What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m going to watch Napoleon on Apple TV+ tomorrow and then start working on my top ten list for Movie Year 2023 this weekend, which means my annual pre-Oscars binge session is over! My original plan was to usher in Movie Year 2024 with a screening of Dune: Part Two at Cinemapolis or the Regal Ithaca Mall, but my loving wife wants to see it, too, so we’re going to save it for a date night in a couple of weeks. As such my choice is Drive-Away Dolls at one of those same two theaters.
Also in Theaters: I liked but didn’t love director Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, which is currently playing Cinemapolis, but am super intrigued by his fellow 2023 Cannes selection Anselm, which screens at Cornell Cinema in 3D (“glasses provided upon arrival,” says their website) tomorrow and on Saturday. I can’t go, but would love to hear how it is, so leave a comment if you do! My favorite new movie now playing locally is The Taste of Things, but as a foodie (I actually hate this term, but if the shoe fits . . . ) flick starring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel it’s basically catnip for me, so take that recommendation with a grain of fleur de sel. On the repertory front, it’s a great week for family-friendly fare with one of my favorite animated films of all time, The Iron Giant, playing the Regal on Saturday; Labyrinth, which stars David Bowie and a bunch of Muppets (and Jennifer Connelly), there on Wednesday; and the last installment in director Tomm Moore’s stunning Irish Trilogy Wolfwalkers at Cornell Cinema on Sunday
Home Video: Whether or not you are planning to see Timothée Chalamet on the big screen this weekend, you should definitely save 90 minutes to watch him in Lady Bird before it leaves Netflix on Sunday. In addition to being probably the best directorial debut (by Greta Gerwig, whose most recent film you may have heard about) of the past decade, it’s the middle installment in the three-text perfect representation of my youth which begins with seasons one through eight of The Simpsons (elementary and middle school) and ends with Funny Ha Ha (college).
Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.
The Prodigal Cinephile 