The movies have a strange relationship with the mass shootings that have recently plagued our country. When the police arrested James Eagan Holmes for the massacre at The Dark Knight in Aurora, Colo., he identified himself as the Joker. Before Gangster Squad could be released, a scene had to be cut because it featured a […]
Talking Movies
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Talking Movies: The Lincoln of Yore
In 1975, Henry Fonda gave a retrospective interview to the BBC about his career up to that point. When asked about his reaction to being suggested for the title role in John Ford’s 1939 film Young Mr. Lincoln, he said that his initial response was simply fear. Playing Lincoln, Fonda suggested, was “like playing God.” […]
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Talking Movies: The Year after the Year of the Woman
It’s finally that time of year, folks. Loved ones gather together by the crackling fire to share memories and hugs. Bygones are forgotten as we remember what’s really important. Grudges fall by the wayside, tears well up and love is made. Yes, it’s finally the apocalypse. The Mayan calendar comes to an end and so […]
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Talking Movies: Skyfall Review – It’s a Man’s World.
I don’t know what’s more shocking: that twenty-three James-Bond movies have been made over the past fifty years, or that I’ve seen them all willingly. To understand why Skyfall, Sam Mendes’s fine reboot of the 007 myth, is such a supremely enjoyable movie, we need to understand why even the aggressively bad Bond flicks, of […]
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Talking Movies: The War Room & The Alps
It took 190 years of American political history and all the creative capabilities of the 1980 Reagan campaign to distill, finally, the fundamental question facing every American electorate: Are you really better off than you were four years ago? If yes, vote for the incumbent; if no, throw the bum out. We are seeing shades […]
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Talking Movies: Landlocked Film Festival: Oct 25-28
Since its inception in 2007, Landlocked, Iowa City’s film festival, has taken place in late August. This year it runs from Oct. 25-28th. Hopefully, it will lure more students, who ought to appreciate not only the admission fee (it’s free!) but also the crazy variety of films: animation, docs, features, music videos, shorts and spirited […]
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Talking Movies: Finally a vampire you don’t want to date
Kids, you may not know this, but vampires used to be scary. Nowadays vampires have perfectly gelled heads of luxurious hair, and their supernatural powers include sparkling and being bad-boy-cute. It wasn’t always so. The scariest vampire of all had no hair to gel, and instead of taking girls on frighteningly romantic dates, he feasted […]
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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 […]
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Talking Movies: Movie Time – FilmScene’s Fall Programming Lineup Gets Underway
Once upon a time our downtown was lit by the Astro, the Englert, and the Campus Theaters. One by one they faded. Only the Bijou, our solitary star, still flickers. A leviathan named Marcus took over. But after a long period in which darkness reigned, we’re on the verge of a new era for the […]
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HARDACRE FILM FESTIVAL – Tipton, Iowa August 2-4
Let’s start with the bad news. Most movies have become too market-tested to really please their markets. Most movie theaters, especially in Iowa, are run by distant executives who see us as statistics. Even film festivals are schmoozy, overly-commercialized affairs. Now, the good news! Every summer there’s the Hardacre Film Festival in Tipton, Iowa. This […]
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Talking Movies: Forty Years of The Godfather
Forty years ago, throughout the spring and summer of 1972, a mob movie was making a killing at the box office, which was something of a surprise to its production company. Paramount had wanted Sergio Leone, of spaghetti-western fame, to direct it. They settled for a fairly young director whose biggest success at the time […]
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Talking Movies: Score One for Skin
If you like sex and art (especially in that order of enthusiasm), then you should definitely make a point of getting to the Englert on Friday, May 18, to see the Iowa premiere of Frederick Wiseman’s Crazy Horse, a documentary about Paris’s legendary cabaret. To sweeten the deal, FilmScene, the host of the event, has […]
