¨It’s got a wonderful defense mechanism. You don’t dare kill it.¨
ALIEN plays this weekend (May 3rd and 4th) at the Tivoli (6350 Delmar Boulevard)as part of their Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight series.A Facebook invite for the screening can be found HERE
Ridley Scott has had a great career and has made many fantastic films, but ALIEN (1979), only his second, may arguably be his best.
It may be one of those films where everything fit perfectly. Direction, cast, visuals, score, atmosphere, editing, pacing. It’s hard to believe it was made 34 years ago it holds up so well. Made two years after Fox’s license to print money after STAR WARS, their next big sci-fi hit couldn’t have been more different. Much like STAR WARS, ALIEN drew on older movies for inspiration, such as IT THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE, PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, FORBIDDEN PLANET, THE THING, etc. And like STAR WARS, it presented B-movie thrills with an A-picture budget, treating its material seriously. If you could liken STAR WARS to a cliffhanger serial for modern kids, ALIENis like the old B-movie space monster films for a modern adult audience.
Now you’ll have the chance to revisit ALIEN in all its big-screen glory when it plays midnights this weekend (May 3rd and 4th) as part of the Tivoli’s Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight Series! Even better, this will be the ALIEN Original Theatrical cut that we all enjoyed 40 years ago! Don’t miss ALIEN this weekend! I’ll be there with ALIEN trivia and prizes!
“It’s our last dance in St. Louis. I feel like I’m going to cry!”
The movie MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS turns 75 this year but the Tivoli Theater’s got it beat by 20 years!
75 years after its premiere, experience MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS in the beautifully restored main auditorium of the Tivoli Theatre. Surrounded by the grandeur and opulence of a bygone era, marvel at the timeless tale of the Smith girls in the lead-up to the 1904 World’s Fair. The screening is May 16th at 7pm. A Facebook invite can be found HERE
On May 24, 2019, the Tivoli officially turns 95 years old. Accordingly, on May 16th, 2019, we will celebrate this milestone in a cinematic way, by showing MEET ME IN ST LOUIS (1944; this year marks 75 since its release). This film, being of special importance to the city of St. Louis (which turns 255 this year), was deemed the most appropriate film to play. Starring Judy Garland, Mary Astor, Margaret O’Brien and many others, the film centers on the 1904 World’s Fair held in St. Louis (this year also marks the 115th year since that landmark event). This special confluence of anniversaries is of sufficient import to warrant a huge event, and we will be working with local businesses to promote the event and make it a success.
GoldenEye in Jamaica. James Bond Producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli today confirmed the start of principal photography on the 25th official James Bond film begins on 28 April 2019. From Albert R. Broccoli’s EON Productions and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, the film is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and stars Daniel Craig, who returns for his fifth film as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007.
Metro Goldwyn Mayer will release the 25th James Bond feature film domestically through their United Artists Releasing banner on April 8, 2020; through Universal Pictures International and Metro Goldwyn Mayer in the UK and internationally from April 3, 2020. Director, Cary Joji Fukunaga confirmed the returning cast, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Rory Kinnear, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Jeffrey Wright and introduced Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, David Dencik, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen and Rami Malek. Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
The 007 production will be based at Pinewood Studios in the UK, and on location in London, Italy, Jamaica and Norway. Wilson and Broccoli commented, “We’re thrilled to return to Jamaica with Bond 25, Daniel Craig’s fifth instalment in the 007 series, where Ian Fleming created the iconic James Bond character and Dr No and Live And Let Die were filmed.” Written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade, Scott Z. Burns with Cary Joji Fukunaga and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, other members of the creative team are; Director of Photography Linus Sandgren, Editor Tom Cross and Elliot Graham, Production Designer Mark Tildesley, Costume Designer Suttirat Larlarb, Supervising Stunt Coordinator Olivier Schneider, 2nd Unit Stunt Coordinator Lee Morrison and Visual Effects Supervisor Charlie Noble. Returning members to the team are; 2nd Unit Director Alexander Witt, Special Effects and Action Vehicles Supervisor Chris Corbould and Casting Director Debbie McWilliams. Spectre, the 24th James Bond film, was a global box office hit, opening #1 in 81 territories around the world, including the U.S., and earning $880 million at the global box office. The film broke a new all-time box office record in the UK with the biggest seven-day opening of all time at $63.8 million. Skyfall, the 23rd film in the series, earned $1.1 billion worldwide. The start of production launch of Bond 25 was streamed live on the official James Bond channels: 007.com, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and the video is now available on demand on all of these sites. NOTES:The announcement took place at GoldenEye in Jamaica, once the home of Ian Fleming where he created the James Bond character in 1952. Ian Fleming wrote 12 novels and two collections of short stories on the island. GoldenEye is owned and operated by Island Outpost, founded by Chris Blackwell who formerly owned Island Records.
GoldenEye will not be used as a filming location for Bond 25. The first 007 film, Dr No, produced by Albert R Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, Fleming’s sixth novel, filmed on location in Jamaica in 1962 starring Sean Connery. The production has employed approximately 500 local Jamaican cast and crew and has support from the Government of Jamaica led by the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and the Film Commission. James Bond is the longest running, and one of the most successful franchises of all time, with twenty-four films produced and the twenty-fifth about to commence principal photography. Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli succeeded Albert R ‘Cubby’ Broccoli and have produced the past eight Bond films together, including the highly successful Skyfall and Spectre. All of the James Bond films have been made in collaboration with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios or United Artists, its predecessor.
Come get your Q on! The 12th Annual QFest St. Louis, presented by Cinema St. Louis,runs April 28-May 2, 2019, at the Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar) .The St. Louis-based LGBTQ film festival, QFest will present an eclectic slate of 28 films (14 shorts, seven narrative features, and seven documentary features). The participating filmmakers represent a wide variety of voices in contemporary queer world cinema. The mission of the film festival is to use the art of contemporary gay cinema to spotlight the lives of LGBTQ people and to celebrate queer culture. The full schedule can be found HERE
The 12th Annual QFest St. Louis continues Monday April 29th. Here’s Monday’s schedule:
5:00pm April 29th: HOLLY NEAR: SINGING FOR OUR LIVES – This is a FREE screening (though tickets are required from box office)
Singer, songwriter, and social activist Holly Near has been performing and acting for more than 50 years, and in the process she’s created what Gloria Steinem calls “the first soundtrack of the women’s movement.” Tracing a path from small-town Northern California to sold-out shows and million-person peace marches, the film documents the long arc of Near’s fascinating story. As a teen actress, she joined the Broadway cast of “Hair” in 1970, guest-starred in TV shows (including “The Partridge Family” and “All in the Family”), and appeared in such films as “Minnie and Moskowitz” and “Slaughterhouse-Five.” Debuting as a singer/songwriter in 1973 with the album “Hang in There” — released on her own pioneering independent label — Near last year produced her 31st record, the simply titled “2018.” Throughout her career, Near has balanced art and activism, and she’s been widely recognized for her work promoting social change and LGBTQ rights, including honors from the ACLU, the National Lawyers Guild, the National Organization for Women, and Ms. Magazine. This lively and illuminating documentary, which features appearances by Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Pete Seeger, rightly celebrates Near as an iconic artist who speaks to anyone who believes in peace, justice, feminism, and humanity.
6:45pm April 29th: GEN SILENT –This is a FREE event but it requires an online reservation found HERE
In “Gen Silent,” six LGBTQ seniors discuss why they believe they must hide their sexual orientation to survive. The film reveals what experts call an epidemic: gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender seniors who are so afraid of discrimination — or worse — in the delivery of their care that many go back into the closet. Through intimate access to the seniors’ day-to-day lives over the course of a year, “Gen Silent” shows how oppression in the time before Stonewall has left LGBTQ elders from the “greatest generation” not just afraid but dangerously isolated, with many dying prematurely because they don’t ask for help and have too few people in their lives. Although the film frankly examines the ways in which LGBTQ elders face discrimination, neglect, or abuse at the hands of some supposed caregivers, it also spotlights a growing group of impassioned professionals who are specifically trained to make LGBTQ seniors feel safe and who are trying to wake up the long-term-care and healthcare industries to this important issue.
9:00pm April 29th: HARD PAINT – Ticket information can be found HERE
Living in a lower-class urban jungle in a small Brazilian city, emotionally withdrawn Pedro (Shico Menegat) connects to the outside world as “Neon Boy,” an online erotic performer whose neon-paint-slathered, black-light dances have won him a cadre of adoring fans. By performing each night for these anonymous strangers, Pedro earns a meager income through tips and partially escapes his lonely existence. But Pedro faces an existential threat when a fellow camboy steals both his techniques and some of his customers, forcing the ultra-shy twentysomething to venture far outside his comfort zone to defend his space as a performer. In the process, Pedro discovers a shared connection with his rival, the outgoing and ambitious Leo (Bruno Fernandes), and he finds an unexpected tenderness in the heart of an unforgiving city. On its premiere at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival, the Hollywood Reporter described “Hard Paint” as “a hypnotically intimate character study” that is “acted with naturalness and sensitivity by compelling screen newcomers.”
Culture Shock: A Film Series presents its first in a traveling film series with the documentaryFREE TO ROCK screening Saturday May 4th at 7pmat the Saint Louis Science Center’s OMNIMAX Theater (5050 Oakland Ave.) Admission is $7. Concessions will be available to purchase. A Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE This is a benefit for Helping Kids Together (http://www.helpingkidstogether.com/)
FREE TO ROCK is a 60 minute documentary film directed by 4 time Emmy winning filmmaker Jim Brown and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. Ten years in the making, the film explores the soft power of Rock & Roll to affect social change behind the Iron Curtain between the years 1955 and 1991, and how it contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union and to ending the Cold War. Rock & Roll sounded the “chimes of freedom” in the hearts and minds of Iron Curtain youth. Inspiring its youth to demand freedom to listen, play and record rock music, to enjoy basic human rights and freedom from oppressive communist rule. The story follows the key political, musical and activist players in this real-life drama as the KGB cracked down hard with arrests, beatings, death threats and imprisonment. Thousands of underground rock bands with millions of passionate supporters inspire and fuel independence movements that eventually cause the Soviet communist system to implode without blood shed or civil war. Interviews and performance subjects include: Presidents Carter, Gorbachev and Vike-Freiberga, NATO Deputy Secretary General Vershbow, KGB General Kalugin, diplomats, historians and journalists, along with Elvis Presley, Beatles, Billy Joel, Metallica, Scorpions, Beach Boys, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and the WALL in Berlin concert; plus the Iron Curtain rockers who braved the long struggle with the Kremlin and KGB. The film is produced in collaboration with the Grammy Museum, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Stas Namin Center of Moscow, with support from the U.S. Government’s National Endowment of the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, both US Government arts agencies.
“Culture Shock” is the name of a film series here in St. Louis that is the cornerstone project of a social enterprise that is an ongoing source of support for Helping Kids Together (http://www.helpingkidstogether.com/) a St. Louis based social enterprise dedicated to building cultural diversity and social awareness among young people through the arts and active living.
The films featured for “Culture Shock” demonstrate an artistic representation of culture shock materialized through mixed genre and budgets spanning music, film and theater. Through ‘A Film Series’ working relationship with Schlafly Bottleworks, they seek to provide film lovers with an offbeat mix of dinner and a movie opportunities.
Led by an incredible cast that includes Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts, Steel Magnolias was a box-office smash, charming audiences with its story of friendship, love and resilience. Steel Magnolias also helped rocket Roberts into the stratosphere of Hollywood super-stardom in just her third major role, for which she won her first Oscar® nomination. Now, Steel Magnolias returns to more than 600 movie theaters nationwide for three days only, marking its 30th anniversary.
Roberts plays one of the residents of a fictional Louisiana town, which screenwriter Robert Harling based on his hometown of Natchitoches. In the adaptation of Harling’s play, directed by Herbert Ross and produced by Ray Stark, the cast generates laughter and tears in equal amounts in the story of unforgettable women who unite in the face of tragedy. For this anniversary presentation, TCM Primetime host Ben Mankiewicz will provide special commentary before and after the film. Presented by Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and Sony Pictures
Sunday, May 19, 2019 – 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (local time)
Tuesday, May 21, 2019 – 7:00 p.m. (local time)
Wednesday, May 22, 2019 – 7:00 p.m. (local time)
Tickets for Steel Magnolias can be purchased at www.FathomEvents.com or participating theater box offices. Fans throughout the U.S. will be able to enjoy the event in more than 600 movie theaters through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (DBN). For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events website (participating theaters are subject to change).
Great news for Mary Pickford fans! Mary Pickford won the Academy Award for COQUETTE in 1929 and it’s now available on DVD From Warner Archives
In her first talkie, Mary Pickford won 1929’s Best Actress Academy Award® for her delightful portrayal of Norma Besant, a flirtatious socialite who falls in love with a poor ne’er-do-well. When Norma tells her father she has fallen in love with Michael Jeffery (Johnny Mack Brown), her widowed father forbids the two to see each other, knowing that Michael will never rise to their family’s social class. But their love for each other is stronger than her obligation to obey her father, and the lovers secretly continue their romance. But when they are seen together late one night, her father, gun in hand, sets out to settle things once and for all. Full of romance, passion and suspense, Coquette is also quite risqué for its time. Some scenes, which could have upset censors, are filled more with innuendo than blatant lovemaking, adding a bit of fun to the entertainment.
In her first talkie, Mary Pickford won 1929’s Best Actress Academy Award® for her delightful portrayal of Norma Besant, a flirtatious socialite who falls in love with a poor ne’er-do-well. When Norma tells her father she has fallen in love with Michael Jeffery (Johnny Mack Brown), her widowed father forbids the two from seeing each other, knowing that Michael will never rise to their family’s social class. But the couple’s love is stronger than Norma’s obligation to obey her father, and the lovers secretly continue their romance. But when they’re seen together late one night, her father, gun in hand, sets out to settle things once and for all. Full of romance, passion and suspense, Coquette is also quite risqu? for its time. Some scenes, which could have upset censors, are filled more with innuendo than blatant lovemaking, adding a bit of fun to the entertainment.
“On 12th June, 1812, the forces of western Europe crossed the frontiers of Russia and war began. In other words, an event took place that was contrary to all human reason and human nature.”
The 422-minute Russian version of WAR AND PEACE (1966) directed by Sergei Bondarchuk screens in four installments at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 E. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, MO 63119 ). Part one is April 25, part April 26, part three April 27, and part four April 28. The films start each night at 7:30. A special punch-pass to all four parts can be purchased for $15 (tickets also available à la carte at their regular rates on a night-by-night basis)
In an attempt to show the Russian film industry to be as mighty as America’s during the Cold War years—and in the process to one-up King Vidor’s popular 1956 adaptation of the classic Leo Tolstoy text—the Russian film industry and the whole of the Russian government threw everything they had into Sergei Bondarchuk’s epic adaptation of War & Peace, with no concern regarding if the finished product might actually be profitable or not. Though Bondarchuk succeeded at this task (his War & Peace won the Oscar for best foreign-language film), the film has been difficult to see in the time since its initial release. The subject of a recent restoration, here you can see the priceless artifacts—gathered from Russia’s museums—used as props, the tens of thousands of extras, and the unprecedented amount of money and prestige thrown at the screen, with a clarity heretofore impossible.
In Russian, French and German with English subtitles.
Regular admission (for just one installment) is:
$7 for the general public $6 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools $5 for Webster University staff and faculty
Come get your Q on! The 12th Annual QFest St. Louis, presented by Cinema St. Louis,runs April 28-May 2, 2019, at the Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar) .The St. Louis-based LGBTQ film festival, QFest will present an eclectic slate of 28 films (14 shorts, seven narrative features, and seven documentary features). The participating filmmakers represent a wide variety of voices in contemporary queer world cinema. The mission of the film festival is to use the art of contemporary gay cinema to spotlight the lives of LGBTQ people and to celebrate queer culture. The full schedule can be found HERE
The 12th Annual QFest St. Louis begins this Sunday, April 28th. Here’s Sunday’s schedule:
1:00pm April 28th: TRANSGEEK – This is a FREE screening (though tickets are required from box office)
“TransGeek” brings together the stories of transgender people working in the tech industry and participating in geek and gamer cultures. The film documents people who, in pursuit of their passions, risked their careers and lives to be their authentic selves; who persevered in an industry that undervalues women, LGBTQ folk, and people of color; who found themselves in the pages of science fiction and fantasy or, when they didn’t see themselves represented, wrote their own stories; and who turned to the Internet to build communities that transcend geography and bigotry only to find themselves again the target of hatred and harassment. “TransGeek” allows transgender people to tell their own stories in their own voices, using in-depth interviews conducted over a period of several years to explore the lives, hobbies, politics, careers, and thoughts of transgender geeks. The film features an original score composed by Zoë Blade, a British electronic musician and transgender woman.
Shown with:
Listen (Jake Graf, U.K., 2018, 4 min.): Featuring young trans actors, this short frankly depicts some of the myriad struggles experienced daily by trans children and teenagers.
3:30pm April 28th: DEAR FREDY – Ticket information can be found HERE
Fredy Hirsch, a proud Jew and openly gay man, was born in Germany in 1916. When the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws were enacted in 1935, Hirsch fled from Germany to the Czech Republic, where he worked as a much admired sports teacher in a Jewish youth club. With the deportation of the Jews to Terezin — a combination of ghetto and concentration camp — Hirsch was appointed head of the Youth Services Department and helped care for more than 4,000 children and teens. Later, when he was sent to Auschwitz, Hirsch managed to persuade Josef Mengele to set up a daycare center, providing some 600 children their final moments of happiness. Ironically, it was in Auschwitz that Hirsch escaped homophobia for the first time in his life: He was out and had a lover, but people embraced Hirsch for his good work. Combining rare photographs, archival footage, witness testimony, and animation, “Dear Fredy” tells Hirsch’s amazing story, which includes planning a never-realized revolt with members of the underground in Auschwitz.
5:30pm April 28th: VITA AND VIRGINIA – Ticket information can be found HERE
When aristocratic socialite and writer Vita Sackville-West (Gemma Arterton) first espies Virginia Woolf (Elizabeth Debicki) in Bloomsbury, London, she immediately vows to pursue the famous novelist — thus starting one of the most notorious and convention-shattering love affairs in literary history. This sensuous and highly literate love story — which would eventually result in Woolf’s landmark novel “Orlando,” whose androgynous, gender-bending title character was based on Vita — draws heavily on the letters the two married women exchanged. With its lavish costumes and seductive settings, “Vita & Virginia” transports viewers into a past that seems a century ahead of its time. Lauding Debicki’s “astonishing performance,” Variety writes: “With her as the lodestar, this is a stranger and more intriguing film than it really has a right to be, one that becomes less about a clandestine courtship between famous women, and more about Woolf’s relationship with her writing, and with the workings of her own beautiful, restless mind.” Isabella Rossellini co-stars as Vida’s stern mother-in-law, Lady Sackville.
8:00pm April 28th: SORRY ANGEL – Ticket information can be found HERE
From acclaimed writer/director Christophe Honoré (“Love Songs,” “Dans Paris”), “Sorry Angel” — which premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival — is a heartbreaking film that offers a mature and deeply emotional reflection on love and loss, youth and aging. In 1993, Jacques (Pierre Deladonchamps), a writer and single father in his 30s, is trying to maintain his sense of romance and humor in spite of health issues and the turmoil in his life and the world. While on a work trip to Brittany, he meets Arthur (Vincent Lacoste), an aspiring filmmaker in his early 20s. Experiencing a sexual awakening and eager to escape his parochial life, Arthur becomes instantly smitten with the older man. A final side to the triangle is added in Mathieu (Denis Podalydès), Jacques’ fortysomething Paris neighbor. An inter-generational snapshot of cruising, courtship, and casual sex amid the rising worldwide AIDS crisis, “Sorry Angel” balances hope for the future with agony over the past, providing an unforgettable drama about finding the courage to love in the moment. The LA Times writes: “Among other things, ‘Sorry Angel’ is a lovingly detailed affirmation of gay male identity, albeit one that never feels as diagrammed or predetermined as that description.”
Check back here at We Are Movie Geeks for more coverage of this years ‘QFest St. Louis’
In THE INTRUDER, a young married couple (Meagan Good and Michael Ealy) buy a beautiful house on several acres of land only to find out that the man they bought it from (Dennis Quaid) refuses to let go of the property.
THE INTRUDER opens everywhere May 3rd, but lucky St. Louisans will have the opportunity to see it in advance! There is a screening Tuesday April 30th at 7pm and We Are Movie Geeks has plenty of tickets to give away! Just leave a message below with your email address and we’ll contact you later this week. It’s so easy!
