Cary Grant in a scene from ‘North by Northwest’. Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.
Alfred Hitchcock’s suspense-filled action-adventure “North by Northwest” (1959) will return to more than 700 select movie theaters nationwise on April 2 and 5, courtesy of Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and Warner Bros. The star-studded cast includes Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau and Jessie Royce Landis. Audiences will also enjoy specially produced commentary by Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz before and after the feature.
Participating theaters in our neck of the woods include AMC Loews Stony Brook 17 (at 2 and 7 p.m. on both days), Farmingdale Multiplex Cinemas (on April 2 at 2 p.m., April 5 at 2 and 7 p.m.) and Island 16 Cinema de Lux in Holtsville (on April 2 at 2 p.m., April 5 at 2 and 7 p.m.). For more information or to purchase your tickets in advance, visit www.fathomevents.com.
Image courtesy of Disney
Dan Stevens as the Beast and Emma Watson as Belle star in Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ Image courtesy of Disney
By Daniel Dunaief
The latest version of “Beauty and the Beast,” which broke box office records when it opened last weekend, offers a visually stunning montage, as one magnificent set blends into the next in a familiar story that, not much of a spoiler here, tracks the well-known story.
The sets, cinematography and songs take center stage in this live-action remake, as Disney spared no expense to make the enchanted castle, the quiet village where every day is like the one before, and the journey through the forest between them as detailed and lavish as the animated version. The script and main actors, including Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast, are fine, but not extraordinary.
Disney may not have wanted to tinker too much with a classic film and its well-known dialog, leaving the original script largely unchanged. That is both for the better and the worse, as this current incarnation lacks a novel flavor, a new Disney humor and charm, or the opportunity to explore much more about the characters. There are a few welcome moments when the audience learns more about unfortunate events in Belle and the Beast’s past, but those are short-lived in a film that is over two hours.
Luke Evans does a serviceable job as Gaston, conveying the narcissistic brute who seems more in love with his own reflection than he is with Belle or anyone else. The charm or the irresistibility the villagers feel for him is not evident to Belle or to the audience.
Josh Gad provides welcome comic relief as Gaston’s companion LeFou, fawning over him and calming him down when things don’t go his way. Gad takes his character further than the animated version of LeFou, becoming impish and playful.
Like the Broadway version of the classic animated film “Aladdin” and its “Never Had a Friend Like Me” song, “Beauty and the Beast” somehow equals and, in some ways, exceeds the original film with its “Be Our Guest” feature. While Belle prepares for her meal, the creatures of the castle surround her with food, song and spectacle.
While the script and the characters stay true to the Broadway and animated versions of the story, the visual details truly make the film memorable. The finale in the castle looks like the kind of details an eager bride would include if she had an unlimited budget, with symmetrical floral arrangements, magnificent lighting, perfectly spaced dancers and a cast of characters delighted to share in the space.
For parents, the scenes of peril with the wolves outside the Beast’s castle are familiar and filled with the same kind of potential for danger. Young children will likely be as concerned for the welfare of Belle and the Beast in the wolf scenes of this film as they would be watching the animated version.
The fight scene between the Beast and Gaston also involves some peril, with Gaston displaying a combination of cowardice and villainy. At the same time, the fight scene between the villagers incited by Gaston to battle and the members of the enchanted castle who are defending themselves also contains some of the few moments of humor in a film that otherwise takes its tale and the retelling of it seriously.
Some of the other cast members, including Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, have a tough act to follow, repeating familiar phrases and songs from Angela Lansbury. Thompson holds her own, regaling the audience with the lyrics from a tale as old as time.
The three-dimensional version of the film included a few noticeable effects, including when Belle and the Beast engage in a snowball fight. It also adds some depth to the image of the castle and the trek through the woods. The additional expense, however, didn’t seem especially necessary, given an elaborate attention to other visual details.
From left, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Allison Williams and Daniel Kaluuya in a scene from ‘Get Out,’ now playing at local theaters. Photo courtesy of Universal
By Daniel Dunaief
Race permeates Jordan Peele’s directorial debut “Get Out” so thoroughly that the film is like a battery, with the white people on one side and the African-Americans on the other. Between them, the electricity of an unusual horror film flows with a shocking effect.
The film starts off with the feel of Sidney Poitier’s masterpiece, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” with Rose Armitage, played by Allison Williams, bringing her African-American boyfriend Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) home to meet her parents. Even though she says he’s the only African-American man she’s dated, she makes it clear that her parents will be totally cool with her choice and that they’ll support the biracial couple. And yet, the film quickly disposes of any notion of a simple meeting between an African-American man and potentially liberal white America.
Daniel Kaluuya in a hypnotic scene from ‘Get Out’. Photo courtesy of Universal
While Chris meets several African-American people around his girlfriend’s parents’ house, each encounter has a Hitchcock quality, with an eerie disconnect that suggests an unexplained distance.
On the other hand, Rose’s parents and her over-the-top creepy brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones), who wants to fight with Chris at dinner, introduce a terrifying blend of personalities. Catherine Keener is at her creepy best, playing Rose’s hypnotist mother Missy while Bradley Whitford as Rose’s father Dean seems on the verge of supporting and attacking Chris at the same time.
Chris’s best friend Rod (Lil Rel Howery), who spends much of the movie talking to Chris by cell phone, threatens to steal the movie. A TSA agent, Rod provides comic relief, infusing the movie with humorous lines that seem straight out of a paranoid playbook, until he seems like the only one who might have a clue about what could be going on at Rose’s house.
The movie is a true horror film, which means there’s gore and an undercurrent of violence. Each scene, which occurs in upstate New York, could easily have been filmed in Salem, Massachusetts, home of mass hysteria and witch trials.
As the movie progresses, Peele gradually reviews details about the Armitage family, and the people who share the upstate neighborhood, that blur the line between mundane and creepy. When the plot unfolds, all the details about how Chris and the audience got there become clear.
The final 20 minutes of the film blend horror, gore, comedy and social satire. Some of the particular details of the plot reside in the willing suspension of disbelief. Thinking through the specifics detracts from the film’s value as entertainment and social commentary.
The audience in the packed theater reacted to the climactic scenes of “Get Out” in a way that would likely please Peele, as they shared the drama of a gruesome experience that strays from customary plot points to shocking drama and horror.
While the film offers a disturbing take on race, it also tells a dramatic story that drives the viewer through to the chilling end. While it’s not Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn,” it does reveal a captivating, literally at times, story that keeps the audience guessing and at times horrified.
The best element of “Get Out” is the balance between horror and comedy, provided primarily by Rod, whose fast-talking, high-pitched responses to situations he senses aren’t what they seem are endearing and amusing.
While “Get Out” offers the audience plenty to ponder after the movie ends, the action and the plot won’t appeal to everyone. It earns its R rating with violence, horror, foul language and dangerous, suspenseful situations. Still, the movie exposes a fresh look at the races, albeit with novel plot devices, and it seemed to satisfy its viewers with unexpected and jarring visuals, music and close-ups.
Renowned actress and journalist comes to Huntington for a night of film, stories
By Melissa Arnold
Patricia Bosworth has worn many hats throughout her lengthy career, but above all she is a storyteller. She’s written for the most well-known magazines and newspapers in America; she’s penned the biographies of Hollywood greats Jane Fonda and Marlon Brando, among others; and she’s graced stage and screen countless times in fulfillment of her childhood dreams. Now, Bosworth is telling her own story.
On March 15, Bosworth will appear at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington to share her new memoir, “The Men in My Life,” which was released in January.
“At the CAC we often have celebrities come in to talk about their memoirs. Here we have in Patricia Bosworth a true literary talent who is deeply respected,” said Jud Newborn, curator for special programs at the Cinema Arts Centre. “This book has everything juicy in it that you could want surrounding the world of acting, but it’s also a work that can sit proudly on your bookshelf. It’s placed in the context of crisis and transformation during a particular time in our history. It’s intelligent, fiercely honest, and entertaining.”
In a recent phone interview, Patricia Bosworth said she lived a lot of the time in a world of fantasy when she was a little girl.
Patricia Bosworth will be signing copies of her new book, above, at the event.
“I was always imagining, always pretending to be other people,” recalled Bosworth, who grew up in the shadow of her parents’ troubled marriage. Her father, Bartley Crum, saw his law career destroyed after he defended Hollywood’s infamous Big Ten from alleged communist sympathies in the 1950s.
Along with Bosworth’s fantastic imagination came two big dreams — to become a movie star and a writer. Buoyed by the support and love of her family, she set off in search of an acting career. It was not an easy life, however, and Bosworth suffered horrible abuse at the hands of the man she would marry and divorce before her 20th birthday. Shortly afterward, her beloved brother, Bartley Jr., took his own life following a long struggle with his sexuality. Just five years later, Bosworth’s father also committed suicide.
“I named my book ‘The Men in My Life’ after (my brother and father), because they really were the two most important men in the world to me,” Bosworth said. “I’ve spent my life trying to get over these huge losses and feeling guilty about their deaths.”
A self-described workaholic, Bosworth followed the path of many other suicide survivors, throwing herself completely into her career as a means of keeping the trauma at bay. “It was a thrill seeing myself on screen for the first time. It was challenging, and I wanted to change my hairstyle, but I wanted to do more,” Bosworth recalled.
She was eventually invited to join the prestigious Actors Studio in New York City, which allowed her to work with legends including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Marilyn Monroe and others. It was in Bosworth’s words a “hotbed of creativity,” but it was also the most important workshop in America for recruiting new talent — thanks to skill and good timing, she quickly lined up jobs in television, Broadway and film.
While Bosworth’s resume is far too extensive to list, she singles out a few roles as career highlights. At 23, she played opposite Helen Hayes in a Palm Beach production of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie,” where she had the chance to meet Williams and talk about his inspiration for Laura, the character she played. Two years later, she appeared in the 1959 film “The Nun’s Story” alongside Audrey Hepburn, whom Bosworth called “a remarkable actress and beautiful human being.”
Patricia Bosworth
Developing close relationships with famed actors made Bosworth an easy choice for writing their life stories. Her first biography was of Montgomery Clift, whom she met as a teenager through her father. Later, she became the first woman to write a biography of Jane Fonda, a dear friend from the Actors Studio.
Bosworth’s career in journalism began with interviewing actors for New York Magazine, but her first mentor was Mario Puzo, author of “The Godfather.” She spent time at a variety of women’s magazines and freelanced for the New York Times for 15 years before becoming managing editor of Harper’s Bazaar and now serves as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair.
In “The Men in My Life,” Bosworth writes candidly about grief, surviving abuse, having a difficult, illegal abortion, and getting to know Hollywood’s finest in a way no one else could. “I wanted to tell my story because while we talk about many of these issues today, they were either considered taboo or rarely discussed (in the 1950s). I’m not the first one to write about this, but these memories have been in my head and my heart for decades,” she explained. “I wasn’t ready before. But now I am, and I’m very glad I did it.”
In addition to sharing the book at the March 15 event, the Cinema Arts Centre will screen the 1951 film “A Place in the Sun,” starring Bosworth’s friend Montgomery Clift and a 17-year-old Elizabeth Taylor.
An evening with Patricia Bosworth will begin at 7 p.m. March 15 at the Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave., Huntington. A dessert and Prosecco reception will feature local jazz guitarist Mike Soloway and give guests the chance to meet Bosworth. Tickets are $20 for CAC members and $25 for nonmembers. For information, call 631-423-7611 or visit www.cinemaartscentre.org.
‘Abacus: Small Enough to Jail’ will be screened on March 27.
By Heidi Sutton
Soul music, Asperger’s syndrome, circus life, terrorism, race in America — these diverse subject matters and more will be explored at length as the Port Jefferson Documentary Series (PJDS) kicks off its spring 2017 season Monday evening, March 13. Sponsored by the Greater Port Jefferson Northern Brookhaven Arts Council, the Suffolk County Office of Film and Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, the PJDS, now in its 11th year, will present seven award-winning documentaries from March 13 to May 1, alternating between two venues — Theatre Three in Port Jefferson and The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook. Each screening will be followed by a Q-and-A with guest speakers.
‘Circus Kid’ will be screened on April 17 at Theatre Three.
The documentaries are chosen by a six-member film board, affectionately known as “the film ladies,” who each choose one film to present and then a seventh film is chosen unanimously by the group. The ladies, who include co-directors Lyn Boland and Barbara Sverd, Wendy Feinberg, Honey Katz, Phyliss Ross and Lorie Rothstein, recently found out that the PJDS was chosen by Bethpage Federal Credit Union’s Best of Long Island survey as the Best Film Festival on Long Island for 2017. The series beat out the Stony Brook Film Festival, the Hamptons International Film Festival and the Gold Coast Film Festival.
“Ecstatic would not be too mild a description,” said Boland. “We were really delighted [about the news].” Sverd added, “We never found out who had nominated us, but we are very grateful to that person!”
According to Sverd, the group started out 11 years ago sitting around a dining room table at the late Sondra Edward’s home “brainstorming about how to improve the Greater Port Jefferson/Northern Brookhaven’s existing film series. It was there that the idea of a documentary series began to emerge.” Back then, Sverd said, “We knew that documentaries were an emerging art form and that our community was missing opportunities to see them, as they mostly played in New York for a limited time. We now face new challenges in an age of streaming and HBO, but our mission [to present new documentaries] has remained the same.”
This past fall, the group traveled to the Tribeca Film Festival and the New York Documentary Film Festival in Manhattan and attended the Stony Brook Film Festival, searching for documentaries that generated a lot of interest and offered wide appeal.
‘I Am Not Your Negro’ will be screened on April 3 at the Long Island Museum.
This season, both Boland and Sverd are most excited about presenting “I Am Not Your Negro,” which is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. Based on the writings of James Baldwin, it tells the story of race in modern America. One of the scheduled guest speakers, Prof. Michael Theiwill, was a colleague and friend of Baldwin. “It’s an exciting film, it’s very, very sophisticated and it’s so on point,” said Boland. “It’s a little demanding in terms of what it asks the audience to listen to and to be aware of, but it is very on point for what’s going on. You realize how you thought everything was changing, but there is still this basic unyielding racism that we find very difficult to understand.”
Boland is also looking forward to showing “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” on March 27. “It’s such a great story about this little bank in Queens that the district attorney decides to pick on for financial irregularities” and how the family that owned the bank fought back and won.
The co-directors encourage the audience to stay after the screenings for the Q-and-A part which can get quite spirited. “A documentary is like taking a college course,” said Sverd, adding, “I believe that the reason documentaries have become so popular is because people love to learn about other people, places and things. Having a director for an up-close and personal Q-and-A after each screening makes it an even more special classroom experience.” “For me it is much more exciting to get a little bit of the backstory after the movie. Having the director or someone from the film there to answer questions right away was something that we really wanted,” said Boland. The group is always looking for volunteers to help distribute posters and flyers, taking tickets and program assistance. To sign up, please call 631-473-5200.
The Port Jefferson Documentary Series will be held at 7 p.m. every Monday from March 13 to May 1 at Theatre Three, 412 Main Street, Port Jefferson or The Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook. Tickets, sold at the door, are $7 per person (no credit cards please). For more information, visit www.portjeffdocumentaryseries.com.
Film schedule:
▶ The spring season will kick off with a screening of “Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing” at Theatre Three on March 13. The dramatic story of the April 2013 terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon is recounted through the emotional experiences of individuals whose lives were forever impacted. The film follows events as they unfolded that day and over the next two years, to the death penalty sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Winner of the Audience Award Best Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival, “Marathon” shows how cities and communities come together and find strength through dark times. Guest speakers will be directors Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg.
▶ “The Uncondemned,” the second film in the series, will be screened at Theatre Three on March 20. Both a real-life courtroom thriller and a moving human drama, the documentary tells the gripping story of a group of young international lawyers and activists who fought to have rape recognized as a war crime and the Rwandan women who came forward to testify and win justice for the crimes committed against them. The film won the Brizzolara Family Foundation Award for a Film of Conflict and Resolution and the Victor Rabinowitz and Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice at the Hamptons International Film Festival. Co-sponsored by the Africana Studies Department at Stony Brook University. Guest speaker will be director Michele Mitchell.
▶ On March 27, The Long Island Museum will host a screening of “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.” Directed by Steve James and produced by Julie Goldman and Mark Mitten, the film tells the fascinating David and Goliath story of the government’s decision to prosecute a small, immigrant-owned financial institution, Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown owned by the Sung family, of mortgage fraud while overlooking far more egregious behavior at much larger institutions. The Sung family spent over $10 million in a five-year battle to save the family business, their honor and to stand up for their community. Producer Julie Goldman, Associated Producer Sean Lyness and bankers Jill and Vera Sung will be the guest speakers for the evening.
▶ The fourth film, titled “I Am Not Your Negro,” will be screened at The Long Island Museum on April 3. Built around James Baldwin’s unfinished 1979 book about the lives and successive assassinations of his friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, the film, directed by Raoul Peck, delves into the complex legacy of those three lives and deaths that permanently marked the American social and political landscape complimented by archival footage, photographs and television clips. Winner of the Audience Award at the Chicago International Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Hamptons International Film Festival, People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, short-listed for the Academy Awards and countless other accolades, “I Am Not Your Negro” has been called “One of the best movies you are likely to see this year” by the New York Times. Guest Speakers will include Prof. Zebulon Miletsky, African American Studies, SUNY, and Author/Prof. Michael Thelwell, U. Mass, Amherst. Co-sponsored by the Africana Studies Department at Stony Brook University.
Director Lorenzo Pisoni will be the guest speaker on April 17.
▶ The series continues on April 17 at Theatre Three with “Circus Kid.” A ring of daring, danger, spirit and lunacy can lead many a young child into a romantic fantasy of running away to join the circus. But for Lorenzo Pisoni, director of this autobiographical documentary, and guest speaker for the evening, the reality of growing up as the golden child in his family’s cult classic Pickle Family Circus, his dreams were about running away from it. Archival footage of vaudeville-style acts and interviews include Pickle Family participants, including parents Larry and Peggy, daughter Gypsy and Pickle member Bill Irwin.
▶ “Bang! The Bert Berns Story” will be screened at Theatre Three on April 24. Music meets the Mob in this biographical documentary, narrated by Steven Van Zandt, about the life and career of songwriter and record producer Bert Berns whose hits include “Twist and Shout,”“Tell Him,” “Hang on Sloopy,” “Here Comes the Night” and “Piece of My Heart.” Berns helped launch the careers of Wilson Pickett, Van Morrison and Neil Diamond and produced some of the greatest soul music ever made. Filmmaker Brett Berns, who will be the evening’s guest speaker, brings his late father’s story to the screen through interviews with Ronald Isley, Ben E. King, Solomon Burke, Van Morrison, Paul McCartney and Keith Richards and rare performance footage. Co-sponsored by the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.
▶ The final film for the spring 2106 series, to be screened at Theatre Three on May 1, will be “Off the Rails,” the remarkable true story of Darius McCollum, a man with Asperger’s syndrome whose overwhelming love of transit has landed him in jail 32 times for impersonating New York City bus drivers and subway conductors and driving their routes. Winner of Best Documentary at the DocUtah Film Festival, the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Woods Hole Film Festival and the Buffalo International Film Festival, to name just a few. Director Adam Irving will be the guest speaker via Skype.
Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr star in the 1957 classic. Photo from Fathom Events
In celebration of its 60th anniversary, “An Affair to Remember” will return to select cinemas nationwide on Sunday, Feb. 12 and Wednesday, Feb. 15, just in time for Valentine’s Day, courtesy of Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and Twentieth Century Fox.
Named the fifth most romantic movies ever by the American Film Institute, “An Affair to Remember” has captured the hearts of generations of moviegoers and moviemakers and was the inspiration for the blockbuster hit “Sleepless in Seattle.”
Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr star as the two lovers who meet by chance on a trans-Atlantic voyage and fall in love despite their existing relationships. When they agree to meet six months later atop the Empire State Building, they cannot foresee the tragic circumstances that will test the limits of their devotion.
The two-day event will also include exclusive commentary from Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz, who will give insight into this classic film. Participating movie theaters in our neck of the woods include AMC Loews Stony Brook 17 (at 2 and 7 p.m. on both days), Farmingdale Multiplex Cinemas (on Feb. 12 at 2 p.m., Feb. 15 at 2 and 7 p.m.) and Island 16 Cinema de Lux in Holtsville (on Feb. 12 at 2 p.m., Feb. 15 at 2 and 7 p.m.). For more information or to purchase your ticket in advance, visit www.fathomevents.com.
Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey star in the 1987 classic ‘Dirty Dancing.’ Image courtesy of Fathom Events
In celebration of its 30th anniversary, “Dirty Dancing” will return to more than 550 select cinemas nationwide on Sunday, Jan. 29 and Wednesday, Feb. 1, at 2 p.m. and again at 7 p.m., courtesy of Fathom Events and Lionsgate. The screening will include an all-new tribute to the classic film with celebrity interviews.
Jennifer Grey in a scene from ‘Dirty Dancing’
The beloved film, starring Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze in their most iconic roles, created a worldwide box-office sensation in 1987, generating over $213 million. “Dirty Dancing” captured hearts worldwide and took home the Best Original Song Oscar for “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.”
“Dirty Dancing is one of those really rare films that feels just as fresh and fun as it did the first time you saw it,” said Tom Lucas, Fathom Events vice president of studio relations, adding, “As an Eighties classic set in the Sixties, it’s a double-dose of cinematic nostalgia and we couldn’t be more delighted to welcome Baby and Johnny back to the silver screen.”
Participating movie theaters in our neck of the woods include AMC Loews Stony Brook 17, Farmingdale Multiplex Cinemas and Island 16 Cinema de Lux in Holtsville. For more information, visit www.fathomevents.com.
From left, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor and Gene Kelly in a scene from ‘Singin’ in the Rain. Courtesy Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.
What a glorious feeling!
In celebration of its 65th anniversary, Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and Warner Bros. Entertainment will bring “Singin’ in the Rain” back to nearly 700 select cinemas nationwide on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. as part of its TCM Big Screen Classics series. Running time is 2 hours.
The event, which gives audiences a chance to see Debbie Reynolds in her breakout role and Gene Kelly at the pinnacle of his career, also includes exclusive commentary from Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz, who will give insight into this classic film. Starring Reynolds, Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Jean Hagen, Cyd Charisse and Rita Moreno, the 1952 classic is still as fresh and delightful as the day it was released.
Musician Don Lockwood (Kelly) rises to stardom during Hollywood’s silent-movie era — paired with the beautiful, jealous and dumb Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen). When Lockwood becomes attracted to young studio singer Kathy Selden (Reynolds), Lamont has her fired. But with the introduction of talking pictures, audiences laugh when they hear Lamont speak for the first time — and the studio uses Selden to dub her voice.
“Sixty-five years ago, no one dreamed that we would still be watching ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ in 2017,” said Gene Kelly’s widow, film historian Patricia Ward Kelly. “Gene would be very proud.” “Singin’ in the Rain,” set in the days of Hollywood’s transition from silent films to “talkies,” continues to this day to provide pure cinematic entertainment. Written by legendary musical “book” writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green, “Singin’ in the Rain” was helmed by renowned directors Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards and is the No. 1 musical on the American Film Institute’s (AFI) list of the “25 Greatest Movie Musicals” (2007) and No. 5 on AFI’s “100 Years, 100 Movies” list (2007).
Participating movie theaters in our neck of the woods include AMC Loews Stony Brook 17, 2196 Nesconset Highway, Stony Brook; Farmingdale Multiplex Cinemas, 1001 Broadhollow Road, Farmingdale; and Island 16 Cinema de Lux, 185 Morris Ave., Holtsville.
Future “TCM Big Screen Classics” films for 2017 will include “Some Like It Hot,” “The Godfather,” “The Graduate,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “An Affair to Remember,” “All About Eve,” “The Princess Bride,” “Smokey and the Bandit,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” “North by Northwest,” “Bonnie and Clyde” and Casablanca.” For more information, visiti www.fathomevents.com.
Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae star in ‘Carousel’. Image courtesy of Fathom Events
In honor of the 60th anniversary of “Carousel,” Fathom Events and Twentieth Century Fox will bring the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic to select cinemas nationwide on Sunday, Jan. 8 and Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 2 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. Starring Gordon MacRae as Billy Bigelow and Shirley Jones as Julie Jordan, “Carousel” features one of the most impressive and emotionally moving of all Rodgers & Hammerstein scores, as well as stunning cinematography — the 1956 film was shot largely on location in coastal Maine. Its score includes such classics as “Soliloquy,” “What’s the Use of Wond’rin,” the rousing “June Is Busting Out All Over” and the haunting, inspiring “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” The screenings will also include an exclusive interview between Shirley Jones and the president of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Ted Chapin.
“‘Carousel’ has always been dear to me, a film that remains beautiful, challenging and inspiring,” said Jones. “It was 60 years ago that we immortalized Rodgers & Hammerstein’s gorgeous musical, but when I think back on the memories it feels like no time at all has passed. I hope both longtime fans and new audiences will find it just as fresh and just as wonderful as ever.” “Movie musicals become an entirely different experience when viewed on the big screen and shared with an audience,” Fathom Events Vice President of Studio Relations Tom Lucas said. “We are proud to be presenting one of the best and most unique musicals of the 1950s, showcasing a truly extraordinary achievement of American moviemaking.”
Participating movie theaters in our neck of the woods include Island 16 Cinema De Lux in Holtsville and Farmingdale Multiplex Cinemas. For more information, please visit www.fathomevents.com.
Felicity Jones leads the cast of the newest edition to the ‘Star Wars’ saga. Photo courtesy of Disney
THE EXPERIENCE
By Michael Tessler
Ever wish you could celebrate Christmas each and every day? That’s how I can best describe my childhood dream of receiving a new “Star Wars” film each and every year. What seemed like an impossibility back then has suddenly become an astonishing reality. Thanks to Disney’s acquisition of every creative thought mustered by George Lucas, fans can now enjoy an annual installment of the most successful film franchise in cinema history.
At AMC Loews 17 in Stony Brook on Friday, Nick Acampora and his daughters Elizabeth and Melanie sat together in anticipation for the premiere of Gareth Edwards’ “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” “We’ve got a family connection with the Force,” joked Acampora, a Port Jefferson resident and community historian. Though all smiles, his daughters were bitterly divided between which was their favorite “Star Wars” film (of course, we all know it should be “The Empire Strikes Back”). Despite some debate, all could agree that “Star Wars” is the perfect escape from reality.
Just a few rows away were two grown men named Mike, a father/son duo, both wearing expressions of childlike wonder in anticipation for the new film. The elder Mike had enjoyed the original “Star Wars” film (later titled “A New Hope”) back in 1977 when he first saw it in theaters. The “Jedi master” and his “padawan” have been to every “Star Wars” premiere together since “Attack of the Clones,” released in 2002. They take enormous pride in having a better relationship than their “Star Wars” counterparts Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
Sitting next to me was my childhood best friend Matthew and, in spirit, my late best friend Brandon. For us, “Star Wars” was more than just a film series, it was the basis for our friendship. Countless days in the backyard were spent dueling with plastic toy light sabers, building the LEGO Millennium Falcon brick by brick, and arguing for hours over fan theories and proper pronunciations of Jedi names. As Darth Vader appeared on screen for the first time in over a decade in “Rogue One,” Matthew and I paused for a moment, looking at one another. For that brief second we saw each other not as adults but as the little boys we once knew a long time ago … in a galaxy far, far away.
THE (SPOILERIFIC) REVIEW
By Kevin Redding
“Rogue One,” the first in what promises to be a series of Star Wars-related anthology films, is a risky experiment in that its plot — based on the first two paragraphs of the original’s opening crawl — requires it to forever change the way we watch “A New Hope.”
In telling the story of how the plans needed to destroy the Death Star wound up in the hands of Princess Leia and eventually kick-start the adventures of a blonde farm kid named Luke, “Rogue One” is of course a prequel, which is a dirty word among many “Star Wars” fans.
But Disney, for the most part, knows what the diehards want to see — practical sets and creatures, Tie fighters and X-wings, and the (ridiculously satisfying, vicious and get-on-your-feet-and-growl-like-a-wookie-worthy) return of the biggest, baddest villain in the galaxy, among other familiar faces. The last half of “Rogue One” sets up the start of “A New Hope” masterfully, so much so that if the closing credits of the former and opening crawl of the latter were eliminated, it would work seamlessly as one long adventure.
But I definitely thought it took a while for “Rogue One” to reach its great moments. As we spend time with a ragtag team of new characters, I couldn’t help but want to see what the old standbys were up to instead. This “Star Wars Story” centers on Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a slightly dull heroine whose father unwillingly engineered the planet-destroying weaponry on the Death Star while under the diabolic eye of the Empire’s Imperial Commander Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn).
As Erso later finds out, her father intentionally compromised the Death Star so it could easily be destroyed (by Luke in “A New Hope”), thus cleverly correcting one of the biggest plot holes in the original film: Why would the Empire build this elaborate, clearly-expensive space station that can be blown to smithereens so easily?!
Erso finds herself the resilient leader of a group of Rebels who band together to get the job done. Alongside her is Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), who’s sort of the no-fun straight man throughout, K-2SO (perfectly voiced by Alan Tudyk), a reprogrammed Imperial droid that doesn’t know any better than to say exactly what’s on its mind (or in its circuits) to marvelous and hilarious effect, Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), a Force-sensitive blind warrior who takes down a lot of stormtroopers with little to no effort and is by far the best new addition to the “Star Wars” universe of the human bunch, Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), Chirrut’s loyal partner, and Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), a former Imperial pilot gone rogue.
It’s great to see the inclusion of Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits, reprising his role from the prequel trilogy) and some of the Rebel pilots from the original that were implemented into the spectacular battle scenes on display here. Where the film really shines, however, is in the villain department. Personally, I was blown away at how Edwards and company resurrected the late-great Peter Cushing through a stunning display of CGI and motion capture to give Grand Moff Tarkin, the ruthless Imperial leader in “A New Hope,” a substantial role.
But what brought me to the theater in the first place was knowing that I’d be seeing Darth Vader be Darth Vader on the big screen again, in all his James Earl Jones-voiced glory. It’s really incredible and overwhelming to see. His two scenes, while extremely short, are worth the price of admission, especially the one in the final moments of the film, which will forever change how we see him in the rest of the saga. If nothing else, “Rogue One” reclaims Vader as the powerful and dangerous threat we were always told he was, and then some.
THE VERDICT
“Rogue One’s” greatest attribute is that it somehow manages to make “A New Hope” an even greater film. Admittedly, the first thing I did when I got home was rewatch the 1977 classic. This connective tissue provides compelling emotional subtext to the famed original opening crawl. While a bit clunky in its pacing and struggle to give us new characters to really feel for, “Rogue One” has proven “Star Wars” can survive outside the saga, delivering to fans compelling stories that only further embellish the brilliance of Lucas’ original vision. And if you don’t like this one so much, just wait until next year … and the year after that…and the year after that.
▶ “The Uncondemned,” the second film in the series, will be screened at Theatre Three on March 20. Both a real-life courtroom thriller and a moving human drama, the documentary tells the gripping story of a group of young international lawyers and activists who fought to have rape recognized as a war crime and the Rwandan women who came forward to testify and win justice for the crimes committed against them. The film won the Brizzolara Family Foundation Award for a Film of Conflict and Resolution and the Victor Rabinowitz and Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice at the Hamptons International Film Festival. Co-sponsored by the Africana Studies Department at Stony Brook University. Guest speaker will be director Michele Mitchell.
The event, which gives audiences a chance to see Debbie Reynolds in her breakout role and Gene Kelly at the pinnacle of his career, also includes exclusive commentary from Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz, who will give insight into this classic film. Starring Reynolds, Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Jean Hagen, Cyd Charisse and Rita Moreno, the 1952 classic is still as fresh and delightful as the day it was released.
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