***CRITIC’S CHOICE***
MONDAY, JULY 7
through THURSDAY, JULY 10: SNOWPIERCER
@ AMC Mayfair 18
Without any fanfare, the AMC Mayfair brought Snowpiercer
to our city last Wednesday (I had no idea, which is why it wasn’t also my
Critic’s Choice for last week as well). I’ll let my
review speak for itself. This is the best movie of the year so
far, and you’ll find no better film in local theaters right now.
MONDAY, JULY 7: WALL*E
Dusk @ Brocach Irish Pub (Call
414-431-9009 to make reservations. Free!)
Brocach’s Monday evening patio screenings continue with a
return to an era when Pixar took real risks with their films and reaped the
rewards of such boundless creativity. Perhaps they will get their groove back
with next year’s non-sequel Inside Out, but for now we’ll stick
with one of their absolute masterworks in WALL*E. Pixar managed to make kids
interested in a movie that starts as a near-silent character study that segues
into message-driven science fiction in its later stages. And they did it with
immaculate style and a clear sense of storytelling, a film that rests easily
(alongside Up) at the apex of the company’s achievements.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 9: MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1953)
7:30 p.m. @ Charles Allis Art
Museum ($7/$5/free for adults/seniors and students/museum members)
Charles Allis starts their new summer program, and
it’s a conceptual delight. They’ll be showing classic films and then the
subsequent screening will be the classic remake of that particular film.
Meaning on July 23rd, they’ll be showing the 1954 Douglas
Sirk-directed Magnificent Obsession starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson, while this Wednesday you’ll be
treated to the 1935 vintage with Robert Taylor and Irene Dunne as the leads.
Dunne is one of the great actresses of that era who is somewhat forgotten by
modern film audiences, so any chance to catch one of her performances should be
eagerly embraced. Charles Allis is providing a good reminder that an endless
sea of remakes is not a new Hollywood concept and in fact was one frequently used
even in its early era, and this new summer series provides a chance to see how
they were approached decades earlier.
THURSDAY, JULY 10: THE LEGO MOVIE
Dusk @ Fowler Park in Oconomowoc
(Festivities begin at
6 p.m. FREE!)
Now that Summerfest has ended, the outdoor screening season
can restart in earnest, and one of the very best movies to come out this year
is screening this Thursday in Oconomowoc. The Lego Movie had no right to be as
good as it ended up being. Based on a narrative-free toy line, the idea that it
could be one of the funniest, most entertaining and simultaneously subversive
movies of the year would’ve been laughable just a year ago. But such is the
alchemy of co-creators Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who have proven themselves
the master of making brilliance out of movies that probably never should’ve
been greenlit in the first place (see: 21 & 22 Jump Street and Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs). A delight for kids and adults alike.
FRIDAY, JULY 11: BEGIN
AGAIN, LIFE ITSELF & THIRD PERSON all open at the Oriental & Downer Theater
Check Landmark Theaters website for showtimes and pricing.
Not only have we been gifted with a bevy of specialty
screenings this week, but after a couple weeks of unfortunate wide releases
making their way to Milwaukee, we’re being gifted with a litany of releases by
week’s end.
John Carney struck cinematic gold with Once, the rare motion
picture experience where you can actually see the two leads falling in love
with one another on celluloid. That’s a tough act to replicate, but he manages
to craft yet another ode to the magic of the creative process with Begin
Again. Keira Knightley plays Greta, a young musician (notably not
aspiring) who finds herself jilted by her suddenly famous songwriting partner
and boyfriend Dave (Maroon 5’s Adam Levine) and alone in New York. A chance
encounter at a nightclub with alcoholic record-label executive Dan (Mark
Ruffalo) leads to a creative partnership that might hold the key to healing
both of their damaged lives. Carney crafts a series of lovely moments that
capture the exhilaration of the creative process in Begin Again, and while it
may not have the emotional immediacy of Once, its charms are irresistible.
Paul Haggis. Say what you like about Crash, but it was an
Oscar-winning picture that in tandem with his screenplay for Million
Dollar Baby made him a major player in the Hollywood melodrama market.
He’s back with Third Person – a twisting, labyrinthine examination of a writer
(Liam Neeson) who’s unable to connect to humanity unless it’s through the
characters he creates. To say word has been mixed would be charitable (out of
the Toronto festival, the Guardian described it as “a work of staggering
trash”). I will say this much – the Guardian is definitely not wrong here. This
is a wild miscalculation that I would only recommend to the most masochistic
filmgoers out there. I know we exist on account of me being one, but if you’re
looking for a film that is satisfying on any level (technical, thematic,
performative) this is definitely not what you’re looking for.
I would imagine that most film critics in today’s age owe a
great debt to Roger Ebert for both popularizing and defining the role of film
critic for an entire generation of cineastes. Perhaps the loftiest praise I can
heap upon the man is that despite his hatred for some of my absolute favorite
movies, I still always looked to his reviews as a means of understanding and
analyzing cinema right up to the moment of his passing. Life Itself, a
documentary looking at the life of this critical titan, is nearly unanimously
being described as a fitting tribute to a man whose verbal wit and capacity for
enthusiasm knew no bounds. Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters) is one
of our finest working documentarians, so I have no doubt that he has created
another rich portrait of American life here.
***ANOTHER CRITIC’S
CHOICE***
FRIDAY, JULY 11: DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES opens in
wide release
Check local listings for showtimes.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes was one of 2011’s most welcomed
surprises – a prequel (ugh) trying to rekindle a franchise that Tim Burton essentially
curb-stomped and left for dead 10 years earlier. There were no expectations
that it would be stunningly well-crafted with a lead motion capture performance
from Andy Serkis that was the best yet achieved by that technology. Perhaps
this year, the work in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will
cause the Academy to take notice, as these actors have imbued the apes they
portray with carefully crafted soul and it’s a quality of work that deserves
award recognition. We pick up in this film where the last had left off, and
find the relationship between apes and the ever-dwindling human population even
more fraught than it was before. Early word suggests this is one of the very
best films full-stop and one that I’m guaranteed to be waiting in line for on
opening night this week.
