Join us at the Film Series this week for back-to-back nights of Piratey fun with this past summer’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” and the classic pirate movie “Captain Blood.” Put on your eye-patches (but not during the films) and practice your “Arrrrr!!!”
The film board would also like to announce a TRAILER CONTEST for the Film Series. We’re looking for some trailers to be screened prior to Film Series’ movies in the second half of the fall semester. All are welcome to compete.
Here are the rules:
-Time limit of 40 seconds,
-Required information: Title card announcing “The Wesleyan Film Series;” no eating, drinking, smoking, talking; turn your cell phones off; locations of exits; Film Series website address,
-Can use any combination of sounds, text, and images, as long it’s original content,
-Must be made on your own equipment,
-Deliver on DVD with your name & email by noon, Oct. 18, to the contest box in the Film Studies Department office.
We will screen all of the trailers and use crowd response to determine the few winners. Winners will have their trailers screened during the rest of the academic year prior to Film Series movies. Have fun, be creative, and good luck!
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST Friday, Sept. 29 at 8 p.m. $4
I’m going to go out on a limb here and make a bit of a confession: I liked the second “Pirates” film more than the first! This film was the hit of the summer, making over $400 million in domestic grosses alone. Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, and Orlando Bloom are perfect eye candy for any viewer and the sexual tension between the three comes to its full force in this film. “Pirates” plays with the genre of the action-adventure film and incorporates slapstick comedy as much as impressive visual effects. You may watch people chase one another for ten minutes, only to turn around and chase one another the other way for another ten minutes; the point of this movie is not to provide profound lessons or goals but instead to be a means of instant gratification. I say, “Why go to the expensive French bistro when you know you’ll have a blast going to Chucky Cheese?”
CAPTAIN BLOOD Saturday, Sept. 30 at 8 p.m. FREE!
Before Brangelina, before TomKat, before Bennifer…there was HaviFlynn. One of the most famous onscreen couples, Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn sizzle opposite each other in “Captain Blood,” their first of eight films together. Sadly, Flynn was too busy boozing up, fighting off statutory rape charges, and being all Liz Taylor about marriages to consummate their chemistry off-screen; we can only speculate about what the HaviFlynn offspring would have looked like. Before anyone runs away repulsed by the idea of this star-powered coupling, relax, this film IS called “CAPTAIN BLOOD,” and they don’t call a film “Captain BLOOD” for nothing. A hot hunky British doctor (Flynn) is unjustly sentenced to prison and sold into slavery in the Caribbean. The doctor-excuse me- Captain BLOOD escapes prison and decides to go all Peter Pan on the bad boys and becomes a good guy pirate. This film has some really awesome sword fighting scenes – think “The Matrix” of the 1930s. So start the night off right, spike your Cap’n Morgan’s with BLOOD.
DAYS OF HEAVEN Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. $4
Unquestionably one of the most stunningly beautiful films ever made, “Days of Heaven” is a film that would not be done justice if seen on a small screen. The second film of writer-director Terrence Malick (“The New World,” “The Thin Red Line”), this film includes the distinct, visually stunning lyricism found in all his films. Shot mainly during twilight by cinematographer Néstor Almendros, the film has been universally acclaimed as a cinematographic masterpiece, artfully composed to overwhelm your senses. The dreamlike film offsets its visual beauty with a simple story of migrant workers, told with little dialogue and an unemotional and dissonant voice-over narration. In a love triangle involving Richard Gere a field hand who convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but terminally ill boss (Sam Shepard) in hopes of claiming his fortune, feelings and emotions are underplayed. It is the landscape and beauty of the filmed image that garners the power of feelings and emotions, not the characters or story themselves. This is a film everyone should come to see on the big screen; it is the only way to watch a film that is so visually mesmerizing and powerful.
DUCK SEASON Thursday, Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. FREE!
The state of commercial film-going these days is geared towards the juvenile delinquency of teenage boys whose predilection for ADD-proof fare means bigger action sequences, faster editing, and extravagant special effects (ahem, “Dead Man’s Chest”). While those films can be mindless fun, there is something to be said for the film that is just as enjoyable without using elaborate car chases and actors on million dollar bankrolls. One such little film is the charming “Duck Season,” which provides the breathing room needed to relish in the mundane delights of everyday life. “Duck Season” opens with two teenage boys whose Sunday afternoon plans of videogames, snacks, and cartoon porn are interrupted by the pretty 16-year-old neighbor who wants to bake herself a birthday cake, the pizza delivery guy who arrives late but refuses to leave until he is paid, and a power outage that forces the boys to look beyond their “Halo” game for entertainment. The odd foursome ends up hanging out together and bonding—resulting in an afternoon of revealed secrets, the testing of sexual curiosities, and the consummation of pot brownies. Shot in fitting black-and-white, this film has a light humor and casual grace that even the videogame-addicted teenage boys in the film could not help but take pleasure in.
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