Monday, February 9 through Sunday, February 15: UWM’s 18th Annual Festival of Films in French continues and concludes (FREE!)
Check here for showtimes and listings
The party continues all week long at the Union Theatre this week with the French film festival in full swing. There’s plenty of great options available to you on the schedule, but I’d like to point out three in particular I am excited for. Tuesday night is host to a screening of Jacques Feyder’s silent film Mother with live music accompaniment. If you’ve never experienced a silent film in this manner, I cannot recommend it more highly. It is always memorable to take in cinema in the manner in which it was digested nearly a century earlier, and this familial drama looks like a fine example of silent cinema. Thursday evening sees a screening of the 1932 anti-war picture Wooden Crosses, and the weekend brings us two screenings of Leos Carax’s sophomore effort Mauvais Sang, an opportunity to see a wonderful and young Juliette Binoche. There’s plenty more to check out, so make sure to take a look at the schedule and plan your week accordingly.
Wednesday, February 11: Wuthering Heights ‘39
7:30 p.m. @ Charles Allis Art Museum ($7/$5/free for seniors/students/museum members)
Charles Allis continues its celebration of Best Picture nominees that didn’t snag the top prize (a fraternity that’s about to add seven new members) with this star-studded adaptation of the Emily Bronte novel, featuring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier and David Niven telling one of the ultimate gothic romances between Cathy and Heathcliff, two lovers from very different upbringings who nonetheless can’t escape the other’s orbit. I’ve never seen this version, but much like Jane Eyre the source material is rich enough to support nearly endless variations on the story being told.
Friday, February 13: Fifty Shades of Grey, Kingsman: The Secret Service and Still Alice all open locally
Check local listings for showtimes and pricing
It’s pretty clear than I’m into cinematic S&M if based on nothing other than the fact that I’ve willingly sat through Seventh Son, Mortdecai and Project Almanac already this year so you know I’m ready for Fifty Shades. Endless words have been spilt in an effort to discuss the possible lack of chemistry between these two leads, the terrible source material (that has sold something like 100 million copies), and the best revenge the movie could enact on all those rolling their eyes in its direction would be actually working as a film. We’ll know soon enough, as I’ll have a review of Fifty Shades coming to you at the end of this week along with a review of Kingsman: the Secret Service.
Matthew Vaughn has sneakily become one of blockbuster cinema’s finest purveyors of pop pleasure. Between Stardust, Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class, he’s proven himself capable of being a gun for hire that nonetheless infuses each of his films with style and verve. Advanced word suggests that Kingsman is more of the same, a wild action picture anchored by Colin Firth entering the Liam Neeson phase of his career as an elegant aged kicker of various derrieres with Samuel L. Jackson as the lisping heavy. I’ll let you know if the word is to be trusted later this week.
If you’re not interested in sex or violence, perhaps Julianne Moore’s performance as a mother and wife slipping away due to Alzheimer’s will be more your speed. Moore is the prohibitive front-runner for the Best Actress Oscar for her work here, and even the most tepid reviews Still Alice has received make special note of how powerful Moore’s work is. Judge for yourself when it comes out this weekend.
Saturday, February 14: Knight Without Armour
7 p.m. @ The Church in the City, 2648 N. Hackett Ave. ($3)
The week wraps up with a film I can’t say I’m familiar with in Knight Without Armour, a historical drama starring Robert Donat and Marlene Dietrich. Weirdly enough you can make it a Jacques Feyder double feature this week as he helmed this in addition to the aforementioned silent film Mother. Dietrich is always worth watching, so you know I’m down for some melodrama.
