Category: Ithaca Film Journal

What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m excited to see A Romance of the Air, which was shot and produced in Ithaca in 1918, at Cinemapolis on Saturday! This screening is free and will be accompanied by live music by Emmett Scott. I didn’t make it to Superman, which continues its run at Cinemapolis and the Regal Ithaca Mall, last week, so that’s next up on my list. I’m hoping to catch Eddington at one of those two theaters as well.

Also in Theaters: Congratulations to The Phoenician Scheme, which by extending its run at Cinemapolis has broken Sinners‘ Movie Year 2025 record of four consecutive weeks as my top-recommended new release in Ithaca theaters! I also enjoyed 28 Years Later, which closes at Cinemapolis today but remains at the Regal, and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which continues to hang on there as well. Special events highlights include a presentation of two in-progress documentaries called Eyes on Ukraine and Creative Resolve: Making Human Development and Social Progress at Cinemapolis on Monday that features a post-screening discussion with the filmmakers and a free screening of the film Plastic People there on Tuesday. Last but not least, there are TONS of great repertory options to choose from thanks in part to a weekend-long series called “Gathering at the Terror Vault” at Cinemapolis that includes (to single out two personal favorites) Event Horizon and Under the Skin. You can also see In the Mood for Love there all week, and the beloved children’s classic My Neighbor Totoro is at the Regal Saturday-Wednesday.

Home Video: I recently reviewed the beer documentary Bottle Conditioned for the publication Educational Media Reviews Online, which is primarily aimed at academic librarians. To give you an idea of what this means, I recommended it as “an obvious fit for collections serving culinary arts programs and related fields like brewing and food science.” This particular title, which follows three groups of brewers and blenders that work with the lambic style native to Belgium’s Zenne Valley through a period of growth, will also appeal to any craft beer lover who likes to think about what they drink, though, especially those who have access to the bottles from 3 Fonteinen and Cantillon featured in the movie. I’m actually not sure whether or not that describes people in Ithaca, but I happened to be attending a conference in Philadelphia while working on this and my friend Anthony took My Loving Wife and me to an establishment called Monk’s Café with an extensive selection, and everything we tried was delicious. Anyway, current Cornell University faculty, staff, and students have access to Bottle Conditioned through the platform Docuseek via a license paid for by the Library and home video options for everyone else can be found on the film’s website.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: My Loving Wife and I are going to take advantage of the fact that the girls will be at Camp Grandma and see F1: The Movie at either Cinemapolis or the Regal Ithaca Mall.

Also in Theaters: The Phoenician Scheme, which is still going strong at Cinemapolis, makes it three weeks in a row as my favorite new release now playing Ithaca, threatening Sinners‘ Movie Year 2025 record of four. Ballerina, which continues its run at the Regal, is right behind it, and I also enjoyed Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and 28 Years Later, which is rich in ideas but predictably can’t quite live up to its epic trailer, one of the best I’ve ever seen. The latter is at both Cinemapolis and the Regal, and the former is just at the Regal. Finally, your best bets for repertory fare are This Is Spinal Tap and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which play the Regal Saturday-Monday and Tuesday-Wednesday respectively.

Home Video: I was originally hoping to publish my penultimate “bonus” Drink & a Movie post tomorrow, but am going to take advantage of the fact that I’m not at all on pace to do so to double dip. You see, I just happen to be writing about the greatest *Third* of July film of all time, the silent/sound hybrid Lonesome, which is available on DVD/Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection. The beautiful restoration is based on a nitrate print from the Eastman Museum collection which the Dryden Theatre screened in 2015. The film itself is about as close as a major Hollywood studio (Universal) ever came to making a feature-length experimental film and also sets a gold standard for depictions of urban alienation that for my money won’t be matched until Tsai Ming-Liang comes along more than a half a century later. It’s also only 69 minutes long, so you don’t even have to choose between it and Independence Day or whatever else your go-to is for this particular holiday weekend!

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: We will be out of town until Tuesday, but I’m going to try to catch 28 Years Later at Cinemapolis or the Regal Ithaca Mall after we return. I definitely want to see F1: The Movie at one of those theaters before it closes, too, but it probably isn’t going to happen before next Thursday.

Also in Theaters: The Phoenician Scheme, which continues its run at both Cinemapolis and the Regal, remains the best new movie on Ithaca screens that I’ve already seen for the second week in a row. I also enjoyed Ballerina and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which are both still playing the Regal. This week’s special events headliner is a screening of the cult classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert preceded by a drag performance by Tilia Cordata and other local performers at Cinemapolis on Sunday, while your best bets for repertory fare are the 30th anniversary screenings of Clueless at the Regal on Sunday and Monday. Which, wow that makes me feel old! Finally, I should maybe also mention that there are a ton of family-friendly options in local theaters right now, including Elio (Regal), How to Train Your Dragon (Cinemapolis & Regal), Lilo & Stitch (Regal), and two screenings of The Wild Robot at the Regal on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Home Video: Canyon Passage was one of the films I was most looking forward to seeing at this year’s Nitrate Picture Show because I didn’t know that Jacques Tourneur, director of my October Drink & a Movie selection The Leopard Man, made Technicolor westerns. As anyone who read the dispatch from that event I published here last week and/or the Letterboxd review I posted right after the screening no doubt gathered, it didn’t disappoint! While it unfortunately doesn’t appear to be streaming anywhere at present, I’m happy to report that the Blu-ray copy available from Kino Lorber looks great and is well worth the price of $16.59 + shipping.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m going with The Life of Chuck at Cinemapolis and I think Prime Minister as well at its one and only screening there on Wednesday at 6pm. I definitely intend to see 28 Years Later either there or at the Regal Ithaca Mall before it closes, too, but probably not this week.

Also in Theaters: My favorite movie now playing Ithaca is The Phoenician Scheme, which continues its run at both Cinemapolis and the Regal. It actually reminds me a bit of its neighbor at the latter Ballerina, my top recommendation last week, in part because it opens with a bit of graphic violence of the sort that I associate more with the World of John Wick than the oeuvre of director Wes Anderson. Its protagonist Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio Del Toro) is also sort of Baba Yaga of mid-20th century industrialism: undefeated, but not indestructible, as demonstrated by the visibly increasing wear and tear on his body, only he’s trying to stay *in* the game, not get out of it. But the main connection is that the plot of each film is secondary–to imaginative action set pieces in the case of Ballerina, and to the painstakingly-chosen pieces of art and other objects that comprise the set dressing of The Phoenician Scheme. Both could well wind up on my year-end Top Ten list. I also enjoyed Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which is at the Regal, and Friendship, which is at Cinemapolis. This week’s special events highlights include free screenings of the documentaries It’s All Right To Be Woman and Remembering Roe: Then & Now at Cinemapolis tonight and Monday evening respectively. Finally, your best bet for repertory fare is 2017 Best Picture Oscar winner Moonlight, which plays Cinemapolis on Sunday.

Home Video: The premiere of the latest Spike Lee joint Highest 2 Lowest at the Cannes Film Festival last month reminded me that it has been too long since I last watched High and Low, the 1963 movie it’s based on. Luckily the latter streaming on the Criterion Channel, and if you haven’t checked it out recently or ever you really should, because it’s a true monument to the fundamental allure of cinema. A riveting police procedural can also be a meticulous dissection of society and vice versa–you don’t need to choose between art and entertainment, the very best films are always both! I definitely do see the appeal of turning director Akira Kurosawa’s literal and figurative wide-angle lens on today’s America, but it’s one hell of a hard act to try and follow. Highest 2 Lowest has a release date of August 22, so we will see soon enough for ourselves if the gamble was worth it!

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: There are tons of movies I want to see in local theaters right now! I’m definitely hoping to catch Pavements before it closes at Cinemapolis today and The Phoenician Scheme and maybe Materialists there or the Regal Ithaca Mall later in the week as well.

Also in Theaters: In addition to the titles above, I’m also intrigued by The Life of Chuck, which opens at the Regal today and Cinemapolis tomorrow. Sticking just to stuff I’ve already seen, my favorite among the first-run fare is Ballerina, a spinoff contemporaneous with the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum that impressed me with colorful, imaginative action sequences that aren’t merely ornamental, but also perform the load-bearing function of advancing character development. I also enjoyed Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, a satisfying farewell to a favorite franchise which makes up for a surfeit of self-aggrandizing fluff with an underwater set piece and bi-plane stunt that can stand toe-to-toe with anything in the previous seven films, and the entertaining dark bromance comedy Friendship, which continue their runs at the Regal and Cinemapolis respectively. Fun repertory options include Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, which you can see for free at Cinemapolis on Sunday as they close out this season of their “Family Classics Picture Show,” and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which plays the Regal on Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday. Finally, special events highlights include a screening of Marcella at Cinemapolis on Monday followed by a Q&A with director Peter Miller and one of Lost Nation there on Wednesday followed by a Q&A with writer/director Jay Craven and musical score producers Judy Hyman and Jeff Claus.

Home Video: I’m still working on my dispatch from this year’s Nitrate Picture Show. In the meantime, I noticed that Land of the Pharaohs, which as a lover of costume drams and procedurals has always been a favorite of mine, is streaming on Watch TCM until June 29. Upon revisiting it I realized that Jack Hawkins’s Pharaoh Khufu is pretty much exactly who Jorge Salcedo’s José Moran from NPS 2025 selection Hardly a Criminal wants to be–each is even described by a close associate in terms of a virtually identical story about a time when they were greedy in their youth! As such it isn’t a surprise that Moran similarly is so consumed by fears of losing the money he is finally able to accumulate during the course of the movie that he is unable to ever enjoy it. Pharaohs is also basically the perfect CinemaScope movie as famously defined by Fritz Lang in Contempt since it’s essentially a slow build epic funeral for snakes rendered as Orientalist poetry. If none of that sounds like your cup of tea, watch the first few minutes anyway and drink in the site of columns of thousands of real-life human extras receding into the distance: this is one case where it is completely accurate to observe that they really don’t make ’em like they used to!

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

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.

What I’m Seeing This Week: I’ll be in Rochester for the Nitrate Picture Show today through Sunday, but am hoping to catch Bring Her Back at Cinemapolis or the Regal Ithaca Mall after I return. My Loving Wife and I are also still working on carving out time for a date night outing to Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning at one of those two theaters or the IMAX screen at the Regal Destiny USA in Syracuse, and my oldest daughter has informed us that her next Family (née Friday) Movie Night selection will be Lilo & Stitch at the Regal, so I’ve got those two films in my near future as well.

Also in Theaters: Sinners, which continues its runs at Cinemapolis and the Regal, is my top new movie recommendation for the third week in a row and fourth overall. I didn’t love any of the other first run fare that I’ve already seen, although the jury is still out on Friendship, the demented evil twin of one of my favorite American comedies of the past twenty years I Love You, Man which is also at both Cinemapolis and the Regal. That potentially just makes the screenings of The Lady Vanishes at Cinemapolis on Tuesday as part of their train-themed June “Staff Picks” series even more compelling, though! There doesn’t appear to be anything of note happening on the repertory and special events fronts otherwise.

Home Video: NPS’s opening night selection Becky Sharp is new to me, the first time in three visits that this has been the case, which is exciting! It has some big shoes to fill, though, because the last two were bangers. I called Black Narcissus “one of the most transportative films ever shot entirely in a studio” when I wrote about it last August for my Drink & a Movie series, and while there’s no way to recreate the experience of seeing on a “better than very good” (per intro speaker Graham Brown) legendary (it opened the influential 1992 Pacific Film Archive series The Primal Screen) nitrate print, the formal qualities I’m referring to shine through just fine on the Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray and DVD releases; you can also stream it via a number of other commercial platforms. Meanwhile, although I was on the fence when I logged it on Letterboxd last year, I’ve since decided that I would indeed include Intolerance on any all-time Top Ten list I might find myself compelled or moved to create. As I heard someone say on the way out of the Dryden Theatre, even after more than a century it still represents perhaps the most sophisticated use of intertwining narratives in film history, and the lavish Babylon sequences may never be surpassed for sheer monumental grandeur. As a public domain title it’s widely available, so do check it out if you’ve never seen it or if it has been awhile!

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m going with Friendship, which opens at Cinemapolis tomorrow, and Holy Motors, which will screen there on Wednesday as part of their “Staff Picks” series. My Loving Wife and I are also planning a date night outing to Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning at Cinemapolis, the Regal Ithaca Mall, or possibly the IMAX screen at the Regal Destiny USA in Syracuse, but we’re not sure yet when.

Also in Theaters: Sinners is proving hard to knock off its perch as the best new movie now playing Ithaca that I’ve already seen, but maybe this is the week! It’s also pretty quiet on the repertory fare and special events fronts, aside of course from the screening of Holy Motors mentioned above.

Home Video: Speaking of My Loving Wife, she and I recently rewatched the first seven Mission: Impossible movies on Paramount+ in preparation for The Final Reckoning and I am happy to present the following definitive ranking from least to most essential:

7. Mission: Impossible III

With all due respect to Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays the part he was given extremely well, this movie is too damn mean. But the fact that it’s last place on the list is precisely why I’m bother to compose it in the first place: these are some lofty heights for a nadir!

6. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

The one where Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is described as “the living manifestation of destiny” and “sometimes […] the only one capable of seeing the only way,” establishing him as a sort of demigod who, more than having a preternatural ability to understand and play the odds, can actually *manipulate* luck. Which, in the words of Simon Pegg’s Benji Dunn, “[takes] things too far.”

5. Mission: Impossible II

Only fifth on my list, but if it’s true that many people regard *this* as the series’ weakest link, then it may be underrated! The Ethan Hunt free-climbing Dead Horse Point opening credits sequence remains the best beginning to a M:I movie.

4. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning

We don’t have to call this “Part One” any more now that its sequel has a different name, right? Anyway, the golden light, hushed tones, high ceilings, and columns of the otherwise apparently extraneous DoorDash sequence near the beginning evoke a cathedral and mark black-clad Hunt as the Bishop of Bon Chance, which I hope represents the final evolution of his relationship to luck, but we’ll see! The Oriental Express sequence is also one of the franchise’s finest set pieces, and the Rome sequence contains its best car chase.

3. Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Although Hunt is still frequently bathed in light in director Christopher McQuarrie (M:I‘s first repeat helmer) follow-up to Rogue Nation, that film’s erroneously audacious suggestion that he may in fact be divine is thankfully withdrawn in favor of reconnecting with all its other predecessors, including the only two that I consider to be true must-sees:

2. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

The one where Hunt fully emerges as the Bob Montagné of the secret agent set: a legend in his own time trapped in a never ending game with rapidly escalating blinds and a growing family of followers to look after which forces him to chase longer and longer odds to keep up. The energy behind his unhinged smile in the movie that started it all (see below) is still there, but now all of it is channeled into his work, which includes keeping things light and making it look easy. Featuring my favorite combination of his teammates, two of the series’ best ancillary characters in Anil Kapoor’s Brij Nath and Léa Seydoux’s Sabine Moreau, and probably its most impressive stunt (climbing the Burj Khalifa), Ghost Protocol can make a legitimate claim to not just be number one on this list, but also an all-time great action movie. Of course, that label doesn’t really describe:

1. Mission: Impossible

I definitely remembered this as being as not quite of a piece with the films that followed it, but the big pleasant surprise of our rewatch project is that this is more similar to the way Friday Night Lights the movie is completely different from but equally enjoyable to Friday Night Lights the TV series than it is to the way season one of The Simpsons is a very rough draft for the seven seasons that followed before the show was tragically cancelled right in the middle of its prime. The Channel Tunnel sequence is also a masterpiece of cutting–but not bleeding–edge special effects, the exploding fish tank and the Langley break-in remain among the franchise’s two most memorable single moments, and there is a stick of green light/red light “chewing gum” enshrined in my personal movie prop hall of fame. Add it all up and you’ve got one of the most entertaining movies I’ve ever seen!

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m going with Secret Mall Apartment at Cinemapolis.

Also in Theaters: Sinners, which continues its run at Cinemapolis and the Regal Ithaca Mall, holds on to the title of Best New Movie Now Playing Ithaca That I’ve Already Seen for another week. I’m not super excited about the other first-run fare populating local screens, but there are a couple of decent repertory options even without Cornell Cinema (which is on summer break) chipping in. Most notably, Kiki’s Delivery Service, which might be my favorite film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, plays the Regal Saturday through Wednesday, and director Joe Wright’s lively 2005 Pride & Prejudice adaptation starring Keira Knightly in her first Oscar-nominated role is at Cinemapolis all week. You can also see Superbad there on Wednesday. Finally, special events highlights include a free “Family Classics Picture Show” screening of Snoopy Come Home and one showing only of the new documentary There Is Another Way at Cinemapolis on Sunday.

Home Video: I wasn’t planning to go in this direction with my write-up until just the other day, but the titular protagonist from week’s home video recommendation Wanda makes for an interesting contrast with Lewis Pullman’s Bob from Thunderbolts*, which is now playing Cinemapolis and the Regal. He is part of a long cinematic lineage of attractive, otherwise strong characters rendered vulnerable by a mental (usually) or physical trait who our hearts go out to when they’re exploited by others for selfish and often villainous purposes. The most prominent example is probably Giulietta Masina’s Gelsomina in La Strada, who likewise cries out for a protector who sees her as more than a mere tool. I’m wary of moments like the one in the Thunderbolts* where Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova attempts to literally rescue Bob from himself with a loving embrace, though, because they flatter us too much: Yelena isn’t treating him like a human therapy dog, she’s saving the world! As written, directed, and played by Barbara Loden, Wanda defies this tendency: Michael Higgins’s Mr. Dennis attempts to use her, but she’s such a frustrating non-entity that he can’t. Which is precisely what makes the movie she appears in memorably challenging. You can no more take care of her than you can a tumbleweed, and it would be equally unfulfilling to support her without expecting anything in return because there’s no evidence that she’d do anything worthwhile with this freedom, which I believe is the point of the opening sequence that reminds me of Pull My Daisy. And so you’re left with a puzzle in extreme long shot, a white-clad woman making her way from nowhere to nowhere through dirty dark side of the moon mountains of anthracite who you can’t just abandon with a clear conscience, but who you’ll also never have the pleasure of “saving.” Wanda is now streaming on the Criterion Channel with a subscription and is also available on Blu-Ray and DVD from the Criterion Collection where everything is 30% off through May 26. Highest possible recommendation!

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.