Much respect to the brave souls who keep on hauling their sweet asses over to the comfy seats of the Goldsmith Family Cinema, letting Old Man Winter know that when it comes to getting our movie on, “The Kids Are Alright.”
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE note the change in schedule for NEXT WEDNESDAY’s FILM. Due to the vagaries of the film distribution industry, we have replaced “The Last King of Scotland” with the Best Picture-nominated “Babel,” a bigger and, many would say, better film.
“The Departed”
(U.S., D: Martin Scorsese, 2006)
Friday, Feb. 16, 8 p.m. $4
The biggest, most badass, blockbusting bombshell of the past year, “The Departed” is the cops-and-robbers film injected with steroids by the greatest narrative bodybuilder in American movies: the one, the only…Marty Scorsese. A mole in the mob battles a mole in the state police and the results are nothing short of electric. Yes, Jack is back, but so are Damon and DiCaprio; a brilliantly bonkers Alec Baldwin; “Marky” Mark Wahlberg, so obscenely good you’ll be praying he gets a spin-off sequel; and the best array of small-time soldiers this side of the Corleone compound. It’s on!
“Splendor in the Grass”
(U.S., D: Elia Kazan, 1961)
Saturday, Feb. 17, 8 p.m. FREE!
“Splendor in the Grass” is a teen love story bubbling with more hormonal fury than that first fiery session of “seven minutes in heaven” when you were a libidinous 15-year old. Now that you’re getting old, just decades away from menopause, come reignite that youthful fire with this tale of forbidden love from the director of “On the Waterfront” (and, incidentally, one of Scorsese’s biggest influences). Starring some of the steamiest heartthrobs of the 1960’s—a pre-“Bonnie and Clyde” Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood from “Rebel Without A Cause”– “Splendor” will have you jumping into snow banks just to cool yourself off.
“Babel”
(U.S., D: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 2006)
Wednesday, Feb. 21, 8 p.m. $4
“Globalization” is a buzzword you hear a lot on this campus and in the contemporary media, but few concepts remain more elusive and ill-defined. “Babel” can be seen as a noble attempt to forge this concept in intimately human terms, a meditation on the experiences that bind and divide citizens around our contemporary world from gifted director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“Amores Perros,” “21 Grams”). Studying overlapping storylines in Mexico, Morocco and Japan, “Babel” is fearless, even reckless, in its ambition, yet Inarritu’s spine-tingling capacity for arresting images never ceases to amaze. That he’s enlisted gifted actors like Gael Garcia Bernal and Cate Blanchett doesn’t hurt, either. For fans of well-formed cheekbones and dreamy good looks, look no further than Brad Pitt’s outstanding performance in the film’s Morocco storyline.
“Salesman”
(U.S., D: Albert & David Maysles, 1969)
Thursday, Feb. 22, 8 p.m. FREE!
“Salesman” is the greatest documentary ever made about Bible salesmen and one of the crowning achievements of the Maysles brothers, arguably the greatest documentary filmmaking team in the history of American movies. Sound like a lot of superlatives? Put them to the test next Thursday and get crunk on the Holy Ghost Power of the American documentary tradition.
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