By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
Screening Gotham: Jan. 13-15, 2006
A few of this weekend’s worthwhile cinematic happenings around New York:
–We can argue forever about which NYC theater programs the best midnight movies. But this weekend, every other cinema in town can kiss the Sunshine’s ass as The Muppet Movie takes a packed house of adoring viewers into the wee hours. Is it a kids film? Is it a cult classic? A musical muddle of kitsch, cameos and talking socks with eyes? It is all of these and much more–a classic ’70s archetype as enduring (and endearing) as The Godfather, Jaws or Shaft. Plus it features Orson Welles. This debate is over.
–This just in from Craigslist:
Howdy neighbors,
Have you seen March of the Peguins? [sic]
Well, have you seen it on the Inwood Hill Nature Center’s 42″ Plasma
T.V?!
Bring the kiddies to the Inwood NC’s first movie night.
Saturday, January 14th at 4p.m. at the Inwood Hill Nature Center (218th/Indian Rd.-Inside the Park)
March of the Peguins [sic]
Movie goodies provided!
Free!
Free?
FREE!
Bill, the Inwood Hill Nature Center Coordinator
Radical! Thank you, Bill.
–I know, I know: “So, Stu, why are you shilling again for the Pioneer Theater?” Because it fucking rocks is why. I could get all righteous about “underground filmmaker”-this and “independent cinema”-that, but its eclectic, egalitarian, NYC-centric calendar speaks for itself. This weekend alone, you have the DIY enterprise Threat, the 9/11 documentary Liberty Street: Alive at Ground Zero and the especially intriguing collection Cine-Poetry on the Web: A Year of ScratchVideo.TV, which Pioneer programmer Ray Privett describes as “my favorite vlog”:
Every couple weeks, videomaker Charlene Rule posts a new little episode, dealing with some eccentric event in her life. In Dearest Geraldine, Rule engages in a conversation with someone who had telephoned her by mistake. … The episodes are almost always disjunctively edited, suggesting an endlessly curious videomaker whose consciousness darts about the world around her seeking insight and beauty. Fortunately, she is willing to share.
Or, hey, I don’t know–you can always go burn $11 to watch Hostel. Your call.