 5 films in 1935 (and unofficially directed another), none of which really suggest he'd go on to direct one of the most loved American films of all time seven years later. The all-star cast of Errol Flynn (Robin Hood), Olivia de Havilland (Gone With The Wind), and Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes), helped earn this tale of piracy in the Carribbean a nomination for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

The Heights
Water For Elephants, 2011. Fri (4:25, 7:10, 9:30), Sat (1:45, 4:25, 7:10, 9:30), Sun (4:25, 7:10)
Toast, 2010 (From Britain With Love). Sun (11:00).
Sons of the Desert, 1933. Sun (2:00).
The Heights begins their series "From Britain With Love: UK Independent Film Showcase" this Sunday with a screening of the Toast, a tale of a boy and his stepmother and their household culinary battles in 1960's Britain. The film played at the 2011 Berlinale and stars Helena Bonham Carter at that boy from Finding Neverland (you were wondering what happened to him, weren't you?). Also playing is one of Laurel and Hardy's greatest features, Sons of the Desert (I haven't seen it, but I'm sure it's no Music Box), as well as some film with Reese Witherspoon and a vampire.

St Anthony
"Minnesota Reel: Movies From Our Own Backyard"
All this weekend and continuing into next week, The Film Society is screening locally made films of both the independent and blockbuster nature. In addition to big-budget Hollywood features like The Mighty Ducks and Grumpy Old Men, they're showing MSPIFF winners for best local films Rough Tender, the documentary Thicker Than Water, and this Monday they have a free screening of the documentary Never Stop Singing with director Peter Myer in attendance. Check the site for screen times.

You can also see My Fair Lady at the Loring Theater on Sunday, late night screenings of The Princess Bride at Riverview, Pretty Woman at Willow Creek, and Sixteen Candles at Uptown, and finally three MSPIFF favorites (Just Like Us, Beginners, and 13 Assassins) and two previous Walker screenings (The Robber and The Tree of Life) are playing at Landmark this weekend.

uncle boonmee at trylon

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:04:00 +0000

I've been MIA this past week as I was out of town for the past five or six days, and I hope to get back into the swing of things soon. In the meantime I thought I would share this press release I just received a few minutes ago from Take-Up:

June 28 and July 5 screenings:

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)
Thailand
Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s new film is a gentle and dreamy meditation on death and the magical possibilities of reincarnation. Boonmee is a man at the end of his life who is visited by spirits and visions of his past from the dense jungles of Northern Thailand. Although technically not a Twin Cities premiere, this 2010 Palme d’Or winner deserves more than one screening.

Tuesday, June 28, 7:00 and 9:15
Tuesday, July 5, 7:00 and 9:15

I saw this film at the Walker a few months back, and the picture was mesmerizing, to say the least. This definitely isn't a film for everyone (I'm looking at you, grandpa!), and at times it comes across as a challenging watch. But at its most basic level this film is visually rich, showcasing some beautiful jungle scenery (not to mention a vivid jungle soundtrack). While there's plenty to think about in this film, don't let it distract you from appreciating Weerasethakul's unique storytelling and the movie's stirring visuals.

mpls movie showings: week of june 6

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:56:00 +0000

I'm not sure if it's the heat or the lack of internet in my apartment, but I haven't been very functional for about the last week (I could go so far as to say all last month, but I can't really blame that on heat or lack of connectivity, now can I?)

Trylon's serving up the French tire-gone-murderous horror story Rubber for the second and last time this Tuesday, followed by a Wednesday screening of the music film Cure for Pain, telling the story of the late Mark Sandman of the band Morphine. The director will be present and there are only 14 tix remaining for the 9pm showing.

The Heights is back in action after closing last week for roof repairs. They got theirs and Take-Up's homicide series going on this Thursday with a screening of the classic detective flick The Thin Man, not to mention their Tuesday night ballet showing of Coppelia.

This weekend has more pirate films at the Trylon, some late night films at Riverview and Willow Creek, and a talk by John Waters at the Walker (part of his curating gig there this summer). Hopefully I'll have more info on that later this week, but I'm also heading out of town for the next week starting Wednesday... also that whole thing about not being functional....

mpls movie screenings: week of may 31

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:39:00 +0000

I just completed a move to a new apartment, which is exciting but also means no internet for a week. Horrible, I know.

•Tuesday
Rubber @ Trylon; 7:00 & 9:00 (Trylon Premiere Tuesdays). At first glance, this looks like a Trash Film showing, but you'd be wrong to think that. This French film follows a tire with telepathic powers wreaking havoc on a dessert town. Apparently this got negative reviews at Cannes... snooty French. But the soundtrack includes members of the the Ed Banger team, leading them to sell the DVD and soundtrack on its website before its release next Tuesday.

•Wednesday
Wasted on the Young @ Trylon; 7:00 & 9:00 (also showing Thursday). The 7pm times are sold out, but you can check this local feature at the 9pm time slot if you so desire. The movie seems to be about a lot things, so please check out their website (which is really well done, by the way). They shot the whole things on VHS and is available for digital download after the last screening for 99 cents.
Tree of Life @ Walker; 7:30. As part of their Terrance Malick retrospective, the Walker is showing is brand new film Tree of Life, which was released in New York and LA last Friday. The film, which had been heavily sought after by Cannes for their last year festival, recently awarded it the Palme d'Or at this year's fest. If I had to guess, I'd say part of the reason for its showing here before it's scheduled Minnesota release is due in part to it being produced by Bill Pohlad. Also, if you ain't got a ticket, you ain't watching it this Wednesday cause it's sold out.

Also, the Heights is closed this week while they work on the roof. Should be open again this Friday. Good luck with the work, gents!

mpls movie screenings: weekend of may 27

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Fri, 27 May 2011 15:45:00 +0000

It's memorial weekend for most, but moving weekend for me. That will explain why this post is brief and a little chaotic. But you'll probably all be up at your cabins this weekend anyway. Enjoying some sun, catching some fish, sipping some drinks, grilling some brats.... But for those lucky few looking for some flicks, listen up:

Take-Up is wrapping up the Takemitsu series with the film Woman in the Dunes. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 1964 Cannes and director Hiroshi Teshigahara was nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards. As for the movie, well Take-Up calls it an "existential erotic thriller." You shouldn't need anything else to entice you.

Woman in the Dunes

The Trylon

Fri May 27 7:00 9:25
Sat May 28 7:00 9:25
Sun May 29 4:35 7:00

We got some 70's era martial arts coming to you from the folks at BLKMRKTCINEMA. They're screening the film Master of the Flying Guillotine at the Riverview tonight at tomorrow at 11:30. Fans of Wu-Tang Clan might recognize a few of the lines in the film. Quentin Tarantino is a huge fan, and so are most critics apparently as the film has a 90% fresh rating on rotten tomatoes.

Friday & Saturday, May 27th & 28th at 11:30pm.
Admission is $7.

Finally we got some spaghetti westerns playing at St Anthony courtesy of the Film Society (more specifically they're showing Sergio Leone's "The Man With No Name" trilogy, including one of my favorite spaghetti westerns The Good, The Bad And The Ugly). Willow Creek is going retro again this weekend with a screening of the Bill Paxton/Helen Hunt vehicle Twister (Wow, that's really unfortunate timing), and the latest Woody Allen is at Uptown.

mpls movie screenings: weekend of may 20th

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Fri, 20 May 2011 15:16:00 +0000

Great movie screenings this weekend, including more Terrence Malick at the Walker, some MSPIFF reruns at St Anthony, and Toru Takemitsu continues to takeover the Trylon.

The folks at Film Society bring back another double bill of MSPIFF favorites to St Anthony this week. Cracks is about a group of British boarding school students and the disturbing love triangle that forms between the group's ringleader, a teacher, and a foreign exchange student. The film was directed by Ridley Scott's daughter Jordan.

Showtimes: Fri, May 20 & Sat, May 21 at 1:25, 7:15;
Sun, May 22 at 1:25;
Mon, May 23 - Thu, May 26 at 4:20, 7:15

In Stake Land we follow an orphan and a vampire hunter as they traverse a post-apocalyptic America overrun with supernatural creatures. The film won the Midnight Madness Audience Award at TIFF.

Showtimes: Fri, May 20 - Sun, May 22 at 4:25, 9:35;
Mon, May 23 - Thu, May 26 at 9:35

The Walker continues their screenings of Terrence Malick films this weekend, showing The Thin Red Line tonight at 7:30 and The New World tomorrow at 7:30. When Malick made Thin Red Line, it had been 20 years since his last film, Days of Heaven. The man hadn't missed a step with this take on the battle of Guadalcanal. The story is a bit hard to follow, but story always seems secondary in Malick's films. There's a tension in each shot, capturing the confusion and uncertainty behind each decision the men make. The sounds in this movie are particularly striking: the sea, the men, the bullets, the explosions, the grass, the animals -- let them guide you through your viewing.

The Trylon is screening the Nagisa Oshima film Empire of Passion this weekend as a part of their series on composer Toru Takemitsu. Oshima won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival for this story of a young man who murders the husband of his lover. If I were a more forward-looking film buff, I would've cracked open my copy of The Films of Nagisa Oshima, found the passage on this film, and told you something more revealing about this film. Unfortunately that didn't happen this weekend, but maybe somebody will give me another chance and show some Oshima films again in the future. Time will tell, I guess.

Empire of Passion

The Trylon
Fri May 20 7:00 9:00
Sat May 21 7:00 9:00
Sun May 22 5:00 7:00

Also playing this weekend is a free screening of the Vikings documentary Skol at the Riverview this Saturday morning, a midnight showing of the 1993 Linklater film Dazed and Confused at Willow, the Mozart opera Magic Flute at the Heights this Sunday, and MSPIFF favorite Bill Cunningham New York, the Kelly Reichardt film Meek's Cutoff, and the Academy Award nominated film Incendies all continue their run at Landmark's Edina theater.

mpls movie screenings: week of may 16

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Mon, 16 May 2011 16:34:00 +0000

I just read an invigorating article on punctuation rules. With that in mind, you might see some drastic changes to this blog in the near future...

Tuesday
•The Magic Flute @ Heights; 7:15 (Opera in the Cinema). Mozart finally makes it to the silver screen.
•Carancho @ Trylon; 7:00 & 9:00 (Trylon Premiere Tuesdays). This film from Argentine director Pablo Trapero was entered in the Un Certain Regard portion of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Here's an excerpt of a review posted on Mubi after a showing at the 2010 TIFF:

Trapped in the video-smoothed moral squalor, the film has the inevitability of a noir—a genre touchstone its starkly action-filled conclusion reinforces—but none of that genre’s uncertainly. What is certain is the ugly locality of the film, not quite immersed in the society or humanity of its setting but at the very least realistically curtailed, if not ensnared, by the honestly exaggerated fatal bleakness of Buenos Aires’ menacing night-world.

Wednesday
•Dirty Work @ Trylon; 7:00 (sold out) & 8:30. This documentary looks at community supported agriculture.

Thursday
•Skol: The Documentary @ Heights; 8:00 (Free Screening). Minnesota sports fans are gluttons for punishment, so this doc should be a huge hit. Relive the failures of the Viking's most recent season through the eyes of their fans- oh wait, didn't we already do that in real time last fall?
•Battle Queen Conquers Tokyo @ Bell Museum; 7:00 (Sustainability Film Series). I know the title sounds like an awesome 50's b-movie, but this documentary actually captures Japan's love affair with bugs.
•Unforgiven @ Riverview; 7:00 (Eastwood & Wayne Western Series). Clint Eastwood goes back to the wild west in this 1992 Best Picture winner.

mpls movie screenings: weekend of may 13

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Happy Friday the 13th everyone!

The Toru Takemitsu series continues at the Trylon with perhaps the most famous selection of the bunch, Harakiri, playing all weekend along side The Face of Another. I have yet to see the latter, but the former is a wonderfully constructed story about the toll poverty and joblessness take on the psyche, even for those as disciplined as a samurai. I'd say it's Kobayashi at his finest, but admittedly I haven't seen any other Kobayashi. But you can believe The Human Condition is somewhere on my must-watch list.

The Face of Another

The Trylon
Fri May 13 7:00
Sat May 14 9:35

Sun May 15 7:00

Harakiri

The Trylon
Fri May 13 9:25
Sat May 14 7:00
Sun May 15 4:25

St Anthony is showing a couple of favorites from the recently finished MSPIFF. Illegal tells the story of a Russian mother thrown in jail after it's learned she's been living illegally in Bulgaria for eight years. Aftershock was a domestic blockbuster in China this past year. It starts with the 1976 Tangshen earthquake, that claimed 240,000 lives, and continues to tell the story of China's economic rise until the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. You can find the NYT review here.

The Walker's Terrence Malick retrospective begins today with his debut feature Badlands. While a great movie, I prefer Days of Heaven, if only for its strikingly rich color palette. In the movie, a couple looking for seasonal labor work in north Texas try to con an old farmer. Great performances by Richard Gere and Brooke Adams. Both play this weekend, while his more recent works play the following weekend:

Badlands - Friday, May 13, 2011 7:30 pm

Days of Heaven - Sunday, May 15, 2011 3:00 pm

You can also check out Win Win at the Heights, Cedar Rapids at the Parkway, and this Sunday only you can watch The Outsiders at Loring.

mpls movie screenings: week of may 10

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Tue, 10 May 2011 20:19:00 +0000

I'm already a day late on this, so I'll just make it short and sweet.

•Tuesday
Ne Change Rien @ Trylon; 7:00 & 9:00 (Trylon Premiere Tuesdays). This is both your and my last chance to check out this film from Pedro Costa. I'll be there tonight, so I hope to see you there.

•Thursday
True Grit @ Riverview; 7:00 (Classic Western Series). It's the original, but on the big screen.
Greenscreen: A Student Grown Film Night @ Bell Museum; 7:00 (Sustainability Film Series). Films made by U of M students, with an environmental slant.

And finally, here's a short film from the folks at Willow Creek about how retro movie titles are selected at their theater. Enjoy!

mpls movie screenings: weekend of may 6th

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Fri, 06 May 2011 15:49:00 +0000

It's all over folks. MSPIFF wrapped up last night with the homegrown Stuck Between Stations, followed by a bumping party at Aster Cafe. For those who missed out on all the fun of the festival, there's still a best of the fest going on now until next Thursday:

Friday, May 6

AFTERSHOCK -7:00-

DOSSIER K -9:30-

Saturday, May 7

THE PRUITT-IGOE MYTH -1:30-

MICROPHONE -4:30-

HELLO! HOW ARE YOU? -7:00-

JUST LIKE US -9:30-

Sunday, May 8

MASTER CLASS OPERA -1:30-

EICHMANN'S END -4:00-

HOME FOR CHRISTMAS -6:00-

ROUGH TENDER -8:30-

They don't have the rest of the schedule up, but as soon as it is I'll let you know.

At the Trylon, the Toru Takemitsu series continues with the film Pale Flower. The film follows a gangster recently released from prison and his involvement with a gambling addict. It's being released on Criterion on May 17th.

Pale Flower

The Trylon
Fri May 06 7:00 9:00
Sat May 07 7:00 9:00
Sun May 08 5:00 7:00

The Walker is hosting British conceptual artist Gillian Wearing and a screening of her movie Self Made. Back in 1995 she got one of her first breaks at the Walker in a showcase on young British artists. This documentary features amateurs in an intense acting seminar.

Saturday, May 7, 2011
7:30 pm
Walker Cinema

$8 ($6 Walker members and students with valid ID)

And here's a roundup of what's elsewhere: We have The Sound of Music playing all week at the Heights. Cedar Rapids playing all week at the Parkway, which is also showing at the Riverview, along with The Adjustment Bureau among other films. Riverview also has a poll open asking when you want to view a Harry Potter marathon at their theater. When St Anthony isn't showing the best of MSPIFF, you can check out film adaptations Thor and Jane Eyre, and the Paul Giamatti vehicle Win Win. You can also check out the top rated MSPIFF movie, Bill Cunningham New York, at Edina this week, while another fest favorite, Morgan Spurlock's The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, is at the Lagoon. You might also want to check out the Kelly Reichardt film Meek's Cutoff and the Cannes Grand Prix winning Of Gods and Men at Edina.

my mspiff picks: the final week

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Mon, 02 May 2011 23:12:00 +0000

Thursday is closing night for the 3-week Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival, so it's your last chance to get in on the action. These are the films that look most promising to me:

•Monday
Top Pick -- My Joy; 7:00

I'm attracted to post-Soviet Russian life and Eastern European artistry, so I'm a little biased toward this film. There's not much of the story's description on the MSPIFF website, but there are nefarious activities, all captured by Romanian cinematographer Oleg Mutu, who worked on 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. Salon said it was a top pick at Cannes last year, writing, "I thought this mordant, slow-motion horror film about a truck driver's journey into hell -- the title is 100 percent sardonic -- was the most unexpected and arresting picture in the main Cannes competition. If your appetites extend to the bleak and grotesque, you'll want to seek it out."

•Tuesday
Top Pick -- Beginners; 7:00

Director Mike Mills tells the story of a man and his father, who revealed his homosexuality to everyone at the age of 75. Indiewire writes, "Mills’s style is distinctly plucky, but never indulgent. It’s rare that a whiny character can get away with being likable, which is why “Beginners” stays true to the title and feels like something entirely new."

•Wednesday
This is the last day before the closing night film Stuck Between Stations, and I'm at a loss to suggest any one movie. I'd probably see Garbo the Spy before anything else. Not necessarily because I think the filmmaking is noteworthy; it may or may not be, I have no idea. But the story of this World War II spy, who successfully convinced both the Axis and Allies he was working for each of them before faking his own death, sounds fascinating. The movie plays at 5:15.

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll have some fest recap or other fun tidbits for you later this week. Until then, thanks for checking in everyone.

mpls movie screenings: week of may 2

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Mon, 02 May 2011 15:11:00 +0000

If you're feeling burnt out on the festival, or newscasters pretending like they have information about the death of bin Laden, then you're in luck! We got a lot of other screenings for you this week:

•Tuesday
-Ne Change Rien @ Trylon; 7:00 & 9:00 (Trylon Premiere Tuesdays). Here we have a 2009 film from Portuguese director Pedro Costa. I saw his film Colossal Youth a few years back. It's pace was probably the slowest I've ever experienced at the movies, but it was a moving and wonderfully captured story. I'm very excited to see this one.
-Truck Farm @ St Anthony; 7:00 (Sustainability Film Series & Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival). The directors will be present for this documentary on urban agriculture and the farm that exists in the back of an '86 Dodge pickup.
-Tibet in Song @ The Heights; 7:00. This documentary on Tibetan song and culture won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance in 2009.

•Wednesday
-Color Me Impressed @ The Woman's Club - 7:00; and @ Trylon on Thursday - 7:00 & 9:30. Both shows are sold out. If you can get tickets you'll get to see the director and producer answer questions after the screening of this documentary on Minneapolis 80's rock band The Replacements. The screening is presented by Sound Unseen.
-Mystery Science Theater 3000 @ Bryant Lake Bowl; 9:30.

•Thursday
-Cat People @ The Heights; 7:30. I'm not sure if this movie is a classic, a cult classic or possibly both. This horror film tells the bizarre story of a woman who turns into a cat when aroused. There's a lot to read into that storyline, but it's also powerful in the way it slowly draws the suspense out of the narrative.
-Outlaw Josey Wales @ Riverview; 7:00 (Clint Eastwood and John Wayne Westerns). Clint Eastwood seeks revenge. Well, at least his character does.
-Ming Wong and Phil Collins @ The Walker; 7:30 (Artists' Cinema 2011: Projected Images) Free. A 90 minute program showing work by both these artists.

my mspiff picks: weekend of apr 29

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:20:00 +0000

Only one more week to go folks. If you've been putting off the festival, now's your last chance. Go now before it's too late!

•Friday

Top Pick -- The Arbor; 5:00

This pick is a bit of a gamble (oh wait, all my past picks were gambles as I never saw any of them beforehand). It's especially true this time around as this is by a newcomer, and also features a style of performance called verbatim theater, "a form of documentary theatre in which plays are constructed from the precise words spoken by people interviewed about a particular event or topic." This film is the story of playwright Andrea Dunbar, and won the director Clio Barnard Best New Documentary Filmmaker at Tribeca. I've seen reviews that love the film, and I've seen some that absolutely trash it. But festivals are about bold choices, so why not make one tonight?

Also, there's a Godard film playing tonight, if you're up for that.

•Saturday

Top Pick -- Viva Riva; 7:45

I like this pick because you probably won't see many films like it. Coming from the Congo, this fiction film is about a con man on the run from an old boss, a corrupt church, and a Kinshasa warlord. If you use the word "raw" to describe only one film this year, make it this one. Hollywood Reporter writes, "Where Viva makes a strong mark is not with erotic scenes that are flamingly explicit (and acrobatic) even by western standards, or the brutality and gore that are equal matches for Korean revenge films. It is the way he exposes his society’s well-oiled corruption machine with such candor."

It couldn't hurt to also check out Romanian film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle, which I actually have seen and it is an enjoyable film as far as Romanian films are concerned. In the same way, The Imperialists Are Still Alive!, a film that played at Sundance, is also engaging. Although you have to wade through some pretentious and snobby culture blab for the first 30 minutes.

•Sunday

Oh this is really a toss-up. This is probably of no help to anyone, but I'll just throw out three films and you can see which sticks:

My Perestroika -- Doc on the generation born after the end of the USSR. Won the Silverdocs Jury award.
The Bengali Detective -- Kolkata police corruption doc. It's got social commentary and detective mysteries!
Men in Rut -- Farce featuring the international deer-calling championship in a Czech village that doesn't even appear on any Czech maps.

mpls movie screenings: weekend of apr 29

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:20:00 +0000

Because there are other things to watch besides screenings at MSPIFF...

The last screening in the Bernard Herrmann series features the last film score the man ever created. Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver features a few jazzy numbers from Herrmann, not to mention all star performances from De Niro, Keitel, and Jodie Foster. There was an article in MinnPost today that makes some bold claims about the film:

I also think it's the wrong score — it's classically cinematic in a way the film isn't, feeling like it might be right playing behind a 1940s detective film. But the soundtrack that would have been right for it was still to be invented when the film came out, and was inspired by "Taxi Driver": punk rock.

R-r-rreeeaaaaalllyyy. Can't say I agree with that. That would've probably ruined the whole film for me. Jazz adds the right subtle touch and complexity to the movie; punk rock is simply too straightforward for this movie. Judge for yourself, though, folks.

Taxi Driver

The Trylon
Fri Apr 29 7:00 9:20
Sat Apr 30 7:00 9:20
Sun May 01 4:40 7:00
(1976, Martin Scorsese, 35mm, 113m)SPECTACULAR NEW 35mm RESTORATION OF MARTIN SCORSESE'S SEMINAL MASTERPIECE!

Tonight and tomorrow night the Riverview is hosting a BlkMrktCinema screening of the film Riki-Oh. I'm not entirely sure who this film group is, but I look forward to posting more of their screenings in the future. As for the film:

A young man with superhuman strength is incarcerated at a prison run by corrupt officials and seeks to use his martial arts to clean up the system.

April 29 & 30 at 11:30pm
Admission is $7

Lastly, there's a Mimosa Movie screening of When Harry Met Sally at Loring Theater this Sunday at 2pm. And if the weather on Sunday is as crappy as it's been the last few weeks, there might not be a better way to ring in the new month than with a mimosa and Meg Ryan.

MSPIFF picks will be up in a few hours, but here's the rest of the cities' film offerings:

St Anthony:

For the week of April 29 - May 5
Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival (NR) runtime 0 hr 0 mins	Visit Website for details

Ticket Prices
$8.50 General
$6.00 Student/Senior/Children
$6.00 Matinees 7 days a week all films before 6pm

Heights:

Riverview:

Parkway:

Company Men (R)

Apr 22, 2011 - May 5, 2011

Thu: 5:45, 7:45
Fri: 5:00, 7:00, 9:00
Sat: 2:00, 4:00, 6:00
Sun: 7:45
Mon: 8:30
Tue - Thu: 5:45, 7:45

Landmark:

EDINA CINEMA
(651) 649-4416
Potiche
(2:15 4:45) 7:15 9:35
Of Gods and Men
(2:40 5:20) 8:00
Certified Copy
(2:00) 7:00
In a Better World
(4:25) 9:25
The Princess of Montpensier
(2:30 5:30) 8:30

UPTOWN THEATRE
(612) 825-6006
The Room
12:00
Midnight, Dolby Stereo Digital
Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
(1:00 3:10 5:20) 7:35 9:50
No Passes, Dolby Stereo Digital

LAGOON CINEMA
(612) 825-6006
Water for Elephants
(1:40 4:20) 7:10 9:45
Dolby Digital
Win Win
(1:55 4:30) 7:30 10:00
Dolby Digital
Hanna
(4:10) 9:50
Dolby Digital
Jane Eyre
(1:30 4:15) 7:00 9:40
Dolby Digital
White Irish Drinkers
(1:50) 7:20
Dolby Digital
I Am
(2:00 4:00) 7:25 9:30
Dolby Digital

my mspiff picks: week of apr 25

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:37:00 +0000

•Monday
Top Pick -- If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle; Mon 9:30 and Sat Apr 30 5:30

I haven't watched enough Romanian new wave films to talk about them at length, but this one seems to have come out right at the end of the genre's main creative outburst. Nonetheless, this film is an intriguing and perplexing one about a young prisoner concerned for the fate of his younger brother. It's hard to understand what motivates this young man, but it only helps in maintaining audience interest in the story.

Also, if you haven't seen them already, check out Le Quattro Volte (5:00) Exporting Raymond (7:00) or The Interrupters (7:30), which will feature a Q&A with director Steve James (that's where I'll be).

•Tuesday
Top Pick -- MN Shorts: Docs and Animation; 7:00

There are a lot of great filmmakers in the state here working in animation and documentary work, and this is the best of the best. This program usually sells out pretty fast, so you should probably pick up your ticket today.

And don't forget that the final showing of Bill Cunningham New York is screening at 9:45.

•Wednesday
Top Pick -- A Screaming Man; 4:45

This is the second screening of this film, but I didn't write about it first time around and I need to get the word out. This Chadian film essentially won third place at last year's Cannes film festival, and it's one I've been looking forward to most. It's the story of a man who loses his job to his son, and, in an effort to get that job back, enlists his son in the war. Of the film, Roger Ebert said, "In a way, it was Murnau's "The Last Laugh" transplanted to an African nation in recent times, torn by civil war. I respond warmly to films that closely observe a few people and how they work and live, and this one supplied a human context for year after year of news about war and unease in remote places."

•Thursday
I don't have a top pick for this day, so I'll just point out a few that look interesting. There's a film on the illegal falcon trade in the Persian Gulf (Feathered Cocaine @ 5:00), A new film from Catherine Breillat about the fairy tales The Snow Queen and Sleeping Beauty (Sleeping Beauty @ 9:45), and a documentary on the capture of a Nazi living in 1950's Argentina (Eichmann's End @ 5:15).

mpls movie screenings not at mspiff: week of apr 25

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 17:12:00 +0000

•Tuesday
--The Anchorage @ Trylon; 7:00 & 9:00 (Trylon Premiere Tuesdays). The 2nd and final screening of this Swedish film that won the top prize for emerging filmmakers at Locarno.
--Don Quixote @ The Heights; 7:15. This is HD Ballet coming to you from the Bolshoi Ballet.

•Wednesday
--Fire and Ice @ Trylon; 7:30 (Trash Film Debauchery). More ridiculous 80's fantasy animation (in all the good ways, of course). We got ice queens, lava, bikinis, and everything else you've come to expect from TFD.

•Thursday
--The Promise: The Making of Darkness at the Edge of Town @ The Heights; 7:15 & 9:00. Fans of The Boss will no doubt love the never-before-seen footage of Bruce and the E Street Band during the making of this classic record, and film fans will no doubt want to see a favorite at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. I should also mention that 50% of ticket sales go to The Museum of Broadcasting in St. Louis Park.
--The Searchers @ Riverview; 7:00 (John Wayne and Clint Eastwood Westerns). It's one of the greatest westerns ever made, with John Wayne as the anti-hero, former confederate Ethan Edwards. Will he rescue Natalie from her captors or let his hatred for all things Native American cloud his judgment?

my mspiff picks: weekend of apr 23

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 18:17:00 +0000

I'm a little late on this, I understand, but better late than never.

•Saturday
Top Pick -- Le Quattro Volte; Sat Apr 23 @ 5pm, Mon Apr 25 @ 5pm

This film definitely isn't for everyone, as there's no talking and in fact at one point we follow the life of a sack of charcoal. This Italian film follows the journey of one soul from one being to the next. A.O Scott in the New York Times says, "information is conveyed with a clarity and directness that mask Mr. Frammartino’s extraordinary formal sophistication. Using the sweeping perspectives afforded by the precipitously hilly terrain, he composes frames with the skill of a painter and the wit of a silent-film maestro."

•Sunday
Top Pick -- The Interrupters; Sun Apr 24 @ 4:30, Mon Apr 25 @ 7:30 (Director Present)

Director Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams, creates another compelling documentary centering on impoverished neighborhoods in Chicago. This time around we follow the members of the anti-violence group CeaseFire, which recruits former gang members to spread their message. Here's a story on the group by NPR's Morning Edition.

my mspiff picks: the week of apr 18

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Schmidt) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:06:00 +0000

Just like last time, I actually haven't seen any of these films. These just happen to be the ones I want to see.

•Monday

Top Pick -- Bill Cunningham New York; Mon Apr 18 @ 7:00, Wed Apr 27 @ 9:30

This is a documentary on fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, a reclusive man who very reluctantly agreed to have the camera turned on him for this movie. Carina Chocano in The New York Times writes, "If the film suggests that there’s something bittersweet about a life dedicated to a single pursuit cultivated with an almost religious fervor, it also stands in awe of its subject’s seemingly inexhaustible, self-abnegating capacity to remain attuned to the expression of others."

2nd Choices -- Nostalgia For The Light (8:45) and We Are What We Are (9:30). And don't forget to check out the Work-in-Progress film (free screening!) All Over The Walls. And I'm not just plugging that cause my good friends worked on it- it's a good film, and I'll certainly be there.

•Tuesday
Top Pick -- Jess + Moss; Tue Apr 19 @ 7:15, Thu Apr 28 @ 4:45

A bit of an experimental film, where the story of two teens in the hot Kentucky summer is told through old video and audio recordings. The Hollywood Reporter says, "Experimental films at Sundance are not unlike the flu bugs that run rampant through the festival’s many crowded venues: They’re inevitable but to be avoided if possible. First-time writer-director Clay Jeter’s Jess + Moss proves an exception... Jess + Moss represents a bracing jolt from the usual film experience while at the same time lacking the pretension that accompanies so many experimental films."

2nd Choices -- Haru's Journey (8:30) and The White Meadows (6:30). And also check out the MN Shorts program at 7pm. MN shorts collections always sell out fast, and seeing as this one if the "narrative" portion, this certainly won't be any different.

•Wednesday
Top Pick -- On The Ice; Wed Apr 20 @ 6:45, Fri Apr 22 @ 9:15 (Director Present)

In a small Alaskan town, a drunken fight leads two teenagers to covering up the death of a friend. John Horn in the LA Times wrote, "Much like "Winter's Bone" a year ago, "On the Ice" takes audiences into a part of the country -- and a way of life -- that most moviegoers have never seen or even considered...The film went through the Sundance Institute's screenwriting and producing workshops, and because founder Robert Redford has made Native American projects a Sundance staple, "On the Ice" was in many ways a perfect dramatic competition entry. The movie hasn't yet been picked up.

2nd Choices -- The Light Thief (9:00), Green Wave (5:15), and Position Among The Stars (7:15)

•Thursday
Top Pick -- Applause; Thu Apr 21 @ 7:15, Sun Apr 24 @ 9:00

This film is all about Paprika Steen's performance as the recovering alcoholic stage actress Thea. When reading about this Danish film, the names Cassavetes and Agnes Varda come up a lot. Diego Costa writes in Slant, "Steen's performance is so mesmerizingly nuanced, her face so overwhelmed, almost twitching with complexity, it's like watching a volcanic explosion inside a small, very delicate flask. Her skin, which Thea calls "human packaging," works to camouflage the fractured structure inside her that is always about to collapse. Is she going to flee? Is she going to claw somebody's face? Or lick her lips before coyly exiting the frame? Hers is the body of the hysteric, as Freud would have said, steeped in jewelry and makeup, anything to cover up the sick corpse that lies beneath."

2nd Choices -- A Useful Life (5:30), The Stoker (9:15) and Louder Than A Bomb (9:15)

Friday April 29	"CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM, 9:15 PM
Saturday April 30	"CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 2:50 PM, 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM, 9:15 PM
Sunday May 1	"CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 2:50 PM, 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM
Monday May 2	"CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM
Tuesday May 3	"CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM "TIBET IN SONG" 7:00 PM
Wednesday May 4	"CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM
Thursday May 5	"CAT PEOPLE" (PG) 7:30 PM