Mack Bates

Here’s a rundown on film happenings going on in Milwaukee this week. Tuesday, May 28: Fox Home Entertainment releases the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton classic Cleopatra on blu-ray Check local retail stores for prices and availability. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is finally releasing an extra-loaded 50th anniversary edition of the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton classic, Cleopatra (1963), on Blu-ray. Admittedly, the behind-the-scenes drama during the making of the film is better than the film itself, which is saying a lot because the film is an undeniably entertaining visual feast, with Roddy MacDowell delivering a seriously impressive turn as Octavian, the grand-nephew of…

Our Critic’s Pick for the week: Sign Painters There’s some choice cinematic offerings happening in town this week: on Tuesday, the love-it-or-hate-it sci-fi epic Cloud Atlas starring Oscar winners Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, among others, makes its home-entertainment debut; on Wednesday, director J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness debuts at midnight in theaters nationwide; on Thursday, Paul McCartney and Wings’ Rockshow gets a rare public screening; Milwaukee native Faythe Levine (along with co-director Sam Macon) will be in town to screen and discuss her latest effort, Sign Painters; and the UWM Film Department’s Senior Screening gets underway.  Tuesday, May…

If you just experienced a sense of déjà vu after glancing at the picture of the young woman this story is about, chances are you know the tragic way her story ended. And you likely coped with it the way most people deal with the seemingly endless deluge of news reports and coverage that detail violent and senseless acts of crime perpetrated in our community and elsewhere: You compartmentalized it away into the recesses of your mind.  Out of sight, out of thought, almost out of mind. Until now anyway. In 2009, there were more than 13,752 murders here in…

The Milwaukee film scene is on fire this week.  Among the numerous offerings: on Tuesday, Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence comes out on DVD and blu-ray; on Thursday, the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival and local scholar Michael Johnston offer up the one and only Tallulah Bankhead’s final film; and on Friday, not only does Iron Man 3 kick off the summer movie-going season with an early bang, the 2013 Milwaukee Underground Film Festival begins. Tuesday, April 30: Silver Linings Playbook debuts on DVD and Blu-ray Check local retail stores for availability. Writer-director David O. Russell’s superbly…

Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained This week in Milwaukee area film happenings: Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-winning, revisionist western Django Unchained makes its eagerly anticipated debut on DVD and Blu-ray; the 35th Annual Latin American Film Series (LAFS) continues; a documentary about Yiddish Theater screens; and French director Louis Malle’s first film (starring a young Jeanne Moreau and featuring a score by jazz legend Miles Davis) plays the UWM Union Theatre. Monday, April 15 – Friday, April 19: UWM hosts The 35th Latin American Film Series (LAFS) The UWM Union Theatre (free) Presented by the Center for Latin…

Moreau had made about 20 or so films before the then-25-year-old Malle cast her in his film debut, but hadn’t really made a name for herself in film yet. Their collaboration proved mutually beneficial: it marked the arrival of a director to watch in Malle, who would go onto make some truly stunning films throughout the remainder of his life and career, and it was the film that finally made Moreau a star in France and abroad. Of Davis’ score, jazz critic Phil Johnson said, “the loneliest trumpet sound you will ever hear, and the model for sad-core music ever…

In terms of Milwaukee film happenings, March 2013 came in like a lamb and out like a lion. With the winter – or as I often referred to it “Snow-mageddon“ – seemingly behind us (with Wisconsin weather, you can never really tell), there’s little doubt that April 2013 will keep up the pace and offer up a wealth of cinematic fare and experiences that should satisfy most tastes. It bears mentioning that the UWM Union Theatre is leading the charge in that regard with a rather impressive and varied schedule this month. Tuesday, April 2: Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams…

Searching for Sugarman at Turner Hall is our critic’s pick of the week. This week – just in time for the eagerly anticipated start of spring – there’s enough cinematic goodness happening to appease just about every taste. This Tuesday, March 19, Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-winning follow-up to 2009’s The Hurt Locker (an Oscar winner in its own right) debuts on DVD and Blu-ray. The same with the first chapter of director Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. And it bears mentioning that Criterion is releasing director Terrence Malick’s much-lauded big screen debut about a young couple on a cross-country killing spree. This…

Sam Raimi’s Oz, The Great and the Powerful opens this week This week, the UWM Union Theatre hosts a unique film installation on Tuesday March 5, and weekend screenings of a seminal early work from Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese put both he and frequent collaborator, Oscar winner Robert DeNiro, on everyone’s radar.  An Oscar-winning masterpiece from director Steven Spielberg debuts on Blu-ray this week marking its 20th anniversary. And director Sam Raimi’s Oz, the Great and Powerful, a prequel to the classic L. Frank Baum children’s book series which begat the Hollywood classic, The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, opens…

This year’s Oscar race will likely be remembered more for its noticeable snubs than for its nominees and eventual winners. The dual snubbing of Argo’s Ben Affleck and Zero Dark Thirty’s Kathryn Bigelow in the best director category is laughable to say the least. A mere three years ago, Bigelow became the first female director to win the best director prize for her work on the Iraq War film, The Hurt Locker, which also won the highly coveted best picture prize, not to mention four additional Oscars out of nine nominations overall. With Argo, Affleck finally put to rest any…