What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m going with Peter Hujar’s Day, which is at Cinemapolis for one week only starting tomorrow.
Also in Theaters: One Battle After Another returns to the Regal Ithaca Mall tomorrow and reclaims its title as the best new movie in Ithaca that I’ve already seen. I also enjoyed Hamnet and Sentimental Value, which I won’t begrudge any of their wins this awards season, and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, which interestingly uses Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc as more of a structuring device than a main character, not dissimilarly to how director Jacques Tati utilized Monsieur Hulot in last December’s “Drink & a Movie” selection Playtime. All three are at Cinemapolis. Other first run fare I’m hoping to catch before it closes includes Wicked: For Good (Cinemapolis and the Regal), Zootopia 2 (just the Regal), and maybe Eternity (Cinemapolis and the Regal). Special events highlights include a screening of the documentary Eyes on Ukraine at Cinemapolis on Sunday followed by a “talkback” with the filmmakers. Finally, noteworthy repertory options include screenings of The Polar Express at the Regal on Saturday and Tuesday and Scrooged there just on Tuesday. The 2000 remake live-action remake of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which I recently saw for the first time and was surprised to discover actually isn’t half bad, is at the Regal all week as well: as I said on Letterboxd, I think “Bizarro Elf“ is the proper lens to view it through. Speaking of which, there’s a “sing-a-long” screening of Elf (whatever that means) there on Sunday, too.
Home Video Recommendation: As was presumably obvious from this month’s “Drink & a Movie” post, I consider Die Hard to be one of the best movies of the 1980s. Its sequel Die Hard 2 is nowhere near as formally intricate but it is not at all without its charms, including a scene featuring William Sadler doing Tai Chi stark naked, and some spectacular special effects. But the final word on the merits of this film were already written by Kenji Fujishima, who in a 2009 blog post that I absolutely love said the following:
Many argue that Die Hard 2, on the other hand, is a crasser, cruder rehash of the original, emphasizing the action spectacle while downplaying character development, and upping the ante on violence and gore. All of that is indeed true. And yet, in the right mood, I find that Die Hard 2, in its own caveman way, provides more sheer pedal-to-the-metal excitement than the relatively sober-suited original. In fact, I would go so far as to put forth this notion: Die Hard 2 is the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom of the Die Hard series.
Do please read the whole thing to find out why, then go watch Die Hard 2 on Disney+ or Hulu!
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 