The first night of the Homegrown Cinema Series‘ second run is tomorrow night (Monday, September eighth) at the Parkway Theater, with the films being two documentaries by Melody Gilbert, Married at the Mall and Whole. The event starts at 7:30 PM. Switchblade Comb has a pair of tickets to give away, so send an email with the subject “Whole” and I’ll randomly pick the winner at noon tomorrow.
Treat of the week: Crunchyroll, a site that streams various Asian films and television shows that have yet to be picked up by American distributors, just put up three amazing earlier films of one of Japan’s finest directors, Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Serpent’s Path and Eyes of the Spider are some of the greatest revenge films ever made, each shot in two weeks with the same starting point and main character (played by the great Sho Aikawa) that quickly diverge quite differently. License to Live follows a 24-year old who awakes after 10 years in a coma and attempts to rebuild his family, a cliche-sounding plot made fascinating with Kurosawa’s trademark style.
Watch Serpent’s Path HERE.
Watch Eyes of the Spider HERE.
Watch License to Live HERE.
The highly-acclaimed HBO documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desired, just opened in Minneapolis at the Parkway Theater for a one-week run.
Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desired
Friday, Sept. 5 - Thursday, Sept. 11
Parkway Theater
Minneapolis, MN
Various Times l $5
In 1977, Roman Polanski was arrested in Los Angeles on charges he gave drugs and had sex with a 13-year-old girl he was photographing for Vogue. Eleven months later, having pled guilty to one count, he fled to Europe before sentencing. This film examines that year-long period, using archival footage of the media frenzy and of Polanski’s life before the charges, clips from his films, and contemporary interviews with many of the principles - attorneys, the victim, and Polanski’s friends and associates. Polanski remains enigmatic, but portraits emerge of the machinations of justice and of a judge more interested in his image than his word or the law.
Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desired - Trailer
ABe Yoshitoshi, creator of my favorite anime series Serial Experiments Lain and also the fantastic Texhnolyze, Niea Under 7, and Haibane Renmei, will be the main guest at MCAD’s Schoolgirls & Mobilesuits: Culture and Creation in Manga and Anime event in Minneapolis. It comes at a hefty price of $75, but the man’s an artistic genius, so it should all even out.
Schoolgirls & Mobilesuits
Friday, Sept. 26 - Sun. Sept. 28
MCAD
Minneapolis, MN
All Weekend l $75
ABe will be lecturing Saturday afternoon with screenings of his work following, and Sunday will be an Anime Panel focusing on his work. For more events, look over HERE.
Other guests appearing at the event include voice actor Crispin Freeman and local cosplayers/dub artists Verssen Werks.
Lain AMV w/ Telepopmusik’s “Breathe”
Purple Rain plays tomorrow night (Saturday, September 6) at the Uptown Theatre. Doors are at 11:55 pm. Switchblade Comb has five pairs of tickets to give away. Shoot me an email with the subject “Purple Rain.” I’ll randomly pick the winners at noon tomorrow.
Written and directed by: David Mackenzie (Young Adam)
Starring: Jaime Bell (Billy Elliot), Claire Forlani (Mallrats), Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting)
The seventeen year-old Hallam Foe is a weird teenager that misses his mother, who committed suicide, drowning in a lake nearby their house in Edinburgh after an overdose of sleeping pills. Hallam spends his spare time peeping at the locals and blames his stepmother Verity Foe, accusing her of killing his mother. After a discussion with his father Julius Foe, Hallam sneaks out from his house and travels to Edinburgh, where he sees Kate Breck and becomes obsessed with her because of her resemblance to his mother. Kate hires Hallam to work in the kitchen of the hotel where she works and they have a strange romance, while Hallam reaches his maturity the hardest way.
Hipster alert. Cute drawings and music by Domino Record’s Orange Juice “Blue Boy” and U.N.P.O.C. “Here on My Own” featured in the trailer. This looks like a cool film and I’m glad it’s been moved from the Edina Cinema to the Uptown Theatre. Scheduled to open in Minneapolis on October 10.
Films coming soon to the Twin Cities area Landmark Theatres.
September:
12 - Bab’Aziz (Uptown)
12 - In Search of a Midnight Kiss (Lagoon)
12 - Burn After Reading (Lagoon)
12 - The Women (Edina)
19 - Battle in Seattle (Uptown)
19 - I Served the King of England (Lagoon)
19 - Trouble the Water (Lagoon)
26 - The Duchess (Uptown)
26 - Choke (Lagoon)
26 - What We Do is Secret (Lagoon)
26 - Towelhead (Edina)
October:
03 - Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild (Uptown or Lagoon)
03 - Allah Made Me Funny (Lagoon)
03 - Appaloosa (Lagoon)
03 - A Girl Cut in Two (Lagoon)
03 - Religulous (Edina)
10 - Mister Foe (Uptown)
10 - Beauty in Trouble (Lagoon)
17 - Rachel Getting Married (Uptown or Edina)
17 - W. (Lagoon)
17 - The Pool (Lagoon)
17 - What Just Happened (Edina)
24 - Filth and Wisdom (Lagoon)
31 - Changeling (Lagoon)
November:
07 - Synecdoche, New York (Uptown)
07 - A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (Lagoon)
07 - I Loved You So Long (Edina)
14 - Fear(s) of the Dark (Lagoon)
21 - Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed… (Lagoon)
21 - A Christmas Tale (Edina)
28 - Ashes of Time Redux (Lagoon)
December:
05 - My Name is Bruce (Uptown)
Speaking of Bruce Campbell, we got the new midnight movie list for the Uptown Theatre. We were pushing hard to get a print of Evil Dead 2 for October and succeeded.
All films are on a Saturday night. $9 with doors opening at 11:55pm and the movie starting as soon as we get everyone inside.
Previously Announced Midnight Movie Schedule:
09.06 - Purple Rain
09.13 - Showgirls
09.20 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
09.27 - Ghost World
10.04 - Nightmare on Elm Street
Upcoming Midnight Movie Schedule:
10.11 - Evil Dead 2
10.18 - The Midnight Meat Train
10.25 - Nightmare on Elm Street 3
11.01 - Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
11.08 - Harold & Maude
For all of these films we are looking for any bands that would be interested in playing a 20-30 minute set before the film. Send me an email if you’re interested: mojo@switchbladecomb.com
Evil Dead 2 - Trailer
Update: We couldn’t have My Name is Bruce homeless in Minneapolis so I got it booked at the Uptown Theatre exclusively for one week only. Starts Friday, December 5th.
To follow up the My Name is Bruce poster, it looks like Bruce Campbell will be touring with the film around the country. Most theaters haven’t been announced just yet, but since it has a whole weekend in the Twin Cities, I’m wondering if the Oak Street might open their doors for those days, as Bruce has shown up there previously. We’ll keep you updated.
10.26 - Austin, TX - Alamo Drafthouse
10.31-11.02: New York City - Sunshine Cinema
11.05 - Philadelphia, PA
11.07 - Boston, MA
11.09 - Hartford, CT
11.12 - New Haven, CT
11.14 - Baltimore, MD
11.15 - Washington D.C.
11.19 - Columbus, OH
11.20 - Toledo, OH
11.21-23 - Detroit, MI
11.28-30 - Chicago, IL
12.03 - Madison, WI
12.05-11 - Minneapolis, MN
12.12 - Seattle, WA
12.13-14 - Portland, OR
12.15 - Medford, OR
12.17 - San Francisco, CA
12.18 - Berkeley, CA
12.19-21 - Los Angeles, CA
My Name is Bruce - Trailer
This news has me “touching the sky!” Nah Right via DJ Semtex is saying Kanye will be dropping his fourth record in December. The first single “Love LockDown” is rumored to be dropping “very soon.” December also happens to be when Jay-Z is supposed to release The Blueprint III. Should be an interesting (friendly) battle to see who sells more albums.
Kanye West - “Touch the Sky”
The previously reported Happy Medium show this Friday at Station 4 recently had lungs. drop off the bill, but the replacement is local prolific circuit-bending duo Beatrix*JAR. Since JAR helped on the soundtrack to the 2006 local film The Romantics, the show still has quite a few ties to the local film scene. As of this time, The Southtown Avengers and Missed Opportunity are still scheduled to also appear.
Happy Medium (& Co.)
Friday, September 5
Station 4
St. Paul, MN
8 PM
Beatrix*JAR on WSEE
Honestly, the man can do no wrong. Pictures from the Seattle show will be posted within a few days. Dig.
Remix of this classic bout. Video of the year? You make the call.
Off of the rather awesome Tea Parties, Guns, and Valor, out now.
(thanks Stereo Sanctity for the heads-up)
While also responsible for animating some classic Looney Toons episodes, Bill Melendez is best known as the only filmmaker that Charles Schulz let oversee all animated versions of his Peanuts comic strip, throughout 68 TV specials, four feature films and over 372 commercials. His first directorial effort was 1965’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, and he was also the only adult voice used in the Peanuts cast, providing the brilliant vocals for Snoopy.
Bill Melendez as Snoopy
Director: Gus Van Sant.
Starring: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Diego Luna.
Spoiler alert. After moving to San Francisco, the middle-aged New Yorker, Harvey Milk, became a Gay Rights activist and city politician. On his third attempt, he was elected to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in 1977, making him the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the USA. The following year, both he and the city’s mayor, George Moscone, were shot to death by former city supervisor, Dan White, who blamed his former colleagues for denying White’s attempt to rescind his resignation from the board.
Trailer
Scheduled for theaters on December 5, 2008.
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