Summer Under the Radar Preview 2016

by A.J.

Summer doesn’t officially start until about a month from now, but it has been summer at the movies since the first weekend of May. Summer at the movies is synonymous with the big budget blockbuster movies (usually superhero movies) that you’ve known were premiering this summer whether you are interested in them or not (Captain America: Civil War, X-Men Apocalypse, Ghostbusters, Star Trek Beyond). There are also some smaller scale movies coming out this summer that not everyone may be aware of, but which I think will be a nice break from epic CGI action:

May 20^th

The Nice Guys

Ryan Gosling takes a break from his roles in more experimental films to star with Russell Crowe as a pair of mismatched detectives in this action-comedy film noir set in 1970s California. The Nice Guys is written and directed by Shane Black, who wrote the screenplays for Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout (to name a few) and has directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (another great noir comedy about a mismatched pair of detectives) and arguably the best Marvel movie, Iron Man 3. So far, his track record as writer/director has been very good and, hopefully, The Nice Guys will continue his streak of clever, quality cinema.

May 27^th

Love & Friendship

This is the movie I have been looking forward to the most this year. The films of writer-director Whit Stillman have been described as "comedies of manners” that follow privileged WASP types, but the way I describe his movies when recommending one to a customer at the video store is: it’s like mixing a Woody Allen movie and a Wes Anderson movie together. His latest film, an adaptation of a Jane Austen story, is the moment when critics and fans realized that Stillman has been making modern day Jane Austen stories this whole time. Kate Beckinsale stars as widow Lady Susan who, while staying with her in-laws, seeks to find a husband for her daughter, and one for herself, too. Love & Friendship has already been released in select cities and received many positive reviews. It opens in Austin, TX on May 27^th and I can’t wait.

June 24^th

The Neon Demon

This is the most hesitant I’ve been about seeing any movie for quite a while. Writer-director Nicolas Winding Refn made one of my favorite movies of this decade so far, Drive. He followed that up with one of the most boring and excruciating movie experiences I’ve ever had with Only God Forgives. I’ve watched some of his other films and it seems like Drive might be the fluke in his filmography. However, the casting of Mad Men's Christina Hendricks got me to watch the trailer for The Neon Demon and the trailer is pretty intriguing. Elle Fanning stars as an aspiring model that finds herself in potentially dangerous surroundings. IMDB.com classifies this movie as Horror/Thriller and if the coin flips one way, an intense, psychological thriller along the lines of Black Swan might be in store; if the coin flips the other way, this movie might just be very pretty and very frustrating. I’ll wait for reviews for The Neon Demon come in before I venture out the theater, or just stay home and watch Drive again. Here is the trailer, which, on its own, I highly recommend watching.

July 15^th

The Infiltrator

Bryan Cranston finds himself in the world of illegal drugs again in The Infiltrator. This time he is on the side of the authorities, U.S. Customs to be exact, in this movie based on the true story of a drug and money laundering sting aimed at apprehending Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Cranston is paired with John Leguizamo and they have to go undercover in the dangerous world of the drug trade. The trailer plays up the action, but I’m interested to see what Cranston does with this material.

August 5^th

The Founder

I’m surprised The Founder isn’t being released later in the year, during Oscar season, since this seems like a movie the Academy would look favorably upon. Michael Keaton plays Ray Kroc, the founder (but not creator) of McDonald’s. Kroc finds the small, but fast burger restaurant run by the McDonald brothers (played by Nick Offerman and John Carrol Lynch) and expands their business into a larger and larger franchise. It’s not exactly what the brothers thought they were getting into, but Kroc is determined to make the business as big and successful as possible, and he's not going to let anyone get in his way. The Founder has an interesting subject and a great cast, so I am on board.

August 12^th

Café Society

It’s the new Woody Allen movie, so this might as well be required viewing for me. Allen’s last two films, Irrational Man and Magic in Moonlight, were way under par in just about every aspect, but Allen just keeps churning out film after film and hopefully the odds are in our favor for Café Society. As always, this Woody Allen movie features a talented cast including Jesse Eisenberg, Steve Carell, Kristen Stewart, Cory Stoll, and Parker Posey. Eisenberg plays a young man from the Bronx who movies out to Hollywood to help his uncle, who is a powerful agent (Carell), and falls in love with his uncle’s secretary (Stewart). It’s a period film, set in 1930’s Hollywood, so even if this wasn’t a Woody Allen movie I would still be very excited to see it in theaters.

Classic Movie Picks: September 2014

by Lani

Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies schedule for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)

Star of the Month: Melvyn Douglas
I always enjoy it when Melvyn Douglas appears in a film, whether he's a suave continental in Ninotchka (9/10, 8 PM), the sardonic best friend in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (9/3, 10:15 PM), or a wily, but ailing, politico in Being There (9/3, 8 PM) -- a role for which he won an Oscar. His parts in these great films, as well as his other Oscar-winning turn as a tough rancher in Hud (9/24, 9:45 PM), are the Douglas roles I know best;  watch any of these films and you'll soon be a Melvyn Douglas fan. But the Star of the Month tribute also presents the chance to catch Douglas in other roles and displays his incredible range as an actor. The whole schedule looks strong, but I'm especially interested in the pre-code horror of The Vampire Bat (9/10, 3:15 AM), the jewel caper Arsene Lupin Returns (9/11, 7:45 AM), and the screwball comedy She Married Her Boss (9/10, 1:45 AM).

9/4: Rick's Picks
8 PM - Some Came Running (1958)
10:30 PM - The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
12:45 AM - Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Writer-director Richard Linklater is one of my favorite filmmakers working today and for his stint as a Guest Programmer, he's chosen films by three iconic directors of classic cinema: Vincente Minnelli, John Huston, and Ingmar Bergman. It's no surprise that Linklater is a student of classic cinema -- as a co-founder and artistic director of the Austin Film Society, he actively champions the appreciation of classic, arthouse, and independent films. His own varied filmography -- from high school comedy Dazed and Confused, to experimental animated dramas Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, to the close examination of romance & relationships in the Before trilogy -- suggests a filmmaker interested in taking risks and not being pigeonholed into a single genre, something that could also be said for Minnelli, Huston, and Bergman. 
(If Linklater's latest film Boyhood is playing in your area, it is well-worth seeing -- a beautiful and groundbreaking film!)

9/22: Belle Brigitte 
8 PM - And God Created Woman (1956)
9:45 PM - Une Parisienne (1957)
11:30 PM - En Effeuillant la Marguerite (1956)
1:30 AM - The Night Heaven Fell (1958)
3:15 AM - Contempt (1963)
Tonight TCM has programmed five films starring the woman for whom the term "sex kitten" was invented: French actress Brigitte Bardot. The plots of most of her films generally revolve around Mme. Bardot beguiling every man who crosses her path, just by virtue of Bardot being Bardot. That's certainly true of the films directed or written by Roger Vadim, the director who discovered and married Bardot when she was still a teenager. Both Vadim and Bardot gained international fame with their film And God Created Woman. While the thinly plotted film is mostly concerned with presenting Brigitte in various provocative outfits, the uninhibited sexuality of Bardot's character was something notable and new; an example of postwar filmmakers testing the boundaries of what was permissible to show onscreen after decades hampered by the restrictive Hays Code. Bardot's status as an international movie icon is undeniable and for this reason, her  films remain relevant, a chance to experience the sex symbol who once captivated the world.

9/28: Whit Stillman Double Feature 
8 PM - Metropolitan (1990)
10 PM - Barcelona (1994)
Whit Stillman is another of my favorite contemporary filmmakers, so of course, I was delighted to see that he would be appearing on TCM to introduce two of his films, including one of my all-time favorites, Barcelona. Stillman makes comedies of manners, chronicling the social and romantic misadventures of young, bourgeois WASPs with a satirical eye, sharp wit, and obvious affection. His films have a sense of authenticity and specificity, probably because his stories are inspired by personal experience;  Metropolitan draws upon his season attending NYC debutante balls, while Barcelona is informed by time spent living & working in Spain in the 1980s, in the wake of a sexual revolution and during a period of anti-American politics.