Mack Bates

Harley week is over, the summer is unofficially over, school is back in session, and the UWM Union Theatre is where it’s at in terms of local film happenings this first full week of September. And if that weren’t incentive enough, all of this week’s featured screenings at the UWM Union Theatre are free! Tuesday, Sept. 3 & Thursday, Sept. 5: Director Ridley Scott’s Alien-prequel, Prometheus, plays the UWM Union Theatre 7 p.m. Tuesday & 9 p.m. Thursday @ UWM Union Theatre (2200 East Kenwood Blvd.) (FREE) Each of the four installments in the Alien film franchise starring Oscar nominee…

No local film product to speak of this week, but there are some interesting cinematic offerings nonetheless. Monday, Aug. 19 – Thursday, Aug. 22: Blackfish plays at the Downer 5:05 p.m./7:30 p.m./9:30 p.m. @ the Oriental Theatre (2230 N. Farwell Ave.)  tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students with valid ID, $7.50 for seniors (62+) and children (-12), and $7.50 for all shows before 6 p.m. Filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Blackfish, a thought-provoking documentary that showcases the plight of killer whales held in captivity, opened in Milwaukee last Friday. Having played in competition at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to…

Four-time Oscar winner Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, & Midnight in Paris) is arguably the most prolific filmmaker working today. He’s also one of the most beloved. He has received more Oscar nominations for best original screenplay than any other person to date; his current tally stands at fifteen nods and three wins — for Annie Hall (1977), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) & Midnight in Paris (2011). He’s been nominated for best director a total of seven times to date, and won for Annie Hall. He’s directed fifteen actors who received Oscar nominations in all four…

Writer-director Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium opens this week. No locally produced film fare to speak of this week, but you’ve still got options, kid. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday you can catch The Rock, Magic Mike himself and John McClane take on Cobra in the second live-action G.I. Joe film for $3 at AMC Mayfair Mall. The latest from Woody Allen opens this Friday, as does District 9 writer-director Neill Blomkamp’s anticipated latest film, the Matt Damon/Jodie Foster sci-fi film, Elysium. You can catch director Steven Spielberg’s 1977 sci-fi masterpiece at the Times this weekend. And thanks to popular demand, Oscar winner Helen Mirren holds court yet…

Emmett Till. James Chaney. Michael Donald. Trayvon Martin. Darius Simmons. These five young African American men were killed, and the events surrounding their deaths made local and national headlines. Their senseless deaths span a nearly 60-year period. Some of the perpetrators responsible were brought to justice, and some weren’t. As Spanish philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist George Santayana once famously said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In the superb new docudrama, Fruitvale Station, which won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for drama earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival,…

There’s a lot to choose from this week in local cinematic happenings and events. Among the offerings: Criterion finally releases 1997’s The Ice Storm, director Ang Lee’s superb big screen adaptation of Rick Moody’s novel of the same name, on blu-ray. The Oriental throws a one-time screening of a timely BBC Films documentary about babies born into the British royal family. Bing Crosby sells a skeptic princess on the charms of the Aloha State in a 1937 musical showing at Charles Allis this week. Catch Robin Williams as Popeye at Barnacle Buds and partake of free food and drink (well, if…

As my esteemed colleague Tom Fuchs pointed earlier this week, hardly a week goes by where “On the Marquee” — Moviegoers’ weekly round-up of the best in local film scene offerings and events — doesn’t conclude with what’s playing over the weekend as part of the Times Theater’s (5906 W. Vliet St.) weekend matinee screening series. The theme of their matinee screening series for this month is “Independence – Classic Coming of Age Movies.” Last weekend, they screened Rob Reiner’s 1986 classic, Stand By Me, which was adapted from a Stephen King short story (“The Body”) about a quartet of…

This week in Milwaukee film scene happenings, the Oriental and the Times are leading the charge in offerings, specifically of the documentary kind. Some of the hardest working people in showbiz – back-up singers – are finally getting their due in Twenty Feet From Stardom, an acclaimed new documentary currently playing the Oriental. The historic theater will also play host to American Made Movie, a new documentary about the decline of manufacturing in America that’s currently making its way around the country on a national screening tour. And Burning Man & The Meaning of Life, a documentary by Milwaukee native Julie Pifher that’s about…

Marcus Theatres and American Family Insurance team up again to present affordable, select screenings of family-friendly fare. The best of Milwaukee’s 2013 48-Hour Film Project competition get the encore treatment. Screen siren Lana Turner and TV domestic goddess Donna Reed are sisters vying for the same man circa 1840. Norwegian Expressionist painter Edvard Munch’s work is exhibited on the big screen. The latest music video from local musician and filmmaker WC Tank is set to debut. Secret Service wannabe Channing Tatum and U.S. President Jamie Foxx team up to kick some terrorist butt. Meanwhile, Helen Mirren holds court once more…

This week, a well-received documentary about the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous plays the Downer for one-night only, the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network enlists a local filmmaker and critic to discuss the “challenges and differences between making films and stage plays for actors and directors,” a number of new titles debut on DVD and Blu-ray, a Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney classic plays the Charles Allis Museum, and Superman makes his (hopefully) triumphant return to the big screen in the Christopher Nolan-produced/Zack Snyder-directed, Man of Steel starring British actor Henry Cavill as the title character. Monday, June 10: A one-time only screening of the…