And now I believe we’re officially in the Fall movie season, as the newest project from one of the most acclaimed “indie” filmmakers of the last twenty-five years or so releases his newest work into theatres, not just in the “art house” cinemas, but in multiplexes everywhere (and maybe a few drive-ins). That’s because it’s a much more general audience “accessible” than many of his previous projects. For one thing, it boasts a stellar cast headed by a “rising star”. And it’s in the “area” of one of the most popular genres, one that’s usually abundant in the summertime, the “crime thriller”, mixed with a few quirky comedy touches. It’s based on a popular novel, actually part of a “series” whose “double meaning” title becomes apparent while watching CAUGHT STEALING.
After a bright and sunny prologue at the final moments of a big high school baseball game, we’re sent to the grimy Lower East Side streets of NYC circa 1998. Twenty-something Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) has a pretty great life “slingin’ suds” at a rowdy “dive bar”. The best part of his gig is “last call” when his gorgeous EMT girlfriend Yvonne (Zo Kravits) waits for him to lock up. From there, the duo heads to his grungy walk-up apartment. In the hallway, they run into Hank’s punk-rocker (mohawk and spiked leather jacket, natch’) Brit neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith). He’s gotta’ fly home to see his dying Dad, so he asks Hank to take care of his cat, Bud. No prob. After some “sexytime”, Yvonne leaves for work in the morning as Hank nurses one of many nasty hangovers. Seems he’s trying to numb the pain of a painful memory. A call to his mother in Patterson, CA eases his head as they bond over a love of the San Francisco Giants baseball team. Later, he accosts two tough-looking Russians trying to break into Russ’s place. The thugs think that Russ gave Hank something they want. He tells them that he has nothing aside from Bud the cat, which earns Hank a severe beating from the two. Waking up in a hospital bed, he tells Yvonne that he can’t wait to be discharged. Back at his place, Hank is interviewed by Narcotics Detective Roman (Regina King), who informs him that Russ is into some shady business with the Russian mob, and he’s also involved with two “scary monsters”, the vicious Hasidic Drucker brothers (Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio). After they leave, Hank uncovers a key that Russ left. He heads back to the bar to hide it, but begins a “bender” that leaves him unable to recall what he did with it. This doesn’t sit well with the Russians, who return with their equally violent boss, a Puerto Rican club owner named Colorado (Benito A Martinez Ocasio, AKA pop music superstar “Bad Bunny”). Can Hank escape them as he tries to cut through the drunken fog of the previous night? And if he does lose them, what will happen if the Drucker brothers catch up to him? And when will that darn Russ return?
That rising star I mentioned earlier would be the very charismatic Mr. Butler, who is steadily building an interesting movie resume after his breakthrough as Elvis. He is the reluctant hero with roots in classic noir cinema. Hank is a fairly good guy who is plunged into the dark netherworld of 90s drug gangs. But he’s not without his own darkness. Butler shows Hank’s inner torment as he wakes up from memories of a not-so-long-ago time when his poor judgment took away everything from him. But there’s little time for pity, or for boozy amnesia, as the walls close in. Through his expressive eyes, Butler shows us how Hank must drink in his new situations while formulating a plan at near light speed. He’s also terrific in the lighter moments, especially in the crazy, flirty chemistry-fueled scenes with the bubbly Kravitz as his sexy voice of reason, Yvonne. She truly cares about Hank, which exacerbates her frustration with his lifestyle choices, revved up after that hospital stay was cut short. Another calming influence is King, whose tough but still tender cop may be just the guide to get Hank past this nightmare alive. Smith brings some angry, funny energy as the Cockney rocker who fights to keep his 80s style while adoring his kitty. Schreiber and D’Onofrio are very compelling as the brothers whose religious adherence and attire juxtapose with their murderous intent and ruthlessness. They seem reasonable at times, until they see an opportunity to strike with deadly force. At least they’re sweet with their Bubbe, played by the always endearing Carol Kane as the stern and nurturing matriarch, though there’s a touch of menace in the advice she offers to Hank.
The filmmaker of this intricately layered bit of “pulp fiction” is the man behind many “offbeat” cinematic “trips”, Darren Aronofsky. Here he’s working with Charlie Huston’s screenplay adaptation of his novel of the same name. For the most part, Mr. A keeps us firmly on “ground level” with few “flights of fancy” or flashy flourishes (he makes good use of slo-mo and drones). He keeps us right with Hank as we can almost smell his sweaty panic as he races through a very dirty and dangerous NYC (really wonderful location work). And as I mentioned, Darren puts a unique spin on several tropes of the classic noir thrillers of the 40s and 50s. With a flawed hero struggling to keep “afloat” while straining to recall a boozy night, the story riffs on films like D.O.A., DETOUR, and AFTER HOURS (which makes the casting of its star Griffin Dunne as Hank’s biker/hippie boss a great “nod”). I should mention that the folks behind the marketing are doing the film a disservice by selling it as a wild comic “caper” romp, since Mr. A doesn’t shy away from the brutality and “ick” factor around alcohol abuse (yes, Hank rarely makes it to the “porcelain throne”). Yes, there are a few sluggish sequences prior to the big action, with twists, finale, but it delivers all the thrills, though not as deftly as the recent RELAY (more stunts and explosives with this new one). Aronofsky appears to be working very well out of his “arty” comfort zone with the gritty thriller CAUGHT STEALING.
3 Out of 4
CAUGHT STEALING is now playing in theatres everywhere
Jason Schwartzman as Ben and Carol Kane as Carla, in Nathan Silver’s dark humor yet sweet Jewish comedy BETWEEN THE TEMPLES. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Jason Schwartzman plays a cantor who has lost his singing voice, his wife and maybe even hope, whose life is changed when his grade-school music teacher, played by Carol Kane, becomes his adult bat mitzvah student, in Nathan Silver’s offbeat, darkly funny but sweet Jewish comedy BETWEEN THE TEMPLES.
After the sudden death of his wife, Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman) has lost his singing voice, his enjoyment of life, and even, maybe, his faith. Unable to bear living in the house he shared with his late wife Ruth, Ben now lives with his doting artist mother Meira (Caroline Aaron) and his overeager, real estate agent stepmother Judith (Dolly de Leon) in the basement of their big home. Rabbi Bruce (Robert Smigel), still keeps Ben’s position as the cantor at his family’s Reform Jewish synagogue, Temple Sinai, open for him, and is encouraging.
But after a year of mourning, his rabbi, his mother and his stepmother are all ready for Ben to move on with his life, and rejoin community life. Hoping to help, Rabbi Bruce pushes Ben to resume his singing as cantor at the next Shabbat service. Meanwhile, his stepmother Judith encourages Ben to begin dating – with some dates already waiting just out of sight as soon as he concedes it might be a good idea.
But the cantor isn’t ready, and can’t handle either. Despondent after the disastrous performance at the synagogue, Ben even lays down in the middle of a road, in front of an oncoming 18-wheeler. When the truck driver sees him and brakes, Ben urges him to “keep going,” to run over him anyway. Instead the driver gives the cantor a ride to a bar, when Ben takes refuge and quickly picks a fight with someone who looks his way, and gets punched. A quirky older woman comes to his rescue, helping up from the floor, a woman the cantor soon recognizes as his grade school vocal teacher Mrs. O’Connor (Carol Kane), the person who inspired him to have a career in music and become a cantor. The two seem to connect immediately, offering the first ray of light in Ben’s dark world in a long time.
But when the retired music teacher turns up the next day at Ben’s temple things take a strange turn. She arrives as Ben is teaching the bar/bat mitzvah class, the only thing Ben has managed to continue doing for the synagogue. Mrs. O’Connor announces that despite her Irish married name, she’s Jewish and her maiden name was Carla Kessler. Now a widow, Carla Kessler has gone back to her Jewish maiden name, and she wants to have the bat mitzvah she never had as a girl. She never had one, she explains, because her parents were communists, making her a “red diaper baby.” Growing up in a Jewish neighborhood, she was surrounded at 13 by other children having bar and bat mitzvahs but she knew neither her parents nor the temple would even let her have one. Now the retired teacher wanted to do just that.
Although Ben was pleased to reconnect with his childhood music teacher, Ben doesn’t want to take her on as a bat mitzvah student, and tells her it is “too late” for her. Angered at being told she’s too old, she persists, chasing and hounding Ben, and when Rabbi Bruce intervenes and Ben gives in.
Rather than have Carla join his class of young students, Ben starts coaching Carla for her bat mitzvah one-on-one in his office. The process is supposed to take a year, during which she learns Hebrew and memorizes a Torah portion that corresponds to her birthday month. The two begin to share memories of her music classes way back when. Eventually the lessons move to her nearby home, and Carla also starts to coach Ben in breathing exercises to recover his singing voice. They trade off the role of teacher, and each gives the other support neither gets elsewhere. Ben teaches Carla, encouraging her Hebrew pronunciation, and Carla becomes his encouraging teacher again, as well as a kind of mother figure and a best friend who truly gets him.
BETWEEN THE TEMPLES debuted at Sundance to strong reviews. Director/co-writer Nathan Silver’s films are known for their sharp, witty humor but also for their emotion and heart. That humor is present here in abundance but the film also has a strange sweetness too in the scenes between Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane. Those scenes are the real moments of magic, with a charm and appealing quirk reminiscent of “Harold and Maude.” The film also has good doses of screwball comedy, particularly in the scenes with family, as well as some serious things to say, behind it all. Things may look conventional on the surface but little is underneath.
While Ben and Carla are teaching and learning from each other, stepmother Judith continues arranging dates for Ben with “nice Jewish girls,” sometimes without telling Ben or even checking much on the girls. Meanwhile, Rabbi Bruce wants to introduce Ben to his daughter Gabby, who has recently gone through a broken engagement and will be back in town soon.
There is an undercurrent of poking fun at expectations. Ben keeps kosher and his faith means a lot to him, so his rabbi and stepmother would like to fix him up with a nice Jewish girl – a traditional match. But plenty is not traditional in his life, like his two mothers. His childhood music teacher, Mrs. O’Connor, turns out to be Jewish, and Carla Kessler becomes his adult bat mitzvah student, but she doesn’t even know what’s kosher. At one point, Ben even wanders into a Christian church, and engages in an offbeat, dryly funny chat with the priest, even asking if he, Ben, started believing in heaven, would his late wife join him there. “You might check with the Mormons for that,” the priest replies. It’s clever but respectful.
Jewish mothers play a big role in the film and how it came about. Carol Kane has said in interviews that she partly based her character on her mother, a vocal music teacher who re-invented her life after being widowed in mid-life. Director Nathan Silver has said he was inspired to make the movie after his mother Cindy Silver enrolled in classes for her adult bat mitzvah, something she never had as a “red diaper baby” like Carla.
Carol Kane and Jason Schwartzman have wonderful chemistry together. There is sweetness that is hard to describe and equally hard to resist, as they form an island of simplicity in the churning sea of complexity from both their families. Carol Kane is a delight in this role, giving a winning performance. Jason Schwartzman plays against his usual handsome leading man type in Wes Anderson films, by playing a slubby fellow, a bit gone to seed, with little purpose in life. It is the kind of role we are more likely to expect from Steve Carell but Schwartzman pulls it off very well. All the supporting players are wonderful as well, particularly Robert Smigel as Rabbi Bruce, delivering lines with deadpan humor.
BETWEEN THE TEMPLES is an offbeat comedy about Jewish identity that takes some odd turns but offers a surprising sweetness in the scenes between the two main characters, along with a strange yet somehow satisfying ending.
BETWEEN THE TEMPLES opens Friday, Aug. 23, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and nationwide, and on Friday, Aug. 30, at the Hi-Pointe Theater.
” Jill, this is sergeant Sacker. Listen to me. We’ve traced the call… it’s coming from inside the house. Now a squad car’s coming over there right now, just get out of that house!”
Carol Kane in WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979) is available on Blu-ray From Mill Creek Entertainment. Order information can be found HERE
Every babysitter’s nightmare becomes real…
A terrified young baby-sitter…an incessantly ringing phone…and whispered threats set the stage for one of the most suspenseful thrillers ever filmed. Carol Kane stars as the baby-sitter who is tormented by a series of ominous phone calls until a compulsive cop (Charles Durning) is brought on the scene to apprehend the psychotic killer. Seven years later, however, the nightmare begins again when the madman returns to mercilessly haunt Kane, now a wife and mother. No longer a naive girl, though still terrified, but prepared, she moves boldly to thwart the maniac’s attack in scenes that culminate in a nerve-shattering conclusion.
Forty years ago this summer, a frog with a dream to make millions of people happy hopped out of the swamp, onto a bicycle and into cinema history in “The Muppet Movie.” For two days only this July, the original classic is back in movie theaters nationwide from Fathom Events, The Jim Henson Company and Universal Pictures.
Tickets are available at www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices.
“The Muppet Movie” will play in more than 700 movie theaters on Thursday, July 25, and Tuesday, July 30, at 12:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time each day through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (DBN). For a complete list of theater locations, visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).
Following massive global success with the television hit “The Muppet Show,” which at its height aired in more than 100 countries around the world, Muppets creator Jim Henson took a huge creative risk to have the characters star in their first motion picture. The result, “The MuppetMovie,” directed by James Frawley, proved to be an enormous box-office hit. The film also charmed critics and received an Academy Award® nomination for “The Rainbow Connection,” the film’s iconic theme song with music and lyrics by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher.
The film stars Kermit (performed by Henson), Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear (performed by Frank Oz), Gonzo (performed by Dave Goelz) and his chicken Camilla (performed by Jerry Nelson), Scooter (performed by Richard Hunt), and Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem as they embark on a road trip to Hollywood where fame and fortune beckons, driven only by hope, dreams and a wisecracking bear.
In addition to the Muppet performers, “The Muppet Show” is a veritable who’s-who of 1970s pop culture, with a cast that includes Charles Durning, Austin Pendleton and cameo roles by Dom DeLuise, James Coburn, Madeline Kahn, Carol Kane, Telly Savalas, Milton Berle, Elliott Gould, Edgar Bergen, Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, Cloris Leachman and Orson Welles.
“‘The Muppet Movie’ is a cinematic treasure, a delightful film that may have been made 40 years ago but is truly timeless, thanks both to its iconic characters and to its always-stirring theme of following your dreams and believing in your own abilities,” said Tom Lucas, Fathom Events Vice President of Studio Relations. “This film’s return to the big screen is very well deserved and we are happy to work with The Jim Henson Company and Universal Pictures to give it a proper nationwide re-release.”
Jim Jarmusch lets us know right off the bat
that THE
DEAD DON’T DIE, his
take on the zombie genre is not to be taken seriously. It plays the film’s
irreverent title song (by Sturgill Simpson) over the opening credits. Minutes
later the song is playing in the squad car of Police Chief Cliff Robertson
(Bill Murray), prompting him to wonder why it sounds so familiar. “It’s the
film’s theme song,” his deputy Ronnie Peterson (Adam Driver) matter-of-factly
replies, in the first of several meta moments (mostly delivered by Driver) that
include references to the script and “Jim”, the director. There have been
zombie comedies before, but Jarmusch puts the ‘dead’ in ‘deadpan’ with THE DEAD
DON’T DIE, a quirky zombie parody featuring what’s justifiably been billed as
‘the greatest cast ever assembled for a zombie film’: Bill Murray, Adam Driver,
Tilda Swinton, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones,
Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Sara Driver, RZA, Selena Gomez, Carol Kane, Austin
Butler, Luka Sabbat and Tom Waits.
In an environmental twist to the zombie legend, it seems the Earth has spun off its axis by something called “polar fracking” causing the dead to spring to life in the one-stoplight town of Centerville, PA and go on the hunt for blood, brains, coffee, wi-fi, chardonnay, and cable TV, things they desired during their living days. THE DEAD DON’T DIE should be enjoyed by everyone who loves Jarmush’s particular low-key style of comedy, but it probably won’t win many converts. Jarmush’s self-conscious, often silly script and absurdist tone makes it hard to fully indulge in its horrific elements, but as director he shows a surprising eye for foggy graveyard atmosphere. Even if the laughs are muted, the cast makes it worthwhile. Highlights include Tom Waits as a woods-dwelling recluse, Steve Buscemi as a racist blowhard who sports a “Make America White Again” hat, and Chloë Sevigny as the only cop on the small force who seems concerned that the citizenry are dining on each other. Tilda Swinton spoofs the sword-wielding philosophical oracle shtick she’s been doing in films lately. She’s terrific, but the heart of THE DEAD DON’T DIE is the dialog between Murray and Driver. “This isn’t going to end well” the deputy repeats, in a running joke with a big pay-off. THE DEAD DON’T DIE meanders in its second half, and eventually runs out of steam but its still recommended.
To paraphrase a familiar radio and TV character’s beloved intro, it’s time to “return to those thrilling days of yesteryear”. Yes thrilling and truly dangerous. That would be the very wild West, that is the Western United States and territories of the mid-nineteenth century. Modern moviegoers don’t get much of a chance to see a real “oater” since Westerns became more sporadic, perhaps supplanted in the late 1970’s by the Science Fiction-set fantasies. It’s been almost a year since HOSTILES came galloping into multiplexes. And now another filmmaker “saddles up” for this new story of gunplay in the sagebrush. So, who is tackling the most American of movie backdrops? Why it’s celebrated French writer/director of A PROPHET and DHEEPAN Jacques Audiard (born in Paris, no less) who offers a very unique look at the deadly duo who menaced the prairie, the men known as THE SISTERS BROTHERS.
Their story begins in 1851 at a near-deserted ranch in the dead of night. The two brothers, Eli (John C. Reilly) and Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix), burst in on a disparate group of men, Gunshots echo over the land, and the peaceful setting is soon a blazing inferno. Next morning, Charlie confers with their boss, the rich property owner known as The Commodore. The Sisters Brothers have little time to rest as they are given their next assignment. An aspiring prospector named Herman Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) has skipped out on a loan and needs to be brought in by any means necessary. Another member of the team of enforcers, scout John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) has gone ahead to track Warm. Morris will leave word for the men along the trail to San Francisco. Eli and Charlie bicker (as brothers are wont) as they ride through the lush hills and forests, managing to escape death, both from the wildlife and from the residents of an oft-kilter village named, of all things, Mayfield. Their adventures are intercut with the unexpected friendship of Morris and Warm, who hopes to use his scientific skills with a chemical mixture to easily scoop up gold nuggets from the riverbeds. When all four finally meet, the brothers mull over a life-changing decision. Should they continue to be The Commodore’s enforcers, or should they start a new life with Morris and Warm, a life more gentle, and finally put down roots in the land of opportunity that is old California? And will their boss send others to bring them back, just as the Sisters Brothers hope to hang up their holsters forever?
Though he’s saddled (sorry) with the role of the quieter sibling, John C. Reilly’s superb performance really carries this tale of redemption. His Eli has the most complex character “arc”, going from listless “gun for hire” through a realization that he just can’t keep living this way. Though he’s entering the “twilight” of his life, Reilly shows us how an uncultured man is open to change and eager to “better” himself. This is best shown in a sequence in which Eli discovers and is fascinated by the miraculous new invention of the toothbrush, along with its foaming powder (this is echoed later as he is stunned at the wonders of the “water closet”). Just as he amuses us, Reilly pulls at our heartstrings as Eli longs for a true “pure” love, with a red scarf to remind him of that missed chance at bliss. Reilly’s great in the “goofball” misfits of the Will Ferrell team-ups, but here he truly gets to show the range of his talents. Oh, and he is part of an engaging team in his pairing with the “wild card” Charlie played with verve by Phoenix. He’s coarse and crude, but he’s hiding a truly horrific family secret. Unfortunately, Charlie’s drunken swagger is too similar to Phoenix’s recent role as the inebriated cartoonist in DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT. Speaking of duos, this film marks an unexpected reunion of the stars of 2014’s cult classic NIGHTCRAWLER. Oddly the two actors seem to be more “in sync’ this time around. Gyllenhaal’s Morris and Ahmed’s Warm are articulate, thoughtful men who are often “out of place’, maybe two “fish out of water” in the brutal and violent West. Like Eli, Morris has that “itch” and the level-headed Warm draws him into another life option (but nothing like Gyllanhaal’s last Western, the one on the mountain). This film also offers several great, almost cameos, roles wonderfully realized by rising star Alison Tolman (TV’s “Fargo”) and screen veterans Carol Kane and Rutger Hauer (don’t blink).
Audiard’s confident direction (you’d think he had a couple of “horse operas” under his gunbelt) keeps this sprawling saga moving at a brisk clip for the first hour or so. That opening range “raid’ is a real corker, with pistol blasts suddenly lighting up the silent darkness. It concludes with a fiery image that’s so beautiful and horrific it may visit your dreams (nightmares, more likely). That same’s true for the eerie interlude at the saloon/brothel of Mayfield, making us wonder if the “hole in the wall” escaped Purgatory or Hell itself. Unfortunately, the movie’s momentum slackens when the teams join forces on the riverbanks and “gold fever’ strikes. Perhaps about 15 or twenty minutes could have been excised from the screenplay by Audiard and Thomas Bidegain which adapts the lauded novel by Patrick DeWitt. But it’s got a subtle, haunting score by Alexandre Desplat which works so well with the majestic cinematography by Benoit Debie. Their work, along with Reilly’s compelling performance, carries the film through the rough spots of the long, winding trail. It’s not another SHANE or THE SEARCHERS, but the legend of THE SISTERS BROTHERS has scenes that will stay with you long after you dismount the theatre saddle, er…seat.
2.5 Out of 5
THE BROTHERS SISTER opens everywhere and screens exclusively in St. Louis at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas
See the new poster for THE SISTERS BROTHERS starring John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Riz Ahmed.
Director Jacques Audiard’s THE SISTERS BROTHERS will premiere this Sunday, September 2 at the Venice Film Festival before heading to the Toronto International Film Festival next weekend.
THE SISTERS BROTHERS opens September 21, 2018 in NY and LA
From acclaimed director Jacques Audiard (Rust and Bone, A Prophet), and based on the novel by Patrick deWitt, THE SISTERS BROTHERS is a reimagining of the cinematic Western as a dangerous, witty, and emotionally cathartic exploration of what it means to be a man.
It is 1851, and Charlie and Eli Sisters (Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly) are both brothers and assassins, boys grown to men in a savage and hostile world. They have blood on their hands: that of criminals, that of innocents…and they know no state of existence other than being gunmen. The older of the two, introspective Eli (Reilly) rides hard with his younger sibling yet dares to dream of a normal life. The younger of the two, hard-drinking Charlie (Phoenix) has taken charge with gusto as lead man on the duo’s assignments. Each increasingly questions, and quibbles with, the other’s methods.
John C. Reilly (left) stars as “Eli Sisters” and Joaquin Phoenix (right) stars as “Charlie Sisters” in Jacques Audiard’s THE SISTERS BROTHERS, an Annapurna Pictures release. Credit : Magali Bragard / Annapurna Pictures
The Sisters brothers find themselves on a journey through the Northwest, bringing them to the mountains of Oregon, a dangerous brothel in the small town of Mayfield, and eventually, the Gold Rush land of California – a journey that will test the deadly family ties that bind. But, can it also be the path to rediscovering what remains of their humanity?
THE SISTERS BROTHERS also stars Jake Gyllenhaal as learned scout John Morris, and Riz Ahmed as fugitive chemist Hermann Kermit Warm.
John C. Reilly (left) stars as “Eli Sisters” and Joaquin Phoenix (right) stars as “Charlie Sisters” in Jacques Audiard’s THE SISTERS BROTHERS, an Annapurna Pictures release. Credit : Magali Bragard / Annapurna Pictures
“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!”
Why is this such a classic line in the minds of many? I don’t know, really. But I do know that the way that Mandy Patinkin delivers it in this film has ‘classic line’ written all over it!
THE PRINCESS BRIDE screens this Friday and Saturday nights (July 28th and 29th) at midnight at the Tivoli Theater as part of their ‘Reel Late at the Tivoli’ Midnight series.
Believe it or don’t, but I just saw THE PRINCESS BRIDE for the first time in 2014 at a Tenacious Eats‘Movies for Foodies’ event. I’d heard great things about it for decades so I’m not sure why I’ve spent so many years avoiding it. Perhaps because I was 25 when it was made in 1987 and really, what self-respecting dude would watch a movie called THE PRINCESS BRIDE with his buddies (I must not have had a girlfriend at the time)?
One of the best qualities of THE PRINCESS BRIDE is that it simultaneously manages to be both fairytale and fairytale parody. It lampoons the whole world of fairytale and fantasy while, at the same time, celebrating it. Most of the characters within play it for laughs other than the title character (who is, after all, a fairytale princess and not a female Groucho Marx) and Mandy Patinkin’s Spanish revenge-bent swordsman.
The cast, largely composed of lesser-known talents (at the time) and notably absent the big megastars that were then dominating the box office, is superb. The romantic leads were basically unknowns; the beautiful and talented (nice English accent!) Robin Wright and the suave and handsome Cary Elwes. Wally Shawn is also perfectly cast as the supremely intelligent (or so he thinks) Vizzini. Andre the Giant plays the role of giant that was (literally) made for him to play — he does a good job and is very appealing as the archetypal gentle giant. Chris Sarandon gets to go way over the top to great effect as Prince Humperinck (apologies to Englebert, but did they choose the name just ‘cos it’s inherently funny?) and Christopher Guest shows off both another flawless British accent and the ability to quite effectively and quietly capture the feel of your basic model psychopathic sadist. Peter Cook even gets to make an appearance as a clergyman with a speech impediment. Billy Crystal is great and his ad-libs add to the film. Carol Kane is also effective — both of them in extreme make-up — as his wife. Back in the present day reality, Peter Falk is terrific as the grandfather who’s patiently reading the tale to his grandson, well played by young Fred Savage.
I have yet to meet someone who has seen THE PRINCESS BRIDE and didn’t love it which makes my 30 year viewing gap that much more inexcusable. I hadn’t seen it but now I have and if you haven’t, you’ll have the opportunity this weekend when THE PRINCESS BRIDE plays at the Tivoli Friday and Saturday as part of the Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight film series (July 28th and 29th).
The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!
Fly over the moon. Sing in the rain. Fasten your seatbelts. Make an offer no one can refuse. See classic movies on the big screen!
Gene Kelly will sing in the rain, Bette Davis will fasten her seatbelt for a bumpy night, Marlon Brando will make an offer no one can refuse, Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint will scurry across Mount Rushmore, and Elliott and E.T. will fly over the moon – and they’ll do it all on the silver screen in 2017. Today, Fathom Events and TCM announce their continuing partnership to bring monthly screenings of their “TCM Big Screen Classics”series to movie theaters nationwide throughout the year.
For the second consecutive year, “TCM Big Screen Classics” offers film fans an amazing journey into the magic of movies year-round. Beginning in January, the series presents one or more films each month in movie theaters – all accompanied by specially produced commentary from TCM host Ben Mankiewicz or Saturday-afternoon host Tiffany Vazquez, giving unique insight and behind-the-scenes tidbits that enhance the movie-going experience. Each title returns for four showings only, making the “TCM Big Screen Classics” series a monthly must-see for movie buffs of all ages.
Each of these cinematic treasures will be digitally projected in its original aspect ratio at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time each day (Sundays and Wednesdays).
Tickets for the 2017 “TCM Big Screen Classics”series can be purchased online by visiting www.FathomEvents.com, or at participating theater box offices. For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events website(theaters and participants are subject to change).
“TCM and Fathom are proud to announce some of the greatest feature films of all time in the 2017 TCM Big Screen Classics series. These 14 titles were released over five decades and include Best Picture winners, epic storytelling, astounding direction, legendary star-power and memorable soundtracks, all of which have captured the hearts of film lovers and defined moviemaking magic,” said Fathom Events Vice President of Studio Relations Tom Lucas.
“The TCM Big Screen Classics series presents a unique opportunity for movie lovers to experience some of the most beloved classics of all time, on the big screen and with a live audience, as they were originally intended to be shown,” said Genevieve McGillicuddy, vice president of partnerships and brand activation, Turner Classic Movies. “Expanding our long-term relationship with Fathom Events and our studio partners makes it possible for TCM to directly engage with a community of movie fans in a meaningful and memorable way, and share our love of classic film in local markets across the country.”
From January to December 2017, here’s a month-by-month look at the amazing films that comprise this year’s “TCM Big Screen Classics” series:
Silent film movie star Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) finds his muse in Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) just as Hollywood discovers talking pictures, but mega-star Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) isn’t going to stand for it – she’s bigger “than Calvin Coolidge, put together!” With the help of Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor), Don and Kathy will find a way to overcome the scheming Lina. Co-directed by Kelly and Stanley Donen, Singin’ in the Rain is a glorious, grin-inducing example of the Hollywood studio system at its finest, one of the happiest of musicals ever made.
The perfect Valentine’s Day event for romantics and movie-lovers alike, this CinemaScope classic remains as much a tearjerker today as it was 60 years ago, when its misty-eyed tale was first released. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr star as the two lovers who meet by chance on a trans-Atlantic voyage and fall in love despite their existing relationships. When they agree to meet six months later atop the Empire State Building, they cannot foresee the tragic circumstances that will test the limits of their devotion – and of the tear ducts of millions of moviegoers who have fallen in love with this swooning story of love, fate and circumstance.
Backstage backstabbing and treachery has never been as deliciously fun or as intensely dramatic as it is in All About Eve – which is tied only with Titanic for the most Academy Award® nominations for a single film. Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s black-and-white masterpiece also stars a young Marilyn Monroe in one of her first important roles. With a record-breaking four nominations in female acting categories (Bette Davis and Anne Baxter as Best Actress and Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter as Best Supporting Actress), it remains one of the most riveting dramas ever made, a movie often imitated but never duplicated.
From its dazzling opening credits sequence by Saul Bass, set to a wild scherzo by Bernard Hermann, to its cliffhanging finale atop Mount Rushmore, director Alfred Hitchcock’s cross-country adventure offers non-stop thrills. It stars Cary Grant as Roger O. Thornhill, a man wrongly accused of murder, who hops on to a train … and into the lap of Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint). All the while, he’s pursued by the sinister Philip Vandamm (James Mason), who is convinced that Thornhill is a spy. He’s not – but he’s about to become one. Few films are as effortlessly delightful as Hitchcock’s grandest adventure ever.
Dustin Hoffman delivers a Hollywood rarity: a true star-making performance as the confused, floundering Benjamin Braddock. He’s a new college graduate who seems to have no ambition in life until he crosses paths with the very married Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). The biggest box office surprise of the decade, The Graduate was an Oscar winner for director Mike Nichols (among its seven nominations), and Simon & Garfunkel’s score started a new trend in movie soundtracks. The Graduate may be celebrating its 50th anniversary, but it remains as insightful, relevant and sharply funny as ever, and comes back to movie screens just in time for a new generation of graduates to learn the secret to success: Plastics.
The summer of 1977 might be best known for a certain intergalactic adventure, but Smokey and the Bandit was the year’s second highest-grossing movie, a gleefully silly romp that grossed the adjusted box-office equivalent of nearly $500 million. The plot is almost non-existent – the Bandit (Burt Reynolds) has 28 hours to drive a truckload of Coors beer from Texas to Georgia while avoiding the relentless “Smokey,” Sherrif Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) – and takes a backseat to the stunt-driven action of director Hal Needham and the still-sizzling on-screen chemistry of Reynolds and Sally Field.
There is the sheer perfection of the performances by such legendary names as Brando, Pacino, Keaton and Duvall; the impeccable direction of Francis Ford Coppola; the haunting musical theme by Nino Rota; and the stunning cinematography by Gordon Willis. Any one of these elements would make The Godfather a classic, but this epic crime drama combines them all into a towering achievement in American filmmaking celebrating its 45th anniversary, an epic saga that redefined cinema.
This hysterical comedy from director Billy Wilder finds Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon masquerading as women inorder to elude irate Chicago mobsters while befriending a beautiful singer, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe). One of the most influential movies ever made, Some Like It Hot is one of the greatest comedies of all time, still generating laughs nearly sixty years later.
Director Amy Heckerling’s adaptation of Cameron Crowe’s book (he also wrote the screenplay) didn’t simply capture a moment in time – it defined a generation by observing the behaviors and habits of teenagers in the early ‘80s with sharpness and an endless wellspring of humor. Pitch-perfect performances and a soundtrack filled with hits of the ‘70s and ‘80s, make Fast Times at Ridgemont High one of the quintessential cinematic experiences of the era – a nostalgic look back for those who lived through it and an eye-opening revelation for younger audiences.
1968 file photo of Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty in the movie BONNIE AND CLYDE. Courtesy of Warner Home Video.
Faye Dunaway is Bonnie Parker and Warren Beatty is Clyde Barrow in Arthur Penn’s violent, sexually charged and deeply influential crime drama, a nostalgic look back at notorious outlaws filmed with the passion and zeal of filmmakers who were beginning to explore the boundaries of their craft. With a legendary screenplay by writers Robert Benton and David Newman, Bonnie and Clyde features supporting performances by an exemplary cast that includes Gene Wilder, Gene Hackman, Michael J. Pollard and Estelle Parsons and became a pop-culture sensation. A movie about legends that became a legend itself, Bonnie and Clyde made international superstars out of its cast and influenced generations of filmmakers and audiences.
Thirty-five years since its release, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial remains a singular achievement, a movie that enchanted a generation with its sheer moviemaking prowess and its simple, exquisite story of the bond between a little boy and an alien. Directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Melissa Mathison, it’s one of the rare movies that can be universally defined by a single shot: Elliott and E.T. flying on a bicycle against a full moon. Set to a lush, unforgettable score by John Williams, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial mesmerizes everyone who sees it – including the United Nations, who, in September 1982, awarded Spielberg the U.N. Peace Medal for his creation of one of Hollywood’s most enduring movies.
Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles – doesn’t sound too bad! Director Rob Reiner’s charming fantasy-adventure, from a screenplay by William Goldman (and based on his novel) is a fairy tale like no other, a movie that is as beguiling to adults as it is to children, infused with magic and beauty. Robin Wright stars as Princess Buttercup, with Cary Elwes as her dashing Westley, and Mandy Patinkin is the revenge-seeking Inigo Montoya – just the beginning in an adventure that’s as fresh, fun and tongue-in-cheek as ever. The perfect cast also includes Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, Andre the Giant, Peter Falk, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane and, as the young boy who gets the best bedtime story ever, Fred Savage.
As time goes by, some movies age – but Casablanca remains timeless. Perhaps no other movie has become as beloved and as synonymous with Hollywood glamour as Casablanca. Humphrey Bogart is Rick Blaine, owner of Rick’s, the nightclub that everyone in Casablanca attends – including resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) and his wife, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), whose sudden appearance leads to some of the best dialogue ever written for the movies. The screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch took an unproduced stage play and turned it into a movie unlike any other, which received the Academy Award® for Best Picture and became one of the most classic films of all time.
Fifty years ago, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner scandalized audiences with its bold depiction of interracial romance – a poignant subject at this time in history, and its depiction of prejudice overcome by love remain powerful and moving. Sidney Poitier delivers a commanding performance as John Prentice, who accompanies his fiancée, Joey, (Katharine Houghton) to her parents’ home – without telling them that he is black. As her parents, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy star in their final film together. Produced and directed by Stanley Kramer and written by William Rose, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was a box-office sensation across the country, including in the South, where the studio worried that audiences would shy away from its subject. It is, in the words of TheNew York Times, “a deft comedy and – most of all – a paean to the power of love.”
“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!”
Why is this such a classic line in the minds of many? I don’t know, really. But I do know that the way that Mandy Patinkin delivers it in this film has ‘classic line’ written all over it!
Believe it or don’t, but I just saw THE PRINCESS BRIDE for the first time earlier this year at a Tenacious Eats‘Movies for Foodies’ event. I’d heard great things about it for decades so I’m not sure why I’ve spent so many years avoiding it. Perhaps because I was 25 when it was made in 1987 and really, what self-respecting dude would watch a movie called THE PRINCESS BRIDE with his buddies (I must not have had a girlfriend at the time)?
One of the best qualities of THE PRINCESS BRIDE is that it simultaneously manages to be both fairytale and fairytale parody. It lampoons the whole world of fairytale and fantasy while, at the same time, celebrating it. Most of the characters within play it for laughs other than the title character (who is, after all, a fairytale princess and not a female Groucho Marx) and Mandy Patinkin’s Spanish revenge-bent swordsman.
The cast, largely composed of lesser-known talents (at the time) and notably absent the big megastars that were then dominating the box office, is superb. The romantic leads were basically unknowns; the beautiful and talented (nice English accent!) Robin Wright and the suave and handsome Cary Elwes. Wally Shawn is also perfectly cast as the supremely intelligent (or so he thinks) Vizzini. Andre the Giant plays the role of giant that was (literally) made for him to play — he does a good job and is very appealing as the archetypal gentle giant. Chris Sarandon gets to go way over the top to great effect as Prince Humperinck (apologies to Englebert, but did they choose the name just ‘cos it’s inherently funny?) and Christopher Guest shows off both another flawless British accent and the ability to quite effectively and quietly capture the feel of your basic model psychopathic sadist. Peter Cook even gets to make an appearance as a clergyman with a speech impediment. Billy Crystal is great and his ad-libs add to the film. Carol Kane is also effective — both of them in extreme make-up — as his wife. Back in the present day reality, Peter Falk is terrific as the grandfather who’s patiently reading the tale to his grandson, well played by young Fred Savage.
I have yet to meet someone who has seen THE PRINCESS BRIDE and didn’t love it which makes my 27 viewing gap that much more inexcusable. I hadn’t seen it but now I have and if you haven’t, you’ll have the opportunity this weekend when THE PRINCESS BRIDE plays at the Tivoli Friday and Saturday as part of the Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight film series (May 9th and 10th).
The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!
