Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Deeper Into Movies, Vol. VI: Bullock in Space; Harry Potter As Allen Ginsberg; Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! ; Room 237; And More


We slacked off on our movie column last week, but it's back again for the few of you who dig it.

If you believe the (absolutely deafening) hype on Cuaron's Gravity, it's the best fucking sci-fi flick since Kubrick sprang 2001 on an unsuspecting universe.  Most of the praise seems technical/emotional as opposed to intellectual, but we'll take what we can get.  We'll even shell out some 3-D money to watch Sandra Bullock float around in space for 90 minutes (even though we tend to hate 3-D).  It opens Friday.






The Kansas International Film Festival (KIFF) is back for its 13th year this weekend. Full schedule here. Among the top choices you can see at the Glenwood Arts are:

August: Osage County.  The Pulitzer-winning play is absolutely vicious and we're huge fans, due mainly to the immortal mother/daughter battle over fried catfish ("EAT THE FISH, BITCH!).  But the film (based on the trailers) looks like a watered-down Hollywood take on the material, even though its adapted by the playwright himself.  Sure, Streep can probably do justice to foul-mouthed matriarch Violet (prone to statements like "Go fuck a fucking sow's ass!"), but there's surely no way Julia Roberts is right to play Barbara, is there?   We're choosing to wait till the official Christmas Day opening to be disappointed, but it screens Oct. 5 at 7:55 at KIFF.

 

Kill Your Darlings:  Harry Potter portrays Allan Ginsburg.  What?  Enough said. Reviews are generally solid. The screening is Oct. 6 at 7:25 pm.

 


But perhaps you're saying to yourself:  All of this is well and good but is there somewhere I can watch Russ Meyer's legendary Faster, Pusscat! Kill! Kill! at 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon?  Sure.  Head over to Alamo KC.  Details here.  This is Chip's "boner pick of the weekend."  (If there had been a column last week, the "boner" award would have went to Don Jon due mainly to the scene where Scarlett Jo and JGL dry-hump in the hallway).




And certainly the best/weirdest thing we've seen lately is the documentary Room 237, in which numerous VERY obsessive people explain their wacky theories about The Shining: it's Kubrick's veiled apology for helping fake the moon landing; it's a commentary on Native-American genocide, etc.   Unusually, the doc uses NO talking-head footage and is assembled almost entirely from clips of The Shining along with other choice Kubrick scenes (such as Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut looking annoyed about things).   Get stoned and see if any of this shit makes sense to you.  You can rent it at Liberty Hall right now.  Please do.




No comments: