$ movie
Wednesday, September 28
Life of Brian
8 10 12
Many people don't know this, but the British comedy troupe Monty Python actually made other movies besides [ITAL]Monty Python and the Holy Grail[ITAL]. In [ITAL]Life of Brian[ITAL], a lovable loser was born the same night as Jesus in the manger next door, and the film follows him as he lives his adult life and gets into a series of increasingly bizarre and hilarious situations. [ITAL]Life of Brian[ITAL] is not as omnipresent and immediately quotable, but you'll never be able to escape the Monty Python fanboys who will be obnoxiously shouting out every line of dialogue. My advice? Get the Bible on Audiobook and listen to it on your iPod in the theater. It could very well create a whole new level of irony in the film.
Thursday, September 29
Kontroll
8 10 12
Here at Carnegie Mellon, we love our weird and enjoyable foreign movies. [ITAL]Kontroll[ITAL] is a Hungarian movie set in the subways under Budapest. The story follows several wildly varied characters as their lives intertwine and weave around each other, but the real meat of the film is in its cinematography. [ITAL]Kontroll[ITAL] is said to look like an art movie without the annoyingly pretentious storytelling, or lack thereof, which is normally the standard for arty films. This means that it should be a hell of a fun movie to watch. And Thursday night homework is for suckers, anyway.
Friday, September 30
Howl's Moving Castle
7:30 10 12:30
Hooray for Japan! Miyazaki's latest film, [ITAL]Howl's Moving Castle[ITAL], is based on a children's book, but that doesn't mean that it isn't for everybody. The master of Japanese animation tells the story of a little girl who is turned into an old woman and finds a reluctant wizard and I think they might fall in love. Whether or not they fall in love is unimportant because the center stage in Miyazaki films is [ITAL]always[ITAL] the art. Expect insanely rich animation and coloring. Interestingly enough, the English-language release of [ITAL]Howl's Moving Castle[ITAL] has a bunch of [ITAL]huge[ITAL]-name actors doing the voices (Christian Bale, Billy Crystal, Jena Malone, and more), so you don't have to struggle with subtitles.
Saturday, October 1
Madagascar
8 10 12
When it comes to computer-animated movies, there are Pixar movies and then there's everything else. [ITAL]Madagascar[ITAL] is part of that "everything else." Put out by Dreamworks and the guys behind [ITAL]Shrek[ITAL], the movie tells the story of a group of zoo animals and their attempt to break out of captivity. Unfortunately it seems that talking animals in movies have not gone the way of music on MTV ? as in, they have not gone out of style ? and unfortunately for [ITAL]Madagascar[ITAL], they should have. Memo to Dreamworks: Talking animals are still lame. At least for audiences our age, it's just not very interesting. If we were fidgety ten-year-olds it might be a different story... but hey, at least there are penguins. Everyone loves penguins.
Sunday, October 2
Rize
8 10 12
Documentaries rock. Especially documentaries made by former music video directors about new California-based dance movements rising from the massive explosion of urban culture into the mainstream. [ITAL]Rize[ITAL] happens to fall into this category. It's got everything a good documentary should have: stunning cinematography, truly engaging stars, a message to spread, and of course, totally insane dancing. If you haven't seen [ITAL]Rize[ITAL] yet, you need to clear space in your schedule on Sunday night because it's like nothing you've seen before.