Now Playing
Rerun Theater
As the year ends and prestige films enter our theaters the rep offerings shrink. Also I haven’t see Jafar Panâhi’s new film play in town. He went to Seattle to give a talk at SIFF!
Pick of the Week:
Russian Fairytale Animation.
At the Clinton on Dec. 10th from Church of Film. This is some beautiful animation.
“A collection of wondrous short fairy tale films from the Soviet Union’s best animation studio, Soyuzmultfilm!
Given free reign stylistically, and with no profit motive, Soviet animators created one of the most productive and groundbreaking animation studios in the world to rival Walt Disney! While many of the fairy tales echo Disney’s choice of material, Russian animators employed a broader technical diversity and approaches, and often more abstract, beautiful, and phantasmagoric representations.”
Also Playing:
The Godfather Part II (1974). Directed by Mr. Megalopolis. Starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton.
Opening for a run at the Academy. In the erudite words of Leonard Maltin: “They said it couldn’t be done, but cowriter-director Coppola made a sequel that’s just as compelling. This one contrasts the life of melancholy “don” (Pacino) with early days of his father (De Niro) as an immigrant in N.Y.C. Winner of six Oscars including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay (Coppola, Mario Puzo), Supporting Actor (De Niro), Score (Nino Rota, Carmine Coppola), Art Direction/Set Decoration (Dean Tavoularis, Angelo Graham, George R. Nelson).” Sadly, he was eaten by the gremlins just after writing this.
This Week:
Sister Mary Explains it All is playing at the Hollywood on Dec. 8th from Thank God It’s Queer as a tribute to Diane Keaton. See, we didn’t have to play Annie Hall. This is an odd comedy from 2001 about an authoritarian nun. With Martin Mull!
At the Fifth Ave: Perfumed Nightmare plays this weekend. “Kidlat Tahimik both starred in and shot the film in 1977. Using scavenged stock and sound dubbed in after the fact, the images are pieced together in a way that feels improvised but never careless. He plays a jeepney driver from the Philippines, infatuated with American technology and the future promised by the space age. Then comes his entry to Paris, and with it a confrontation with globalization’s hollow spectacle. The film moves like a collage: playfully DIY, unsparing, part satire, part semi-autobiographical diary. Herzog called it “one of the most original and poetic works of cinema made anywhere in the seventies,” and decades later, its momentum and vitality still resonate.” This often makes the list of “Best Filipino Comedies” and it looks neat!
At the 99W Drive In: Elf and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation plays this weekend.
At the Academy:
Eyes Wide Shut opens for a run. I will continue to say this but this is a great example of a movie that does not live up to its reappraisal. Some very good performances in an uneven film. You know you’re watching an uneven movie when half of the dialogue is people saying, “listen” before saying something important. This has played around town entirely too much this year.
Dreadful romantic comedy The Holiday opens for a run where two terrible people swap terrible lives.
At Cinema 21: Fungi Film Fest has another screening for all your fun guy needs. I am very sorry.
At Cinemagic:
VHS Night returns with Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 on Dec. 5th. This is, of course, the infamous Christmas slasher movie sequel of which the garbage day scene sort of became a meme.
Their Christmas rep festival returns with all your old favorites this week and throughout the month.
Gremlins—this is the only holiday movie to be endorsed by WatchThisPDX.
At the Clinton:
The Sound of Music plays on Dec. 6th as a benefit for the Portland Lesbian Choir.
The Psychotropic After School Special returns on Dec. 7th for some Christmas oddities.
Carpenter movies continue with:
At the Hollywood:
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair plays this week directed by famous whiner Quentin Tarantino who was complaining about Martin Scorsese while compiling a list of his favorite recent films. Maybe he should stick to visiting Israeli army bases instead of listing movies. What a dweeb.
The Accidental Getaway Driver plays on Dec. 6th. “Presented by State Representative Thuy Tran in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon.
Long (Hiep Tran Nghia), a Vietnamese driver in Southern California answers a late-night call for a ride. Already in his pajamas, he reluctantly accepts, picking up a man, Tây (Dustin Nguyen), and his two companions. But the men, recently escaped convicts from an Orange County jail, take Long hostage at gunpoint, thrusting him into their getaway plan. When complications arise, the fugitives and their hostage hole up at a motel, and a tense waiting game unfolds.”Rushmore opens for a run.
At the Joy: Check out their website this week to see if weird Wednesday returns. It’s been a while and Wicked: For Good has been playing for ages there.
At the Liberty:
It’s a Wonderful Life plays on Dec. 5th.
At the Tomorrow Theater (the Hub for Cultural Snackers):
Mubi, who has recently come under fire for taking Sequoia Capital investment money, has been partnering with the Tomorrow Theater and they are doing another screening in October. Sequoia has ties to the Israeli army. Mubi has released a bunch of mealy mouthed statements. Filmmakers are urging Mubi to cut ties. If the Los Angeles Festival of Movies can cut ties with Mubi so can PAM. You can contact the Tomorrow Theater here through this link and let them know that they should’t partner with organizations like this.
I did. I’ll let you know if they write back. It’s been three weeks and I don’t expect them to. Thank you to anyone who has emailed them. I ask that you keep doing it.
Please keep letting them know that we demand our cultural institutions do better. You don’t get to white wash your neoliberal politics with showy progressive values.
The folks who made No Other Land didn’t want to work with MUBI and neither should PAM.
“This film shows the reality of Israeli occupation and oppression against Palestinians — but that truth apparently didn’t fit the narrative that big U.S. streamers wanted to promote. We talked to Mubi for months, and initially thought our film had found its home, but in the end we learned that they were accepting a huge investment from Sequoia Capital,” said No Other Land co-director Basel Adra.
“In addition to being unethical, it made no sense to us that they would take our film showing Israel’s oppression of Palestinians, and then also partner with a company contributing to that oppression,” added No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham.
The tip jar is open if you are so inclined. The holiday season is upon us and I need to buy myself presents like food, rent, and Faberge eggs.