The Photo Play theme for Leap Year February is playing with time.

Anthony Mann is my favorite Western director. All of his Westerns, or at least most of them depict anti-heroes and bad-guys-turned-good, but The Far Country is quite remarkably different.

James Stewart, who stars in a lot of Mann’s Westerns, plays Jeff Webster, a cattle herder who’s recently shot two of his own men because they tried to rustle some of his cattle. Jeff is not a good person. He’s remarkably immoral and what’s fascinating about him is that he doesn’t seem to recognize the very notion of morality. When others are in trouble, town folk approach him and ask him for help. He replies, “Why? I don’t know them. They’re none of my concern.” The very notion of performing good deeds simply for the sake of it doesn’t interpret itself as a plausible ideal and Jeff is more than an anti-hero. He’s an antagonist that’s opposing the whole world and he’s at the film’s center.

That is until Jeff and his sidekick Ben Tatum (Walter Brennan) reach the city of Skagway, Alaska via a riverboat. There they meet its lawmaker Gannon (John McIntire) and he immediately brandishes his style of lawmaking upon Jeff. He confiscates all of his cattle but lets him go free. Jeff and Ben were originally going to sell the cattle, travel to the city of Dawson, Alaska, buy a gold claim there, and strike it even more rich but their plans were halted because of Gannon, the film’s eventual true antagonist. So Jeff decides to work for Rhonda Castle (Ruth Roman), who practically owns the town of Skagway. His job is to lead her party of travelers to Dawson and once there, she plans to build another version of her town. Jeff doesn’t care about the current inhabitants of Dawson and how Rhonda’s presence would affect them because he gets to go exactly where he wants to and be the boss that he wants to be. Then on the first night, Jeff and Ben sneak back into Skagway and steal back his cattle, finally making an enemy of Gannon. It’s remarkably ironic, but dramatic irony lies at the heart of every Anthony Mann Western.

On the road, trouble’s a-brewing. The main party refuses to travel with Jeff’s cattle because it wasn’t in their original agreement and at another point, when the party decides to take the high mountain road and Jeff decides to take the low, grass filled, six-days-longer route they arrive at an impasse. So Jeff goes his way, the party goes their way, and an avalanche claims a few lives on the mountain road. Jeff, refuses to help them because, “It’s not his problem; they made their choice”. But Jeff knew that the possibility of an avalanche was great. He is indeed a fascinating character and I never hated him, not once. That’s who he is because that’s how he was raised. Gannon was probably born into money so his nature of being a real jerk makes him into a more traditional antagonist while, as the film progresses, Jeff becomes more of an anti-hero. That’s as “good guy” as he’s going to get.

Why this is such a fascinating film for me is because at its core is two very bad people; Jeff, who was raised practically in nature and is hardened and Gannon, who was raised with money and has developed an eternal grin. Jeff has the potential to become a better person because he’s not infatuated with power but Gannon can only get worse. And in accordance with viewer likes and dislikes, Gannon breaks boundaries that even Jeff can’t ignore. The traditional hero’s character arc is stretched so far in this film that Jeff can only become a slightly better person in the fourth act of the film. There usually isn’t such a thing but here I use it as a figure of speech. His transformation, although necessary comes so late in the film that I have to applaud the gall of the screenwriter. He stretched it very far but made it work really well. That’s why this is a unique, dark, and entertaining film though and through.

The Far Country was shot entirely on location in Alberta, Canada and the scenery is breathtaking. We have snowy mountaintops spreading across the backdrops of many of the shots, and there’s a terrific amount of a whole lot o’ nothing. Watching people traveling on horseback for weeks here looks gorgeous, but the film doesn’t steep itself entirely in realism which would result in it becoming a boring film. We don’t watch as these people travel endlessly; we watch the beautiful scenery and listen to how imperfect every individual character is. The screenplay is rather inspiring.

James Stewart is a terrific actor, there’s no denying that. His roles in Mann’s Westerns, his most demanding ones are also his most brilliant ones. In Winchester ’73 (1950), Stewart wins a Winchester 1873 rifle in a shooting contest only to have it stolen by a bad person. So throughout the entire film he chases down the “bad guy” just so he can reclaim his gun. In Bend of the River (1952), he’s an ex-cold-blooded-killer-turned-good-guy who leads a wagon train from one part of the US to another. Along the way, some of his men decide to steal the goods and run off into the hills so that they could sell the goods, buy gold-digging supplies, and get rich. Stewart turns on his dark side and “does the right thing” by hunting the bad men down. James Stewart can pull off the anti-hero character in his sleep and that’s why the Mann/Stewart tag-team is terrific. Stewart starring in Mann’s Westerns is also why most of his Westerns are dark, psychological dramas.

The darkness of the content in the Wild West setting is a great form of escapism and every time that I bring home another Anthony Mann Western I get excited. I never read the back of the DVD case. I just turn on the TV, fire up the Blu-ray player, and enjoy a unique look at good guys and bad guys in the old Wild West.

A bunch of movies whose titles start with the letter “A” and a couple of other films hold over in Indianapolis and in some cases elsewhere. What looks good to you?

Note: For trailers, cast and crew info, and suchlike follow the title link to the movie’s official website.

OPENING THIS WEEK IN LIMITED RELEASE

Hidden Face (La cara oculta)- I couldn’t find any information on this movie, but it sounds like a horror film and it opens today at the AMC Showplace Bloomington 11.

THEATRICAL HOLDOVERS (AND “RE-OPENINGS”)

Agneepath- The Bollywood revenge thriller Agneepath stars Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, and Sanjay Dutt, and is a remake of one of Amitabh Bachchan’s 1970s hits. It holds over at the Republic Theatres Georgetown 14 in Indianapolis.

Albert Nobbs- Glenn Close was nominated for a best actress Oscar for Albert Nobbs; she plays a middle-aged woman who has been living as a man for years to keep a good job working at a hotel in 1910s Ireland. Janet McTeer, whose character is in a similar situation, snagged a supporting actress nomination. Albert Nobbs holds over at the AMC Castleton Square 14 (at reduced showtimes) in Indianapolis.

Anonymous- Roland Emmerich’s costume drama/conspiracy thriller holds over at the Cinemark Movies 6 in Mishawaka (now for one show a day).

The Artist- The movie of the year for cineastes, The Artist is a charming valentine to the movies. Set in a Hollywood transitioning to the sound film era, Jean Dujardin stars as a matinee idol of the silent screen who falls in love with a rising star made for the talkies. “Writer/director Michel Hazanavicius daringly shot the film completely in the style of a silent feature, in black and white and without sound (with a few striking exceptions), filmed on location in Hollywood, set to a wonderful original score by Ludovic Bource.” The Artist has expanded beyond the scope of what I’m willing to type out in the way of theater listings, which makes me happy because it’s a tremendously entertaining movie, and I hope everyone who’s enough of a movie lover to be reading this column will see it soon- if they haven’t already.

Carnage- Adapted from a play, this dark comedy directed by Roman Polanski is a chamber piece starring Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Jodie Foster, and John C. Reilly. Two couples who become locked in their own squabbling when they meet after their sons’ get into a playground fight. Carnage holds over at the Landmark Keystone Art Theatre in Indianapolis at reduced showtimes.

A Dangerous Method- Viggo Mortenson plays Sigmund Freud and Michael Fassbender plays Carl Jung in David Cronenberg’s drama, inspired by their turbulent professional and personal relationship in pre-WWI Vienna. A Dangerous Method holds over- in many cases at reduced showtimes- at the Landmark Keystone Art Cinema, AMC Honey Creek 8 in Terre Haute, AMC Showplace Bloomington 11, and AMC Showplace Schererville 16.

Shame- Michael Fassbender has received nothing but raves for his starring turn playing a man tormented by sex addiction. Carey Mulligan heads the supporting cast as his sister, who has demons of her own. Shame opens today at the Landmark Keystone Art Cinema in Indianapolis.

FESTIVALS, REPERTORY SCREENINGS, AND MORE

For additional information on venues and showtimes, follow the links under “Outside the Multiplex” in the sidebar.

Indianapolis and Central Indiana

You can see the heartwarming sports drama Rudy for free on the Artcraft’s big screen tonight at 7:30 or tomorrow at 2 courtesy of Franklin College.

In Indianapolis, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is tonight’s movie in the IMA continuing Winter Nights series of Technicolor films. That’s the movie where Marilyn Monroe sings “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” and should be everyone at least once for that alone. Tickets are $9, $5 for members for Winter Nights films. On Thursday at 7 at the IMA is the last film in the joint IMA/Eiteljorg series on American Indians in films: The Exiles, a 1961 cinema verite chronicle of “one night in the lives of young Native American men and women living in the Bunker Hill district of Los Angeles, circa 1955.” Tickets are a steal at $5, $3 for members of either museum.

The Heartland Film Festival will show off its new place in Fountain Square tonight as part of the city’s monthly “First Friday” art walk. Doors are open from 6-10 and there will be screenings of the short film The First Anders throughout the evening.

The Indiana Film Society will screen Mongol, the unexpectedly historically accurate biopic of Genghis Khan, Tuesday at 7 in the Indianapolis Senior Center.

Southern Indiana

The IU Cinema listing is atypically thin this week but includes a very special silent movie event: a 1922 adaptation of David Copperfield with live accompaniment by an 18 piece student orchestra, performing a new score commissioned by the cinema and composed by an IU music student. Showtimes are Saturday at 7 and Sunday at 3 (I’ll be at the Sunday showing); tickets are $10. On Monday, Abnormal Beauty will be shown as part of the East Asian horror film series and the Oscar nominated shorts program, live action and animated, starts its next weekend run on Thursday.

Bloomingtonites who missed Once Upon a Time in Anatolia when it played the IU Cinema last weekend have another chance this weekend courtesy of the Ryder film series; it screens once a day today through Sunday. Tom Tykwer’s 3 has a couple more shows (today and tomorrow) and Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre one more (tomorrow). The documentary The Woodmans, examining the work of and mystique surrounding a young woman photographer who committed suicide, starts its next weekend run on Thursday.

Northern Indiana

Saturday and Sunday at 3 at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center in South Bend is a two-part program dedicated to George Melies. The Saturday program is a number of his own films while Sunday’s program pairs the iconic A Trip to the Moon with a documentary about Melies’ films and legacy.

Also at the DeBartolo, the “Screenpeace” film series of documentaries continues with Rebirth and Nostalgia for the Light tonight and Enemies of the People and Fambul Tok tomorrow. On a very different note, there’s a midnight showing of The Princess Bride tomorrow. Rounding out this week’s film program, Le Havre will be shown on Wednesday.

My Week with Marilyn and Take Shelter share the screen at the Cinema Center @ Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne.

Incendies is the movie this week in the Cinematheque for All repertory series (Wednesday nights at 7 on the Purdue campus).

NEXT WEEK AND BEYOND

The annual programs of Oscar-nominated shorts, animated and live action, are still listed on the Keystone Art Cinema “coming soon” page for a one week engagement starting next Friday. Also next Friday in Indianapolis, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos is scheduled to open at the Georgetown 14.

The Irving Theater will host “A Night of Indie Shorts” on February 17; tickets are $7 and the program starts at 7. There will also be live music at some point or points, according to the event page on the Irving’s site.

To recap last week’s “next week and beyond” for southern Indiana:

February 12 at 2 you can see the based-on-fact drama October Sky for free at Shelbyville’s Strand Theatre. The Notebook will be shown two days later as a Valentine’s Day special.

The Buskirk-Chumley in Bloomington plays host to a fund-raiser for Cardinal Stage on February 18. The Muppet Movie starts the day at 10 AM, the singalong Sound of Music goes on at 5:45, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show rounds out the lineup. There’s a discount if you buy your tickets ahead.

Films and events scheduled for next Friday:

The Quiet Man at the IMA

Breakfast at Tiffany’s at the Artcraft

Oscar nominated shorts at the IU Cinema and KAC

The Woodmans in the Ryder film series

Last Week at the Movies

Man on a Ledge
The African Queen
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

Last Week at Home

There are more Bollywood movies available on Netflix streaming than you’d expect.

Welcome- amiable Bollywood ensemble comedy with a terrific finale
The Way of the Gun- acting on my new year’s resolution to watch the DVDs people have lent me
Chup Chup Ke
Jab We Met- I’m crushing on Shahid Kapoor
Kismat Connection
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself- did you know the Mutual Film Co. sent Raoul Walsh and a camera crew to Mexico in 1914 to film Villa waging the Revolution?
Chance Pe Dance

New in Theaters This Weekend

Fortunately there are still awards contenders I need to catch up with. Drew Barrymore wants to rescue whales trapped under the ice off the Alaskan coast in Big Miracle. Mysteriously acquired telekinetic powers endanger the friendship- and survival- of three teenagers in Chronicle. And in the weekend new release with the most potential to be good (although not my sort of movie), Daniel Radcliffe stars in the period ghost story The Woman in Black.

What have you been watching? What are you looking forward to?

Man on a Ledge is a tough nut to review because the less you know going in, the more fun it is to watch it unfold slash hurtle along to its destination. It starts with a man climbing out the window of an old New York City skyscraper hotel. To give you a sense of the kind of movie it is, I’ll go one step further and reveal that he’s not suicidal. The “man on the ledge” is played by Sam Worthington and there’s a nice supporting lineup of mostly familiar faces: Ed Harris, Jamie Bell, Elizabeth Banks, William Sadler, Genesis Rodriguez (the reason for the “mostly”), Anthony Mackie, Titus Welliver, Edward Burns, and Kyra Sedgwick. In movie reference terms, it reminded me of 16 Blocks (that’s a good thing). It also reminded me of the good years of 24. Don’t take it too seriously, sit back and enjoy the ride, and don’t think about it too hard after it’s over.

3 stars

One thing I liked and one thing I didn’t like: It was great to see William Sadler again. Gosh, it must be a good 10 years. On the con side, that revelation about who the bad guy is? Such a cliche, and not one I’m fond of.

The discussion topic this week is prompted by the Super Bowl and the fact that I can’t ignore it like I normally do because my hometown is playing host.

I don’t like football. I also really, really, really don’t care about football. Yet despite total disinterest bordering on hostility there are movies about football that I’ve really enjoyed, like Friday Night Lights and The Longshots. I’ve also enjoyed movies about soccer, hockey, basketball, rugby….

What are some sports movies you like about sports you don’t care about?

Here’s a film that I hadn’t heard of until last week, but I took a chance on it anyway. It didn’t score very well with the critics and after having watched it, I can now claim that the critics didn’t get what they were looking for because they had certain expectations. That’s why it’s sometimes necessary to go into a film without any expectations.

“The Big Year” is an annual contest that involves bird watchers, known as Birders; the goal is to spot the most species of bird within a single year. They travel all around the North American continent and the hobby seems to be remarkably expensive. The three main characters are Brad Harris (Jack Black), Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson), and Stu Preissler (Steve Martin). Brad, who is divorced and living with his parents, is a computer programmer at a nuclear power plant; Bostick is the current Big Year world champion, holding a record of 732 birds spotted; and Stu is the CEO of a very successful company. When January 1 approaches the three men embark on a journey that tests their limits as human beings, not just as Birders.

At first Brad and Stu make friends, claiming that neither one is attempting the Big Year because they’d hate to have to compete with one another- and also because if no one knows that you’re competing, they wouldn’t follow you everywhere and try to trick you into going to the wrong places. Like Bostick does and on several occasions. He is a true professional and seems to have a sixth sense regarding where he’s going, what the weather holds in store, and what every bird looks and sounds like.

What’s neat about this film is that unlike traditional sports films, here we see the main characters travel across the continent, make friends, snap photos, recognize birds by the sounds that they make, and have interesting conversations. Although it never focuses on specific segments of them birding, they’re always going about it and we’re treated to a beautiful looking film that’s shot almost entirely on location. We see a terrific amount of nature shots but the protagonists are always a part of the beautiful scenery.

When they’re not on the road we witness a completely different aspect of the story. Its third act reminds us that the people that we’ve been with throughout the year are just like us. One of them has a family that supports him, another has a wife that can’t wait for him, and the third has a company that’s going through a transition period that requires a CEO’s presence.

The film is sometimes narrated by John Cleese and his speeches usually focus on shifts in weather across the world and its impact on the story, specific tough species of birds, and Homo Sapiens as a species all its own. Also, the film is wall to wall special effects; we see oceanic storms, awesome birds that are photographed up close and through impossible angles, and even floating text where needed.

The Big Year is my favorite hidden gem from 2011 and is surprisingly fast paced. Sometimes it feels deliberately like a thriller but it stars normal people and their love for birds. Here is an absorbing, enchanting, unique, colorful, gorgeous looking, and sometimes funny look at birders as competitors and simultaneously, as friends. They’re just like us, competing on basketball courts or at the Olympics, but they have a great time, require a tremendous amount of cash, and are fun to be around. And when it comes to the film’s cast, it’s rather enormous because it also features Rosamund Pike, Kevin Pollak, Joel McHale, JoBeth Williams, Anjelica Huston, Dianne Wiest, Brian Dennehy, Anthony Anderson, Rashida Jones, and Tim Blake Nelson.

The Big Year is available on DVD and Blu-ray. The Blu- ray features “The Big Migration” behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.

Other new releases this week: Dream House, Drive, In Time, The Mill and the Cross, The Thing

The Photo Play theme this month was Warner Brothers tough guys. For the fifth Tuesday, a gal who could stand up to any of ‘em.

The vampires and werewolves are at each others’ throats again in Underworld: Awakening. Two things must be understood: 1) this is the fourth installment in a monster movie series and 2) the story is at the service of the supernatural fantasy action, not the other way around. Taken on those terms it works rather well. Picking up from where the second movie left off (the third movie was a prequel), vampire Death Dealer Selene (series star Kate Beckinsale) and her hybrid vampire/werewolf lover are surviving in a new world order where humans have become the hunters. The action almost immediately jumps forward 12 years to Selene awakening from cryogenic sleep in a fortified research facility. She teams up with Theo James’s vampire from an underground coven and Michael Ealy’s friendly human cop to rescue India Eisley’s captive hybrid girl. The most impressive thing about the whole movie is that this scenario holds up as simultaneously a sequel, a standalone story, and a platform for further adventures. The Underworld series has always had a good eye for casting its villains, and Stephen Rea continues the pattern as a mad doctor with a hidden agenda. Stylistically Awakening is a well-judged return to the look of the first film. Taking advantage of current special effects technology, this entry is even more action-packed than its predecessors.

2 1/2 stars

One thing I liked and one thing I didn’t like: I liked how they had Eisley pattern her movements on Beckinsale’s, and also that she has the physical presence to keep from being overshadowed. The supporting characters’ roles could have been beefed up without risk of getting in the way of the action.

The Artist got a big boost from the Oscar nominations and expands beyond the Indy metro area at last. Meanwhile Albert Nobbs, which garnered acting nominations for Glenn Close and Janet McTeer, opens at the Castleton and southside AMCs in Indianapolis (but not the KAC). A Dangerous Method opens at a surprisingly large number of theaters state wide (even without Oscar’s imprimatur) and a second movie starring Michael Fassbender, Shame, starts at the Keystone Art Cinema. All that plus a good lineup of repertory and festival screenings. What looks good to you this weekend?

Note: For trailers, cast and crew info, and suchlike follow the title link to the movie’s official website.

OPENING THIS WEEK IN LIMITED RELEASE

Agneepath- The Bollywood revenge thriller Agneepath stars Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, and Sanjay Dutt, and is a remake of one of Amitabh Bachchan’s 1970s hits. It opened yesterday at the Republic Theatres Georgetown 14 in Indianapolis.

Albert Nobbs- Glenn Close was nominated for a best actress Oscar for Albert Nobbs; she plays a middle-aged woman who has been living as a man for years to keep a good job working at a hotel in 1910s Ireland. Janet McTeer, whose character is in a similar situation, snagged a supporting actress nomination. Albert Nobbs opens today at the AMC Castleton Square 14 and AMC Showplace Indianapolis 17 in Indy.

A Dangerous Method- Viggo Mortenson plays Sigmund Freud and Michael Fassbender plays Carl Jung in David Cronenberg’s drama, inspired by their turbulent professional and personal relationship in pre-WWI Vienna. A Dangerous Method opens today at the Landmark Keystone Art Cinema and AMC Showplace Indianapolis 17 (at reduced showtimes) in Indianapolis, Regal Shiloh Crossing Stadium 18 in Avon, Regal Village Park Stadium 17 in Carmel, AMC Evansville 16, AMC Honey Creek 8 in Terre Haute, AMC Showplace Bloomington 11, AMC Showplace Schererville 16, and Carmike Cinemas Carmike 20 in Fort Wayne.

Shame- Michael Fassbender has received nothing but raves for his starring turn playing a man tormented by sex addiction. Carey Mulligan heads the supporting cast as his sister, who has demons of her own. Shame opens today at the Landmark Keystone Art Cinema in Indianapolis.

THEATRICAL HOLDOVERS (AND “RE-OPENINGS”)

Anonymous- Roland Emmerich’s costume drama/conspiracy thriller starts at the Cinemark Movies 6 in Mishawaka (for two shows a day).

The Artist- The movie of the year for cineastes, The Artist is a charming valentine to the movies. Set in a Hollywood transitioning to the sound film era, Jean Dujardin stars as a matinee idol of the silent screen who falls in love with a rising star made for the talkies. “Writer/director Michel Hazanavicius daringly shot the film completely in the style of a silent feature, in black and white and without sound (with a few striking exceptions), filmed on location in Hollywood, set to a wonderful original score by Ludovic Bource.” The Artist has expanded beyond the scope of what I’m willing to type out in the way of theater listings, which makes me happy because it’s a tremendously entertaining movie, and I hope everyone who’s enough of a movie lover to be reading this column will see it soon- if they haven’t already.

Carnage- Adapted from a play, this dark comedy directed by Roman Polanski is a chamber piece starring Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Jodie Foster, and John C. Reilly. Two couples who become locked in their own squabbling when they meet after their sons’ get into a playground fight. Carnage holds over at the Landmark Keystone Art Theatre in Indianapolis at reduced showtimes.

My Week With Marilyn- That’s Marilyn Monroe, and she’s played by Michelle Williams in this dramatization of an interlude in the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl. My Week With Marilyn is largely played out after a good run, but it holds over at the Yes Cinema in Columbus and opens at the AMC Showplace Michigan City 14.

FESTIVALS, REPERTORY SCREENINGS, AND MORE

For additional information on venues and showtimes, follow the links under “Outside the Multiplex” in the sidebar.

State Wide

A Fathom Event for Kevin Smith fans: “Kevin Smith, independent film pioneer, is coming back to the big screen for a one night event on Thursday, February 2. Broadcast LIVE from the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Kevin Smith: Live From Behind Featuring “Jay and Silent Bob Get Old” will be a unique opportunity for fans all over the country to interact with Kevin Smith, ask him questions, etc. The three-hour event will begin with Smith (Silent Bob) and frequent co-star Jason Mewes (Jay) hosting their highly rated podcast, “Jay and Silent Bob Get Old” followed by a live interactive Q&A with theater audiences across the US.” Check the Fathom website (listed in the Outside the Multiplex sidebar) for more info.

Indianapolis and Central Indiana

The African Queen is tonight’s movie in the IMA’s Winter Nights Technicolor series. The feature will be preceded by the famous cartoon short The Rabbit of Seville. On Thursday, the joint IMA/Eiteljorg Indian film series continues with coming-of-age comedy-drama Four Sheets to the Wind, screening in the IMA’s Toby Theater at 7; tickets are $5, $3 for museum (either one) members.

The Muppets Take Manhattan is the weekend movie at Franklin’s Artcraft Theatre.

The theme for the winter/spring season of “Vintage Movie Nights” (monthly screenings at the Garfield Park Arts Center in Indianapolis) is Fallen Stars: famous actors ostracized in Hollywood. The first film is Fatty Arbuckle’s Coney Island (1917) on January 28. The FILM Indiana page has the full lineup.

Southern Indiana

The ninth annual PRIDE Film Festival runs through the weekend in Bloomington, with film screenings at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater and the IU Cinema (full events schedule). Films at the Buskirk include the documentary Gen Silent and the family drama Gun Hill Road.

The new Turkish crime drama Once Upon a Time in Anatolia has one show a day today through Sunday at the IU Cinema. There are two programs of shorts this weekend: “Oddities from the David Bradley Collection” today at 6:30 and the 2012 Iris Film Festival, which includes locally made films, tomorrow at 7. On Sunday, the 2010 war film Essential Killing will be shown at 3; Wim Wender’s modern classic Wings of Desire screens Monday at 7; and Merci Mr. Robertson, a documentary about a French “pre-cinema pioneer” on Thursday at 3.

Also in Bloomington: There’s a reduced schedule this week in the Ryder Film Series, but you have a few chances to catch Tom Tykwer’s new film 3; two more chances to catch Aki Kaurismaki’s newest, Le Havre; and one chance at The Way. Check the Ryder’s website for days and locations.

Free movies Saturday at Shelbyville’s Strand Theatre, as part of a family day sponsored by the Shelby County tourism department. The Marx Brothers comedy Horsefeathers will be shown at 2 and inspirational sports drama Rudy at 6.

Northern Indiana

There are two screenings tonight of the very enjoyable The Guard, starring Brendan Gleeson as an iconoclastic rural Irish policeman, at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center in South Bend. On Thursday, there will be a showing of On the Bridge, a documentary on veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; the director, who is a Notre Dame faculty member, will attend. The Bridge is the first film in the Center’s Screenpeace Film Series.

The Cinema Center @ Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne will have one showing a day of Take Shelter and Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos today through Monday.

This week’s movie in the Cinematheque for All repertory series is French Resistance drama Army of Crime (2009).

NEXT WEEK AND BEYOND

The annual programs of Oscar-nominated shorts, animated and live action, are slated to play for one week at the Keystone Art Cinema starting February 10. They’ve held over (at reduced showtimes) beyond the advertised week in some past years, but if you’re interested in seeing them, it’s safer to take the theater at its word.

February 12 at 2 you can see the based-on-fact drama October Sky for free at Shelbyville’s Strand Theatre. The Notebook will be shown two days later as a Valentine’s Day special.

The Buskirk-Chumley in Bloomington plays host to a fund-raiser for Cardinal Stage on February 18. The Muppet Movie starts the day at 10 AM, the singalong Sound of Music goes on at 5:45, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show rounds out the lineup. There’s a discount if you buy your tickets ahead.

Films and events scheduled for next Friday:

Rudy at the Artcraft

Documentary Rebirth at the DeBartolo

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia and 3 in the Ryder series

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at the IMA

Last Week at the Movies

As if a Powell and Pressburger movie on the big screen wasn’t special enough, the IMA screening of A Matter of Life and Death was followed by a Skype Q&A with Thelma Schoonmaker, who I knew as Martin Scorsese’s editor and who is also Michael Powell’s widow. The really bad reviews for Red Tails put me off it, but I did see the weekend’s other two new releases, Haywire and Underworld Awakening.

Last Week at Home

The Passion of Joan of Arc- Carl Dreyer’s masterpiece lives up to its reputation
Playing by Heart- a good movie to watch on DVD because you can skip past the stories you don’t like to get to the good parts
BluffMaster!- thought I’d try an Abhishek Bachchan vehicle, this one co-starred Priyanka Chopra and was pretty dull
The Pirates of Penzance- impossibly funny and tuneful

New in Theaters This Weekend

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen the trailer for The Grey, the “Liam Neeson takes on wolves after his plane crashes somewhere really far north” movie. I’ve only seen the trailer for One for the Money once but it likewise didn’t sell me on the movie (based on a Janet Evanovich book and starring Katherine Heigl). My pick for the weekend is the heist thriller Man on a Ledge, which looks from the shows-too-much trailer to have a complicated plot involving a misdirection for a heist; the ledge is definitely literal and probably figurative too.

Also on the to-see list: Locally on the arthouse scene, A Dangerous Method and Shame open tomorrow

What have you been watching? What are you looking forward to?

A monthly series. Title self-explanatory.

**********

Review of In Bruges

There comes a point, usually very early in a film when the audience understands that it needs to suspend disbelief; and it does so willingly. In Real Steel, it was the premise alone that made me suspend my disbelief and just from watching the trailers. The basic idea that the logical next step in the evolution of the blood sport- the blood sport starting with the gladiatorial arenas in ancient Rome and ending up in our current times with hockey and boxing- is robots beating the tar out of one another in a ring is preposterous. When flesh and blood are removed from the equation, it’s no longer a blood sport, and therefore robot fighting can’t be the next logical step. But Real Steel makes you forget that from early on. Unless you want to hate the film anyway. In which case, why would you watch it?

Real Steel, not really based on the Richard Matheson-written episode from the original Twilight Zone, takes place in a future that resembles our present quite a lot but has large robots fighting one another in the ring instead of people. The robots’ owners control them from a short distance via remote controls and joysticks and there’s a lot of money to be made. Well, of course there is, it’s the only sport left.

Early in the film we meet Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman), a down on his luck trucker who’s on a long losing streak. He also fights robots in arenas for a living and shortly after losing his latest robot (to a real live bull no less!), he hears news that his ex had passed away and that he can receive custody of his son Max (Dakota Goyo), whom he hadn’t seen in many years. He then proceeds to blackmail his ex’s sister’s husband by selling his son back to him for a ridiculously large amount of money, but he has to keep the kid for the summer first.

Charlie and Max never get along and hate each other, not like siblings do but real hate. Together they try to make ends meet by entering another robot into a fight, a fight that Charlie once again loses. Ironically, Max seems to have a far more extensive knowledge of fighting robots than Charlie. Then Max meets Atom. Atom’s a discarded sparring robot that Charlie allows Max to fix and train. After entering him in an unlicensed boxing match, Max and Atom win and they begin to ride a winning streak all the way to the top of the professional boxing circuit.

Roughly during the middle of the film it takes a different direction by turning the rags to riches story into a father/son bonding experience, while throwing a bit of Rocky into the mix. It’s unexpected but it kind of works. The special effects in the film are terrific, using a seamless combination of animatronics and CGI and the fights never look fake. However, for the life of me I don’t understand why everyone has programmed their robots to pretend like they can feel pain.

I don’t like Dakota Goyo’s performance because he’s mostly an annoying brat, ironically brought out by his deadbeat father, and when he’s successful in the boxing circuit he tends to scream more and grow even more annoying. I also didn’t like Hugh Jackman’s performance. The character of Charlie is a poisonous human being on paper, but Jackman doesn’t convey him as such. He’s a bad father and a lousy human being but he’s not a truly horrible person and perhaps another actor that’s capable of delivering a more concentrated dramatic performance would have pulled that character off with more conviction.

There are many loose threads in the story, many suggestions and ideas thrown here and there that end up nowhere, and many inconsistencies but they’re not so bad that one should avoid this film. The robot boxing alone is a good enough reason to watch it. What Michael Bay has failed to deliver in three films totaling, roughly seven and half hours Real Steel has managed to pull off in two hours. Yes, the running time is long but it only promises more robots and more robot fighting.

The DVD contains The Making of Metal Valley, Building the Bots, deleted and extended scenes, and bloopers and outtakes. There are also two-disc and three-disc Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy sets that also contain an audio commentary with director Shawn Levy, Countdown to the Fight: The Charlie Kenton Story, Sugar Ray Leonard: Cornerman’s Champ, and Real Steel Second Screen: Ringside with Director Shawn Levy.

Original Commentary Track review of Real Steel by Helen Geib.

New releases this week: 50/50, Mozart’s Sister, Paranormal Activity 3, Restless, The Whistleblower

The Photo Play theme for January has been classic Warner Brothers tough guys.

Haywire is a stylish action thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh. It works just fine as a straight-up action movie, a streamlined 90 minutes of car chases, foot chases with a touch of free-running, gunfights, and mixed martial arts hand-to-hand fighting carried by a “who set me up and why?” plot. For viewers ready to play along, it works even better as a sophisticated cinematic game. Soderbergh and screenwriter Lem Dobbs, prior collaborators on The Limey (1999), cheerfully subvert genre expectations beginning with starting with a scenario and lead actress straight from the straight-to-video actioner playbook for a movie characterized by deft time-shifting, place-specific location shooting, and a cool, jazzy score. MMA star Gina Carano turns in a competent dramatic performance. More importantly, she takes down her adversaries convincingly and moves beautifully through the chases. She’s supported by a deep roster of veteran actors and up-and-comers in small but plum roles: (in alphabetical order, because it wouldn’t be fair to single anyone out) Michael Angarano; Antonio Banderas; Michael Douglas; Michael Fassbender; Mathieu Kassovitz; Ewan McGregor; Bill Paxton; and Channing Tatum.

3 stars

One thing I liked and one thing I didn’t like: Her rooftop escape in Dublin was terrific. Nothing stands out as a didn’t like, although I had thought she would do more with the umbrella.

The Golden Globes aren’t completely pointless: The Artist is expanding following on its best picture win there. Carnage crashed and burned on takeoff, retracting from 11 theaters in its first week to one in its second. Although still in limited release (as in, not playing everywhere), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Iron Lady, and The Descendants have expanded beyond the scope of this column. My Week With Marilyn holds on at a few theaters to continue a very respectable run. More details on these films and the rest of the week’s “outside the multiplex” listings after the break.

Note: For trailers, cast and crew info, and suchlike follow the title link to the movie’s official website.

OPENING THIS WEEK IN LIMITED RELEASE

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos- A new anime feature film set during the timeline of the popular series. Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos starts today at the Cinema Center @ Indiana Tech (the theater is open Friday thru Monday).

Pariah- From the Landmark’s website: “The contemporary drama Pariah stars Adepero Oduyeas as Alike, a 17-year-old African-American woman who lives with her parents Audrey and Arthur (Kim Wayans and Charles Parnell) and younger sister in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood. A good student at her local high school and with a flair for poetry, Alike is quietly but firmly embracing her identity as a lesbian.” Pariah starts today at the Landmark Keystone Art Cinema in Indianapolis.

THEATRICAL HOLDOVERS (AND “RE-OPENINGS”)

The Artist- The movie of the year for cineastes, The Artist is a charming valentine to the movies. Set in a Hollywood transitioning to the sound film era, Jean Dujardin stars as a matinee idol of the silent screen who falls in love with a rising star made for the talkies. “Writer/director Michel Hazanavicius daringly shot the film completely in the style of a silent feature, in black and white and without sound (with a few striking exceptions), filmed on location in Hollywood, set to a wonderful original score by Ludovic Bource.” In Indianapolis, The Artist continues at the Landmark Theatres Keystone Art Cinema and expands to the AMC Castleton Square 14 and AMC Showplace Indianapolis 17, and also expands to the Regal Village Park Stadium 17 in Carmel, Rave Cinemas Metropolis 18 in Plainfield, and Showplace cinemas East in Evansville.

Carnage- Adapted from a play, this dark comedy directed by Roman Polanski is a chamber piece starring Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Jodie Foster, and John C. Reilly. Two couples who become locked in their own squabbling when they meet after their sons’ get into a playground fight. Carnage holds over at the Landmark Keystone Art Theatre in Indianapolis.

My Week With Marilyn- That’s Marilyn Monroe, and she’s played by Michelle Williams in this dramatization of an interlude in the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl. My Week With Marilyn holds over- at reduced showtimes- at the AMC Evansville 16, AMC Honey Creek 8 in Terre Haute, AMC Muncie 7, and the Cinema Center in Fort Wayne. It expands to the Yes Cinema in Columbus and, going against the multiplex current, UA/Regal Circle Centre 9 in Indianapolis has also picked it up.

Take Shelter- Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road, the Boardwalk Empire TV series) has gotten rave reviews for his performance as a Midwestern family man suffering the onset of mental illness in this drama. Take Shelter starts today at the Cinema Center in Fort Wayne.

FESTIVALS, REPERTORY SCREENINGS, AND MORE

For additional information on venues and showtimes, follow the links under “Outside the Multiplex” in the sidebar.

Indianapolis and Central Indiana

Tonight at the IMA in the Winter Nights film series: the brilliant fantasy drama A Matter of Life and Death by the Archers. “A Royal Air Force pilot is forced to jump without a parachute, before giving his last words to a female radio operator—only to wake up alive due to a bureaucratic mishap in heaven. He must then plead his case to a heavenly committee for a second chance at life and love.” The feature will be preceded by the cartoon short The Rabbit of Seville. Tickets are $9 / $5 for IMA members and students.

The acclaimed 2008 drama Frozen River will be shown Thursday at the Eiteljorg Museum as part of the four film series co-presented by the Eiteljorg and IMA in connection with current exhibitions of Indian art at the two museums. Tickets are $5 / $3 for museum (either one) members.

Southern Indiana

You didn’t think you’d escape hearing something about the Super Bowl just because this is a movie blog, did you? The Strand Theatre for one knows the value of a natural tie-in. The Blind Side will be screened on Saturday as part of the theater’s occasional Dinner and a Movie series. The event begins at 6 and the movie starts at 7:30 (or thereabouts); the dinner menu is, appropriately enough, a “Tailgate style” buffet. Tickets are $20 for the whole shebang and for the movie only, $10 (includes popcorn and a soda).

The ninth annual PRIDE Film Festival starts Thursday and runs through the weekend in Bloomington, with film screenings at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater and the IU Cinema (full events schedule). Films at the Buskirk include the documentary Gen Silent and the family drama Gun Hill Road. On Sunday, the IU Cinema will screen the seminal 1970s drama Boys in the Band at 3, followed by making-of documentary Making the Boys at 6:30.

The IU Cinema this weekend has a 1970s Australian cinema retrospective, with Walkabout, Mad Max, and Long Weekend today starting at 6:30 and Breaker Morant and Newsfront tomorrow, also starting at 6:30. The “Once Upon a Time in Indiana” series picks up again with Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, a major new film from Turkey that starts its (next) weekend run with two shows on Thursday. Also showing this week at the Cinema: Pather Panchali, the first film in Satyajit Ray’s acclaimed Apu trilogy, Saturday at 3 and the 1999 drama Sunshine on Monday at 7.

Also in Bloomington, the Ryder series has more showings of The Whistleblower, The Way, Young Goethe in Love, and Le Havre through the weekend, with an additional showing of Le Havre on Thursday. Check the Ryder’s site for locations and showtimes.

Northern Indiana

This week’s movie in the Cinematheque for All repertory film series is the Mexican family drama Alamar filmed on the coast of the Mexican Caribbean. All screenings are Wednesday nights at 7 on the Purdue campus.

In South Bend, the 23rd edition of the Notre Dame Student Film Festival continues through January 21 at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. The festival screens films made by undergrads. Also screening at the DeBartolo this week: Munich on Sunday at 3 and The Debt Wednesday at 7, both part of “The Mosaad in Film” series; Italian “docu-essay” Le Quattro Volte on Thursday at 7.

NEXT WEEK AND BEYOND

The Bollywood revenge thriller Agneepath, starring Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, and Sanjay Dutt, starts next weekend at the Republic Theaters Georgetown 14 in Indianapolis.

Turning to the Landmark’s coming soon listing, Shame has been pushed back to January 27, where it joins David Cronenberg’s new drama A Dangerous Method and the recently added Albert Nobbs, which has been garnering a lot of praise for Glenn Close.

In another Super Bowl tie-in, the Artcraft Theatre will have free showings of the popular underdog sports drama Rudy on February 3 at 7:30 and February 4 at 2; the weekend is sponsored by Franklin College.

Films and events scheduled for next Friday:

The Muppets Take Manhattan at the Artcraft

Tom Tykwer’s new movie 3 at the Ryder

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia and “Oddities from the David Bradley Collection” at the IU Cinema

The African Queen at the IMA

Last Week at the Movies

Gene Tierney impressed me more than she ever has before in Leave Her to Heaven, the second film in the IMA’s Winter Nights series; even more than in Laura, which I adore. I’ve seen the movie described as the “Technicolor noir” more than once and while I’d call it noirish myself, I can see where the description comes from: the ceilings. Never have I seen so many ceilings with exposed beams in a single film. And if it wasn’t actual bars on the ceiling (consistently filmed from a camera position close to the floor, making it seem like the ceiling was pressing downward), it was corners and shadows, or bars on the balustrade or bars on the window. The movie even passes the venetian blind test in practically the first scene. They’re living in a cage.

New movie-wise, Contraband was a so-so start to the 2012 movie year. Also caught up with The Adventures of Tintin.

Last Week at Home

The Rocketeer- Timothy Dalton hasn’t made enough comedies
Red Riding 1980 and Red Riding 1983
The Crimson Pirate
Kamikaze Girls- very amusing in an anime-influenced post-modernist way but I missed the book’s emphasis on the girls’ growing friendship
Shoot ‘em Up

New in Theaters This Weekend

Three new releases this weekend, a surprising total considering one or two new movies is the new Hollywood normal and it’s the middle of January. Even more surprising, I’m somewhat interested in all of them. Red Tails is a drama about the Tuskegee Airmen in WWII. Haywire is the all-too-familiar spy betrayed by her handlers scenario but is directed by Steven Soderbergh and has a stellar supporting cast; plus I’m always primed for an action movie. Underworld Awakening (number four in the vampire vs. werewolf series) calls to me despite my better judgment.

edited to add: Make that four. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close expands to wide release tomorrow.

What have you been watching? What are you looking forward to?

In a comment exchange on Nir’s “Top 10 Films of 2011″ post on the difference between “best of” lists and “favorites” lists, Mette wrote “I still prefer to make lists of the films I like the most.” I read that and thought, “Me too!” So on that note, this week’s discussion topic is favorite movies of 2011.

Tell us your favorite movie- or your top 10 or any number in between. Don’t have a favorite movie? Then make it a scene, performance, or anything else favorite of the year. This is the place to talk about the things that made us happy at the movies in 2011.

To start the ball rolling, my top five favorite movies of 2011:

Drive
The Eagle
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Fast Five
The Artist

Nicolas Cage was slowly climbing up the Hollywood popularity ladder after delivering one likable performances after another in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Raising Arizona (1987), and the terrific Moonstruck (1987). But his craziest, loopiest performance is in Vampire’s Kiss. Here he plays (with a mysterious but bad British accent) Peter Loew, a New York yuppie who ventures one night into a club, brings home his new date (Jennifer Beals) and then is bitten on the neck by her.

As the week progresses, Peter grows physically weaker and is also adverse to sunlight, or so he believes. He also believes that he’s turning into a vampire and becomes infatuated with the vampire mythos. He no longer sees his own reflection in the mirror, although the audience does; his anger at work grows exponentially, and mysteriously only towards his secretary Alva (Maria Conchita Alonzo); and his meetings with a psychiatrist become more like deranged interviews.

So what’s the appeal of watching Nicolas Cage go crazy, believing that he’s a vampire in a materialistic version of New York City? Exactly that. He delivers a deranged, manic but likable and hilarious version of a yuppie that does some weird things and sometimes without any provocation. His eyes spontaneously enlarge and contract. He goes into fits at home, at work and on the streets. He even buys plastic vampire teeth and bites a random woman in a night club until she bleeds.

The film, while existing in a lucid state of delirium (yes, it’s paradoxical) becomes more grounded in reality as Peter’s character grows more insane. We begin to feel uncomfortable and at the same time we ask ourselves how he feels right now.

Vampire’s Kiss could be seen as a social commentary on the material world, a commentary on the everyman who’s liable to go nuts at any moment, and also a commentary on how we tend to treat potential crazies too harshly (note the film’s third act). It’s a horror film, it’s a comedy, it’s a deranged New York film, and above all it showcases a terrific yet zany performance by the inimitable Nicolas Cage. The happenings in the film seem crazier with each viewing.

The DVD contains a commentary track that features director Robert Bierman and actor Nicolas Cage. I’ve listened to it before and they comment more on Peter’s growing insanity and deranged antics rather than delivering any real messages. It’s almost like a sing-along: it’s fun and you’re doing it with a group of people who like the same product that you do.

New releases this week: Abduction, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, Courageous, The Ides of March, Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain, Mysteries of Lisbon

The Photo Play theme for January is classic Warner Brothers tough guys.