Thinking Outside the Multiplex

by MIKE MACCOLLUM

So you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both – and there you have another week at the movies in Indiana.  Yes, one area movie theater will be closing this week, and  several films (Food,Inc. and Rudo y Cursi) were postponed at the Landmark, while two other films (Lemon Tree and Little Ashes) might not be coming to the Landmark at all (for more on that, see “next week and beyond,” below).  Then again, Moon (which sounds like a real must-see) starts Friday at the Landmark, and the 2009 Indianapolis International Film Festival kicks off Wednesday night at the Indianapolis Museum of Art – and as if that weren’t enough, a number of other interesting movies will be shown hither and yon in the coming week as well.  For all that and more, read on…

Adaptation – The multi-part installation continues for another week at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

The Alpha and the Mega – An hour-long documentary on “mega-churches” in America, this will be shown at 10 AM on Saturday, July 11, at the Hamilton 16 and IMAX in Noblesville.  (Or at least this is what the Film Indiana site says; for whatever reason, The Alpha and the Mega is not now on the Saturday schedule for the Hamilton 16.  You might want to call the Hamilton 16 before you go, just to be certain.  And by the way, apparently Alpha and the Mega director Morgan Mead is from Indiana, according to a blurb on page 12 of this week’s issue of Metromix Indianapolis.  This publication also says that they have an interview with Mead on their website – but if it’s up there now, I can’t find it.) More information at the film’s official site.

Away We Go – Holds over for another week at Landmark’s Keystone Arts in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne’s Cinema Center, and the Showplace East 11 in Bloomington, IN.  Click on the respective links at the right side of this page for show times at the first two locations; click here for show times at the Showplace East 11.

Beach Blanket Bingo – Those in search of goofy fun from the less-sleazy side of the ‘sixties should go to the historic Artcraft Theatre in Franklin, IN, this weekend for one of the three showings of this film.  Click on the Artcraft’s link in the sidebar for information on show times.

Cheri – It may not be at the Keystone Arts in Indianapolis any more, but Stephen Frear’s latest opens this Friday at the Showplace East 11 in Bloomington, IN.

Easy Virtue – Holds over for another week at both Landmark’s Keystone Arts in Indianapolis and the Cinema Center in Fort Wayne, although at the Keystone Arts, Easy Virtue will have just two showings a day on Wednesday and Thursday in order to make room for the latest Harry Potter film.  Click on the Keystone Arts and Cinema Center links at the right of this page for more information on show times.

Fight Club – Fisticuffs, soap, and so much more will be on the outdoor screen at the Indianapolis Museum of Art this Friday night as Fight Club screens as part of the IMA’s “Summer Nights” film series.  Click on the IMA’s link in the sidebar for more information.

The Indianapolis International Film Festival – The 2009 festival kicks off Wednesday night, July 15, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s Tobias Theatre, and continues at the IMA through July 24.  For more information about the festival itself, click here; the schedule for the festival can be found here.  The IIFF is a great event for this city, and I hope that as many of you out there as possible will see as many festival films as time and money will allow.  I have seen some of the short films that will be playing the IIFF this year, and they are very good; if the rest of the movies at the 2009 festival are at the same level (and the early reviews I have seen indicate that many of them are), then we are in for a great year.

Life. Support. Music. – A documentary about a musician who suffers a brain hemorrhage – and his efforts to recover from it – Life. Support. Music. will be shown at 6 and 8 PM on Tuesday, July 14, at the Lotus Petal Cinema in Nashville, IN; it’s part of the Lotus Petal’s “Reel Matters” series of docs. The film’s official site is here.

Local Female Filmmakers Celebration – According to the Film Indiana page, this multi-film package will be shown from 7 to 9 PM on Thursday evening, July 16, at the Earth House Collective in Indianapolis. Click on the “Film Screenings” tab of the Film Indiana site (see link in sidebar) for the titles of the films and the names of the filmmakers.  Or maybe not – the Earth House Collective’s page (as of right now, at least) has no movies scheduled on Thursday night.  If you are interested, you might want to call or e-mail the Earth House to see what is going on.

Lymelife – I enjoyed this quirky comedy/drama when I saw a free preview at the Keystone Arts a few weeks ago; it opens this week at the Yes Cinema in Colombus, IN.  Click on the link for Yes Cinema in the sidebar for show times.

Moon – No, this isn’t a rip-off of Ass, the big hit movie of the future featured in Idiocracy.  Instead, Moon (official site) is a very-well-reviewed science-fiction drama starring Sam Rockwell and the voice of Kevin Spacey; it was directed by Duncan Jones (whose father just happens to be David Bowie).  Moon starts Friday at Landmark’s Keystone Arts in Indianapolis (click on the link at the right for show times) and at the Carmike 20 in Fort Wayne.

New York – This interesting Indian film will have two more showings (on Friday and Saturday nights, at 9:15) at the Georgetown 14 theater.  Click on the manoranjaninc.com and Georgetown 14 links at right for more information.

Outrage – This documentary (from filmmaker Kirby Dick, who also made This Film Is Not Yet Rated) is about politicians who vote against gay rights – even though the film (apparently) heavily implies that these politicians are themselves gay.  Outrage (official site) opens this week at the Ryder in Bloomington; check the Ryder’s link at the right of the page for show times.

The Owl and the Sparrow – A Vietnamese film about a lonely young orphan in Saigon and the two other lonely souls she befriends, The Owl and the Sparrow opens this week at the Ryder in Bloomington.  Check the Ryder’s link at the right of the page for show times. More info at the film’s official site.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell – A documentary about Liberian women of varying backgrounds who unite to end that nation’s civil war, this will be playing (with War Child) from 4 to 9 PM on Saturday, July 11, at the Madame Walker Theatre.  Both films are part of the Indiana Black Expo Film Fest, and – according to the Black Expo’s site – admission is free. The film’s official site is here and the Expo’s page here.

Prince of Broadway – A drama set in NYC, this film will be shown on Thursday, July 16 at the IMA’s Tobias Theatre; the screening starts at 7:30.  This film is apparently part of both the Indianapolis International Film Festival and the Indiana Black Expo Film Fest, since it is listed on both sites. Check the film’s official site for more information.

Trouble the Water – This documentary on the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina will be showing with two shorts from 3:30 to 6:30 at the IMA’s Tobias Theatre on Sunday, July 12.  The program is part of the Indiana Black Expo’s Film Fest, and – according to the Black Expo’s site – admission is free. The film’s official site is here.

War Child – A documentary about a hip hop artist who used to be a child soldier in Sudan’s civil war, this will be playing (with Pray the Devil Back to Hell) from 4 to 9 PM on Saturday, July 11, at the Madame Walker Theatre.  Both films are part of the Indiana Black Expo Film Fest, and – according to the Black Expo’s site – admission is free. Check out the film’s official site for more information.

Whatever Works – The Woody Allen Movie Machine output for 2009 holds over for another week at both the Landmark theater in Indianapolis (see sidebar link for times) and the Carmike 20 in Fort Wayne.

In local theater news, AMC College Park fades out - A Thursday afternoon check of AMC Theatres’ page for show times at College Park looked like a sign of bad news. Sunday was the last day of this week for which they had any shows listed, and they weren’t getting any new movies on Friday. A phone call to the theatre on Thursday night confirmed the gloomy tidings: after nearly twenty-five years in business, Sunday will indeed be the last day for College Park. I used to live near this theatre, and went there often for years- so I still hold a soft spot in my heart for College Park, even if in almost every way it was strictly unexceptional. (The only really interesting feature, as I recall, were the large paintings high on the lobby walls of old-time movie stars. Paintings like these used to be in most (all?) of the Loews theaters in the area, but I think that the AMC folks got rid of these at some point after they took over the venue, or are the paintings still there and I’m just being forgetful?) My visits to College Park have been infrequent (maybe once every three or four months) of late and I doubt that I will have the time to go there this weekend, but I will miss this theater.

I am assuming here that once AMC leaves, the building will be gutted and “repurposed” (a la the former Loews Norgate), or just leveled. But I hope that some other movie company will take control of the College Park theatre and continue to show movies there. Since the north side does not have a second-run theatre, maybe Cinemark (for example) could come in and show slightly older movies for a buck or two a ticket, like they do in Greenwood and on east Washington Street. If anyone out there has heard anything about what will happen to this theater after Sunday, please add a comment and let us know.

NEXT WEEK (AND BEYOND) – The Indianapolis International Film Festival continues for another week at the IMA and, as noted above, Food, Inc. (which was originally supposed to open at the Keystone Arts on July 10) has now been postponed until July 17.  At the same time, three movies that were scheduled to open July 17 at the Landmark are now off of the schedule.  While the news on Rudo y Cursi isn’t all that bad – it will apparently open at the Landmark at some time in the future (the exact date still to be determined) – rumor has it that both Lemon Tree and Little Ashes will never play at the Landmark at all.  As of now, neither movie has an Indianapolis play date on its official site and neither has a play date on the Keystone Arts’ site, but if you call the folks at the Landmark and let them know that you really, really want to see one or the other of these titles, that could change.

Other movies currently on the Landmark’s schedule: [500] Days of Summer, Adoration and The Hurt Locker (‘bout time!) have tentative start dates of July 24, while Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award Winner Departures (YES!) and Francis Ford Coppola’s latest, Tetro (again: YES!) are both scheduled for July 31… and Thirst (from the director of Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance – YES!) is on the schedule for September 18.

Another rumor heard this week: the films from Monogram Releasing will be taking a summer vacation of sorts from the Georgetown 14 in Indianapolis and Studio 10 in Shelbyville, but they may (repeat, MAY) be coming back in the fall, when theaters aren’t so clogged up with big-budget fare.  If and when I hear more, I will let you know.

OPENING ELSEWHERE – Eleven movies are set to open in theaters outside of Indiana on July 10, and one more (Somers Town) is set to open in NYC on July 15.  Soul Power is the only one of the movies on the list below with an Indianapolis play date (August 28) on its official website; since Soul Power is being released in the US by Sony Classics, it should make it to the Keystone Arts some day, even if that day isn’t August 28.

As Seen Through These Eyes – A documentary about artists who survived the Holocaust- and the art that they produced.  In spite of the fascinating-sounding subject, I didn’t see much on either the film’s official site or the site of its US distributor about future theatrical bookings, beyond its initial week.

Blood: The Last Vampire – An English-language, live-action film based on an anime, Blood apparently concerns a centuries-old half-vampire samurai who battles evil creatures.  Since this is being released this week in only twenty US theaters – and since there are no theatrical bookings listed beyond this week – I suspect that this release is a contractually-mandated theatrical dumping.  If so, then no matter how well this movie does in its opening week, it won’t play in any other cities beyond the twenty it is in this week.

Facing Ali – This documentary interviews ten boxers – all of whom faced Muhammad Ali at least once in their careers – about “The Greatest of All Time.”  Apparently, this is opening in LA as part of a one-week, Oscar-qualifying run; its fate in theaters beyond that is unknown at this time, since the official site now offers nothing beyond a trailer and the words “Coming Soon.”  Since Lionsgate is the US distributor – and since this movie has nothing to do with either Tyler Perry or the Saw franchise – they could well forget that the movie even exists within a few weeks… unless, that is, Facing Ali actually does receive an Academy Award nomination.  Even then, though, I wouldn’t put any money on the movie actually playing in an Indianapolis-area theater.

Humpday – The plot may sound more than a little bit like Zack and Miri make a Porno­ - except the two main characters here are both guys.  This comedy has a lot of great review quotes on its official site, although some of the critics seem to suggest that Humpday may make some viewers even more uncomfortable than Bruno.  Theatrical bookings in a number of other cities are mentioned on the film’s site, but Indianapolis is not yet one of those other cities.  (But Humpday’s US distributor is Magnolia Pictures – and since Magnolia is a corporate sibling of the Landmark Theatres chain, that means that this movie may actually have a decent shot of making it to the Keystone Arts some day.)

Lake Tahoe – A Mexican film that has received a good many positive reviews, Lake Tahoe has only two other openings listed on its official website, following its NYC debut this week.  Magic 8-ball’s verdict: If you want to see it, you’ll have to wait for the DVD.

Mississippi Mermaid – Jean-Paul Belmondo and Catherine Deneuve star in Francois Truffaut’s 1969 film, which apparently is being re-released to theaters in the US, starting this week at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.  Since Indianapolis has nothing like a repertory cinema now that Key Cinemas is gone, it looks like we will have to be content with our DVDs of this one.

Shortkut: The Con Is On – Two Bollywood wannabes try every trick in the book to break into the Indian film industry in this comedy that (according to the film’s official site) was filmed in Bangkok.  This starts Friday in thirty-plus cities, according to the site for the film, and is then scheduled to open in one other theater on July 17.  Since most of the Indian films that play in Indianapolis open here at the same time that they start in other cities, it looks like Shortkut will be bypassing the Indianapolis market.

Soul Power – James Brown, Sister Sledge, Miriam Makeba and B. B. King are among the artists featured in this concert documentary, which was apparently edited together from outtakes from the boxing doc When We Were Kings.  The concert in question took place in Zaire in 1974, and was an adjunct to a high-profile boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman – the “Rumble in the Jungle” that was the subject of When We Were Kings.  Most of the reviews so far have been positive – and (as noted above) the film’s official site says that it will be opening in Indy on August 28.

The Vanished Empire – This Russian drama about a trio of university students in the 1970s opens in NYC this Friday – and will be playing at the IMA as part of the Indianapolis International Film Festival next Saturday, July 18, at 3 PM.  This sounds like it could be a really great movie and I can’t wait to see it.  Unfortunately, I will probably have to miss the IIFF screening, and it doesn’t look like this will make it to Indianapolis otherwise, since the US distributor doesn’t seem to be making a big push for theatrical exhibition of this one.  (Besides the NYC opening, there is only one other booking for the film mentioned so far: an LA opening in late September (!).  Here’s hoping that this is just an early listing of theatrical bookings, and that The Vanished Empire makes it to theaters in other cities – including Indianapolis – besides NYC and LA.)

Weather Girl – Tricia O’Kelley plays the title character in this comedy, and co-produced it as well; Mark Harmon, Jon Cryer, Jane Lynch and Blair Underwood are in the supporting cast.  When I checked the movie’s official site earlier today, there were only four other theatrical bookings after this Friday’s LA opening, so I am guessing that this one will bypass Indy.

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg – This documentary about Gertrude Berg and the radio and TV series that she created, co-wrote and starred in (The Goldbergs) has been receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews; it was directed by Aviva Kempner, who also made The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg.  The movie’s official site didn’t have that many cities/theaters on it when I checked the other day, but many more locations seem to have been added recently.  Indianapolis isn’t on the list yet, but if audience response to the movie matches that of critics, this at least has a shot of making it to the Landmark.

Somers Town – The latest from director Shane Meadows (This Is England, Dead Man’s Shoes, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands) is a comedy about two very different young men who become both friends and romantic rivals; it opens in NYC on July 15.  Since this is being distributed in the US by Film Movement, there is no chance whatsoever that this will have a theatrical run in Indianapolis.