Movie Review – G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
by HELEN GEIB
Watching G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is much like settling in to read several issues of the comic book it’s based on back-to-back, except the movie has much more impressive special effects than the imagination can provide. Ideal Saturday matinee material, it’s good frivolous fun. The only thing G.I. Joe takes seriously is the mission to entertain. Read more 
Movie Review – Dick Tracy (1990)
by NIR SHALEV
Warren Beatty, famous for having starred in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and having directed Reds (1981), delivers an unexpected surprise as the leading man and director of Dick Tracy, a faithful film adaptation of the original 1940s comic strip. This film expertly captures not only the feel and colors of the comic, but the feel of its era as well. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
Who’d a thunk it? Acclaimed animator Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo will be starting this Friday on at least six screens in the Indianapolis area, putting it outside of the scope of this column – just as (500) Days of Summer expands to six screens in the Indy area, so that it, too, is now a wide release. In more limited theatrical releases, three exclusives will be opening at the Keystone Arts (two of them sharing a screen, and for “one week only!”), while a new Bollywood film starts an exclusive run at the Georgetown 14. And on top of all that, we have our usual assortment of one-time showings in non-theatrical venues, along with the closure of a long-running exhibition at the IMA and the return of Rocky Horror to the Georgetown 14. For more on these movies and others – and a complete listing of limited release films opening around the country – read on below…. Read more
Movie Review – Departures (2008)
by HELEN GEIB
Daigo Kobayashi has just moved back to his rural hometown from Tokyo. He and his wife are living in his boyhood home, which he inherited from his mother. He is looking for a new line of work after giving up his dream of forging a career as a professional cellist. He sees a help wanted ad for an open position in “departures.” The job description is cryptic, but the promise of good pay, full-time work, and no experience necessary is highly attractive. He figures the job probably has something to do with travel agencies, and goes for an interview. He is hired on the spot. Read more
DVD of the Week – The Class (2008)
by HELEN GEIB
The original French title of The Class is Entre les murs, which translates literally as “between the walls.” The film is based on a 2006 novel of the same name by Francois Begaudeau that is a semi-autobiographical account of the author’s experiences teaching young teens in a Paris inner-city public school. The English title is usefully descriptive, but the literal rendering is more evocative of the film’s mission to examine contemporary French multi-cultural society through the prism of the classroom. Read more
Movie Review – Julie & Julia (2009)
by HELEN GEIB
By now you’ve probably already read in the reviews, or seen in a blurb, or heard from a friend that Meryl Streep is fantastic as Julia Child in Julie & Julia. It’s completely true. She’s terrific, and reason enough to see the movie. Read more
Movie Review – White Nights (1957)
by NIR SHALEV
Based on a short story by Dostoyevsky, White Nights is a film about dreamers who live in a dream-like Livorno (a port city in Tuscany). Many films evoke feelings through atmosphere alone, lacking content or sophistication, but this film is a masterful example of atmosphere and content coexisting and feeding off of one another. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
Yet another week where the Keystone Arts and Georgetown 14 offer the only variety in the theatrical film listings in Indianapolis- so what else is new, eh? As usual, though, there are interesting options in the non-theatrical venues in and around the city this week (especially at the Earth House) – read on below for more. Read more
Hollywood Releases Preview – August, 2009
by HELEN GEIB
Well, thank goodness that’s over! Reviews were weak and so were box office receipts in July, but August promises to be back to the multiplex month. Hollywood is offering a full slate of populist fare starting with the last of the summer tent-pole special effects extravaganzas and Meryl Streep as Julia Child, continuing through to the season’s last big kids’ movie and Quentin Tarantino’s latest, and finishing up with two sequels to popular horror films. Read more
DVD of the Week – Bardelys the Magnificent (1926)
by HELEN GEIB
My DVD pick this week is Bardelys the Magnificent, a rediscovered “lost” film. A prestige MGM production, Bardelys is a major find. It was based on a novel by bestselling and oft-adapted Rafael Sabatini, author of Scaramouche, Captain Blood, and The Sea Hawk, among other grand tales of romance and adventure; helmed by King Vidor, director of The Big Parade, La Boheme, The Crowd, and other classics of the silent and sound eras; and starred John Gilbert (of The Big Parade, The Merry Widow, numerous films opposite Greta Garbo, and more), one of the top actors of the 1920s. The DVD is a co-production by Flicker Alley (a specialty company with a small but stellar catalog of silent film DVD releases), Film Preservation Associates, and Lobster Films. Read more
