July 26th 2013. Pick Of The Day.
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Joseph Losey's classic work of identity manipulation THE SERVANT gets a one-week booking at the Film Forum starting today. Harold Pinter's screenplay, a twisty paranoid study in class warfare, quietly eviscerates British gentility at its most stolid, which suits this Irish-American boy just fine. Take that Prince George!
Also at the Forum L'AVVENTURA, Michelangelo Antonioni's breakout classic of world cinema, gets a five day extension at the hallowed house of rep, which is the usual effect Monica Vitti has on moviegoers around the globe. Chose it on day one of its booking, so my rules keep me from making it my Pick a second time. My boss sucks.
Francois Truffaut's sophomore feature SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER screens for the last of its three day booking as part of MoMA's ongoing Auteurist History of Film series. Made this buoyant slice of neorealist noir my Pick just yesterday, so Frankie Tru's gotta wait for another day. Quelle dommage.
In outdoor screening news Bob Zemeckis' WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? continues to suck big sweaty monkey casabas, and is also the featured attraction at Hudson River Park at sunset tonight. I'm done here.
Robert Zinnemann's Oscar-minting A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS serves as title card for the Rubin Museum's excellent Cabaret Cinema series this night. Robert Bolt adapted the screenplay from his own Broadway hit, and Paul Scofield reprised his stage role and bagged an little gold guy for his efforts. I mean the Academy Award for best actor, stoopidz, clean it up! A virtually flawless film, and as usual the price of a drink gains your admittance to their excellent screening lounge, but a far more implacable figure in the fight for truth and justice screens tonight, one who not merely gave his life for these virtues but came back from the dead to continue to fight. Think Jesus as played by Chuck Heston. You already know who I'm talking about, don't you?
Midnight cinematic goodness in our movie-mad Metropolis features two quintessential works of 70's Big Apple deification; Woody Allen's nebbishly romantic ANNIE HALL at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema, and John Carpenter's study in infrastucture neglect ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK at IFC Center. I can't in good conscience choose the Woodman's ode to amour clumsy over an adventure that boldly goes where no man has gone before (hint hint), nor can I choose Snake Plissken a second time in one week, even though he'd smack me silly for having all these goddamned rules! Nope, tonight I choose a very special outdoor screening, especially in light of the promising weather forecast. 34 years ago Paramount Studios decided to cash in on the success of STAR WARS with a sci-fi property of their own, one whose fanbase proved rabidly loyal but whose overall profit potential eluded the suits. An attempt to give it a second life on the small screen, where it had begun, was scrapped in favor of an exciting gamble; a mega-budgeted attempt to bring it to the movie screen, complete with top tier talent like vet director Robert Wise, who'd tackled the genre famously in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, and Doug Trumbull, the ace effects man who'd realized Kubrick's visions in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. The entire cast would reprise their cathode personas, and a massive PR campaign was kicked off to not only hook the loyal fan of the TV series, nor just the STAR WARS addict waiting three years for his next fix, but the "respectable" moviegoing crowd, the prestige audience, and perhaps those who'd be voting for the awards come January. Production began for real in 1978.
Some years earlier NASA had embarked on a bold new program, one that would see construction of a new type of spacecraft, one that would not merely minimize the material waste caused by a routine spaceflight, but actually produce a reusable space vehicle, that would utilize the power of a jumbo jet to enter orbit and return safely to the surface much like that same aircraft. The prototpye was originally planned to bear the monicker Constitution, but a name change resulted as part of a massive letter-writing campaign from the very same fans of the aforementioned Paramount TV show. Amazingly then-President Gerald Ford acquiesced, and the spacecraft, which ironically would never actaully enter orbit, was rechristened. Production began in 1974.
Tonight you can see them both in the same venue; the deck of one of America's most storied aircraft carriers. Whatever your feelings about the flick or the legacy of the warship, this is a frigging unbeatable combo this last Friday in July.
Robert Wise's STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE screens at the Intrepid Air & Space Museum, beside NASA's own honest-to-god U.S.S. Enterprise space shuttle. Need I say more? Live long and getchyerass there early to ensure your attendance.
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The folks at Occupy Sandy could still benefit from your donations & volunteering. Some NY'ers are still feeling the hurt.
Be safe and sound and make sure the next so-and-so is too! Back manana with the last Pick of the week. Keep sending me your feedback, Stockahz! August better learn to pass slower than July, if it knows what's GOOD for it...
-Joe Walsh
