61revised.com

Another weekend has come, but this time I don’t need to tell you what the big movie is.  And while some people seem determined to see it fail (like they argue, the last few seasons), you know they’ll be seeing the film anyway.  In the meantime I’ve been playing with my Simpson’s avatar (I wrote about it earlier) and posting aerial photos of Springfield, MO (sans monorail system).

But since this weekly feature is meant to emphasize the best film screenings taking place in St. Louis, I’ll have to put aside this blockbuster in favor of some more local flavors. But for future reference, I don’t need permission to geek out (see above title).

Reel Late @ the Tivoli

• A Clockwork Orange @ midnight Friday & Saturday July 27, 28th and 10PM on Sunday July 29th ($6)Welly, welly, well my droog friends. If you’re feeling a little buzzed after leaving the bar, “this would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence”.  This 1971 Stanley Kubrick interpretation of the Anthony Burgess novel is a perfect midnight movie, filled with loads of mindless sex and violence and a relatively amoral ethos.  And for a double feature, why not come early and check our Labyrinth (hey kids, it’s David Bowie).  So you’re keen on film?  Yes!

(more…)

Full confession: I cannot always attend every screening I recommend each week in this blog.  This is especially the case this week, as I am out of town on vacation (ie, I’ll settle for a 3rd generation of “Hairspray“).  But please don’t let that diminish my recommendations, which whole-heartedly reflect my interest as a collegiate educated film student.

Webster Film Series

• The Draughtman’s Contract @ 8PM Friday-Sunday July 20-22nd in the Winifred Moore Auditorium ($4-6)
  
  This story about a couple who split up on vacation intrigues me, not because I’m a jealous husband but because the wife uses the artist’s picture to try to solve the crime of her newly deceased husband. Of course these portraits were commissioned by the wife, who had to trade her womanly gifts as payment to the artist. Sounds like a James Joyce romance/mystery novel to me.

2007 St. Louis Filmmaker’s Showcase

• This is Lo-Fi Saint Louis @ 7-9 PM Saturday July 21st at the the Centene Center in St. Louis, MO ($8)
  
  Besides the fact that you should have already read about Cinema St. Louis’ local showcase, you really have no excuse not to check out LoFiSTL.com on the big screen. You already know the great work that the friendly Bill Streeter does in an altruistic sense for our local scene, but now you can ask him how - without ping lag for comments! But seriously, this is my last chance to suggest that you simply must check out these films, which will play throughout next week until Thursday July the 26th (check the schedule here)

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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).

(more…)

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.

(more…)

It’s been a few days since we last spoke, but we have a few updates on previous stories for you.  Maybe you don’t need the sense of closure, but forgive us through this penance.  Here’s some links for your coffee break:

• Maybe we broke the news too soon, but it’s been no secret that the ACC is officially out of print.  David Drebes finally broke the news to his audience on the ACC website, which will remain in its place.  Of course we wish him luck in his new ventures as well.
• Looks like our friends at PubDef have a few films to recommend for your weekend.  I wonder where they got that idea?
• Our friends @ STMRD gave us a look @ the opposite viewpoint behind the scenes in the pride parade, so we gave them our perspective for their slideshow.
• We haven’t even shared nearly half of our photography projects here, but it seems like bloggers in St. Louis just love photographing the town too.  We shouldn’t be surprised, but Pretty War STL was, when we documented a derelict auto service station in my neighborhood.  Hey, it’s not like dibs need be called; we’re probably already checking your FlickR photostream.
• Now that St. Louis officially has the tastiest water of any city, maybe it’s time to update the city water website?

We could keep doing this for awhile, but coffee break is just about over for us if you read through all of that.  We’ll see you next Sunday with some more links to freshen your coffee.

This is the weekend that Die Hard 4 comes out.  Oh I’m sorry, the film is called “Live Free or Die Hard“.  I believe it was General John Stark who originally coined the phrase “Death Is Not The Worst Of Evils…Now I know what a TV dinner feels like.”  But when I was talking to Hwy61’s own award-winning co-writer of “Franz Kafka: The Happiest Man in Happytown” Mr. Gabriel Bullard, he informed me that, “i have to see any cheesy action movie if the word “legacy” is used in more than one review”. Guess that means we won’t be waiting in line this weekend
Right then, so here are some film going recommendations you won’t see in the movie listings section of your newspaper this weekend.

Webster Film Series

• “Absolute Wilson” @ 8 pm in the Winifred Moore Auditorium Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, June 29-July 1st

According to the film series calendar, this documentary of experimental theater artists Robert Wilson is “More than a biography, the film becomes an exhilarating exploration of the transformative power of creativity itself”.  But if that doesn’t wet your appetite for documentary film, consider his fans Phillip Glass, David Byrne, and the late Susan Sontag who appear in the film as worth the price of admission itself. (more…)

Last night was the 48-hour Film Project’s “Best of” screening, and we can’t help but feel like a few film-geeks of our own in town might want to extend their pursuit of independent cinema.  Of course we’d like to congratulate the filmmakers of “Franz Kafka: The Happiest Man in Happy Town” (including our own contributor Gabe Bullard), which will represent the city in the global finalists competition.  Not that their blog will reflect that prestige, but from the look of the “Best of” screening, Saint Louis has a lot of creative talent that would merit this feature’s notice in the future.

With that in mind, here’s some creative film works that might interest you this weekend, or at least might make up for missing out last night:

Old Orchard Gazebo Series (2007 edition)

• Batman (1966 verison) @ 9 pm in Gazebo Park, Friday June 22nd

Advantages: This is the feature film version of the original Batman television series, including the greatest man to don the caped crusader’s costumes - Adam West.  You’ll come for the free music beforehand in this scenic Webster Groves park, but you’ll stay for every punch and roundhouse kick only Batman could deliver with graphic overlays.  One viewing of the nearly 5 minute long sequence in which Batman carries a comicallly oversized bomb across the dock and you’ll be sucked into the allure of this cult classic.  Also, it’s free… (more…)

This week we’ll recomend even more films currently playing in St Louis to impress a date or just avoid ticket lines.  We know we’ve already given you a lot of suggestions for this weekend, but here’s the heads up for our friends who prefer eating popcorn in the dark.  Back by popular demand Film Student Fridays - now with twice the film student quota.

Webster Film Series

• La Montaña sagrada (the Holy Moutain) @ 8 pm (in the Winifred Moore Auditorium) Friday, Saturday, and Sunday June 15th-17th
• Senior Overview showcase @ 5:30 pm Saturday, June 16th

Advantages - While “Holy Mountain” acts as a continuation of last weekend’s feature “el Topo” (both by acclaimed director Alejandro Jodorowsky) and deserves your interest as well, we couldn’t pass up Saturday’s Senoir Overview showcase.  Joshua Hawkins, Webster Film & Video Society President offered this description -

Johnny Cathcart’s pancake musical “The Original Batter… or Batter Up” will be screened along with Joe Klueh’s senior overview and Carson Minnow’s senior overview film…And more senior overviews pending on who joins in.  Go and support their finished films that represent their 4 years of learning at webster.

(more…)

Considering the recent dearth of blog entries this week about films in town, it might seem like overkill to introduce a weekly feature.  Yet we couldn’t help but think we somehow contributed to the continuation of “Chalk” being screened at the Tivoli this weekend. 

Far be it for me to be judge of good or bad cinema (the internet has enough of those sots), I’d like to think my undergraduate’s degree in Film Studies might steer your attention to the kind of films that might impress your date with your sophistication (or sense of irony).  So if you’ll go along with my ruse, I’d be happy to refer you (thumbs free) to a few films playing in town this weekend that you might find a little out of the ordinary this blockbuster film season.

(more…)