My Life As an Indy Moviegoer – October, 2011 Recap
by HELEN GEIB
A monthly series in which I relate my reflections on life as an independent-minded moviegoer in Indianapolis, Indiana.
I made a decision this month. I won’t call it monumental, that’s much too grandiose, but it’s a big deal for me and consequential for this blog. I decided to stop pushing myself to see movies where the main reason to see them is to pick off a new Hollywood release to review this or that weekend. I’ve seen too many bad movies this year following on a couple of other not so great years, and it’s worn me down. Looking on the bright side, some of those recovered hours can be allocated to other writing and some to seeing interesting-looking here today, gone tomorrow limited release titles. Read more 
Thinking Outside the Multiplex in Indiana (October 28, 2011)
by HELEN GEIB
There’s so much going on this week I don’t know where to begin to summarize it. I’m especially looking forward to the two revival screenings at the IMA, The Shining and Killer of Sheep. What’s on your movie list? Read more
DVD of the Week – Island of Lost Souls (1932)
by HELEN GEIB
Charles Laughton stars as one of the maddest of mad doctors in this adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, with Richard Arlen as the castaway hero and Bela Lugosi as the man-beasts’ leader. The new Criterion Collection DVD/Blu-ray of Island of Lost Souls (1932) is the first time the film has been available on DVD. Surprising for one of the famous pre-Code horror films… until you learn the negative is lost, and this release is a restoration pieced together from several print sources and digitally cleaned up to remove dust and scratches. Read more
Capsule Movie Review – My Afternoons with Margueritte (2010)
by HELEN GEIB
Gerard Depardieu reminds how good he can be in My Afternoons with Margueritte, a comedy-drama set in small town France. Germain (Depardieu) is a goodhearted but simpleminded man who gets by doing odd jobs and selling produce out of his kitchen garden. Margueritte (Gisele Casadesus) is a nonagenarian bibliophile. They meet by chance in the park when they sit at the same bench to watch the pigeons. Soon they’re meeting every day; they talk and she reads to him from Camus. His mother is a harridan who’s been verbally abusing him his whole life and her only family is an uncaring nephew, and their odd couple friendship becomes something each has longed for. Read more
Movie Review – Real Steel (2011)
by HELEN GEIB
To start with, because there seems to be some marketing-driven confusion:* Real Steel is a family film. Go ahead and take the kids. They’ll like it, and it’s a nice movie at heart. Read more
Capsule Movie Review – Life, Above All (2010)
by HELEN GEIB
South African drama Life, Above All is a very worthy film, but it’s hard to see why it should be one of the favored few foreign language titles to receive theatrical distribution on the American arthouse circuit this year. Its heroine is a 12-year-old girl living in a poor village outside Johannesburg whose childhood is cut short when her mother is stricken with AIDS. Misfortune rains down on young Chanda like a series of hammer blows explicating a host of pressing contemporary social issues: Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex in Indiana (October 21, 2011)
by HELEN GEIB
Five count ‘em five limited release films open in Indianapolis today and a sixth on Wednesday, while Fort Wayne gets an Indiana exclusive. Sort of makes you wish a few of these movies could have opened in the summer weeks (note the plural) when zero new films opened at the arthouse, doesn’t it? Plus more Halloween horror this week and next. What’s your movie priority? Read more
Trailers for Movies I Like: Chocolate (2008)
by HELEN GEIB
An occasional series. Title self-explanatory.
DVD of the Week – Review of The Thing (1982)
by NIR SHALEV
In 1951, Howard Hawks (Scarface, 1932; Rio Bravo, 1959) directed a horror classic called The Thing from Another World. It featured a slew of American Air Force officials and scientists at an arctic station who encounter a hostile alien creature. The film kept the monster’s appearance hidden until the end, ratcheting the suspense up to 11. The reason for the film’s enduring popularity is that, just like in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), there’s a the huge metaphor embedded in the story’s center: communists hiding in plain sight inside the US. They looked just like everyone else and spoke just like everyone else and were virtually impossible to detect. A nationwide scare was in progress and the fluoride scare was soon to follow. America in the mid-20th century was a particularly interesting country. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex in Indiana (October 14, 2011)
by HELEN GEIB
Two American indies and a South African drama are the limited release films opening this week- and unusually, one of them isn’t playing in Indianapolis (at least not yet). Be sure and read through to “next week and beyond” if you’re a horror film fan. There’s a good amount of special programming for you to enjoy this week and even more coming in the next two. Myself, I’m so excited about the opportunity to see Sunrise with live accompaniment that I’m driving to Bloomington for the privilege. What’s on your moviegoing schedule? Read more
