What I’m Seeing This Week: My loving wife and I are finally going to see Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning at Cinemapolis or the Regal Ithaca Mall this weekend in celebration of her birthday! I’m also hoping to catch Ballerina at the Regal.
Also in Theaters: I’m excited that The Phoenician Scheme is finally opening at Cinemapolis and the Regal, but we’re saving this for our next date night. As I mentioned last week, our oldest has informed us that she’s going to make Lilo & Stitch, which continues its run at the Regal, her next Family (née Friday) Movie Night selection, and I’m determined not to miss Pavements, which opens at Cinemapolis tomorrow, so I’ve got those films in my near future as well. Sinners, which is still going strong at both Cinemapolis and the Regal, remains my favorite new movie that I’ve already seen for the fourth week in a row; I also enjoyed Friendship, which is at the same two theaters. Finally, your best bet on the special events/repertory front are the two screenings of Trainspotting at Cinemapolis on Tuesday as part of their “Trains, Trains, Trains” staff picks series
Home Video: I’m still working on tying all of my thoughts on this year’s unexpectedly divisive Nitrate Picture Show together into a blog post, but hope to have it up within the next few days. A big what-if involves La Ronde, which was apparently almost picked for the “Blind Date with Nitrate” slot that isn’t announced in advance. We’ll never know for sure whether or not that would have staved off the controversy now raging (stay tuned!) about the programming decision made instead, but I likely would have mentioned it here regardless because the restored version available on DVD from the Criterion Collection and streaming on the Criterion Channel appears to be a cut above most of the other features from this year’s festival available in those formats. It’s also an ethereally suave masterpiece of form which judging from the surprisingly low percentage of people I follow on Letterboxd who have logged it may be weirdly underseen–has director Max Ophüls fallen out of style? Anyway, it’s well worth a look if you haven’t watched it recently or ever!
Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.
The Prodigal Cinephile 