“Monster House” (U.S., D.: Gil Kenan, 2006)
Friday, Oct. 27, 8 p.m. $4
For all the wholesome families who dragged their 2.5 kids to this quirky thrill ride, the joke’s on them. When DJ’s main man Chowder loses a basketball in the vicinity of the neighborhood’s local haunted house, an epic confrontation with the supernatural begins; what sounds like a classic “Scooby-Doo” episode morphs into a classic “Scooby-Doo” episode as conceived by Tim Burton and Timothy Leary over LSD-spiked TV dinners. Revel in the hyperkinetic visuals, the witty and intelligent script, and suburban Americana at its lawn-manicured, strip-malls-on-steroids finest. Bask in the glory of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s punkette babysitter, Jason Lee’s Keanu-esque rocker and “Napoleon Dynamite” star Jon Heder’s nirvana-inducing turn as a video game master and pizza cook. Film Board animation fiend and Religion major Asher Jacob Schranz says, “You will lose your faith after watching ‘Monster House.’ It is better than God.”
“Rosemary’s Baby” (U.S., D.: Roman Polanski, 1968)
Saturday, Oct. 28, 8 p.m. Free!
Satan brings his biggest, baddest A-game to this spine-tingling fear fest from the terrifically terrifying mind of Roman Polanski. The decline of religion, urban paranoia, fears of motherhood: fascinating psychobabble bubbles underneath the surface of this psychologically acute and formally exquisite pic. However, it ain’t worth a damn when the Devil’s got you shriekin’ like a demon baby. Starring powerhouse actress Mia Farrow and independent filmmaking legend John Cassavetes in one of his finest roles as an actor.
“United 93” (U.S., D.: Paul Greengrass, 2006)
Wednesday, Nov. 1, 8 p.m. $4
Why “United 93?” Why make a movie about September 11 just years after the shattering trauma of that unforgettable day? Why make a film about September 11 at all?
These are legitimate and necessary questions, but ones that are ultimately answered by this sobering and unforgettable docudrama. Working with full support of the victims’ families and casting many of the same people who manned air traffic and military control centers on September 11, acclaimed director Paul Greengrass painstakingly recreates the events surrounding the hijacking of United Flight 93, reconstructing the confusion on the ground and the plane’s recapture by its passengers before crashing in Pennsylvania. Greengrass makes a conscious effort to strip the film of the artificial narrative and stylistic conventions of commercial filmmaking, eliciting powerful insights and emotions in an utterly organic and uncontrived manner. “United 93” subtly articulates powerful truths about the nature of violence and honors the subtly courageous humanity that emerged amidst the terror onboard the plane. Most importantly, it humanizes the individuals that our master narrative for September 11 has constructed as abstract “victims,” capturing subtle gestures, expressions and conversations that lend their experience both vivid detail and universal resonance. This is an incredibly moving, disturbing, moving, and ultimately necessary movie which suggests that it is never too soon for thoughtful, noble-minded art that attempts to make sense of violence.
“The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada” (U.S., 2006, D: Tommy
Lee Jones, 2005) Thursday, Nov. 2, 8 p.m. FREE!
Directed with a steady hand and an eye for eccentric detail by Tommy Lee Jones, who also stars, this Western about a Texas ranch foreman trying to bury his Mexican friend explores those borders that separate rich from poor, men from women, friend from stranger. Written by Guillermo Arriaga, the screenwriter behind such powerhouse films as “Amores Perros,” “21 Grams,” and the forthcoming “Babel,” the film evokes the traditions of the Western while breathing new life into the genre. It’s a fascinatingly topical account of life on the U.S.-Mexico border that Sam Peckinpah or John Huston would have been proud to make.
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