February 2012
FILM
Menu of this month's listings, stories and columns '
Film Salon — The Film Salon at Trinity First United Methodist Church, 801 N. Mesa (at Yandell) continues its series of celebrating the screen talents of Marlene Dietrich with Josef von Sternberg’s “The Scarlet Empress” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, in Resler Hall. Admission is free. Information: 533-2674 or filmsalon.org.
Upcoming films in the series include the western/comedy “Destry Rides Again” (March 3) and Billy Wilder’s courtroom drama “Witness for the Prosecution” (April 7).
Jay’s Pix — Film historian, educator, writer, archivist, collector Jay Duncan brings back his weekly film series after an 8-year absence at 1:30 p.m. Sundays, at International Museum of Art, 1211 Montana. Each screening includes commentary, anecdotes and film facts from Duncan. Admission is free. Information: 532-6747 or jayspixpresents@yahoo.com.
The series celebrates the 85th anniversary of the Academy Awards with a series of films nominated or having won Academy Awards.
• Feb. 5 — Special “Super Bowl Sunday Widow” Presentation of “King’s Row” (1942). Nominated for three Oscars, including Best Picture, it is a multi-generational story of life in a small Midwestern town at the turn of the 19th century, as seen through the eyes of a young, idealist doctor who uncovers pettiness, squalor and madness. Based on the best-selling novel by Henry Bellamann.
• Feb. 12 — “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962). Race relations are explored with quiet intelligence in this adaptation of the Harper Lee novel about a fair-minded southern lawyer who defends a black man accused of the rape of a white woman. Nominated for eight Academy Awards and winner for Best Actor (Gregory Peck’s fifth nomination and only win), Best Screenplay and Art Direction-Set Decoration.
• Feb. 19 — “The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). Oscar Wilde’s morality story about a man who sells his soul for eternal youth, remaining young while his portrait shows the stigma of age and corruption. Nominated for three Academy Awards, winning for the cinematography by Harry Stradling, which incorporates Technicolor inserts of the changing portrait.
• Feb. 26 — “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947). A Hollywood postwar “message” film focusing on the problems of a magazine journalist posing as a Jew in order to write a series of articles about anti-Semitism in the United States. Screenplay by Moss Hart based on the novel by Laura Z. Hobson. Nominated for seven Academy Awards, and winning three including Best Picture. Directed by Elia Kazan.
Film Las Cruces — The Rio Grande Theatre and the City of Las Cruces Film Liaison present the monthly film forum at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, in which trailers for locally made films are screened alongside short films by student filmmakers, followed by Q&A sessions with the filmmakers and industry news as it pertains to the area. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. Information: (575) 523-6403 or Las-Cruces-Film.org.
Pax Christi Film Series — The series presents the PBS documentary “Freedom Riders” at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, at Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services’ Mother Teresa Center, 2400 E. Yandell (between Piedras and Cotton). Hosted by Pax Christi El Paso and the Peace & Justice Ministry of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso. Admission is free, donations welcome. Information: 532-0527.
Fifty years ago, more than 400 Americans—mostly young people—risked their lives by simply traveling together through the Deep South on buses to test and challenge racial segregation.
UTEP Cinema Novo Art and Foreign Film Series — Union Cinema, Union Building East, First Floor. Film showings are at 7 p.m. Admission is $2 ($1 with UTEP, student or military ID). Free popcorn. Ticket sales at the door begin 30 minutes before showtime. Information: 747-5481.
Fountain Theatre — 2469 Calle de Guadalupe, 1/2 block south of the plaza in Mesilla. The historic theater, operated by the Mesilla Valley Film Society, features films at 7:30 p.m. nightly, plus 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Foreign language films include subtitles. Admission: $7 ($6 seniors and students with ID; $5 society members and children); $5 on Wednesday. Information, schedule: (575) 524-8287 or mesillavalleyfilm.org.
• Jan. 27-Feb. 2 — “Le Havre.” The film is set in the French port city where many of the cargoes are illegal immigrants arriving from Africa. The police find a container filled with them, and a young boy slips under their arms and runs away. The film’s hero, Marcel Marx, is fishing near a pier and sees the boy standing waist-deep in the water, hiding, and mutely appealing to him. He returns, leaves out some food and finds the food gone the next day. And so, with no plan in mind, Marcel becomes in charge of protecting the boy from arrest.
• Feb 3-9 —”The Skin I Live In.” Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Based on Thierry Jonquet’s novel, ”Mygale,” Antonio Banderas plays Dr. Robert Ledgard, a widower plastic surgeon who uses his isolated mansion to hide a suicidal unknown patient. She’s called Vera (Elena Anaya), and when Robert is not experimenting on her with synthetic skin grafts, he’s observing her behind glass with a voyeuristic perversity. Rated R.
• Feb 10-16 — “Take Shelter.” Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire) plays Curtis LaForche, a crew manager for an Ohio sand-mining company, husband to Samantha (Jessica Chastain) and father of their six-year-old daughter, Hannah (Tova Stewart), who is deaf. LaForche has been having visions of an impending apocalypse, disturbing visions that estrange him from his family and his co-workers.
• Feb 17-23 — “The Puzzle.” María del Carmen is living out a dullish life as a housewife-drudge. Her husband is kindly but gruff. She also has two rambunctious, live-at-home sons. Her newfound expertise at jigsaw puzzles leads her to a wealthy bachelor who is looking for a tournament partner. Without letting on to her family what she is up to, she meets twice a week with this bachelor in his lavish home and together they practice their abundant skills in preparation for a local tournament.
• Feb 24-March 1 — “The Interrupters.” This documentary is a look at Chicago-based group called CeaseFire, a group trying at the ground level to stop street violence in Chicago, insisting that change is possible one person at a time. The group believes that violence is both learned behavior and akin to an infectious disease and their goal is to stop violence at the source.
CinéMatinee Film Series — The Saturday series showcases various themes, including life in the West, old and new; notable movies that have been overlooked; and films with New Mexico connections. Screenings are at 1:30 p.m. Saturdays at the Fountain Theatre, 2469 Calle de Guadalupe, 1/2 block south of the plaza in Mesilla. Admission: $4 ($1 for Mesilla Valley Film Society members), unless otherwise listed. Information: (575) 524-8287 (leave message) or mesillavalleyfilm.org.
• Feb. 4 — “Fargo” (1996) Based on a true story, The Joel and Ethan Coen film stars Frances McDormand as Marge Gunderson, the pregnant police chief of Brainerd, Minn. William H. Macy is the feckless Jerry Lundegaard, a car salesman in deep debt who as hatched a scheme to shake down his father-in-law. Rated R.
• Feb. 11 — “Before Sunrise” (1995). The one-night love story between Celine (Julie Delpy), an easy-going Sorbonne student and Jesse Wallace (Ethan Hawke), a young American, who meet on a train. Directed by Richard Linklater. Rated R.
• Feb 18 — “Cave of Forgotten Dreams,” written and directed by Werner Herzog. The Chauvet Cave in southern France was discovered by scientists in 1994 and estimated to be more than 30,000 years old. Inside they found hundreds of playful paintings. Herzog tries to convey the wonder and the beauty of the place that he calls “a frozen flash in a moment of time.” Rated G. Admission is free for MVFS members in honor of “For the Love of Art Month.”
• Feb. 25 — “All the Pretty Horses,” the film version of the acclaimed Cormac McCarthy novel. Directed by Billy Bob Thornton. Soon after the end of World War II, John Grady (Matt Damon) is crushed to learn that his mother has sold off the West Texas family ranch that he had hoped to work all his life. He sets off on horseback for Mexico, encounters a 13-year-old horse thief and falls in love with Alejandra (Penelope Cruz), the beautiful daughter of the Mexican landowner (Ruben Blades) who hires him to break wild horses. Rated PG-13.
A screening of the 1971 Peter Bogdanovich film “The Last Picture Show” based on the Larry McMurtry novel in conjunction with the Preston Contemporary Art’s final exhibit of the same name, is 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11. A farewell party for the gallery follows the showing at 6 p.m. at the gallery.
New Mexico Museum of Space History — Alamogordo, N.M. The museum’s Tombaugh IMAX Dome Theater presents:
• “Everest” (11 a.m., 1, 3 and 5 p.m.). The documentary narrated by Liam Neeson follows a 1996 Everest expedition as three climbers train and travel to Katmandu through the Himalayas and finally reach the Everest summit.
• Planetarium show: “Nine Planets and Counting” a journey through the solar system (noon and 2 and 4 p.m.).
Tickets: $6 ($5.50 for seniors and military; $4.50 ages 4-12). Ages 3 and under free for all shows. Museum/Max combo tickets available. Information: (877) 333-6589 or (575) 437-2840 or nmspacemuseum.org.
Jay’s Film Forecast — Film historian Jay Duncan prepared this list of top monthly “Coming Attractions” for movie fans, listed by studio and release date. Release dates are subject to change.
Feb. 3:
• Big Miracle (Universal) — Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Kristen Bell. Directed by Ken Kwapis.
• Chronicle (20th Century-Fox) — Michael B. Jordan, Alex Russell, Michael Kelly. Directed by Josh Trank.
• The Innkeepers (Magnolia) — Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis. Directed by Ti West.
• W.E. (Weinstein Co.) — Abbie Cornish, James D’Arcy, Andrea Riseborough. Directed by Madonna.
• The Woman in Black (CBS Films) — Daniel Radcliffe, Janet McTeer, Ciarán Hinds. Directed by James Watkins.
Feb. 10:
• Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (Warner Bros.) — In 3D. Dwayne (“The Rock”) Johnson, Vanessa Hudgens, Michael Caine. Directed by Brad Peyton.
• On the Ice — Frank Qutuk Irelan, Adamina Kerr, John Miller. Directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean. The first feature-length fiction film made in Alaska by an Iñupiaq writer/director with an entirely Inuit cast.
• Rampart (Lightstream) — Woody Harrelson, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Foster. Directed by Oren Moverman. Postponed from Jan. 27.
• Safe House (Universal) — Denzel Washington, Vera Farmiga, Ryan Reynolds. Directed by Daniel Espinosa.
• Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (20th Century-Fox) — 3D re-release Of 1999 film. Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Liam Neeson. Directed by George Lucas.
• The Turin Horse (Cinema Guild) — János Derzsi, Erika Bók, Mihály Kormos. Directed by Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky.
• Undefeated (Weinstein Co.) — Bill Courtney, O.C. Brown, Montrail “Money” Brown. Directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin.
Feb. 14:
• The Vow (Sony Screen Gems) — Rachel McAdams, Sam Neill, Channing Tatum. Directed by Michael Sucsy.
Feb. 17:
• Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Sony) — Nicolas Cage, Idris Elb. Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.
• The Lady (Cohen Media) — Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis. Directed by Luc Besson.
• The Secret World of Arrietty (Disney) — Cell Animation. Voices of Bridgit Mendler, Will Arnett, Amy Piehler. Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Gary Rydstrom.
• Thin Ice (ATO) — Greg Kinnear, Lea Thompson, Billy Crudup. Directed by Jill Sprecher.
• This Means War (20th Century-Fox) — Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Til Schweiger. Directed by McG.
Feb. 24:
• Act of Valor (Relativity) — Alex Veadov, Roselyn Sanchez, Nestor Serrano. Directed by Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh.
• Footnote (Sony Classics) — Shlomo Bar-Aba, Lior Ashkenazi, Aliza Rosen. Directed by Joseph Cedar.
• Gone (Summit) — Amanda Seyfried, Wes Bentley, Jennifer Carpenter. Directed by Heitor Dhalia.
• Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds (Lionsgate) — Tyler Perry, Gabrielle Union, Thandie Newton. Directed by Perry.
• Lookout (FilmDistrict) — Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Peter Stormare. Directed by James Mather.
• Wanderlust (Universal) — Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd, Malin Akerman. Directed by David Wain.
DVD Releases
Feb. 7:
• Anonymous / PG-13
• A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas / R
Feb. 11;
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1/ PG-13
Feb. 14:
• The Rum Diary / R
• Take Shelter/ R
Feb. 21:
• Tower Heist / PG-13
• J. Edgar / R
• Martha Marcy May Marlene / R
Feb. 24:
• Puss in Boots / PG
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Better ParentingCopyright 2012 by Cristo Rey Communications.