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We’ve already tried to get you out to theaters this week, much less our effort to encourage film screening attendance on a weekly basis.  Now, during the dog days of summer, comes a reasonable excuse for inviting your friends to revel in the voyueristic glory that is good film.  But seeing as our taste for film is exceedingly local this season, here are a few films you simply must see in St. Louis this weekend if you’re going to see them at all.

Premier Screening

• 10 MPH @ 3pm on Saturday August 11th in the Tivoli Theater
  
  This inventive take on the road trip genre of films tells the story of two aspiring filmmakers who try to find meaning somewhere between Seatle and Boston - except doing so on Segway scooters. If that doesn’t sound original enough, you’ll get a chance to harass the film’s creators in a Q&A after the film. But don’t take your time, because unlike this films’ protagonists, this film will be going somewhere soon.

Reel Late @ The Tivoli

• Dead Alive (aka Braindead) @ midnight on Friday-Saturday August 10-11th, and 10pm on Sunday August 12th
  
  This early film of Peter Jackson’s (yes, that director) is probably one of the bloodiest zombie/horror films ever made. And while this film might not be for the squeamish, you’ll also want to bring along your sense of humor, if not merely irony/poetic justice. A must see for fans of the genre, much less audiences inclined by the midnight format.

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As you might have already heard (heh), The Listening Room Series is touring through the Schlafly Tap Room tonight August 1st @ 8 pm.  As part of the Third Coast Int’l Audio Festival in Chicago, this Listening Room Series event sponsored by KWMU gives us the opportunity to hear some of the best audio documentary work and talk about it.  You might have already heard some of the festival, since KWMU airs the festival finalists around thanksgiving time.  And if you’ve enjoyed listening to Radio Lab last Sunday, you’ll get to hear some more, as the Listening Room will highlight that series tonight.

In celebration of this unique audio event, we thought we might take the opportunity to share some of our favorite podcasts, local or otherwise.  Of course we recommend the Radio Lab podcast and pretty much every podcast from KWMU, since it has become the area’s last/only locally owned newsroom.  Local media is also well represented in the Gateway Media Literacy Partner’s podcasts, which will help you get back up to speed following their conference we wrote about earlier this summer. 

If you’re having a little writers block, why not give a listen to the book readings on The Writer’s Almanac or at least the ever popular This American Life podcast for a little audio inspiration.  But if a break from writing altogether is needed, we might suggest jamming to the Trouble in River City podcast, which was updated relatively recently.  And don’t forget that video podcasting is alive and well over on LoFiStl.com during dirty week (this last week).

Just because you couldn’t get a date to Nerd Prom this weekend doesn’t mean you have to get stood up.  St. Louis is having it’s own comic convention of sorts, albeit a little more comic centric. 

The Spector Club Comic Show, now in its 30th year of operation, has it’s next show this Sunday, July 29th from 10:00am-2:30pm at the American Legion Post #111 in Shrewsberry.  There you’ll find sci-fi collectible, toys, and of course a large selection of collectible comic books to buy/sell/trade.  To say nothing of all the new friends you’re sure to make who won’t look at you funny when you’re making a joke about the Tick.

And while it may have slipped under our radar in the past, this ongoing show series has more dates coming up, which can be found on the STLcomics.com blog .  More info on the event can be found on the Upcoming event page for the show as well as in the Highway 61 Upcoming group.

After yesterday’s post deatailing several upcoming Film Festivals in St. Louis, you’d think I’d have run out of film recomendations and just revel in Bastille Day’s glorious revolutionary zeal.  Au Contraire!  Indeed, I learned last week that forgetting to include a film might get someone beheaded.  With that in mind, please feel free to talk about the films you plan to see this weekend in the comments, so other readers might know about as many films they can put on their plate in the buffet line we call weekend box-office.

Webster Film Series

• Ghosts of Cité Soleil @ 8PM and 10PM on Friday, July 13th and 8PM Saturday+Sunday July 14-15th in the Winifred Moore Auditorium

  When WFS adds an extra showtime to film, you know it has to be something special. This documentary takes place in the namesake’s Haitian slum, which was then identified by the UN as the most dangerous place on earth, and only a few months before a coup took place there in 2004. Because the film follows two brothers who lead rival gangs, you can expect a tense film that offers a unique insight into a truly foreign culture of personal destruction and violence.

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While I’m usually happy as a pea in pod to share some of my favorite upcoming films every weekend, there comes a time that an entire weekend or evening must be put aside for special screenings.  These festival screenings of films separate those who are merely interested in showcase from the die hard film geeks.  It is for the latter’s sake that I simply must post this notice, lest they miss another film fest.  While each one of these festivals warrants their own blog posts, for now please mark your calendars.

• 2007 St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase (presented by Cinema St. Louis)
  July 21-26, 2007 @ the Tivoli Theater, Centene Center for Arts & Education, and Blueberry Hill (check schedule for show times)

  This seventh annual showcase of local films of national quality features a special compilation screening of “This is Lo-Fi Saint Louis”, including a discussion of videography and blogging with Bill Streeter. In fact most films in the showcase will feature a Q&A with their creators, all of whom are supposed to have strong ties to the area and many for whom this screening might be the only one of their works. That alone can justify the $10 ticket price (or $8 for students), which are available ONLY through the Tivoli Theater’s box office in advance, and on a first-come, first-serve basis during the festival (no internet or phone sales).

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They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, but with apologies to Gabe, I can’t find any reason to post about the Iphone.  Instead since I assume everyone who wants one is busy watching the Transformers trailer on their’s, I’ll just have to resume posting a weekly compilation of films worth seeing this weekend.

Reel Late @ the Tivoli

• Back to the Future @ midnight Friday and Saturday July 6-7th, and 10pm of Sunday

The Reel Late midnight film series returns with the ultimate prequel to debut the season.  I could give you 88 reasons to bring a friend to this chilling docu-drama of a suburban dystopia in which terrorists trading suitcase nukes are narrowly evaded through the “Power of Love” (and time travel).  Go see this visionary film, some 22 years ahead of its time, before it begins to fade from the picture.

Special Exhibition Screening

• Napoleon (1927) @ 1 pm in the Saint Louis Art Museum Auditorium on Saturday, July 7th

Thanks to our friends at 52nd City for the tip, this special screening of this epic silent film is being shown as part of the ongoing exhibition “Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800-1815“.  The film is a marathon tour de force of silent film at it’s most communicative visuals, and by marathon I mean the film is about 3 hours long.  So if you want to check out the exhibit (before the museum closes for the day, that is), try to make time before the film this Saturday.

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