In Theaters: This week brings two new movies to town that I’m pretty excited about. Although neither Hope nor The Samurai and the Prisoner generated quite enough buzz to crack my “Cannes 2026 Films That I Am Most Eager to See” list back in May, the trailers I’ve seen for both since then are intriguing. Samurai opens at Cinemapolis tomorrow, and Hope is already playing there and at the Regal Ithaca Mall. Other noteworthy new releases include legendary documentarian Ross McElwee’s latest Remake, which screens at Cornell Cinema on Sunday, and the well-reviewed concert film Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger, which opens at Cinemapolis tomorrow. Our family is also finally going to go see Coyote vs. Acme, which continues its run at both Cinemapolis and the Regal.
My highest-rated holdover remains The Odyssey, which continues its run at the Regal, but I also enjoyed Spider-Man: Brand New Day (Regal), Tony (Cinemapolis), and Late Fame (Cinemapolis), which features Willem Dafoe as an Unfrozen Caveman Beat Poet. And although I personally thought Buddy tries way too hard to be weird, I note with interest that the number of screens it’s playing on at the Regal has been INCREASING as the weeks go by, which actually doesn’t shock me because the crowd full of young people I saw it with really seemed to be enjoying themselves. Here’s what I said about this one on Letterboxd:
Perverse in the manner of Meet the Feebles at its best, but unwilling to go all the way. Buddy is also hampered by a mise en abyme effect whereby even the ostensibly “real” scenes feel sitcom-artificial, masking what (if anything) might be at stake until the last shot. The idea in 28 Years Later that 90s children’s television could *spawn* evil is much more interesting than this film’s contention that it actually was the work of the devil, but Cristin Milioti has a moment of trippy brilliance as a brainwashed nurse in a blue uniform, and the kids are alright as well.
Special events include free screenings of The Eyes of Ghana and Cinema Nomad: Nepal at Cinemapolis on Sunday and Monday, and Huesera: The Bone Woman and American Experience: Bombshell at Cornell Cinema on Monday and Wednesday. The Cinema Nomad and Huesera events will both also feature “talkbacks” with the filmmakers.
Finally, it’s another great week for repertory fare! The highlight for me is a 35mm print of Vagabond, one of my favorite movies by pantheon filmmaker Agnès Varda, which screens tomorrow as part of the “Wayfaring Strangers” series that Cornell Cinema Director Molly Ryan talked about in my recent interview with her. You can also see a new 4K restoration of Days and Nights in the Forest there tonight; Rear Window at the Regal tomorrow; Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fast Times at Ridgemont High at Cornell Cinema on Saturday; and Duck Soup at the Regal on Monday.
Home Video Recommendation: Speaking of the Marx Brothers, the start of the NFL season always makes me think of my August, 2022 “Drink & a Movie” selection Horse Feathers, which I recently realized I’ve never mentioned in THIS space. Here’s how that post ends:
When I remember great NFL moments like Santonio Holmes’s game winning touchdown catch in Super Bowl XLIII, I don’t just think about the play itself, but also the drive that made it possible, the offseasons that brought the players involved in it to Pittsburgh, and the ruling on the field that yes, this really was a completion. But what counts as a catch and what doesn’t in the NFL is based on rules that at the end of the day are essentially arbitrary and subject to change, as indeed they have multiple times since that February night in 2009!
Horse Feathers understands this fundamental truth about football, even as it’s indifferent to it otherwise except as a platform for jokes. Baravelli announcing the play that Huxley is about to run (“Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, Professor Wagstaff gets the ball!”) is basically the exact opposite of Peyton Manning calling out audibles at the line of scrimmage. Either way, you’ve got adults play[act]ing something that started out as a children’s game. I’d argue that in both cases the principals have elevated what they’re doing to the status of art, but if you aren’t having fun watching them, you’re doing it wrong.
You can purchase or rent Horse Feathers from a variety of streaming video platforms, plus the Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection DVD box set I watch it on is still widely available.
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 