What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m going with The Housemaid at the Regal Ithaca Mall and Father Mother Sister Brother at Cinemapolis. I intend to see Is This Thing On? at one of these two theaters before it closes as well, but not until next week at the earliest.
Also in Theaters: Resurrection is my favorite new movie playing Ithaca that I’ve already seen RIGHT NOW, but it unfortunately only has one show left at Cinemapolis today at 3pm. Marty Supreme, which continues its run there and at the Regal, is also a strong contender for my Movie Year 2025 top ten list, so at that time it will inherit the title. I enjoyed Hamnet, which soldiers on at Cinemapolis, too. There once again do not appear to be any special events worth noting, but repertory highlights include Labyrinth, which has 40th anniversary screenings at the Regal tonight through Sunday, as well as The Wizard of Oz and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which play there Monday and Wednesday respectively.
Home Video Recommendation: Speaking of my top ten list, The Baltimorons, which is now streaming on Sundance Now, has basically locked up a spot on it. You may need to have lived in its namesake city to pick up *everything* it’s laying down (although then you’re also liable to be annoyed by some of the driving routes the main characters take like my loving wife was) but the wounded chemistry and perfect comedy timing of leads Michael Strassner (who is also credited as a screenwriter) and Liz Larsen has universal appeal. It also features excellent original music by Jordan Seigel that riffs on the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s beloved score for A Charlie Brown Christmas and other seasonal classics. After a first viewing The Baltimorons struck me as reminiscent of last year’s The Holdovers, with the main difference being, as I suggested on Letterboxd, “that here the heart is comedy with accents of pathos instead of vice versa.” While I felt much less of an affinity between the two films the second time around, they’re both welcome new additions to my holiday rotation. As is next week’s recommendation, actually, which: cliffhanger!
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 