What’s Screening: January 26 – February 1

~ Lincoln Spector

Unbelievably, I have yet to look at the Oscar nominations. I’ll get to it. The best vintage film in theaters this week is The Life And Death of Colonel Blimp. It’s exceptional.

There’s a technical problem that I can’t fix. Hopefully, it will be fixed.

Festivals & Series

Good & still in theaters

A The Holdovers
֍ Sebastopol, opens Friday
֍ Lark, Monday, 8:15am
֍ Lark, Tuesday, 9:30ams

The trailer tells you that this is a comedy, but there are only occasional funny moments. This is a mostly serious drama, set in 1969, with young men being drafted into a hateful war (Vietnam). It follows three broken human beings set in and around a very expensive, all male, conservative, private middle school. First, there’s the history professor (Paul Giamatti), who seems to hate all his students, and they all hate him back. Dominic Sessa plays a student with serious problems related to his mother’s new marriage. Da’Vine Joy Randolph plays the school’s cook. Her son died in combat, and she is now connected to the school for life.

A- Israelism, (2023), Roxie, Thursday, 6:15pm

The documentary starts like a commercial for Israel, but then reality soon takes over. There’s the army veteran who discovered he’s lost his humanity. There’s the young, American activist. There’s the Palestinian tour guide who will show you things you won’t see on a Birthright tour. Soldiers break into homes without warrants. Jeremy Ben Ami, Noam Chomsky, and Cornel West tell the filmmakers what they think. But it’s mostly young adults who tell their stories. This documentary shows how right-wing Americans, raised to love Israel, attack those who refuse to believe that an Arab is human.

Movies that play over & over

Vintage films on the big screen

A+ The Life And Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), New Mission, Saturday, 11:30pm

Clive Wynne-Candy is an officer and a gentleman. A career soldier in His Majesty’s army, he believes in following the rules of combat–even against an enemy willing to commit atrocities. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp follows Wynne-Candy from his dashing youth to a somewhat foolish old age. Filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger provide warmth, heartbreak, laughs, and several viewpoints on what it means to be a soldier and a decent human being. Read  my Blu-ray review.

A+ Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Castro, Saturday, Doors: 1:00pm | Show: 2:00pm

Sorry, but I missed this event too late. In 1952, the late twenties seemed like a fond memory of an innocent time, and nostalgia was a large part of Singin’ in the Rain ‘s original appeal. The nostalgia is long gone, so we can clearly see this movie for what it is: the greatest musical ever filmed, and perhaps the best work of pure escapist entertainment to ever come out of Hollywood. Take out the songs, which are easily the best part of the movie, and you still have one of the best comedies of the 1950′s. It’s also the funniest movie Hollywood ever made about itself. Read my A+ appreciation.

A Dogtooth (2009), Roxie
֍ Friday, 9:15pm
֍ Saturday, 8:50pm
֍ Thursday, 8:55pm

This very dark satire takes on over-protective parenting, totalitarianism, upper-middle class nuclear families, and even incest. The parents homeschool and brazenly lie to their three teenagers – none of whom have ever stepped out of the home. But with puberty bubbling up, things may have to change. Dogtooth contains horrifying outbursts of violence, explicit sex (none of it the least bit erotic), and a lot of deadpan humor. Read my full article.

A- Throne of Blood (1957), Balboa, Wednesday, 7:30pm

Akira Kurosawa stands Shakespeare on his head with this haunting, noh and kabuki-inspired loose adaptation of Macbeth. Toshiro Mifune gives an over-the-top but still effective performance as the military officer tempted by his wife (Isuzu Yamada) into murdering his lord. The finale–which is far more democratic than anything Shakespeare ever dared – is one of the great action sequences in cinema. Read my Blu-ray review.

B+ Clueless (1995), New Mission, Sunday, noon

Movie Party! Loosely adapted from Jane Austen’s Emma, this coming-of-age comedy follows a rich, well-meaning, but superficial teenage girl (Alicia Silverstone) as she tries to fix other people’s problems as well as her own. Sweet and funny, it looks at adolescent foibles with a sympathetic eye, rarely judging youthful behavior. With a surprisingly young Paul Rudd as the great guy that she can’t appreciate.

Continuing engagements

Movies I can’t review

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Published by Lincoln Spector

Lincoln Spector writes about cinema, technology, and cinema technology. From 1986 through 2008, he wrote Gigglebytes, the first technology-oriented humor column. From 1977 through 2016, he wrote PC World's Answer Line column and blog.