As superhero movies and Star Wars flicks continue to reign as the most popular entertainment to see on the big screen, it becomes increasingly harder for completely original stories to grab people’s attention. With Late Night, we have a great example of why we should be going out and supporting original stories.
FilmScene
Posted inArts & Entertainment
You’ve cat to be kitten me: Get ready for FilmScene’s Caturday Film Fest right meow
Starting June 13, the Caturday Film Fest will take over FilmScene, though most showings will take place on Saturday, June 15. Caturday films will be available individually at regular FilmScene prices, but the fest can be experienced entirely for $15, for those who can get their paws on a Caturday pass.
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Colorful romp ‘Rocketman’ struggles in singer’s youth, hits stride when John does
Rocketman, a biographical film about Elton John which takes full control of the color wheel and coats it in feathers and sequins, started showing at FilmScene last Friday. The film, directed by Dexter Fletcher and starring Taron Egerton as John, poignantly shows audiences what it looks like for a rockstar to be put under too […]
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Pride at FilmScene kicks off Iowa City Pride Week with ‘Stonewall Uprising’
FilmScene and Iowa City Pride will recognize the 50th anniversary of Stonewall by showing ‘Stonewall Uprising’ for free on June 10, the day before Iowa City’s 49th Pride Festival begins. ‘Stonewall Uprising’ is just one of many LGBTQ+ affirming films shown as part of their monthly series, Pride at FilmScene.
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Gilliam’s ‘Don Quixote’ delivers wonder and magic, despite burden of 25 years of content
A character during the film comments that artists must be naïve, crazy and cruel: While Gilliam knows this, and even thought he wisely departs from the cruelty of Tidelands, this movie is obviously a “passion project” (a phrase from the film) that engages in indulgence rather than refusal.
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Humanism on screen: FilmScene screens ‘Hesburgh’ and ‘Hail Satan’
Last Friday, FilmScene opened two movies focused on the space of humanism in American politics, prismed through questions of religion. Hesburgh runs through Thursday, May 23; Hail Satan? is extended through next week.
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Sympathy for the devil? A new documentary highlights the humor and humanity of the Satanic Temple
Update: FilmScene’s showing of ‘Hail Satan?’ at 6 p.m. Friday, May 17 will include a post-screening dialogue with Hollow Axis, interviewed in the film. A minute into my phone interview with Penny Lane, on a train to her next premiere, the director sighed with relief. “OK, good, all the people standing near me who I […]
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I learned it at the movies: Scenesters Selects Series kicks off at FilmScene
“Media arts education is a vital part of what FilmScene does year-round,” says FilmScene’s programming director Rebecca Fons. “Our inaugural year of Scenesters has been an important addition to our education initiatives — and so much fun.”
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How do you stay sexy and successful after 90? Ask Dr. Ruth.
A new documentary about Dr. Ruth — the 4-foot-7 German refugee turned radio sex show host turned TV star turned 40-time author — doesn’t exactly break down the famed sex talker’s walls. But Ask Dr. Ruth, produced by Hulu and screening now at FilmScene, does offer a slick, fascinating and moving biography of Westheimer.
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‘High Life’: A look at the darker side of humanity
High Life, directed by Claire Denis, stars two of my favorite actors working right now, Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche. Although I’m usually all for the extremely artful and indie films, there was something about the dark and bleak tone that played throughout this film that didn’t sit well with me.
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‘We should be building off of each other’s progress’: FilmScene and the Englert announce joint fundraising, programming campaign
This Saturday, April 20, FilmScene and the Englert Theatre unveiled the steps toward a new vision: “building the greatest small city for the arts in the America.” The outer lobby of the Englert Theatre was filled with notecards hanging from balloons, filled with statements from community members on why they find the arts important. Additional […]
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It sounds like ‘Teen Spirit’ at FilmScene
Why are millennial actors-cum-directors expressing their creative angst through the medium of teenage girls? I’ll save that analysis for another time, and instead focus in on a single film that, rather refreshingly, begs no long-winded essays: ‘Teen Spirit,’ the directorial debut of English actor Max Minghella (who you may know from Hulu’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and David Fincher’s ‘The Social Network’).
