NHMU
Science Movie Night
Tuesday, May 14 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
TWISTER
Directed by Jan De Bont
Rated PG-13 | 113 min | 1996 | USA
In
this dizzying, effects-driven drama, two scientists (Helen Hunt and Bill
Paxton) chase tornadoes in their quest to record and study them. Taking a
backseat to the wild and visually mesmerizing storms are subplots concerning a
failing marriage, childhood trauma and corporate ethics. The film received
multiple Academy Awards for its spectacular sound and visual effects (including
the famous flying cow).
DTH!
Year-round
May 16 @ 7:00 PM
Brewvies
THE OUT LIST
Directed by Timothy
Greenfield-Sanders
60 min | 2013 | USA
60 min | 2013 | USA
A diverse cross-section of Americans share personal and
professional stories, both heart-wrenching and triumphant, of the lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender and queer experience. From actor Neil Patrick Harris to
athlete Wade Davis and politician Christine Quinn to the Scissor Sisters’ Jake
Shears, the subjects speak to the unique struggles and triumphs they have faced.
Other subjects include Wanda Sykes, Larry Kramer, Suze Orman,
Dustin Lance Black, Cynthia Nixon, Lady Bunny, and Ellen Degeneres, among
others.
Films
Without Borders
Tuesday, May 21 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
LA CAMIONETA
Directed by Mark Kendall
Not Rated | 71 min | 2012 | USA/Guatemala
Presented in English and Spanish with
English subtitles
Daily,
dozens of retired school buses travel from the United States to Guatemala,
where they are resurrected as brightly-colored "camionetas" that
transport people to work each day. Since 2006, almost 1,000 “camioneta” drivers
have been murdered for not paying extortion money to the local gangs. LA
CAMIONETA follows the journey of one bus and the five men whose lives become
intertwined with its resurrection.
Official Selection – 2012 SXSW Film
Festival; 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival
Films
Without Borders
Tuesday, May 28 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
GOD LOVES UGANDA
Directed by Roger Ross Williams
Not Rated | 90 min | 2013 | USA
**Director Roger Ross Williams in
attendance for a post-film Q+A.
A
powerful exploration of the evangelical campaign to infuse African culture with
values imported from America's Christian Right. The film follows American and
Ugandan religious leaders fighting sexual immorality and missionaries trying to
convince Ugandans to follow biblical law.
Official Selection – 2013 Sundance Film
Festival, 2013 Hot Docs Film Festival, 2013 San Francisco International Film
Festival, 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Films
Without Borders
Tuesday, June 4 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
TRASHED: No Place For Waste
Directed by Candida Brady
Not Rated | 97 min | 2012 | USA
Narrated
by and starring Academy Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons, this environmental
documentary looks at the risks to the food chain and the environment through
pollution of our air, land and sea by waste. The film reveals surprising truths
about very immediate and potent dangers to our health. Visually and emotionally
the film is both horrific and beautiful: an interplay of human interest and political
wake-up call. But it ends on a message of hope: showing how the risks to our
survival can easily be averted through sustainable approaches that provide far
more employment than the current 'waste industry.'
Official Selection – 2012 Festival de Cannes;
Winner: Audience Award – 2012 Maui Film Festival; Winner: Special Jury Prize – 2012
Tokyo Film Festival; Official Selection at 7 other Film Festivals
Through
The Lens
Wednesday, June 5 @ 7:00 PM
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center
THE SHORT GAME
Directed by Josh Greenbaum
Not Rated | 95 min | 2013 | USA
Screens in English, Mandarin and French
with English subtitles
**Director Josh Greenbaum will be in
attendance for a post-film Q+A moderated but Doug Fabrizio, host of RadioWest.
THE
SHORT GAME follows the lives of eight of the best 7-year old golfers in the
world as they train for and compete in the World Championships of Junior Golf.
The annual tournament hosts 1500 young golfers from 54 different countries. THE
SHORT GAME presents a fascinating and often funny portrait of a group of very
young athletes, their families, and the narrow-focused, peculiar and highly
competitive junior golf subculture.
Official Selection – 2013 SXSW Film
Festival
Tumbleweeds
Saturday, June 1 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
WILL
Directed by Ellen Perry
Recommended for ages 9+ | 105 min |
2011 | UK/Turkey
In
this crowd pleaser from the 2013 Tumbleweeds Film Festival, eleven-year-old
Will Brennan is Liverpool FC’s biggest fan school. His life it turned upside
down when his long-absent father reappears with tickets to the 2005 Champions
League Final. Will’s dream of seeing his beloved team in one of their biggest
matches is about to come true. Or is it?
NHMU
Science Movie Night
Tuesday, June 11 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
JAPAN’S KILLER QUAKE
Not Rated | 53 min. | 2011 | USA
Filmed
shortly after the devastating Tohoku earthquake of March 2011, this NOVA
documentary examines the powerful geologic forces that unleashed the quake and
how they brought Japan to the brink of a nuclear meltdown. Using exclusive
footage and illuminating animations, the film follows the progress of the
earthquake as it was generated under the Pacific Ocean, travelled throughout
the Japanese mainland, and produced a destructive tsunami. After the film, join
University of Utah Research Associate Professor of Geology and Geophysics James
Pechmann for a discussion of new understandings of the Tohoku earthquake and
his research on earthquake hazards in Utah.
Tuesday, June 18 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
WHEN I WALK
Directed by Jason DaSilva
Not Rated | 85 min | 2012 | USA/Canada
**Director Jason DaSilva will
participate in a post-film Q+A via Skype.
In
2006, the 25-year-old filmmaker Jason DaSilva was on a beach with his family
when, suddenly, he fell down and couldn’t get back up. Doctors told him he had
multiple sclerosis. Being a filmmaker, Jason picked up the camera, turned it on
himself, and began filming the slow, difficult decline of his body and the
miracles he encountered along the way. An emotional and inspirational
documentary, When I Walk is an energizing film experience
whose creative engine is its young filmmaker’s determination to live .
Official Selection – 2013 Sundance Film
Festival; 2013 Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival
DTH!
Year-round
Thursday, June 20 @ 7:00 PM
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING
Directed by Brian Dannelly
Not Rated | 90 min | 2012 | USA
This coming-of-age comedy-drama film written by and starring Chris Colfer, is also based on his
novel. After senior Carson Phillips is struck by lightning and killed in his
high-school parking lot. He recounts the way he blackmailed his classmates into
contributing to his literary magazine. Featuring knock-out performances form
Rebel Wilson and Allison Janey, Dermot Mulroney and Christina Hendricks.
Films
Without Borders
Tuesday, June 25 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE
Directed by Stephen Maing
Not Rated | 86 min. | 2012 | U.S.A.
Screens in Mandarin with English
subtitles.
**Director Stephen Maing in attendance.
HIGH
TECH, LOW LIFE follows the journey of two of China’s first citizen reporters as
they travel the country - chronicling underreported news and social issues
stories. Armed with laptops, cell phones, and digital cameras these formerly
average citizens develop skills as independent one-man news stations while
learning to navigate China’s new social media landscape and evolving censorship
regulations - all while avoiding the risk of political persecution.
Official Selection – 2012 Tribeca Film
Festival, 2012 Hot Docs Film Festival; Winner – Best Documentary – 2012 Little
Rock film Festival; Winner – Documentary Special Jury Prize – 2012 Independent
Film Festival Boston; Winner – Best Cinematography – 2012 Woods Hole Film Festival
Special
Screening
Tuesday July 2 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
SIGN PAINTERS
Directed by Faythe Levine and Sam Macon
Not Rated | 90 min | 2013 | USA
There
was a time, as recently as the 1980s, when storefronts, murals, banners, barn
signs, billboards and even street signs were all hand-lettered with brush and
paint. Today, the proliferation of computer-designed, die-cut vinyl lettering
and inkjet printers has ushered a creeping sameness into our landscape.
Fortunately, there is a growing trend to seek out traditional sign painters and
a renaissance in the trade. SIGN PAINTERS is a history of the craft and features
the stories of more than two dozen sign painters working in cities throughout
the United States.
Tumbleweeds!
Saturday, July 6 @ 11:00 PM
City Library
CHICKEN RUN
Directed by Nick Park and Peter Lord
Rated G | 84 min | 2000 | USA
From
the Academy Award-winning team behind the popular "Wallace and
Gromit" shorts comes a feature-length animated adventure set at Tweedy's
chicken farm, where any chicken who doesn't make her egg quota can meet a
"fowl" fate. The action turns on the characters of Rocky (an American
rooster) and Ginger (a British chicken) who, along with their fellow flock, are
determined to break out from the sinister farm before they can be fried,
filleted or fricasseed.
Science
Movie Night
Tuesday, July 9 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE
Directed by Michelle Metivier
Not rated | 44 min | 2005 | Canada
Monster
forest fires, big enough to be seen from space and hot enough to create their
own weather, used to be a once-in-a-decade nightmare. But now, they're an
everyday summer reality across vast stretches of North America. Authorities in
Canada and the United States are bracing for increasing infernos each fire
season. This provocative film raises questions about conventional methods of
fighting fire, and whether decades of suppressing fire have simply made matters
worse.
Special
Screening - Presented by Sean Means, Salt Lake Tribune Film Critic
Thursday, July 11 @ 7:00 pm
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center
Salt
Lake Tribune Film Critic Sean Means has been reviewing films for Utah audiences
since July 1993. To celebrate his 20th Anniversary, we’ve asked him
to curate a film that he loved and then lead a discussion about it after the
screening. Join us to celebrate his contribution to local film culture.
127 HOURS
Directed by Danny Boyle
Rated R | 93 min | 2010 | USA
Easily the best movie made in Utah
in my 20 years as movie critic at The Salt Lake Tribune. More than that,
though, it's a fascinating and absorbing survival drama, depicting Aron
Ralston's survival and dissecting how his go-for-broke life got him into that
predicament in the first place. Credit director Danny Boyle for making a movie
that's surprisingly dynamic considering it's about a guy literally stuck in the
same spot.
- Sean
Means
Films
Without Borders
Tuesday, July 16 @ 6:00 PM
City Library
DR. ATOMIC
Directed by Peter Sellars
Not Rated | 190 min | 2008 | USA
Representing
the culmination of nearly two decades of collaboration between composer John
Adams and director Peter Sellars, this modern opera focuses on the J. Robert
Oppenheimer experiments that led to the creation of the atomic bomb. Baritone
Gerald Finley plays the physicist and soprano Jessica Rivera sings the role of
his wife in this 2007 production that features the Netherlands Opera Chorus and
the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.
Presented
in partnership with Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and the Utah
Symphony/Utah Opera.
Through
The Lens
Wednesday, July 17 @ 7:00 PM
Rose Wagner Performing Arts
THE INSTITUTE
Directed by Spencer McCall
Not Rated | 91 min | 2012 | USA
**Director Spencer McCall will
participate in a post-film discussion moderated by Doug Fabrizio, host of
KUER’s RadioWest
THE
INSITUTE follows the experiences of participants in a San Francisco-based
phenomenon, where cryptic narratives and real worlds collide to produce
unforeseen and often unsettling consequences. This fascinating takes the viewer
on a journey into a secret underground organization teeming just beneath the
surface of every day life.
Official Selection – 2012 Mill Valley
Film Festival; 2013 Slamdance Film Festival; 2013 True/False Film Festival
DTH!
Year-round
Thursday, July 18 @ 7:00 PM
Best of Fest
Films
Without Borders
Tuesday, July 30 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
Films
Without Borders
THE MOO MAN
Directed by Andy Heathcote, Codirected
by Heike Bachelier
Not Rated | 98 min. | 2012 | United
Kingdom
The
remarkable story of a maverick farmer and his unruly cows, filmed over four
years on the marshes of the Pevensey Levels. In an attempt to save his family
farm, Stephen Hook decides to turn his back on the cost cutting dairies and
supermarkets, and instead stay small and keep his close relationship with the
herd. However farmer Hook's plans to save the farm do not always go down well
with his 55 spirited cows. The result is a laugh-out-loud, emotional rollercoaster
of a journey.
Official Selection – 2013 Sundance Film
Festival; True/False Film Festival; 2013 Berlin International Film Festival
Tumbleweeds!
Saturday, August 3 @ 11:00 AM
City Library
FLUSHED AWAY
Directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell
Rated PG | 84 min. | 2006 | USA
FLUSHED
AWAY tells the story of an uptown rat that gets flushed down the toilet from
his penthouse apartment, ending in the sewers of London, where he has to learn
a whole new and different way of life....and a madcap adventure deep in the
bowels of Ratropolis!
Films
Without Borders – Hiroshima/Nagasaki Remembrance Day
Tuesday, August 6 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
THE MAN WHO SAVED THE WORLD
Directed by Peter Anthony
Not Rated | 95 min | 2012 | Denmark
Presented in English and Russian with
English subtitles.
THE
MAN WHO SAVED THE WORLD tells the amazing story of Lt. Colonel Stanislav E.
Petrov – a man who held the fate of the world in his hands for a few crucial
minutes in history on the night of September 26, 1983. When an alarm went off
saying that five American nuclear missiles had been launched against the Soviet
Union, he followed his gut feeling and went against orders and protocol, in the
process saving the world from nuclear holocaust.
Presented
in partnership with Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Through
The Lens
Wednesday, August 7 @ 7:00 PM
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center
ROOM 237
Directed by Rodney Ascher
Not Rated | 104 min | 2013 | USA
**Director Rodney Ascher will be in
attendance for a post-film Q&A moderated by Doug Fabrizio, host of
RadioWest.
A
documentary that explores the numerous theories about the hidden meanings
within Stanley Kubrick's The Shining
which continues to inspire debate, speculation, and mystery more than thirty
years after its release. Using voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic
reenactments, ROOM 237 investigates five very different points of view drawing
the audience into a new maze, one with many ways in, but no way out.
Official
Selection – 2012 Sundance Film Festival; 2012 Cannes Film Festival; 2012 New
York Film Festival
Science
Movie Night
Tuesday, August 13 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
KEY LARGO
Directed by John Huston
Not Rated | 101 min | 1948 | USA
As
a destructive hurricane wreaks havoc outside, Army veteran Frank McCloud
(Humphrey Bogart), war-widow Nora Temple (Lauren Bacall) and her invalid
father-in-law face a worse storm inside the Temples' tumbledown Florida hotel
in Key Largo. Frank merely stopped by to pay his respects to Nora, only to find
the hotel commandeered by exiled gangster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson).
Will the war-weary Frank step up to fight again?
Winner, Best Supporting Actress – 1949
Academy Awards
DTH!
Year-round
Thursday, August 15 @ 7:00 PM
MY SUMMER OF LOVE
Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
Rated R | 86 min | 2004 | UK
A tale of obsession and deception, and the struggle for love and faith
in a world where both seem impossible. The film charts the emotional and physical
hothouse effects that bloom one summer for two young women: Mona, behind a
spiky exterior, hides an untapped intelligence and a yearning for something
beyond the emptiness of her daily life; Tamsin is well-educated, spoiled and
cynical. Complete opposites, each is wary of the other's differences when they
first meet, but this coolness soon melts into mutual fascination, amusement and
attraction. Adding volatility is Mona's older brother Phil, who has renounced
his criminal past for religious fervor - which he tries to impose upon his
sister. Mona, however, is experiencing her own rapture. "We must never be
parted," Tamsin intones to Mona but can Mona completely trust her?
Films
Without Borders
Tuesday, August 20 @ 7:00 PM
City Library
BEYOND RIGHT AND WRONG: Stories of
Justice and Forgiveness
Directed by Lekha Singh and Roger
Spottiswoode
Not Rated | 90 min | 2012 | USA
This
feature documentary tells the stories of people who both endured and
perpetrated cruelty and aggression in the genocide in Rwanda, the violence in
Israel/Palestine, and the "troubles" in Northern Ireland. This film
focuses on extreme situations but is actually the human story of everyday
possibilities in life. After the blood has dried, treaties are negotiated and
screams have turned to silence, victims and perpetrators face an uneasy and
painful peace. All wounds have not healed. The eighty-minute film portrays the
resilience of humanity when facing the chasm between rage and acceptance.
UTAH FILM CIRCUIT MOAB
(Template)
Thursday, May 23 @ 7:00 PM
Moab - Star Hall
WAR WITCH
Directed by Kim Nguyen
Not Rated | 90 min | 2012 | Canada
Presented in French and Lingala with
English subtitles.
Komona
is only 12 years old when she is kidnapped by rebel soldiers and enslaved to a
life of guerrilla warfare in the African jungle. Forced to commit unspeakable
acts of brutality, she finds hope for survival in protective, ghost-like visions,
and in a tender relationship with a fellow soldier named Magicien. Together,
they manage to escape the rebels' clutches, and a normal life finally seems
within reach. But after their freedom proves short-lived, Komona realizes she
must find a way to bury the ghosts of her past.
Nominee - Best Foreign Language Film,
2013 Academy Awards; Nominee – Best International Film, 2013 Independent Spirit
Award. Winner: Best Actress – 2012 Berlin International Film Festival; Winner; Best
Narrative Feature and Best Actress – 2012 Tribeca Film Festival
Thursday, June 20 @ 7:00 pm
Moab - Star Hall
MOONRISE KINGDOM
Directed by Wes Anderson
PG-13 | 94 min | 2012 | USA
MOONRISE KINGDOM is
the latest movie directed by two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Wes
Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Rushmore).
Set
on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story
of two 12-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together
into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a
violent storm is brewing offshore – and the peaceful island community is turned
upside down in every which way.
Nominated – Best Writing-Original
Screenplay, 2013 Academy Awards; Winner of 23 Awards
Thursday, July 25 @ 7:00 PM
Star Hall
BROOKLYN CASTLE
Directed by Katie Dellamaggiore
Not Rated | 102 min | 2012 | USA
**Post-film Q+A via Skype with the
director.
At
Intermediate School 318 in Brooklyn, New York, the team students want to belong
to – is the chess team. IS 318 has won a record 26 national chess
championships, a remarkable achievement for any school, let alone one where the
majority of the students are living near the poverty line. Follow the students
of the IS 318 chess club as they try to earn another national title. Along the
way they show us that success comes from dedication, hard work and supporting
each other and that playing chess is about much more than winning or losing –
it is what helps them overcome the challenges in their lives.
Thursday, August 15 @ 7:00 PM
Star Hall
THE INVISIBLE WAR
Directed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering
Not Rated | 97 min | 2012 | USA
**Director Kirby Dick will participate
in post-film Q+A via Skype.
THE
INVISIBLE WAR is a groundbreaking investigation about one of America’s most
shameful and best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military.
The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem—today, a
female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier
than killed by enemy fire. Focusing on the powerfully emotional stories of rape
victims, this is a moving indictment of the systemic cover-up of military sex
crimes, chronicling the women’s struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for
justice.
Nominee, Best Documentary Feature –
2013 Academy Awards; Winner, Documentary Audience Award – 2012 Sundance Film Festival
VIRIDIAN
Second Thursdays @ 7:00 PM
Viridian Library + Event Center – 8030
S. 1825 W.
May 9 WAR WITCH
July 11 BROOKLYN CASTLE
Aug
8 THE INVISIBILE WAR
May WAR WITCH
June MOONRISE KINGDOM
July BROOKLYN CASTLE
Aug THE INVISIBILE WAR
TRAVELING TUMBLEWEEDS
KAMAS – Third Wednesdays @
4:00 PM
Kamas Theater – 30 N. Main
St.
May 15 AZUR AND ASMAR
June 19 WILL
(pg. #)
July 17 CHICKEN
RUN (pg. #)
Aug. 21 FLUSHED AWAY (pg. #)
MOAB – Second Mondays @
2:00 PM
Grand County Library – 257
E. Center St.
May 13 AZUR AND ASMAR
June 10 WILL
(pg. #)
July 8 CHICKEN RUN (pg. #)
Aug. 12 FLUSHED AWAY (pg. #)
OREM – Second Saturdays @
2:00 PM
Orem Public Library – 58 N.
State St.
May 11 AZUR AND ASMAR
June 8 WILL (pg. #)
July 13 CHICKEN
RUN (pg. #)
Aug. 10 FLUSHED
AWAY (pg. #)
PARK CITY – Third Sundays @
3:00 PM
Jim Santy Auditorium – 1255
Park Ave.
May 19 AZUR AND ASMAR
June 16 WILL
(pg. #)
July/Aug. No Screenings
to accommodate library renovations.
NOIR AT NIGHT
DARKNESS
FALLS (AN OVERVIEW OF AND APPRECIATION FOR NOIR CINEMA)
By
Jeff Michael Vice
Sometimes
the best things come from the humblest beginnings. Take “noir,” a cinematic
genre that takes its name from the French term for “dark.”
For
those unfamiliar with the term and the genre, noir films are categorized as
such because of the darkness in in their style, composition, characters and
subject matter. Rarely, if ever, do noir films have (Spoiler alert!) happy endings.
If
Hollywood and its associated film lore can be believed, the creation of noir
was at least in part, an accident. Allegedly, most of the filmmakers who
invented and/or perfected the style were forced to work with limited budgets,
because of the dire economic conditions at the time. That extended not only to
the use of lighting and sets, but to which actors and writers could be
employed.
If
that’s the case, you can correctly say that noir was a “happy accident,” since
some of our greatest filmmakers really found their voices working in that
genre. Alfred Hitchcock’s career flourished when he made Strangers on a Train (1951), I
Confess (1953), The Wrong Man (1956)
and culminated that period with the more colorful, 1958 thriller Vertigo (more on that film later). Orson
Welles later followed his acclaimed Citizen
Kane (1941) and The Magnificent
Ambersons (1942) with The Stranger
(1946) and, even later, the gripping and grimy, 1958 thriller Touch of Evil, which forever cemented
his reputation (more on him and that film later).
Hitchcock
and Welles were far from the only directors associated with noir. Their
European counterparts (among them, Fritz Lang, of Metropolis fame) dabbled in the style, and later the “New Wave” directors.
While noir briefly died out in the United States during the 1980s, it has seen
a revival of sorts, through the more colorful, “neo-noir” and “hipster noir”
interpretations -- such as the 2005 Sundance Film Festival hit Brick and the tongue-in-cheek 2005
mystery-thriller Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
And
lest we forget, noir was largely responsible for giving us femme fatales. From The Big Sleep’s Lauren Bacall to Vertigo’s Kim Novak to Chinatown’s Faye Dunaway to L.A. Confidential’s Academy Award-winning Kim Basinger, noir has
made the female the deadliest of the species.
To
help cast a spotlight on this darkest-of-the-dark movie genre, the Utah Film
Center presents “Noir at Night,” a series of monthly screenings throughout the
month of July at the Gallivan Center that boasts five noir-film classics.
These
films not only include works by recognizable, veteran directors like Hitchcock
and Welles, it also includes one of the most recognized of all noir films and
an unexpected, family friendly choice that spoofs the noir genre. Speaking of
family friendly, the films are all rated either PG or PG-13, or would receive
one of those ratings by today’s standards. Films selected for the series
include:
Monday, July 1 @ Dusk
Gallivan
Center Plaza - 220 S State St
THE MALTESE FALCON
Directed by John Houston
Not Rated | 100 min | 1941 | USA
One
of the best known of all noir films, John Huston’s adaptation of the Dashiell
Hammett mystery novel features most of the genre’s trademark characters.
Cynical private eye (Humphrey Bogart’s Sam Spade), conniving mystery woman
(Sam’s latest client, played by Mary Astor), Weaselly stooge (Peter Lorre), and
corpulent, sweaty bad guy, Sydney Greenstreet. They’re all there.
Still,
as familiar as the story might seem on paper – Astor’s character gets Sam
involved in murder and intrigue – there are more than enough twists and turns
to keep this tale interesting. It doesn’t hurt that the cast all seems to be
having fun with this material. There’s a reason why this one is considered one
of the classics of the form.
Monday, July 8 @ Dusk
Gallivan
Center Plaza - 220 S State St
THE THIRD MAN
Directed by Carol Reed
Not Rated | 93 min | 1949 | UK
Acclaimed
novelist Graham Greene collaborated with director Carol Reed and actor Orson
Welles on this suspenseful, post-World War II mystery-thriller (Greene is
credited with writing the adaptation of his novel, though Reed and Welles both
provided uncredited re-writes and contributions). The film follows a pulp
writer (hmmm … ) who tries to investigate the mysterious death of an old friend.
“The Third Man” also re-united “Citizen Kane”
co-stars Joseph Cotton, who plays the seemingly clueless novelist Holly
Martins, and Welles, who plays the enigmatic title character, opportunistic
black marketer Harry Lime. A subtle but effective score (courtesy of Anton
Karas) just makes the tension build.
Monday, July 15 @ Dusk
Gallivan
Center Plaza - 220 S State St
VERTIGO
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Rated PG | 1958 | 128 min | USA
The
debate rages as to the true “noir-ness” of Alfred Hitchcock’s psychological
thriller, especially since it was shot and shown in color. But certainly in
terms of its characters and subject matter, it qualifies as noir. A retired San
Francisco detective, “Scottie” Ferguson (Jimmy Stewart), becomes obsessed with
the woman he’s been hired to investigate (Kim Novak).
Vertigo
is not only Hitchcock’s most colorful film; arguably, it’s his most creative
one as well. From its use as set pieces, costuming, camera work and, as always,
a terrific Bernard Herrman score, the film is an inarguable masterpiece. Along
with Psycho and North by Northwest, it’s one of Hitchcock’s most fondly remembered
features.
Monday, July 22 @ Dusk
Gallivan
Center Plaza - 220 S State St
TOUCH OF EVIL
Directed by Orson Welles
Rated PG-13 | 95 min | 1958 | USA
Orson
Welles’ initially-ignored, but-now-beloved noir-thriller follows Mike and Susan
Vargas (Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh), honeymooners who run afoul of a drug
cartel. Mike, a Mexican narcotics detective, also butts heads with a corrupt
American lawman, Hank Quinlan (Welles).
Alternatingly
tense, grimy and disturbing, the film’s reputation has grown over the years,
due in no small part to Welles’ superb performance. Ironically, Welles was
fired as director during the post-production process, and the original cut of
the film was taken out of his hands. Luckily, Touch of Evil was restored and re-edited, after Welles’ death, from
a print copy that was owned by Heston.
Monday, July 29 @ Dusk
Gallivan
Center Plaza - 220 S State St
WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Rated PG | 104 min | 1988 | USA
Live-action
and animation collide in the hilarious and thrilling Disney comedy-thriller,
which stars Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant, a broken-down private detective
forced to hide and protect a popular “toon” accused of murder.
In
addition to its smart use of noir trappings, the film also brings together
various Disney, Warner Bros. and other cartoon characters. Plus, it features
one of the most eye-popping “femme fatale” characters in human “toon” Jessica
Rabbit (modeled by Betsy Brantley and voiced by Kathleen Turner), quite
literally. If you’ve seen the movie, you know what we mean.
Utah-based writer and film critic Jeff
Michael Vice is an aficionado of noir film, literature, music and comic books
(especially Ed Brubaker’s superb Criminal series). He would also like people to
listen to his movie reviews on X96’s Radio From Hell morning show, and watch
them on Xfinity Utah’s Big Movie Mouth-Off.
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