Tom Stockman

Mohsen Makhmalbaf: The Poetic Trilogy Available on Blu-ray August 28th from Arrow Academy

One of the preeminent figures of Iranian cinema, Mohsen Makhmalbaf has written and directed an impressive array of acclaimed films, winning accolades at international film festivals and the admiration of world cinema audiences.

This collection presents three of Makhmalbaf s most lyrical films which the director has termed his Poetic Trilogy.

Gabbeh tells of an elderly couple who stop by a stream to wash a vividly woven traditional Persian rug ( Gabbeh ). A beautiful woman, depicted in in the rug s elaborate design, suddenly appears and tells a heart-rending story of love and loss. A film imbued with the ideas of Sufism, The Silence tells of Khorshid, a young blind boy from Tajikistan who earns rent money for his family by tuning rare instruments but becomes enraptured by the sonorous music he hears on his way to work each day. The Gardener is an imaginative documentary which follows Makhmalbaf, and his son Maysam, to Israel to investigate the Bahá’í Faith, a religion with 7 million followers, which originated in Iran 170 years ago.

As well as presenting a wealth of extras, this collection boasts stunning new restorations of Gabbeh and The Silence which truly bring the films rich colours and imagery to life.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

Brand new 2K restorations of The Silence and Gabbeh from the original camera negatives
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of all three films
Original Persian soundtracks with uncompressed LPCM audio
Newly translated English subtitles
Audio commentary on Gabbeh by critic Godfrey Cheshire
Poetry in Motion: An Interview with Mohsen Makhmalbaf, an in-depth conversation between the Iranian auteur and film critic Jonathan Romney, newly produced for this edition
Mohsen with Closed Eyes, an imaginatively filmed archival interview with Makhmalbaf on The Silence
Original trailers
Stills and collections gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Scott Saslow
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated booklet featuring new writing by film academic Negar Mottahedeh and Mohsen Makhmalbaf

IN PERSIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

WAMG Giveaway – Win THE EQUALIZER on 4k Signed by Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua!

“I don’t have a lot of time. Which means you don’t have any!”

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released on 4k Antoine Fuqua’s action thriller The Equalizer (2014), starring Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour, and Haley Bennett.

Now you can own the THE EQUALIZER 4k. We Are Movie Geeks has 2 copies to give away, and one of them is signed by Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua! . All you have to do is leave a comment answering this question: What is your favorite movie directed by Antoine Fuqua? (mine is TRAINING DAY!). It’s so easy!

OFFICIAL RULES:

1. YOU MUST BE A US RESIDENT. PRIZE WILL ONLY BE SHIPPED TO US ADDRESSES. NO P.O. BOXES. NO DUPLICATE ADDRESSES.

2. WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN FROM ALL QUALIFYING ENTRIES.

McCall (Denzel Washington) has put his mysterious past behind him and is dedicated to living a new, quiet life. But when he meets Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can’t stand idly by. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer.
The Equalizer on 4K Blu-ray includes the feature with High Dynamic Range and exclusive Dolby Atmos audio for maximum impact.

Synopsis: McCall (Denzel Washington) has put his mysterious past behind him and is dedicated to living a new, quiet life. But when he meets Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can’t stand idly by. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer.

The Equalizer is directed by Antoine Fuqua from a screenplay by Richard Wenk based on a television series by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim. Executive producers include David J. Bloomfield, Ezra Swerdlow and Ben Waisbren. Producers include Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Tony Eldridge, Mace Neufeld, Alex Siskin, Michael Sloan, Steve Tisch, Denzel Washington, Richard Wenk, Lance Johnson, Molly Allen and Kat Samick.

4K BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

ALL-NEW: Five Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes, featuring McCall’s Epilogue teasing The Equalizer 2
Six Featurettes:
- “A Villain’s Psychosis”
- “Boston: On Location”
- “A Modern Hero”
- “Joining Forces Again: Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua”
- “Playing the Part: The Cast of The Equalizer”
- “The Home Mart Advantage: The Action of The Equalizer”
Theatrical Trailers

BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

Vengeance Mode with Denzel Washington & Antoine Fuqua
Six Featurettes:
- “Denzel Washington: A Different Kind of Superhero”
- “Equalizer Vision: Antoine Fuqua”
- “Inside The Equalizer”
- “One Man Army: Training and Fighting”
- “Home Mart: Taking Care of Business One Bolt at a Time”
- Children of the Night
Photo Gallery

WAMG Giveaway – Win the SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE 25th Anniversary Blu-ray

“Destiny is something we’ve invented because we can’t stand the fact that everything that happens is accidental.”

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment celebrates the 25th anniversary of director Nora Ephron’s romantic comedy SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (1993) with a brand new Blu-ray release of the film, which is now available for purchase.

Now you can own the SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE 25th Anniversary Blu-ray. We Are Movie Geeks has 3 copies to give away. All you have to do is leave a comment answering this question: What is your favorite movie starring Meg Ryan’? (mine is COURAGE UNDER FIRE!). It’s so easy!

OFFICIAL RULES:

1. YOU MUST BE A US RESIDENT. PRIZE WILL ONLY BE SHIPPED TO US ADDRESSES. NO P.O. BOXES. NO DUPLICATE ADDRESSES.

2. WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN FROM ALL QUALIFYING ENTRIES.

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan star in Nora Ephron’s wonderfully romantic comedy about two people drawn together by destiny. Hanks stars as Sam Baldwin, a widowed father who, thanks to the wiles of his worried son, becomes a reluctant guest on a radio call-in show. He’s an instant hit with thousands of female listeners who deluge his Seattle home with letters of comfort. Meanwhile, inspired in equal parts by Sam’s story and by classic Hollywood romance, writer Annie Reed (Ryan) becomes convinced that it’s her destiny to meet Sam. There are just two problems: Annie’s engaged to someone else and Sam doesn’t know yet that they’re made for each other. Co-starring Rosie O’Donnell, Rita Wilson and Rob Reiner.

Win Passes To The Advance Screening of ALPHA In St. Louis

ALPHA, a story of survival set 20,000 years ago during the last Ice Age, opens everywhere August 16th. But lucky St. Louisans can see in in advance! We Are Movie Geeks is giving away passes for an advance screening on August 14th.

For a pair of tickets, all you have to do is add you name and email in our comments section below.NO PURCHASE REQUIRED. A pass does not guarantee a seat at a screening. Seating is on a first-come, first served basis. The theater is often overbooked to assure a full house.

Europe, 20,000 years ago. While on his first hunt with his tribe’s most elite group, a young man is injured and left for dead. Awakening to find himself broken and alone — he must learn to survive and navigate the harsh and unforgiving wilderness. Reluctantly taming a lone wolf abandoned by its pack, the pair learn to rely on each other and become unlikely allies, enduring countless dangers and overwhelming odds in order to find their way home before the deadly winter arrives.

ALPHA stars Kodi Smit-McPhee, Leonor Varela, Natassia Malthe, Priya Rajaratnam, and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson

Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis in THE CADDY This Friday at Webster University

THE CADDY screens at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood) Friday August 3rd. The movie starts at 7:30.

THE CADDY is a Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis comedy from 1953. It’s directed by Norman Taurog and also stars Donna Reed & Barbara Bates. Also featured are some leading professional golfers of the time.

This is one of the most beloved Martin & Lewis movie that sticks rigidly to the formula that made them so popular. Jerry causes mayhem but always endears in doing so, while Dean croons and catches the eye of the ladies. Plot is told in flashback as the popular duo, now big musical hall stars, shows how they got together courtesy of golf. Cue some goofing around on golf courses and chaos unbound as Jerry upsets the upper class toffs of society. Cue carnage in a department store and chaos on the golf course.

Dean sings the Oscar nominated “That’s Amore,” as well as “It’s A Whistle In,” “Kinda Mornin,” “One Big Love” & “What Wouldcha Do Without Me?” Reed and Bates are pretty and adorable, and both play off of the boys with ease. All of which builds to a fun double-take ending to seal the deal as THE CADDY reaching its par on the course of Martin & Lewis movies.

Admission is:

$7 for the general public
$6 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools
$5 for Webster University staff and faculty

Free for Webster students with proper I.D.

Advance tickets are available from the cashier before each screening or contact the Film Series office (314-246-7525) for more options. The Film Series can only accept cash or check.

CADDYSHACK Tees Off at Urban Chestnut August 1st – ‘Strange Brew’

“Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac… It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole!”

Webster University’s Award-Winning Strange Brew Film Series has moved! The new location is Urban Chestnut in the Grove (4465 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis 63110). This month’s film is CADDYSHACK. It’s this Wednesday, August 1st. The movie starts at 8pm and admission is $5.

Harold Ramis is an honorary St. Louisan. He’s not really from here (he’s from Chicago), but he has a star on the St. Louis Walk of fame because he attended Washington University here and based parts of his ANIMAL HOUSE script on his experiences as a member of Wash U’s Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. His directorial debut was the classic 1980 comedy CADDYSHACK which will screen Wednesday night at Urban Chestnut.

CADDYSHACK is a comedy classic that will never get old. The best part about it is it took some of America’s top comic actors when they were at the prime of their careers and built a comedy that’s more than just the sum of its parts. I mean, just having Bill Murray or Rodney Dangerfield in a movie, even a mediocre one, guarantees you will laugh, but this film features these two, along with Chevy Chase and Ted Knight, in what is arguably each man’s funniest effort.

As with most comedies, the plot is pretty much incidental to the film itself. In this case, CADDYSHACK is centered on a young caddy who can’t afford to go to college, so he is forced to suck up to the head of the country club (Ted Knight) in an effort to get his blessing for a caddy scholarship. His golf mentor is a rich heir (Chevy Chase, back when he was still funny) who’s into “Zen golf” and gives Danny advice like “Be the ball” and “A donut with no hole is a Danish”. To complicate matters, a real estate developer (Rodney Dangerfield) shows up with his entourage, looking, not to join the club but instead to buy it. This is the setup for the rest of the film. From the start, the expansive, profane, boorish Dangerfield character clashes with the anal, rigid, and tantrum-prone club president, Judge Smails. And, in the background, Bill Murray is the groundskeeper who’s been ordered to kill all the gophers on the course. Of course, this order comes from his Scottish boss, a man with an accent as thick as Guinness Stout, and Murray’s character Carl, replies “But if I kill all the golfers, they’ll lock me up and throw away the key!”

Anyway, that’s the basic premise. What makes CADDYSHACK work are the lead actors, as well as first rate scriptwriting. You normally wouldn’t think of a golf course as being the scene for great comedy, but with this bunch, anything goes. There’s tons of great dialog; Judge Smails “Danny, I’ve sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn’t want to, but I felt I owed it to them”, Dangerfield to a woman at the club “Last time I saw a mouth like that it had a hook in it!”, Carl to gopher “Don’t mind me, I’m just a harmless squirrel, not a plastic explosive or something”, and on and on. There’s great physical comedy, especially when Rodney goes berzerk with his massive yacht, crashing into anything and everything in sight, and Ted Knight, whose eyes seem to bulge of of their sockets at least once a minute. In short, CADDYSHACK was hilarious 34 years ago and it’s still hilarious today so don’t miss the opportunity to see it on the big screen!

A Facebook invite for the screening can be found HERE
https://www.facebook.com/events/336025393603017/

The movie starts at 8pm and admission is $5. There will be food to order and plenty of pints of Urban Chestnut’s famous home-brewed beer.

David Lynch’s ERASERHEAD Midnights at The Tivoli This Weekend

“Mother, they’re still not sure if it IS a baby.”

David Lynch’s ERASERHEAD plays this weekend (August 3rd and 4th) at The Tivoli at midnight as part of their Reel Late at the Tivoli midnight series.

In the summer of ’78 I was just 16 years old. The Varsity Theater on Delmar (in the building that now houses Vintage Vinyl) was the cool theater that showed ROCKY HORROR at midnight and presented counterculture film programming, mostly for the students at nearby Washington University. BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, ANDY WARHOL’S FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF WAX in 3D, and NINE LIVES OF FRITZ THE CAT were a few of the many movies I saw there. That summer, they had a midnight series on Wednesday nights they called ‘Weird Wednesdays’ (I guess the weekends were strictly for ROCKY HORROR – which I only saw there once). YELLOW SUBMARINE was the only other film I remember seeing on ‘Weird Wednesdays’ though I’m sure I went a few other times. One July Wednesday night, my friends and I ventured up to the Varsity to see a new film that was part of the series – one that put the ‘Weird’ in ‘Weird Wednesday’ – it was something called ERASERHEAD.

ERASERHEAD was of course my first exposure to David Lynch and that Lynchian style. I didn’t know who Lynch was (no one did then) but I found his seminal universe of nightmarish visions remarkable and I still have the “ERASERHEAD – I SAW IT” button they handed out that night.

Seeping chickens, dancing weirdo women, dying alien baby children. ERASERHEAD was a dark, puzzling nightmare that left me so disturbed I could not think of anything else than the film for days. I had witnessed nothing quite like it – this was long before independent surreal, avant-garde films were a dime a dozen – it was a film of the future (my experience watching the recent UNDER THE SKIN reminded me a bit of the first time I saw ERASERHEAD). Make no mistake about it, David Lynch is a genius/madman (take your choice) and ERASERHEAD was his first full blown feature film. Years later I read that Lynch had personally accompanied the film city to city in 1978 for screenings, so I assumed (or, more likely, wanted to believe) that Lynch was in the audience at the Varsity that night with me. A couple of years ago I was talking to local filmmaker Roy Zurich, who was manager of the Varsity in the late ‘70s. Roy informed me that no, Lynch was not in attendance that night.

Lynch began work on ERASERHEAD when he was given a small grant by the AFI Conservatory, but the money ran out and it took him over 5 years to finish — in spurts. ERASERHEAD is certainly not for everyone…in fact, it’s not for most, however, you can surely see the singular artistic vision that is David Lynch’s — his style, pacing, use of music, visuals, are all on display. Stanley Kubrick was a huge fan of ERASERHEAD and forced the cast and crew of THE SHINING to watch it to put them in the right mood.

ERASERHEAD had an extended run at the Varsity a couple of months later and played at the Tivoli a couple of times in the ‘80s, but I never experienced it on the big screen again. If you’ve seen ERASERHEAD only on DVD, you haven’t really seen ERASERHEAD. That’s a cliché, but in this case, it’s true. Lucky St. Louisans will have the opportunity to fly to planet Lynch and see ERASERHEAD when it screens at the Tivoli in St. Louis this Friday and Saturday nights (August 3rd and 4th) as part of the ‘Reel Late at the Tivoli’ midnight show.

I’ll be there, and I’ll be wearing my 40-year old “ERASERHEAD – I SAW IT” button

The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!

A Facebook invite for the screening can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/680323085642101/

The Tivoli’s website can be found HERE

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/st.louis/tivolitheatre.htm

Here’s the midnight for the next several weeks:

August 10-11: GHOST IN THE SHELL

August 17-18: BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER

August 24-25: CRIMSON PEAK

August 31 – Sept. 1: MAD MAX FURY ROAD

Sept 7-8: SPIRITED AWAY

Sept 14-15: THE WITCH

Reel Late at the Tivoli takes place every Friday and Saturday night and We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman (that’s me!) is there on Fridays with custom trivia questions about the films and always has DVDs, posters, and other cool stuff to give away. Ticket prices are $8. We hope to see everyone late at night in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned here at We Are Movie Geeks for more updates on the Midnight series!

And The Winner is… St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase Winners Announced!

And the winner is……..St. Louis!

With this years St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, we’ve again proven that our city is packed with ridiculously talented filmmakers, actors, and other artisans.

The St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, an annual presentation of the nonprofit Cinema St. Louis, serves as the area’s primary venue for films made by local artists. The Showcase screens works that were written, directed, edited, or produced by St. Louis natives or films with strong local ties. The various film programs that screened at the Tivoli from July 13-22, 2018 serve as the Showcase’s centerpiece. The programs ranged from full-length fiction features and documentaries to multi-film compilations of fiction and documentary shorts. Many programs included post-screening Q&As with filmmakers. Filmmakers of all ages within a 120 mile radius of St. Louis were strongly encouraged to submit their works, or at the very least attend the event to celebrate the amazingly talented St. Louis filmmakers.

The jury for the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase gave out more than two dozen awards to filmmakers at the closing-night awards party held on Sunday, July 22, at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room. Cinema St. Louis also announced the Showcase films chosen for inclusion in the St. Louis International Film Festival.

Two films, narrative feature “Parallel Chords” and narrative short “Foxes,” each received the major awards. The full list of winners and films invited to screen this fall in the St. Louis International Film Festival are posted below.

The 18th Annual Whitaker St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, a presentation of the nonprofit Cinema St. Louis, serves as the area’s primary venue for films made by local artists. The Showcase screens works that were written, directed, edited, or produced by St. Louis residents or films with strong local ties.

Twenty film programs screened at Washington University’s Brown Hall from July 13-15 and 20-22. The programs ranged from full-length fiction features and documentaries to multi-film compilations of fiction and documentary shorts. This year’s Showcase featured 107 films

The Whitaker Foundation again served as the Showcase’s title sponsor. The foundation’s twofold mission is to encourage the preservation and use of parks and to enrich lives through the arts.

The event’s other sponsors included the Arts & Education Council, Missouri Arts Council, Missouri Film Office, The Muny, Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, and Urban Chestnut Brewing Co.

For more information, the public should visit cinemastlouis.org. For press inquiries, call Chris Clark at 314-289-4152 or email chris@cinemastlouis.org.

SHOWCASE JURIED AWARD WINNERS

DOCUMENTARIES

Best Use of Music: Busking on the Wagon, Randy Shinn & Drew Gowran

Best Sound: Such and Such, Cory Byers

Best Editing: Gateway Sound, Justin Fisher & Patrick Lawrence

Best Cinematography: Lingua Francas, David Christopher Pitt

Best Local Subject: The Man Behind the Merferds, Phil Berwick

Best Direction: Lisa Boyd, An American Tragedy

Best Documentary Short: For a Better Life, Yasmin Mistry

Best Documentary Feature: Gateway Sound, Justin Fisher

EXPERIMENTAL

Best Experimental Film: Passages in Revisiting: I Hear Someone Playing Urheen, Xinyue Deng

NARRATIVES

Best Costumes: Shutter, Nancy Eppert & Maude Vintage

Best Makeup/Hairstyling: East Plains: Get Out!, Jessica Dana

Best Use of Music: The Wedding Song, Ben Stanton, Thia Schuessler, & Will Dickerson

Best Sound: Strings, Ross Mercer, Ryan Kneezle, & Theo Lodato

Best Production Design/Art Direction: Parallel Chords, Gypsi Pate

Best Special/Visual Effects: Dawn of Man, Vlad Sarkisov

Best Editing: MLM, Benjamin Dewhurst

Best Cinematography: Parallel Chords, Kyle Krupinksi

Best Screenplay: Foxes, Tristan Taylor & Garrick Bernard

Best Actor: Ayinde Howell, Foxes

Best Actress: Jackie Kelly, Mother of Calamity

Best Direction: Richard Louis Ulrich, Steve

Best Animated Film: Tiffanys, Caitlin Chiusano, Sean Esser, & Zhara Honore

Best Comedy: Cabin Killer, Michael Rich

Best Drama: Saint Sinner, Brian Cooksey

Best Narrative Short: Foxes, Tristan Taylor

Best Narrative Feature: Parallel Chords, Catherine Dudley-Rose

Films invited to SLIFF 2018

FEATURES

An American Tragedy, Lisa Boyd

The Best of Us: 100 Years of Muny Magic, Kathy Bratkowski

Dirty Laundry, Conor Lewis

Gateway Sound, Justin Fisher

Parallel Chords, Catherine Dudley-Rose

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

#thesocialmovement, St. Louis Artworks Digital Squad

The 610 Project, Jessica Ambuehl & Alvaro Aro

The Buck: Midwest Gully, Jun Bae

Crowning Change: The Erin O’Flaherty Story, Alexis Kadey

Flags of Valor, Lou Cariffe

For a Better Life, Yasmin Mistry

The Joy of Doing, Ryan Fitzgerald & Jack Mulopulos

The Kinloch Doc, Alana Marie

Lingua Francas, Bret Hoy

The Man Behind the Merferds, Josh Herum

The Mountains That Made Me, Sharee Silerio

Movement Women: The Making of a Crew, Aziza Binti

Such and Such, Cory Byers & Ashley Seering

The Wave, Christopher Hill & Sean Loftin

NARRATIVE & EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS

2.0, Shane Dioneda

Ashlock, Elliott Geolat

Birth Cycle: A Flip Book, Zak Zych

The Blair Trump Project, Paul Hibbard

Cabin Killer, Michael Rich

Foxes, Tristan Hill

Fugue, Gabe Sheets

Geek Lounge: Going Solo, Larry Ziegelman

Love in a Vacuum, Jenna Anderson, Kyla Anderson, Paige Lockwood, Brent Uramoto & Lincoln Ward

Saint Sinner, Brian Cooksey

Steve, Richard Louis Ulrich

Story 2: Scenes 1-9, Zlatko Cosic

The Stroke, Jessica Pierce

Tapeta Lucida, Zlatko Cosic

Tiffanys, Caitlin Chiusano, Sean Esser & Zhara Honore

The Wedding Song, Rex New & Thia Schuessler

Z-Grid, Van McElwee

GRAY AREA: WOLVES OF THE SOUTHWEST Screens At Webster University July 27th – 29th

GRAY AREA: WOLVES OF THE SOUTHWEST, directed by Dean Cannon,screens At Webster University Friday July 27th through Sunday July 29th. The movie starts at 7:30 each evening.

Executive Producer Alan Lacy’s film GRAY AREA: WOLVES OF THE SOUTHWEST explores the plight of a species the world almost lost forever. Along with Director Dean Cannon and TLP Media, the 50-minute feature tells the story of “El Lobo”, the Mexican gray wolf once exterminated from the wild but, through the efforts of dedicated people, is now making a comeback. This wolf is a subspecies of the northern gray wolf and has historically existed from the northern tip of Arizona to central Mexico. Now, growing in number from a very small foundation and living in the wild, the Mexican gray wolf faces new and old problems as it comes back from the brink of extinction. Alan Lacy uses his love of photography, storytelling, and a passionate connection with “El lobo” in the creation of this film. Starting in 2011, Lacy has followed the path of the Mexican wolf from the captive breeding program to release in the wild. With his ability of storytelling he shares the perspectives of dedicated people behind the wolf recovery program and what it has taken to reach a wild population of just under 100 wolves and growing. Also from his desire to do something for the cause he created a website to educate others on the natural history and endangered status of the wolf, at the same time adding to the support of the film and recovery program.

Director Dean Cannon grew up in the Sonora Desert of Arizona where he developed a passion for flying and photography. These two things brought him around the world working for such organizations as Animal Planet, Discovery HD, and National Geographic Channel. Dean continues to work with Alaska Fish and Game flying around the entire state filming. These two have brought the experience, background, and connection with the natural world to the story of a species vying for its very existence in the area that it has historically called home. The film starts with a narration on the history of the species. Once roaming from the top of Arizona to central Mexico, they numbered over 10,000 strong. Yet, very similarly to their northern relatives, encroaching human populations sponsored by government bounties eradicated the species. Thought to be extinct from the wild in the Southwestern US completely by the 1940s, the potentially last 5 remaining wild individuals were captured in remote states of Mexico between 1977 and 1980. Along with two individuals from captivity these 7 were the genetic foundation of future populations. Through interviews with the current and former Coordinators of the US Fish and Wildlife Mexican Wolf Recovery Program and historic imagery, the viewer gains perspective on this history and the efforts to keep “El Lobo” from extinction once it was listed as an endangered species in 1976. After nearly 20 years of captive breeding some were released in 1998. Very similar to footage taken in Bob Landis’ 1998 film “Wolf Pack” during the Yellowstone release into localizing pens, the audience sees the actual historic footage of this localization before complete release into the wild. The audience starts to get a sense of the plight of the species historically while being drawn in by the efforts of reestablishing a top predator and their eventual release.

Admission is:

$7 for the general public
$6 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools
$5 for Webster University staff and faculty

Free for Webster students with proper I.D.

Advance tickets are available from the cashier before each screening or contact the Film Series office (314-246-7525) for more options. The Film Series can only accept cash or check.

BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE This Weekend Midnights at The Tivoli

“You killed Ted, you medieval dickweed!”

BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE plays this weekend (July 27th and 28th) at The Tivoli at midnight as part of their Reel Late at the Tivoli midnight series.

Since its release in 1989, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure inspired a sequel (BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY), a Saturday morning cartoon, a comic book series, and launched actor Keanu Reeves into movie stardom. That is excellent enough reason to explain why Bill and Ted went on to become a cult classic of epic proportions. But why is this film so loved even today?

Bill & Ted doesn’t exactly have the most sophisticated of plots: This shaggy dog story follows a pair of teenage airheads, Ted “Theodore” Logan (Keanu Reeves) and Bill S. Preston (Alex Winter), in risk of flunking out at high school, if they don’t pass history. Along comes George Carlin from the future, equipped with a time machine (a variant on Doctor Who’s TARDIS), which allows the boys to experience history first hand. Borrowing the time travelling phone booth, Bill and Ted journey to the past to retrieve a few historical characters for their oral exam, but Bill and Ted soon discover that bringing them back to the future won’t be easy.

It’s a no-brainer of a film, but an effective one, no less. BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE sparkles with simple charm, a vibrant cast, and a brand of Valley-dude-speech, delivered with perfect timing throughout, by the young cast. It also identifies itself completely with its heroes and their simple philosophy to ‘be excellent to each other’. Unlike the protagonists of recent comedies, Bill and Ted demonstrate a heavy dose of likability, allowing the viewer to keep rooting for them.

The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!

A Facebook invite for the screening can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/237005097095531
The Tivoli’s website can be found HERE

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/st.louis/tivolitheatre.htm

Here’s the midnight for the next several weeks:

August 3-4: ERASERHEAD

August 10-11: GHOST IN THE SHELL

August 17-18: BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER

August 24-25: CRIMSON PEAK

August 31 – Sept. 1: MAD MAX FURY ROAD

Sept 7-8: SPIRITED AWAY

Sept 14-15: THE WITCH

Reel Late at the Tivoli takes place every Friday and Saturday night and We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman (that’s me!) is there with custom trivia questions about the films and always has DVDs, posters, and other cool stuff to give away. Ticket prices are $8. We hope to see everyone late at night in the coming weeks.

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