The Fountain (changed to The Friends of Eddie Coyle) - May 8, 2014 - Springer

Thursday, May 8, 2014 - Springer's Apartment - 7:00 pm
Pizza will be provided.

The Fountain is a 2006 film directed by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan).  I came across it on a list of "25 Films You Should See" or something like that.  The reviews are sort of all over the place.  The list contained lots of movies I really liked, so I thought I'd trust the list maker and try this one. From IMDB: "The Fountain is a story of love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence in this world."  So it's pretty much a movie version of Dawson's Creek, except that it has conquistadors, brilliant scientists and futuristic astronauts and it's not set in Capeside as far as I know.
I am updating so we have our records straight - at the last minute I decided instead to show The Friends of Eddie Coyle, a 1973 crime drama starring Robert Mitchum.

See you Thursday!

Thursday May 1, 2014 // The Day of the Locust // Bjorn

Trill movie goers:

This week I will be showing the 1975 cult classic "The Day of the Locust" directed by John Schlesinger and starring Donald Sutherland and Karen Black. It's a story set in the so-called "Golden Age of Hollywood", and is a scathing indictment of the all-consuming L.A. movie machine, and is based on a novel by Nathanael West that was published in 1939, at the peak of Hollywood's golden era. 

The film follows the empty and desperate lives of some of Hollywood's not-so-gifted residents, all held up to the mirror of the glamour and epic scale of the major successes of the time period, films such as The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind. 

Watch in horror as you witness the grotesque and delusional self-destruction of such characters as an aging dwarf, an androgynous tap-dancing child star, and a sexually repressed accountant named Homer Simpson. 

This Thursday, 7pm, Springer's place. Be there and watch as any and all dreams come to a violent, crashing end. Also, pizza and beer!

April 24, 2014 // Sin Nombre // Rory

PEOPLE,

This time around I have selected the 2009 U.S./Mexican film, Sin Nombre.  The English translation is "Without a Name" or "Nameless" for all you gringos/gringas.  I'm picking Sin Nombre because of the director, Cary Joji Fukunaga.  I was so impressed with his direction in True Detective (he actually directed every episode of season 1, which is a rarity in a television series) that it made me want to go back and check out some of his earlier work.  Sin Nombre is Mr. Fukunaga's feature film debut (he also has a 2011 adaptation of Jane Eyre on his resume) and he both wrote and directed it.  Sin Nombre won awards for both directing and cinematography at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.  Although you may not be familiar with Mr. Fukunaga now, I am sure that we will be seeing more good things from him in the future.

Rotten Tomatoes gives this blurb about Sin Nombre: "Part harrowing immigration tale, part gangster story, this debut by writer/director Cary Fukunaga is sensitive, insightful, and deeply authentic".

7:00 PM @ House Garry
The running time is 96 minutes, so the option for DC is there afterwards.
As always, all your pizza needs will be provided for by yours truly.  The beverages are up to you.  Burping is encouraged.  Please don't let me be the only one.

April 9, 2014 // The Sound of Noise // Ben

UPDATE: We'll be watching "The Sound of Noise" instead since I was the last person on Earth to see "The Cabin in the Woods" (a situation now remedied).  See you tomorrow!

I hate horror movies.

I mean it.  Being scarred is not a good feeling, so why would anyone want to watch a movie whose primary purpose is making them physically feel bad.  It's like a reverse porno or something.  It makes no sense.

On the other hand, Netflix thinks I will give this five stars, and I have heard a lot of good things about it, and I would be watching it in a room full of people who would probably protect me if a monster tried to eat me while we were watching this movie.  Also, when I was little I thought I hated roller coasters, like for years.  I refused to even think about getting on one.  Until one day someone tricked me into going on a roller coaster, and you know what?  I loved it.

So who knows, maybe I don't even know what I like, and by then end of this I'll be watching back-to-back Saw marathons every TMN.  Or maybe you will all get to see me cry.  I guess we'll find out next Wednesday at 7:00 PM (House Garry).

-bg

p.s.  I know this was a big popular movie, so I don't know if most people have already seen this.  If you have, please note so in the comments.  If most of us have already seen it, I have a backup pick (not scary) that we'll watch instead.

March 27, 2014 // The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover // Caroline

Trillsters,

Get ready for a mouthful (try saying The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover five times fast). This is a British-French film from 1989 that is a bizarrely dramatic piece of art. Everything about it is really intense and over-the-top... the characters, their wardrobe, the camera angles, the relationships, THE NUDITY (prepare to blush). Let's just say Helen Mirren leaves it all on the stage (AND THEN SOME, amirite?!). The story is that of romance and crime, though there have been critics and articles that attempt to link it to 1980s British domestic politics/Thatcherism.

It was premiered at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival and shocked audiences. Due to the controversy of its content, it opted out of the rating system rather than receive an X rating from MPAA. It was directed by Peter Greenaway and is one of his most famous (infamous?) films.

Run time is right at 2 hours (so maybe not time for Dawsons, but that will really just leave us wanting more for the next time, right?).

House Garry
Thursday, March 27
7:00pm
Pizza will be served (if you don't lose your appetite first)

Return From the Ashes (1965) and more! - Springer

March 13, 2014
7:00 PM
Casa de Springer - Apt 2903
Pizza will be provided

Post World War II Paris, a sexy x-ray technician, an affair with a stepdaughter, insurance fraud, plastic surgery, chess, a guy named "Stanislaus"....basically Return From the Ashes seems to have everything!






I found this on a list of "50 Amazing Films You've Probably Never Seen" and it sounded cool. I haven't seen it, so we'll take this "journey into the diabolical" together! It stars Maximilian Schell and was directed by J. Lee Thompson, who also directed "The Guns of Navarone" and the original "Cape Fear."

Something has been gnawing at me since the last get together.  Was anyone else pretty sure that last week's DC episode was building toward a steamy lesbian scene between Tamara and Dawson's mom? We should have time to watch an episode this week and see if I was right!

See you Thursday.

Thursday, March 6 // The Killers // Rory

Dear Trillsters,

As previously discussed, we'll be taking a break this week but we'll be back at it the following week. On Thursday, March 6 Caroline & Ben will be hosting.

In an effort to dig a little deeper into one of my favorite styles / genres of film, I was looking at a list of the classic era (1940-1958) film noirs included in the National Film Registry and noticed that The Killers (1946) is one of the few that I haven't seen yet. So let's go on this ride together. 

 The Killers was directed by the German-born Robert Siodmak. It was Burt Lancaster's debut film and, although it was not Ava Gardner's debut, it was her first major role. The Killers was adapted from a short story by Ernest Hemingway. It was a critical and commercial success and received Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay. The opening sequence is supposed to be especially noteworthy. After getting a "very long wait" message for The Killers on Netflix, I tried Weirdo Video and they got it for me in about a week. It's 105 minutes so perhaps we can sneak in a DC episode (or two) afterwards.

7:00 start time. Pizza provided. Bring your own beverages.