Wednesday, February 4: Dumb & Dumber To and Dear White People
4:15 p.m. and 7 p.m. @ UWM Union Theatre (FREE!)
Dumb and Dumber To didn’t make me cringe with embarrassment and disappointment the way so many comedy sequels do so I consider that a victory in and of itself even if the film is far from stellar. Both Carrey and Daniels are incredibly game in reprising these characters so long after their first go-around, and they’re given a fair amount of bits that made me chuckle. But the real gem this Wednesday is Dear White People, the debut feature from Justin Simien that skewers the modern state of racial relations with wit and visual panache. Remarkably even-handed in the telling (this isn’t a polemic by any means), the movie looks at the identity crises being experienced by numerous black students at the predominantly white Winchester University. Simien is a new voice I’m excited to hear more from, and this winning debut is the reason why. If you missed it during its brief run in theaters locally last year, don’t pass up this chance to check it out!
Thursday, February 5: The Overnighters
7 p.m. @ UWM Union Theatre (FREE!)
Back for a second go-around after stunning audiences at last year’s MFF, The Overnighters is back for a one night only screening. This is an immensely powerful movie experience, a story of America in a microcosm that manages to encapsulate where we are now more eloquently than a thousand think pieces. A story of a small-town pastor whose efforts to open the doors of his church to the endless parade of job-seekers who make their way to this modern boom-town only to run afoul of locals whose distrust might just be warranted. Complex, humane and rich, The Overnighters will stick with you long past its conclusion.
Friday, February 6: Jupiter Ascending, Seventh Son and The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water all open locally
Check local listings for showtimes/pricing
It’s a weekend of delayed fantasy epic releases, with the latest from the Wachowski siblings finally making its way to us after a nearly year-long delay and the Jeff Bridges/Julianne Moore sword and sorcery epic taking an even more circuitous route to make it to us. That doesn’t always bode well when a movie is shunted away for months on end (especially when moved to the desolate hellscape that is the early 2015 release calendar), but Jupiter Ascending looks absolutely bonkers (Half-dog Channing Tatum doing battle with a lizard person while wearing rocket boots? Yes, please) and Seventh Son has a strong enough pedigree in terms of its performers that I am willing to forgive it feels like it’s been released dozens of times before under many different names. I’ll have a review of Jupiter Ascending for you at the end of this week to let you know if the Wachowski’s have done it again in a bad way or a good way.
And it wouldn’t be an early week of the year without yet another kid’s film option making its way to theaters, this time the newest cinematic excursion from the man who lives in a pineapple under the sea. I will admit my interest in this latest film was non-existent until I learned that Antonio Banderas plays a villainous pirate and now I can’t wait to see him devour scenery while doing battle over a secret recipe. I’m a man of simple tastes, what can I say?
***CRITIC’S CHOICE***
Friday through Sunday, February 6-8: The 18th Annual Festival of Films in French begins at the UWM Union Theatre
Check here for showtimes (All screenings are FREE!)
Amidst the terrible weather and equally terrible big screen releases the early part of the year has offered us comes a beacon of light in the form of UWM’s annual French film festival. The festival will run all the way through next week, but it kicks off this weekend with a full spate of diverse offerings for the discerning cinephile. You’ve got the coming-of-age drama Sarah Prefers to Run, the Catherine Deneuve-led road picture On My Way and the utterly charming and visually ravishing animated picture Ernest and Celestine just to name a few, and there are so many more that I have to guide you to the festival schedule linked above in order for you to pick out the perfect match for your viewing tastes. Bon appétit, cinema lovers!
