In the last few years B movies have stepped out of the cinematic shadows and into the limelight as legitimate, critically valid films. From John Wick to Green Room and, recently, Get Out, cinematic fare once considered schlock is now being taken seriously. Hollywood has been turning out low-budget commercial fare since its Golden Age — though there are many terrible B movies, there are also plenty of cinematic gems in the genre. Ross Meyer is the local cinephile who uncovers and curates these lost treasures for a weekly movie celebration known as Late Shift at the Grindhouse, coming up on its third anniversary this month. The Wednesday night series is the culmination of Meyer’s lifelong passion for film. […]
Bijou Theatre
UI film grad wins back-to-back Grand Jury prizes

The hard work and vision of a UI film grad seems to paying off, as Jesse Kreitzer and his now award-winning short film Black Canaries has been garnering awards from coast to coast. At the 12th annual Holly Shorts Film Festival in Los Angeles last week, Black Canaries took home the Grand Jury prizes for […]
The Yes Men bring anarchy, comedy and political activism to Iowa City

Film Screening and Q&A: The Yes Men Are Revolting FilmScene (via The Bijou Theatre) — Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 3 p.m. (Free) Using humorous deceptions to get their political points across, the Yes Men have regularly made headlines since they joined forces in 1999. Today, Mike Bonanno and his partner in crime, Andy Bichlbaum, bring […]
Homemade Horror: Filmscene and Bijou to host a night of amateur fright films
Talking Movies: Rust & Bone

The spirit of our age walks on prosthetic limbs. Of course, humanity has always been fascinated by amputees. But whereas prosthetics were once a sign of creepiness, from Captain Ahab to Captain Hook, now they’re attached to sympathetic heroes. Think of Oscar Pistorius, the Olympic “Blade Runner,” sadly on trial for murdering his model-girlfriend; or […]
The Oscars: Where will you be watching?
Talking Movies: In Memory of Chris Marker (1921-2012)

The origin myth of cinema is that when the Lumière brothers gave the first public screening of their 50-second documentary The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station in 1896, the audience screamed and ran to the back of the theater in fear of the image of the oncoming locomotive. As hexing as the […]