Rewind: Films of the 60s, 70s, 80s – Stay Hungry (1976)
by RICHARD WINTERS
Craig Blake (Jeff Bridges) is a young southern man left alone with his butler in a big mansion after his parents die in a car crash. He works at a shady investment firm run by the conman Jabo (Joe Spinnell). They have managed to purchase all the other buildings on a block except for a workout gym. Craig is told to meet with Thor (R.G. Armstrong), the owner of the gym, to buy the building so the firm can build a high-rise office complex. However, once Craig meets with some of the people working there, including Joe Santo (Arnold Schwarzenegger), who is a body builder and uses the gym to prepare for the Mr. Universe title, and the pretty receptionist Mary Tate (Sally Field) he starts to have second thoughts about going through with the deal. Read more 
Movie Review – 30 Minutes or Less (2011)
by HELEN GEIB
The custom in my movie group, when we go out for coffee or a meal after a movie, is to go around the table and have everyone say one thing they liked and one thing they didn’t like about it. The reaction to 30 Minutes or Less was pretty uniform. Some were a little more forgiving than others, but overall we called out the same points. Read more
Movie Review – I Confess (1953)
by NIR SHALEV
Alfred Hitchcock was an early master of horror but is currently most famously known as the master of suspense. He released one thriller after another, some more thrilling than others (North by Northwest (1959), The Birds (1963)), but his visual and thematic signatures were noticeable even from the start of his film career that dates back to the silent era. I Confess looks like a Hitchcock thriller, steeped in gorgeous black and white cinematography; however, unlike his usual psychological thrillers, it plays much more like a psychological drama. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex in Indiana (August 12, 2011)
by HELEN GEIB
The most interesting looking Indian film to play the Georgetown in some time is one of the week’s four new releases. The around the state listings are a little on the thin side, but a suddenly crowded “coming soon” makes up for it. What’s on your moviegoing agenda this week- and what are you looking forward to? Read more
A Few Good Blog Posts (August, 2011)
by HELEN GEIB
A monthly round-up of recent blog posts I enjoyed reading.
The Lady Eve’s Reel Life on Casablanca with the San Francisco Symphony: “Mr. Francis entered, stepped to the podium, picked up his baton, glanced into a small monitor next to his sheet music and in a moment the hall reverberated with those oh-so-familiar notes that herald the start of a Warner Bros. picture.” (more) Read more
DVD of the Week – Three More Double Features
by NIR SHALEV
The Bad Sleep Well (1960) and Hamlet (1996)
Rewind: Films of the 60s, 70s, 80s – Bye Bye Brazil (1980)
by RICHARD WINTERS
This movie is a slightly surreal comedy-drama detailing a caravan of five entertainers who travel the Brazilian countryside putting on vaudeville-like shows under a makeshift tent. The film works in a vignette style as it analyzes the many scenarios and difficulties that the group encounters, as well as making a very strong statement about the poverty and hardships endured by the townspeople that they meet. In fact, if there is one lasting impression that the film leaves it is that one. Read more
Movie Review – Attack the Block (2011)
by NIR SHALEV
Writer and first time director Joe Cornish has an intriguing premise: what if aliens were to invade our planet, but begin their invasion in a council estate in South London? Enter a group of juvenile delinquents in their early to mid-teens. As the invasion begins, they are robbing a nurse in the streets while fireworks explode overhead because it’s Bonfire night. Read more
Movie Review – The Change-Up (2011)
by HELEN GEIB
When critics say a movie is review-proof, they mean it will do well at the box office no matter how bad the reviews are. I have my own personal definition of review-proof that operates independently of the standard definition: movies I don’t have anything particular to say about. The current flavor of mainstream Hollywood comedy neatly fits both definitions. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex in Indiana (August 5, 2011)
by HELEN GEIB
Sundance favorite Terri opens at the Keystone Art Cinema in Indianapolis, The Tree of Life expands to a few theaters around the state, and the IU Cinema is back from vacation. All the news on that and more after the break. What’s on your moviegoing plan for the week? Read more
