Category: Ithaca Film Journal

What I’m Seeing This Week: I audibled to What Happens Later last week for scheduling reasons, so my choice is once again Priscilla at Cinemapolis.

Also in Theaters: Lots of big movies open later in the week in advance of Thanksgiving, including Wish, a new Disney animated film, at the Regal Ithaca Mall; Napoleon, director Ridley Scott’s latest effort, at Cinemapolis and the Regal; and Saltburn, actor Barry Keoghan’s follow-up to his Oscar-nominated performance in The Banshees of Inisherin. My youngest daughter’s next Friday Movie Night selection will probably be Trolls Band Together, which opens at the Regal today. My Loving Wife and I are looking forward to seeing The Holdovers at Cinemapolis after the holiday. But the best new movie I’ve seen now playing in Ithaca remains Killers of the Flower Moon, which continues its run at the same theater.

Home Video: We celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in my family, so “the holidays” begin for us in early October. This creates a bit of a conundrum during the weeks in early/mid-November when we’re in the mood for something festive but in between horror movies and Miracle on 34th Street (which of course begins with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade). Enter Meet Me in St. Louis, which has all-time great Halloween and Christmas scenes, but also spends half its runtime in the spring and summer months and thus is appropriate for any time of year. The version we’ll actually be watching this weekend is our two-disc special edition DVD release by Warner Home Video, but the film is also available on pretty much every major commercial streaming platform for a rental fee. As far as non-holiday fare goes, I recommend checking out Afire, which I saw at Cinemapolis a few months ago, after it debuts on the Criterion Channel on Tuesday if you subscribe to that platform.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: Between its excellent trailer and the fact that I’ve loved just about every film that Alexander Payne has ever directed, The Holdovers is probably my most anticipated movie of the year. My Loving Wife wants to see it, too, though, so we’re going to wait for Thanksgiving break when we’ll have plenty of relatives in town who are willing to babysit. My choice is therefore Priscilla, director Sofia Coppola’s latest film, which is at Cinemapolis.

Also in Theaters: I wrote about the 4k restoration of Werckmeister Harmonies which screens at Cornell Cinema tonight as part of their “Restorations and Rediscoveries” series after seeing it at the Maine International Film Festival this summer. Highly recommended! Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall and director Martin Scorsese’s latest film Killers of the Flower Moon, both of which are now at Cinemapolis, are the two best new movies now playing in Ithaca. Each one is about the potentially cavernous gap between what we think we know and what we really do and which one I’d recommend to you depends as much on how much time you have (the latter is nearly an hour longer than the former) and what else you’re into as the relative merits of either film. Much of Anatomy of a Fall takes place in a courtroom, and the film’s message is that no matter how many facts you have about a case, you can’t really be certain what happened unless you were actually there. Killers of the Flower Moon is a gangster film which mostly takes place *outside* the courtroom, although it also features a trial, and it is more concerned with the lengths we go to on both on the individual and societal level to convince ourselves that no really, we’re the good guys. You really can’t go wrong either way! Killers of the Flower Moon is also at the Regal Ithaca Mall.

Home Video: Other films directed by Alexander Payne available via subscription streaming services include his charming last effort Downsizing, which is on Netflix; Election, the first one I ever saw (at the United Artist Pacific 4 in Lancaster, PA (RIP) while I was still in high school–I remember it clearly because it was also the first time I ever had an entire movie theater to myself), which is on Max; and my personal favorite, his contribution to the anthology film Paris je t’aime, which is free on Prime Video with ads. Sideways, which also stars Paul Giamatti and which I remember fondly whenever I drink “fucking merlot,” is available on pretty much all the major platforms for a rental fee as well.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m finally seeing Killers of the Flower Moon this afternoon at Cinemapolis!

Also in Theaters: Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall is the best new movie now playing (at Cinemapolis) in local theaters that I’ve seen. Light Matter, an annual experimental film and media arts festival, opens today in nearby (less than two hours by car) Alfred, New York and runs all weekend. Hat tip: MUBI’s Notebook blog. The outstanding local film series “From Silent Film Star to American Icon: Celebrating Anna May Wong” continues on Saturday with a screening of Shanghai Express at Cornell Cinema. You can see The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the same venue later that evening.

Home Video: Piccadilly, which I saw for the first time Cornell Cinema last week, is even better after a second viewing! Like Anatomy of a Fall, it ends with a murder trial. Like Pyaasa, the subject of my last Drink & a Movie post, it uses close-ups and camera movements which come to rest on faces to link characters through their emotional responses to the same event. It’s far more cynical than either of them, though. Highly recommended as a testament to how sophisticated late-silent era audiences were at following complex storytelling techniques and of course for the excellent performance by Anna May Wong! Charles Laughton is also pretty great in an uncredited role as an unhappy diner who sparks an all-too-familiar passing of the buck all the way down the club’s hierarchy from its owner to Wong’s dishwasher Shosho. The stunning BFI restoration I watched both times is now streaming on The Criterion Channel with a subscription and may be available on Kanopy as well if your local academic or public library purchased a license like we did at Cornell.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: My Loving Wife has asked me to let Killers of the Flower Moon, which continues to play Cinemapolis and the Regal Ithaca Mall, ride for another week so that we can hopefully see it together, so I’m going with Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall at Cinemapolis.

Also in Theaters: The excellent “From Silent Film Star to American Icon: Celebrating Anna May Wong” film series continues this week with a screening of Peter Pan, which critic Jonathan Rosenbaum called “one of the loveliest movies for and about children ever made,” at Cornell Cinema on Sunday. As someone who lived in Pittsburgh for a decade, I am contractually obligated (and very happy!) to note that the classic George A. Romero-directed zombie film Night of the Living Dead plays Cinemapolis on Monday and that it’s sequel Dawn of the Dead will be at the Regal Ithaca Mall all week. Spirited Away, which would get *my* vote for the loveliest children’s film of all time, plays the Regal Ithaca Mall with subtitles on Saturday and Tuesday and dubbed on Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday. Those who missed them last week have one more chance each to see Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles and Vertigo at Cornell Cinema on Friday and Saturday respectively. Both are part of their “The Greatest Films of All Time?” series.

Home Video: I was travelling for work for much of the week but found time finally catch up with The Phantom Carriage, which has been near the top of my personal “Humiliations” list at least since David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson named it one of the ten best films of 1921. It did not disappoint! Although it’s set on New Year’s Eve, it’s a ghost story (think A Christmas Carol) which makes it seasonally appropriate. The special effects would be good for 1931, and the scene in which David Holm takes an axe to a door is even more harrowing than its descendent in The Shining, which is a testament to Victor Sjöström skill as both an actor and a director. Now streaming on The Criterion Channel.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m excited to see Piccadilly, the latest installment in the “From Silent Film Star to American Icon: Celebrating Anna May Wong” film series I’ve written about a couple of times in this space, at Cornell Cinema on Thursday! It will be preceded by a lecture by Shirley J. Lim, Professor of History at Stony Brook University, and both events are free.

Also in Theaters: It might be a week or two before I’m able to catch Killers of the Flower Moon myself, but a new film from director Martin Scorsese is worth mentioning regardless. It is now playing Cinemapolis and the Regal Ithaca Mall. There are films directed by Alfred Hitchcock at two local theaters: The Birds screens at the Regal Ithaca Mall on Sunday and Monday in celebration of its 60th anniversary and Vertigo plays Cornell Cinema on Wednesday as part of their “The Greatest Films of All Time?” series. Speaking of which: Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, which according to the latest Sight and Sound critics’ poll is *the* GOAT, screens at Cornell Cinema on Saturday and Sunday. Finally, this week’s worthwhile Halloween fare includes 30th anniversary screenings of The Nightmare Before Christmas at the Regal Ithaca Mall starting on Friday and Evil Dead II at Cinemapolis on Tuesday.

Home Video: My oldest daughter recently started playing the violin and really seems to be taking to it, which inspired me to purchase a Blu-ray copy of Kino Classic’s release of A Heart in Winter. I’m happy to report that it’s every bit as good as I remembered, if not better! Daniel Auteuil’s Stéphane, like Thomas Schubert’s Leon from this year’s Afire, is frequently unpleasant, but obviously has the affection of characters who aren’t anyway, which makes him a compelling mystery. The rest of the cast, including André Dussollier and Emmanuelle Béart, is excellent as well, but what really makes this movie special are the detailed depictions of Stéphane’s work as a maker and repairer of string instruments. This is one of my very favorite thing about cinema–its capacity to open up a window into parts of the world which might otherwise remain invisible.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: I audibled to When Evil Lurks last week to catch it before it left Cinemapolis, so my choice is once again The Royal Hotel. For real this time!

Also in Theaters: This week’s big news is that Killers of the Flower Moon, the latest film by all-time great director Martin Scorsese, opens at Cinemapolis and the Regal Ithaca Mall on Thursday. If you don’t have other plans, I can think of *far* worse ways to spend a Saturday evening than making a double feature out of the screenings of the 4k restoration of Contempt and 35mm print of Tokyo Story screening at Cornell Cinema. Daughter of the Dragon, the second installment in the “From Silent Film Star to American Icon: Celebrating Anna May Wong” series co-sponsored by a trio of local film organizations, plays Cinemapolis on Thursday. The Toll of the Sea, which opened it last month, is one of the highlights of my movie year so far. Last but by no means least, the Ithaca Experimental Film Festival will be at Cinemapolis on Saturday and Sunday.

Home Video: The Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals, and Chicago Bears all won their Week 5 NFL games, which is a confluence of events I’ve been waiting patiently for so that I can say: oh my! Now must be a good time to watch The Wizard of Oz, which I’ve had the pleasure of seeing twice this year under most excellent circumstances! First I was in the audience for a print from 1945 which screened at the Nitrate Picture Show in June. Then I watched it on DVD a few months later with my five- and seven-year old daughters, who had never seen it before, as one of my selections (we rotate) for our weekly Family Movie Night. I’m happy to report that they loved it! You can also stream Wizard on Max with a subscription or rent it from most other commercial streaming video platforms. In other news, Elemental, which I’ve been championing in this space as one of my favorite movies of the year, is now available on Disney+.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: Director Kitty Green’s previous film The Assistant was one of the last movies I saw in theaters before COVID. I remember that it definitely got to me, so I’m going with The Royal Hotel at Cinemapolis.

Also in Theaters: Cornell Cinema is screening The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari at Cornell’s Sage Chapel on Wednesday with a live soundtrack by The Invincible Czars. I had a good time watching them accompany Nosferatu there last year. Drylongso, which got a Criterion Collection release in August, is playing their regular venue in Willard Straight Hall the following evening. Hocus Pocus wasn’t a big part of *my* childhood, but my kids love it and we’d probably be planning to catch one of the 30th anniversary screenings at the Regal Ithaca Mall this week if we weren’t heading north for the first half of it for Canadian Thanksgiving. Hopefully it will stick around for awhile!

Home Video: Black Sheep, which is now available on the Criterion Channel as part of their “Directed by Allan Dwan” series, is the most fun I’ve had watching a movie in I don’t know how long. Total catnip for me, down to the presence of Eugene Pallette, more or less realistic poker hands, and period (1935)-interesting drink orders like crème de menthe frappé and Dubonnet. David Cairns got it exactly right as he so often does when he noted that stars Edmund Lowe and Claire Trevor deserved a whole series of Thin Man-like films and lamented the fact “sometimes film history just misses a trick.” Highest possible recommendation!

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: Cornell Cinema kicks off Ithaca’s 12th annual Silent Movie Month on Sunday with a screening of The Toll of the Sea accompanied by an “original, live experimental score” by local ensemble Cloud Chamber Orchestra. This is part of a series that they are presenting in partnership with Cinemapolis and the Wharton Studio Museum called “From Silent Film Star to American Icon: Celebrating Anna May Wong.” In addition to featuring Wong’s first starring roll, Cornell Cinema’s website notes that The Toll of the Sea is also the first-ever two-strip Technicolor film. With a runtime of just 48 minutes, this will only require giving up a small portion of my football Sunday and even less than usual with the Falcons and Jaguars playing in London at 9:30am Eastern, which seems well worth it!

Also in Theaters: A restored version of director Jonathan Demme’s Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense opens at Cinemapolis on Friday to commemorate the film’s 40th anniversary. Oppenheimer enters the final week of its run there and probably the Regal Ithaca Mall (where it’s down to just one screening a day) as well, although it will be coming to Cornell Cinema soon. As reported by The Ithaca Voice, a documentary with local ties called Common Ground will screen at Cinemapolis on Sunday followed by a “talk-back” event.

Home Video: Critic Farran Smith Nehme aka the Self-Style Siren recently tweeted a link to an updated version of an old essay about the Joan Fontaine vehicle Ivy, which is now available on the Criterion Channel as part of their “Noir by Gaslight” series. It contains some striking cinematography by Russell Metty, breathtakingly perfect costume design by Orry-Kelly, effective use of music by Daniele Amfitheatrof, and quite possibly my favorite performance by Fontaine that I’ve seen so far.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: Our Body would be an easy choice for me, but unfortunately neither of the two showtimes at Cornell Cinema is compatible with my schedule. Meanwhile, My Loving Wife and I enjoyed the first two Hercule Poirot films directed by Kenneth Branagh and she has made it clear that she does not want me to see A Haunting in Venice, which is at both Cinemapolis and the Regal Ithaca Mall, without her. So it transpires that I’m going to revisit In the Mood for Love, which is regularly cited as one of the best films of the millennium, but which I’ve never even thought of as one of my favorite movies directed by Wong Kar-Wai. Considering that Cornell Cinema is showing a restored 35mm print, it seems quite possible that I will look back on my calendar mishegoss as a blessing in disguise.

Also in Theaters: I’m not sure why Jawan, which continues its run at the Regal this week, hasn’t gotten more attention stateside. Our nation has turned its lonely eyes to Tom Cruise to save cinema, but he can’t do it on his own–after all, even Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio shared the film with eight other Yankees! Shah Rukh Khan is a Star and this is a Movie. So is Oppenheimer, which continues its runs at Cinemapolis and the Regal this week and which remains my pick for best new film of 2023 for now. If you just don’t have nearly three hours to spare, I recommend Bottoms, which is playing the same two theaters and clocks in at a clip 90 minutes. If you’re in the mood for repertory fare, Interstellar features an unforgettable lunar rover chase scene and screens at Cornell Cinema tomorrow.

Home Video: Critic Jason Bailey helpfully notes that Annihilation is leaving Netflix on September 29. I saw this and Twin Peaks: The Return for the first time during lockdown, and they will forever be linked in my mind as texts which capture the relentlessly haunting feeling that the call you dread receiving may be coming from INSIDE YOUR OWN BODY. If you’re looking for something lighter, High Tension, which is now available on the Criterion Channel as part of their “Directed by Allan Dwan” series, contains a nice bit of business with a piano.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: There aren’t a ton of reviews of the Indian action spectacle Jawan, which is now playing the Regal Ithaca Mall, floating around on the movie publications I frequent, but I’m intrigued by the ones that are.

Also in Theaters: It’s a good week for family-friendly fare in Ithaca! You can see Singin’ in the Rain, a mortal lock for any Top 25 Movies of All Time I might ever compose, for just $2 at Cinemapolis or $10 for a “family group” of five or more on Sunday as part of their Family Classics Picture Show. Meanwhile, Cornell Cinema is screening Mary Poppins on Saturday and Sunday as part of their 100 Years of Disney series. I took my then four- and six-year old daughters to see this film at Cinemapolis last year with, and while it was a bit long for them, they loved it. Cornell Cinema is also showing Elemental, which at least for the time being remains one of my favorite movies of the year, on Monday. More mature moviegoers who haven’t already seen it should prioritize Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, which screens at Cornell Cinema tonight as part of their Cult Classics series.

Home Video: As a virtually uncoachable (for reasons of, er, let’s say “youthful overconfidence”) former cross country runner, I’m puzzled that it took me until last week to finally watch The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner! It’s now screening on WatchTCM with a subscription, and although it doesn’t quite measure up to its fellow British “kitchen sink” realist film This Sporting Life (which is currently available on the Criterion Channel with a subscription), I like it for a lot of the same reasons. Sports fans far too often forget that there are real-life human beings under the laundry they root for, but these movies are reminders that when the game is over, the athletes who played in them often have to go back to work or under the knife to treat their latest injury. And whether you’re an anonymous amateur or Aaron Rodgers, the latter hurts like hell.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.