THE WEEKEND WARRIOR November 1, 2024
THE WEEKEND WARRIOR November 1, 2024
HERE, ABSOLUTION, JUROR #2, A REAL PAIN, THE GRADUATES, BLITZ
Welp, I’ve been meaning to bring this column back for a couple weeks now, and I just haven’t had the time since I’ve been busy with so many other things.
Well, one of those things, my box office writing for Gold Derby, has just come to an end quite suddenly, so at least I don’t have to worry about there being conflicts if I go back to writing about box office here. But that also means I have to worry even more about money than I was before this situation.
Or maybe it’s just time to move on with my life and do something else.
I have no idea what I’m going to do for money, but receiving this shocking news just as I started to write this week’s column made it somewhat difficult to finish it. Let’s see how it goes… I am starting to think about how I might be able to create a paid version of this column, and it might involve sharing my box office predictions on a Monday or Tuesday, which is earlier than I’ve ever done so since I was at ComingSoon.net when Tuesday was the norm. (Listen, if you’re reading this and know a site/outlet that might need a box office expert with 23 years of experience, please send them my way. I desperately need a job and trying to not shift into maintenance or house cleaning.)
HERE (Sony)
Although I’ve already reviewed this for Cinema Daily US – you can watch that review here – I probably have a few more thoughts to share about it, maybe because I seem to be out on a limb by myself as one of the few film critics who liked and appreciated what Robert Zemeckis was trying to do, much more than some of his other recent efforts anyway.
The general principle is that the movie –which I learned later is based on a graphic novel by Richard McGuire – all takes place in a single location over the course of many centuries, but it mostly focuses on the family, whom we first meet as Paul Bettany and Kelly Reilly’s couple are moving into the house. Over the course of the film, we watch their lives unfold, as they have kids, including Tom Hanks’ Richard whom we meet as a high teenager introducing his girlfriend (Robin Wright) to his parents. Over the next few decades, we see Richard start a family of his own, giving him up his own desire to be an artist to get a better paying job, and dealing with his aging and eventually dying parents. Zemeckis (who co-wrote the screenplay with his Oscar-winning Forrest Gump screenwriter Eric Roth) cuts back in time to the time when indigenous people were roaming the land, touches on Benjamin Franklin, as well as the invention of the LaZ Boy recliner (which actually was invented in Michigan). But this isn’t mean to be based on any reality other than there being a few historic touchstones to keep the viewer informed of where we are as it jumps around in time.
The film’s marketing is putting so much of a focus on Hanks, who is just fine here, but it’s not his greatest performance, at least not compared to the likes of Bettany and Reilly and so many other actors who bring so much to the storytelling. Sure, it does set itself up to be a bit of a time-straddling stageplay by having just that one single location, but the way that location is used keeps it interesting.
I fully understand why many critics seem to be shitting all over this movie, because it is a big swing to tell a story in this fashion, but I was fully pulled into what Zemeckis was trying to do with his cast, and it really grew on me as it went long to the point where I was quite moved by the time it ended.
Rating: 7.5/10
ABSOLUTION (Roadside Attractions)
Liam Neeson is back with another gritty action-thriller, reteaming with his Cold Pursuit director, Hans Petter Moland, to play an aging killer with a deteriorating brain disease – wait, haven’t we seen this movie before? – who tries to reconnect with his daughter, even as his criminal life won’t let him get away. No, really, didn’t already seen this movie when it was called “Redemption”? Or “Memory”? Or something else?
In this one, Neeson plays a nameless Boston enforcer who has been assigned to show a younger criminal the ropes by his boss, played by Ron Perlman. He’s also suffering from something called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease he mostly likely got from getting hit a lot by a boxer. Realizing that he doesn’t have much time to live, he seeks out his estranged daughter Daisy (Frankie Shaw) and begins to spend time with the young grandson he had never met. With his condition affecting his ability to do his job, he starts railing against some of the activities by his colleagues, most notably the sex trafficking.
Certainly if you’ve seen a lot of Neeson’s recent films, as I have, much of what you just read will sound vaguely familiar. Certainly, playing a criminal afflicted with a disease is something Neeson as done as recently as Memory, which I don’t remember being very good either. I thought that surely reteaming with the director of Cold Pursuit (and the far superior Norwegian original, In Order of Disappearance) would lead to a fruitful collaboration, but this script is so weak and meandering and worst of all… boring.
Any idea that this is an action movie of any kind will surely leave many of Neeson’s fans disappointed, as it’s a good hour before we see anything in terms of action. Instead, we just follow this nameless old thug with a silly mustache and a sillier accent as he just goes through his day-to-day. That also includes a relationship with a woman played by Yolonda Ross, which really doesn’t do anything to make the character’s journey any more interesting.
Besides having such an awful title, Absolution really is just a terrible movie, even compared to Neeson’s other recent output. Honestly, I could not wait for this to end, and there’s a certain point where you have to start wondering why people keep financing these things.
Rating: 5/10
HIT PIG! (Viva Entertainment)
I haven’t really seen any of Viva’s animated movies, but they tend to have such a small presence at the box office, that I’m not alone there. I like the cast for this one with Jason Sudekis voicing the titular “Hit Pig,” a porcine investigator who finds missing animals. Directed by Cinzia Angelini and David Feiss, the voice cast includes Andy Serkis, Rainn Wilson, RuPaul, Lilly Singh, Flavor Flav, Hannah Gadsby and more. I don’t expect this to make more than a million this weekend.
THE BOX OFFICE CHART
Not a lot of context needed for this week’s box office, because there really are only two wide releases, and I guess we’ll have to see how many theaters Anora expands into before going wide on November 8. This month isn’t really going to get rolling until Oct 15 and the last two weekends.
1. Venom: The Last Waltz (Sony) - $21.4 million -58%
2. Here (Sony) - $7.3 million N/A
3. The Wild Robot (DreamWorks Animation/Universal) - $4.6 million -32%
4. Smile 2 (Paramount) - $4.4 million -53%
5. Conclave (Focus Features) - $3.6 million -45%
6. We Live in Time (A24) - $3.2 million -35%*
7. Terrifier 3 (Cineverse) - $2.2 million -54%
8. Absolution (Samuel Goldwyn) - $2 million N/A
9. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros.) - $1.9 million -38%
10. Anora (Neon) - $1.6 million +72%
*Made a change here since I figured We Live in Time would lose theaters this weekend but it didn’t, so it will probably do better but still in sixth place.
THE GRADUATES (The Future of Film is Female)
I missed Hannah Peterson’s indie drama when it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, which is nothing new, since I tend to miss a lot of good things at that festival that I only see a year or more later. Thankfully, it’s playing at the Metrograph this weekend with filmmaker Peterson and her lead, Mina Sundwall, doing QnAs, giving me a great excuse to cover it.
But it’s also a really solid drama about the aftermath of a school shooting, which has been the fodder for many an indie drama over the past decade, but this one deals specifically with three people connected to a 17-year-old named Tyler – his girlfriend Genevieve (Sundwall), his best friend Ben (Alex Hibbert from Moonlight), and his father (played by John Cho) – a year after the shooting that killed him.
I was hugely impressed with how Ms. Peterson handled this topic, but it’s a movie that definitely grew on me more as it went along, mainly because the three main actors are all so compelling with Sundwall being fantastic and Hibbert having really grown as an actor. And of course, John Cho, I’m not sure anyone saw him turning into one of the strongest dramatic actors out there, but his performance here is another great example of why he should be hugely in demand.
The Graduates is easily one of the better directorial debuts I’ve seen this year, just a really strong drama that shows how a senseless act of violence can affect a small group of people grieving over a loss. I’ll be really curious to see what Hannah Peterson does next, since this is an impressive calling card, and I’m mystified that it had so much trouble finding distribution.
Rating: 8.5/10
The Graduates opens at the Metrograph in New York on Friday, and the Metrograph is also showing Wang Bing’s Youth (Hard Times), the conclusion to his trilogy, an almost four-hour movie that there was no way I’d ever have time to see, although they’re still showing the earlier installments of the film.
JUROR #2 (Warner Bros.)
Nicholas Hoult stars in Clint Eastwood’s new movie as the title character of this drama, a juror on a Georgia murder case who may have important info that could exonerate the man being charged for the crime, played by Gabriel Basso. With a (sorry for the pun) killer cast that includes Toni Collete, Chris Messina, Zoey Deutch, Leslie Bibb, JK Simmons, and Kiefer Sutherland, it’s a pretty strong courtroom drama that’s not based on a true story like some of Eastwood’s other recent dramas (most notably Sully and Richard Jewell).
We meet Nicholas Hoult’s Justin as he’s saying farewell to his very pregnant wife (played by Zoey Deutch) to serve his jury duty. There’s something bothering him about the case, and he keeps reflecting back to his battles with alcohol that almost got him killed in a car crash years earlier. Of course, Justin is called to sit on the jury for the case involving a man accused of killing his girlfriend after a drunken argument. But Justin actually knows more about what really happened than he’s letting on, and that’s the crux of what separates Juror #2 from the slew of courtroom dramas that have preceded it.
We meet most of the key players fairly early on, including the high-profile prosecutor, played by Toni Colette, who is just days away from an election where she’s running for District Attorney. Chris Messina plays the defense attorney, and then there are other jurors, who we meet briefly during the “voir dire” process, but will get to know better when the juror gathers in the room to deliberate the case. That last part is when the movie turns into something akin to 12 Angry Men (or people, in this case) as so many of the jurors think the defendant is guilty, and it takes a lot of convincing by Justin and by a former Chicago detective (played by Simmons)
The whole time, Justin knows something about what really happened that night that he has to keep to himself, so he’s stuck between a rock and a hard place of 11 other jurors who just want the case to be over so they can get back to their lives. Justin realizes how important it is to not convict the wrong person, but he also knows that he has to avoid incriminating himself, since he knows so much more than he’s saying. (Deutch’s role is also an important one, and thankfully, she’s not just the “pregnant wife back home.”)
Hoult is fantastic in this role, as is Colette, and I also have really grown to like Messina as an actor, and what he brings to this defense attorney proves him to be at the top of his game as well. If nothing else, Juror #2 also confirms what a capable actors’ director Eastwood is in terms of getting some of the best performances, and this one is on par with Mystic River, Sully, and really anything else he’s done.
Some might find some things that happen to be a bit on the ludicrous side, and others might be annoyed by the film’s abrupt ending, leaving us wondering what happens to Justin after the trial is over.
Either way, Juror #2 is another surprisingly good film from Eastwood that explores the meaning of justice and how and why it can be manipulated by various parties for their own means, often at the expense of the accused. I’m still pondering over what was achieved by this thought-provoking film.
Rating: 7.5/10
A REAL PAIN (Searchlight)
Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin star in this movie written and directed by Eisenberg (his second film as a director) that has them playing cousins travelling in Poland as part of a Holocaust tour group to honor their beloved dead grandmother. Throughout the trip, Eisemberg’s Dave constantly vexed by the behavior of his cousin Benji.
I previously reviewed this over at a site that no longer exists, so I pasted my original review below, but I have seen it again since Sundance in January, and I really think this is one of the funniest and most crowd-pleasing films of the year, one that’s warm but also very funny, especially the behavior by Culkin’s character and how annoyed it makes Eisenberg’s character. This is a movie that starts out being so funny, but also gets quite warm and poignant. I highly recommend seeing it while it’s in theaters since it’s the type of crowdpleasing Sundance movie that will surely play better with an audience laughing with you.
It only opens in New York and L.A. this weekend but it’s planned for a wide release on October 15.
My original Sundance review:
“Two years after premiering his directorial debut When You Finish Saving the World at Sundance, actor Jesse Eisenberg returns with his second movie as a director, this one in which he stars with recent Emmy winner Kieran Culkin (Succession), and a far more personal story, as well.
Eisenberg and Culkin are cousins Dave and Benjie, who have been estranged but reunite for a trip to Poland to revisit the land of their grandmother, who struggled through the Holocaust to get to America. It’s immediately obvious that the two cousins have very different personalities that don’t always gel, and while Benjie is outgoing to their fellow tourists visiting many Holocaust locations, Dave is constantly embarrassed by him.
What’s fun about this pairing is that both Eisenberg and Culkin began their careers almost at the same time in 2001 and 2002, although Eisenberg was more of a Sundance regular than Culkin who, before Succession, was not particularly active, other than a great role in Edgar Wright‘s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
A Real Pain is warm and funny, with Culkin delivering a performance that makes it obvious that his tenure on Succession has really upped his game as an actor to the point where he could be giving Oscar-worthy roles soon enough. Eisenberg has made a far stronger and more mainstream film here, but one that still allows him to include things that are important and personal to him. It was very little surprise this was picked up Searchlight Studios, because they know this to be an entertaining film which hopefully will get a theatrical release and not just be dumped to Hulu.
Rating: B+”
Thankfully, I was right in that last paragraph, and Culkin is now thought to be a frontrunner to win a Supporting Actor Oscar for this role. Hopefully, Eisenberg’s script will also get some awards love, because it’s very good.
BLITZ (Apple Original Films)
Steve McQueen’s latest feature film, his first narrative feature film since 2018’s Widows if you don’t count the five shorter films he made as part of “Small Axe” a few years ago and last year’s doc, Occupied City. This one takes place in London 1940 as it’s being bombed non-stop by the Germans during the “blitzkrieg” of World War II, mainly following Rita, a singer played by Saoirse Ronan, and her son George (Elliot Heffernan) as they’re split up when he’s taken away with the city’s other children to try to protect them. But George jumps off the train taking him to safety and ends up on his own, but also mixed up with a couple of unscrupulous criminals, led by Stephen Graham.
This was one of the better movies I saw out of the New York Film Festival last month, where it was the Closing Night film, but sadly, it’s not getting the best release, essentially a limited release this weekend – in just two New York theaters, the Regal Union Square and Film at Lincoln Center – and then on Apple TV+ on November 22. We’ll have to see if it reports box office for its limited theatrical run.
Even though Ronan’s character will most likely be deemed supporting, her character is fantastic, and I was as impressed or maybe even more so with what she does in this vs. the indie The Outrun from a few weeks back. McQueen also cast the great Paul Weller of The Jam and The Style Council (and Oasis collaborator) as Rita’s father, and he proves himself to be a fine dramatic actor, so that was another nice surprise going into Blitz.
In many ways, I like this film more than I did when I first saw McQueen’s Oscar-winning Best Picture 12 Years a Slave, maybe because it’s not all death and destruction as these things often go. Instead, it actually mixes in some joy and music to show how London stood up to the German air invasion and didn’t let its situation bring everyone down. McQueen ably confirms his skills as one of the top filmmakers by exploring a topic that other far more experienced filmmakers have tried to do, though not nearly as successfully.
Rating: 8/10
EMILIA PÉREZ (Netflix)
I’ve already reviewed Jacques Audiard’s new crime-drama musical out of the New York Film Festival, but since it’s finally going to be released in select theaters ahead of its streaming debut, I figure that I should write a little more about it. In case you didn’t know, the general premise is that it’s a drama surrounding a Mexican cartel leader, played by Mexican actress Karla Sofia Gascón, who decides to get a sex change in order to go into hiding, while faking their own death. Only their lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldana) knows the truth, because they completely change their identity until “Emilia Pérez” returns to Mexico five years later and not even his ex-wife (Selena Gomez) suspects. Oh, and this is a musical, since it’s actually based on an opera, and though I didn’t love it nearly as much as others did – I thought some of the singing done by the cast other than Gomez was not great – it is an interesting film, and I do generally love Audiard’s work, even though I’m not sure this is quite up to some of his greats. Again, I’ll definitely try to rewatch it as soon as I can.
Like Blitz, this will be in select theaters this weekend, including Netflix’s own Paris Theater plus about five or six others in New York City, and then it will stream on Netflix starting Nov. 22.
SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT (Kino Lorber)
Opening at New York’s Film Forum this weekend is Johan Grimonprez’s documentary about various music forms but mainly jazz in the form of musical performances by Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, and others. I actually tried to watch this movie, but at 2 ½ hours long, I just couldn’t get through it. Maybe I’ll try again, but I’m just not enough of a jazz fan to dedicate that time to a movie.
NO OTHER LAND
This documentary made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective is about the destruction of the West Bank’s Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance formed by Palestinian activist, Basel Adra, and Israeli journalist, Yuval Abraham, who are two of the four filmmakers responsible for making this, along with Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor. (All of them are created as writers, directors, and editors on the film.) With Palestine and Israel relations being on the news just about every day, you can almost guarantee that this will get shortlisted and probably nominated for an Oscar in the documentary feature category. This is getting a one-week Oscar qualifying run at Film at Lincoln Center, following it playing at the 62nd New York Film Festival, but I found it a tough watch just because I’m so burnt out on the whole situation in the Middle East, which I’m just not really a fan of (not that anyone is) …. So why would I want to watch a movie about it?
CELLAR DOOR (Lionsgate)
Vaughn Stein’s horor film, starring Jordana Brewster, Scott Speedman, and Laurence Fishburne, is getting a limited theatrical release but is mainly one of Lionsgate’s VOD releases. Brewster and Speedman star as a couple looking for a new start after she has a miscarriage, who are gifted a dreamhouse by a wealthy homeowner (Fishburne). The one condition is that they NEVER open the cellar door… so yeah, it takes “don’t go into the basement” to a new level.
THE GUTTER (Magnolia Films)
Shameik Moore, best known as the voice of Miles Morales in the “Spider-Verse” animated movies, stars in this new comedy from Yassir Lester & Isaiah Lester, which also costars Susan Sarandon, D’arcy Carden, and Paul Reiser. In the film, Moore plays Walt, who works at a local bowling alley that’s threatened by money issues, but Walt is convinced by a former pro-bowler named Skunk (Carden) to take on the role of the “greatest bowler ever put on earth). Sarandon plays Linda “The Crusher” Cursor who comes out of retirement to take Walt on.
No one on earth can possibly cover every movie ever released although Mark Dusjik often tries with his Mark Reviews Movies and his podcast Roger & Me with Brett Arnold (not with someone named Roger, but you’ll have to listen to the show to know why).
AFTER: POETRY DESTROYS SILENCE
SINGHAM AGAIN
THE EYE OF THE SALAMANDER (Freestyle Releasing)
FREEDOM (Prime Video)
LOST ON A MOUNTAIN IN MAINE (Blue Fox Entertainment)
REPERTORY
Part of the struggle of not being able to crank out one of these columns every week is that I miss a lot of the repertory stuff around town. It doesn’t take me *that* long to write this section, but it is doing quite a lot of work for no money, so…
Incidentally, the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One and Godzilla Minus One Minus Color will be screening in a bunch of theaters on Friday to celebrate the great big radioactive lizard’s 70th anniversary! Also, the original John Wick will be celebrating its own 10th anniversary with a re-release across the nation. That’s how much confidence theaters have in some of the new wide releases this weekend. It also looks like the 15th anniversary rerelease of Henry Selick’s Coraline is also being released this weekend in time for Halloween.
Since Friday is November, that means NEW SERIES AT THE METROGRAPH!!! WOOOHOO!!!
There’s some great stuff coming up this month but the series I’m most looking forward to is “Crush the Strong, Help the Weak,” which will show two great Asian action films in Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle from 2004 and Kim Jee-woon’s The Good, The Bad, The Weird from 2008. I’ll be at both of them on Saturday!
I can probably relate even more to “Insomnia” (since I frequently have it), a series that will kick off with (what else?) Christopher Nolan’s 2002 pre-”Dark Knight” film, Insomnia, starring Hilary Swank, Al Pacino, and the late Robin Williams.
Another fun series is “My Crazy Uncle (or Aunt),” which will kick off with Jacques Tati’s Mon Oncle (1958) and Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943).
“Do It Again” is about remakes with Howard Hawks’ 1959 film, Rio Bravo; Olivier Assayas’ 1995 remake of Irma Vep – a movie I love but one that’s played at Metrograph so much, it’s become a staple, and rightfully so – and Michael Haneke’s 2007 remake of his own Funny Games, which I’ll also be rewatching on Saturday.
Another thing the Metrograph has gotten accustomed to doing is having series based around filmmakers I’ve never heard of, which is why I do not have a lot to say about “Kaother Ben Hania X 3,” which will show the Tunisian filmmaker’s Oscar-nominated 2023 documentary, Four Daughters, this weekend.
Since it’s Halloween today and tonight, a few of the series wrapping up include “Society of the Spectacle,” because politics can be scary! There will be final screenings of The Society of Spectacle and the 1972 Robert Redford movie, The Candidate, on Thusrday night.
“The Phantom of Ester Krumachová” actually has some spooky offerings from the Czech filmmaker for Halloween in Witchhammer and Murdering the Devil, both from 1970.
And “Don’t Go in the Sewers” with the 1988 The Blob starring a very young Shawnee Smith from the “Saw” series.
With Wang Bing’s 2024 trilogy closer, Youth (Hard Times), playing through the weekend, you can also see Youth (Spring) one last time on Monday.
Starting on Friday, Film Forum is showing a new 4k restoration of Bruce Weber’s 1988 film, LET’S GET LOST, featuring music by Chet Baker, as well as starting a new Bruce Weber series, running through the weekend. I’m really not familiar with his work, so enjoy your deep dive into his work!
This week’s “Film Forum Jr.” on Sunday is Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (1940), which could be a statement or commentary on next Tuesday’s Presidential Election, maybe?
Clara Bow’s Her Wedding Night screens on Monday as part of that weekly series, while Andrei Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice and Kon Ichikawa’s The Burmese Harp will continue to play through November 7.
Continuing with the downtown rep offerings, the Tribeca theater’s Halloween night offerings are Wes Craven’s Scream (1996), Dario Argento’s over-screened Suspiria (1977), and John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978). Suspiria will continue showing through the weekend, since surely, there must be three people on the planet who haven’t seen it yet, but on Sunday, you can also see Lars von Trier’s 2000 film, Dancer in the Dark, starring Bjork. On Friday, you can also see Sandra Bernhard’s amazing show, Without You I’m Nothing, as filmed in 1990. Monday begins a tribute to cinematographer Ken Kelsch with The Blackout and The Addiction screened on Monday, 4:44 Last Day on Earth and New Rose Hotel screening Tuesday and again next Thursday.
Wow! A series that me and Mr. Robinson can relate to: “Screen Slate Presents: Kill Yr Landlord”! (Please don’t do that! They definitely can be annoying – mine is – but it’s still against the long in most states and countries.) It includes screenings of the excellent thriller from John Schelsinger, 1990’s Pacific Heights, the MTV comedy classic, Joe’s Apartment from 1996, starring Jerry O’Connell! It’s also showing Larry Yust’s 1974 film, Homebodies, Hal Ashby’s The Landlord from 1970, and more movies that every New York City tenant will be able to relate to.
“Waverly Midnights: Interesting Times” will screen John Carpenter’s classic, They Live, on Friday and Saturday late, but they’ll also continue showing Lloyd Kaufman’s schlockfest, The Toxic Avenger from 1984.
This month’s “Alamo Time Capsule 1974” offers some fun offerings including Alan Pakula’s The Parallax View, which has already recently screened at the Metrograph and Paris, thank you very much.
On Monday, you can see the original Richard Roundtree Shaft from 1971 as part of “Angelika Classics.”
NITEHAWK CINEMA PROSPECT PARK & WILLIAMSBURG
Out in Prospect Park (that’s in Brooklyn), there are daytime screenings of Chris Smith’s 1999 breakout film, American Movie, and Ivan Reitman’s 1984 comedy classic Ghostbusters (just in time for after Halloween, heh heh!) On Monday night, you can watch John Carpenter’s 1995 horror film Village of the Damned, because even with Halloween over, being able to see all of John Carpenter’s movies in New York theaters is pretty cool. (That last one is being shown as part of “Beware the Children,” which will run every Monday through the month.)
Williamsburg is going with the 1964 Japanese horror film Onibaba on Halloween night as part of the “Urban Legends” series presented with MUBI. Friday night (late!) begins a can’t miss post-Halloween ‘80s Fulci series, beginning with 1980’s City of the Living Dead. Williamsburg is also starting a ‘90s Doc series with Jennie Livingston’s 1990 classic, Paris is Burning, running Saturday and Sunday for brunch, and Terry Zwigoff’s Crumb playing on Monday night.
BAM (BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC)
Miguel Gomes’ 2012 film, Tabu, will run through the weekend, and the 2015 Shaun the Sheep Movie will play on Saturday as part of “Silent Films,” plus there will be screenings of Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday and PlayTime, because the Metrograph and Paris can’t hold the great Tati hostage from other rep theaters. Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times will also run starting Sunday.
Moving out to Queens, MoMI is screening the 1943 horror film, The Seventh Victim, on Thursday and Friday night as well as the 1980 version of The Fog on Halloween night by (who else?) John Carpenter!
Even cooler is that MoMI is celebrating Godzilla’s 70th birthday not just by showing Godzilla Minus One again but by showing Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, and even the original Japanese Gojira. If only I lived closer to Astoria, and didn’t hate travelling on weekends…
The Frank Oz retrospective continues with screenings of The Indian in the Cupboard on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, so bring the kids! MoMI is also doing a program on Argenine Animation this weekend in case that doesn’t strike your fancy.
Lastly, we travel from Astoria out to Huntington, Long Island, for some of the best rep programming that requires you to take the LIRR, and it will screen Metrograph mainstay Possession on Friday night – fair enough since I’ve made the trek from my neighborhood out to Huntington to know what a schlep it is for people to live out there to come to the Metrograph. On Friday night, it will screen Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs as part of “Night Owl Cinema” and this Saturday’s Cult Café is Sam Raim’s Army of Darkness. On Sunday, you can take the kids to see Shaun the Sheep Movie, then there’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington on Monday and a special screening of Men In Black with Barry Sonnenfeld in person on Tuesday night. Wish I lived closer cause they’re also doing a “Reconstructing Dark Side of the Moon” event on Saturday with musicologist Scott Freiman.
That’s it for this week. Will still try to figure out the whole paid vs. unpaid Weekend Warrior thing, but next Tuesday, I’ll be working as a poll worker all day, so who knows if I’ll have time to write anything. I guess we’ll see. I can’t even remember if anything significant opens… oh, right… the psychological thriller, Heretic, starring Hugh Grant!