Friday, September 09, 2011

Sept revivals: first half. Small list.







Mike here with a brief list for the first half of September. I intended to have four films on this particular list. But with the U.S. Open now lasting thru Monday September 12th, I have to skip a double feature at the Film Forum: Cruising and Bad Lieutenant. Granted, you'd have to take a shower after seeing both films, and I'm mainly curious regarding Cruising as opposed to seriously interested. But Bad Lieutenant is the best film of the 90s not seen by many people, Harvey Keitel turns in possibly the best lead male performance not to receive an Oscar nomination, and this film is for adults, not kids or the immature. Go on your own, but let me get this list over with now. Here we go:


BAND OF OUTSIDERS- Fri September 10 and Tues Sept 13 at 7:30 and 9:30- Film Forum-Released during the French New Wave, Jean-Luc Goddard's Band of Outsiders gets a special one week run. Friday and Tuesday night are the only nights I can do. In the film, Anna Karina talks two guys, who seem to have gained their criminal smarts from watching American crime films, into robbing the villa she's staying at. The two friends try to bed the girl with as much zeal (if not more), than in the actual heist. But what happens if the people around them , start finding out about the would-be heist?


For those of you who don't know Goddard, or find him an impenetrable director to tackle without having EVER seen a film of his. Famous for scenes such as the race in the Louvre, the minute of silence where everything is quiet, and the Madison dance scene, that seems to have inspired Tarantino for the Travolta/Thurman dance scene in Pulp Fiction. Consider Band of Outsiders as a gateway film to the work of Goddard. If you don't like this, you probably won't like his other films. But hey, at least you try:



STAR TREK 2: THE WRATH OF KHAN- Fri Sept 9 at 12:15AM- IFC Center- The only film in IFC Center's series of Part 2 sequels that don't suck. The best of the admittedly inconsistent Star Trek film series, as William Shatner's Admiral James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, must deal with obsessed-for-revenge Khan Noonien Singh. I know I've done this revival before, but I enjoy it too much and after almost thirty years, it still works. Good effects and score, decent mixture of Star Trek On Golden Pond and Moby Dick (among other influences), good use of Spock if you know what mean, and a Shatner performance you can respect. But Ricardo Montalban's performance is worth the price of admission. Scenery chewing, bug eyed, but passionate and obviously a man in the midst of having a fun time being very very bad:

http://www.ifccenter.com/films/star-trek-ii-the-wrath-of-khan/



Let me know if there's interest. Later all.

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