July 2009
FILM
Menu of this month's listings, stories and columns '
‘Becoming Eduardo’ -- Rio Grande Theatre, in the Las Cruces Downtown Mall, will host a showing of the final edit of Rod McCall’s indie feature at 7 p.m. Friday, June 26, followed by a question and answer session with the filmmakers. Tickets: $6; available online at RioGrandeTheatre.com or BrownPaperTickets.com. Information, contact the Doña Ana Arts Council at (575) 523-6403.
Shot last summer in Hillsboro and Truth or Consequences, and based on a novella by LouAnne Johnson (“Dangerous Minds”), “Becoming Eduardo” features young newcomers Julian Alcaraz, Elizabeth Blanco and Mike Dunay alongside film and television veterans A. Martinez, Holly Riddle, Josh Cruze, Gary Perez and Elizabeth Peña.
The film centers on Eddie Corazón (Alcarez), a 16-year-old juvenile delinquent and secret reader, who attends an alternative high school in rural New Mexico. He walks a thin line between tragedy and glory as he searches for his place in the world.
The Disappeared Film Series - The film series is in conjunction with “The Disappeared” traveling exhibition, curated by the North Dakota Museum of Art, exhibited jointly by the Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, the Centennial Museum and the Union Exhibition Gallery, all on the UTEP campus. See “Southwest Art Scene” for exhibition details. Films will be shown at three venues:
The Film Salon at Trinity-First, filmsalon.org, 801 N. Mesa, presents the following free screenings, all at 7:30 p.m.
-- Saturday, July 18: “Rendition (2007)
-- Saturday, Aug. 15: “Missing” (1982)
UTEP Union Cinema, utep.edu/events/films, First Floor Student Union Building, UTEP. Admission: $1 with UTEP ID, $2 others. All screenings at 7 p.m.
-- Friday and Saturday, June 26-27: “Waltz with Bashir” (2008)
-- Friday, July 24: “The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt” (2003)
-- Friday and Saturday, Aug. 28-29: “Taxi to the Darkside” (2007)
-- Friday and Saturday, Sept. 11-12: “The Disappeared” (2007). A discussion with director Peter Sanders begins at 6 p.m.
El Paso Museum of Art, elpasoartmuseum.org, One Arts Festival Plaza. Admission: $5 (free from EPMA members).
-- 2 p.m. Saturday, July 11: Bajo Juárez (Beneath Juárez), 2006.
Book-Based Movies at Branigan Library -- Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, 200 E. Picacho, presents movies based on popular novels at 6 p.m. Wednesdays, July 1-29. in the Dresp Room. Movie ratings range from PG to R; call for titles. Admission is free. Information: Elise Vidal, (575) 528-4014.
Film Salon -- The Film Salon at Trinity First United Methodist Church, 801 N. Mesa (at Yandell), begins its series of “film noir” with Jules Dassin’s last American film before he was blacklisted, “Night and the City,” starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 3, in Resler Hall. Admission is free. Nursery available with two-day advance reservation. Information: 533-2674 or filmsalon.org.
Widmark is a hustler and small-fish-in-a-big-pond, about to be swallowed whole by a shadowy London, filled with professional beggars, prostitutes, black marketers and mobsters.
The salon will host a screening of “Rendition” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 18, in conjunction with UTEP’s “The Disappeared” exhibit.
Four special film noir screenings in August will be part of the Plaza Classic Film Festival (Aug. 6-16) at the Plaza Theatre: “The Maltese Falcon,” “Double Indemnity,” “Vertigo” and “Blast of Silence.” All films presented from 35mm archival prints. Schedule to be announced.
‘Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror’ -- No String Theatre Company presents F.W. Murnau’s classic 1922 vampire film with live musical accompaniment at 7 p.m. Monday, July 6, at Black Box Theatre, 430 N. Downtown Mall in Las Cruces. Admission: $10 ($9 students and seniors over 65). Information: (575) 523-1223 or no-strings.org.
‘The Business of Being Born’ -- The Birth Place/Maternidad La Luz, 1308 Magoffin (between Brown and Cotton), will host a free screening of the film produced by Ricki Lake at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 8, in the center’s school building. Called a “must see for every parent-to-be”, the movie provides insight into the process of childbirth and the various options available when preparing for this event. A discussion will follow. Information: 532-5895 or maternidadlaluz.com.
Family films at International Museum -- The International Museum of Art, 1211 Montana, will host contemporary family-friendly movies 2 to 4 p.m. every Thursday in July. Admission: $3 (includes snack and drink). Information: 543-6747 or internationalmuseumofart.net.
-- July 9 -- Bedtime Stories
-- July 16 -- The Water Horse
-- July 23 -- Daddy Daycare
-- July 30 -- Meet the Robinsons.
‘Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton’ -- Pax Christi Film Series presents a free screening of the film about the modern American monk at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 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.
Merton is considered one of the great spiritual thinkers of the 20th century.
Del Corazon Film Festival -- The 3rd annual festival celebrating local film and artists is 5 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, July 25, at Kalavera Studio, 140 N. Stevens, featuring live music by Hot Rog Booke and Fixed Idea and local deejay Mike Guererro of Fox 92.3, as well as works by local artists and local, national and international filmmakers. Hosted by Movimiento Hunab Ku. Admission: $5. Information: 633-2327 or delcorazonfilmfest.org.
Local filmmakers interested in submitting work may contact delcorazonfilmfest@gmail.com.
Plaza Classic Film Festival -- The El Paso Community Foundation will host its 2nd annual classic and “semi-classic” movie in The Plaza’s Main Theatre, Philanthropy Theatre and outdoor Festival Plaza Aug. 6-16. Movies of all genres will be presented from the golden age of cinema to more recent favorites. Schedule to be announced. Tickets range from free showings to $6, depending on screening. Details to be announced. Information: 533-4020 or plaza-movies.com.
This year’s highlights include the 1977 sci-fi classic “Star Wars” Wednesday, Aug. 12.
Other showings include “Gone With the Wind,” “Mary Poppins,” Jerry Lewis’s “The Nutty Professor,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Chinatown,” “The French Connection,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” The Beatles’ “Help!” Akira Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress,” “The Lady Eve,” “Roman Holiday,” Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo,” “The Mummy” (1921 version) and “The Terminator.”
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 fountaintheatre.org.
-- June 26-July 2 -- “Hunger.” IRA prisoner Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) leads a hunger strike that will leave him dead at the age of 27.
A representative from the Irish Freedom Committee, Chuck McLaughlin, will present a brief overview of the current political situation in that country prior to the screening Saturday, June 27.
-- July 3-9 -- “Is Anybody There?” (UK, 2009). Michael Caine plays a magician far past his prime, living in an English retirement home. He befriends the owners’ 10-year-old son, who is so obsessed with death he tapes last gasps of guests. Rated PG-13.
-- July 10-16 -- “Rudo y Cursi” (USA/Mexico 2008). Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna star as a couple of rubes recruited from a banana plantation to play professional soccer. Sibling rivalry provides a consistent source of humor and their antics verge on slapstick. Rated R.
-- July 17-23 -- “Goodbye Solo,” (USA, 2008). Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane), a taxi driver, is a Senegalese man living in Winston-Salem, N.C. His passenger, (Red West), a much older white Southerner, wants to arrange a trip to a place where he can commit suicide. Solo is driven not only to try to save the passenger, but also to know him. Rated R.
-- July 24-30 -- “The Merry Gentleman” (USA, 2008). Starring and directed by Michael Keaton, who plays Frank Logan, who when not wielding a gun is sitting at a sewing table in a men’s custom clothing shop. He encounters a runaway battered wife (Kelly Macdonald), and strikes up a friendship. Rated R.
-- July 31-Aug 6 -- “Shoot the Piano Player” (France, 1960). François Truffaut’s atmospheric 1960 Parisian noir starring legendary French singer Charles Aznavour. An embittered dive-bar pianist has retreated into gutter-level obscurity and cares only about the little brother he’s raising. Two thugs chasing his no-account older brother, a tomboy waitress who knows his secret and the prostitute next door are among life’s challenges as he tries to get over his long-dead wife. Rated PG.
The CinéMatinee Film series is 1:30 p.m. every Saturday, focusing on New Mexico and western themes. Admission: $4 ($1 for society members). See separate listing for schedule.
CinéMatinee Film Series -- Films with western, rural or New Mexico themes (as well as other special selections) are shown 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).
-- July 4 -- “Nothing But the Truth.” Kate Beckinsale plays a political reporter for a Washington newspaper. After an assassination attempt on the President fails, the U.S. government launches a military attack on Venezuela. The reporter learns that a CIA operative could find no evidence that anyone in Venezuela was responsible for the attack. Rated R.
-- July 11 -- “Amexicano.” Partially shot in New Mexico. Bruno is an unemployed average Joe from New York’s Italian community, who takes an off-the-books construction job that confronts him with his own ethnic prejudices. The film’s finale is shot on the New Mexican border. Rated PG-13.
-- July 18 -- “The Village Barbershop.” Writer/director Chris Ford’s debut film set in Reno is a character-driven comedy about an old-school barber. Rated R.
-- July 25 -- “Geronimo: An American Legend.” Walter Hill’s revisionist take on the American cavalry’s campaign to capture the Chiricahua Apache warrior (played by Wes Studi). Also starring Jason Patric and Robert Duvall, with soundtrack by Ry Cooder. Shot in Southeastern Utah. Rated PG-13.
New Mexico Museum of Space History -- Alamogordo, N.M. The museum’s Tombaugh IMAX Dome Theater presents:
-- “Destiny in Space” (noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. daily). A glimpse into the future of space exploration featuring never-before-seen giant-screen images of the space shuttle in orbit around the Earth and thrilling fly-overs of Mars and Venus. Audiences are with the astronauts as they work in Spacelab and outside the shuttle in the hazardous vacuum of space, performing a spectacularly successful servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope.
-- “Sharks” (11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. daily). Jean-Michel Cousteau presents a 3-D encounter with the “lions and tigers of the ocean.”
Tickets: $6 ($5.50 for seniors and military; $4.50 ages 4-12). Ages 3 and under free for all shows. 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.
July 3:
-- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (20th Century-Fox Animation) -- CG Animation. Voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizano, Denis Leary. Directed by Carlos Saldanha and Mike Thurmeier. (3rd film in series)
-- I Hate Valentine’s Day (IFC Films) -- Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Judah Friedlander. Directed by Vardalos.
-- Public Enemies (Universal) -- Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Leelee Sobieski, Christian Bale. Directed by Michael Mann.
July 10:
-- Brüno (Universal) -- Sacha Baron Cohen, Richard Bey, Ron Paul. Directed by Larry Charles.
-- Humpday (HD Net) -- Mark Duplass, Alycia Delmore, Joshua Leonard. Directed by Lynn Shelton.
-- The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment) -- Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow.
-- I Love You, Beth Cooper (Fox Atomic) -- Hayden Panettiere, Cynthia Stevenson, Paul Rust. Directed by Chris Columbus.
July 17:
-- (500) Days of Summer (Fox Searchlight) -- Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Geoffrey Arend. Directed by Marc Webb.
-- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Warner Bros.) -- Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint. Directed by David Yates. (6th film in series)
July 24:
-- G-Force (Walt Disney Studios) Live Action & CG Animation -- Will Arnet, Penelope Cruz, Zach Galifianakis. Directed by Hoyt Yeatman.
-- Orphan (Warner Bros.) -- Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman. Directed by Jaume Collet Serra.
-- The Ugly Truth (Columbia) -- Katherine Heigl, Gerald Butler, Eric Winter. Directed by Robert Luketic.
July 31:
-- Adam (Fox Searchlight) -- Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher. Directed by Max Mayer.
-- Aliens in the Attic (20th Century-Fox) Live Action & CG Animation -- Ashley Tisdale, Robert Hoffman, Carter Jenkins. Directed by John Schultz.
-- The Cove (Lionsgate) Documentary -- Richard O’Barry, Mandy-Rae Cruikshank, Joe Chisholm. Directed by Louie Psihoyos.
-- Funny People (Universal) -- Adam Sandler, Leslie Mann, Seth Rogan. Directed by Judd Apatow.
DVD Releases
July 7:
-- The Unborn / PG-13
-- Knowing / PG-13
July 14:
-- Horsemen / R
-- Haunting in Connecticut / R
July 21:
-- The Great Buck Howard / PG
-- Watchmen / R
-- Coraline / PG
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Better ParentingCopyright 2009 by Cristo Rey Communications.