Film-Geek Fridays: Dog-days edition

August 10, 2007 at 12:12 pm | Posted in contest, exhibition, Film Student Fridays, Matthew Hurst, Movies | 1 Comment

We’ve already tried to get you out to theaters this week, much less our effort to encourage film screening attendance on a weekly basis.  Now, during the dog days of summer, comes a reasonable excuse for inviting your friends to revel in the voyueristic glory that is good film.  But seeing as our taste for film is exceedingly local this season, here are a few films you simply must see in St. Louis this weekend if you’re going to see them at all.

Premier Screening

• 10 MPH @ 3pm on Saturday August 11th in the Tivoli Theater
  
  This inventive take on the road trip genre of films tells the story of two aspiring filmmakers who try to find meaning somewhere between Seatle and Boston – except doing so on Segway scooters. If that doesn’t sound original enough, you’ll get a chance to harass the film’s creators in a Q&A after the film. But don’t take your time, because unlike this films’ protagonists, this film will be going somewhere soon.

Reel Late @ The Tivoli

• Dead Alive (aka Braindead) @ midnight on Friday-Saturday August 10-11th, and 10pm on Sunday August 12th
  
  This early film of Peter Jackson’s (yes, that director) is probably one of the bloodiest zombie/horror films ever made. And while this film might not be for the squeamish, you’ll also want to bring along your sense of humor, if not merely irony/poetic justice. A must see for fans of the genre, much less audiences inclined by the midnight format.

Seema Enterprises Productions

• Chake de! India @ 9pm Friday-Saturday & 3pm Saturday-Sunday August 10-12th in the Wehrenberg St. Charles 18 Cine
  
  Hooray for Bollywood! This heartwarming tale of women empowing themselves through the sport of field hockey doesn’t sound familiar at all, but basically we’re excited enough by the prospect of Bollywood on the big screen enough to give the nod to this locally organized screening.

Saint Louis Art Museum

• Gion no shimai (aka Sisters of the Gion) @ 7pm on Friday August 10th in the Auditorium ($5)
  
  As part of the Art Museum’s continuing exploration “Sadness and Beauty” of the films of Kenji Mizoguchi, this week’s film is described by it’s curators as such: “This story is a realistic depiction of the geisha’s world as seen through the lives of two very different sisters: one clings to tradition while the other embraces modern sensibilities. Mizoguchi depicts how these women are victimized by capitalism and the male-dominated society in which they live.”

Cinemania @ Grand Center

• The Goonies @ 9pm on Saturday August 11th in the grassy lot near Grand Center
  
  Wear a costume to this additional free outdoor film screening, where an award for best costume will be given out each week. Show up early if you hope to be awarded by 8:30pm, or even earlier to make a night out of the food, beer, and wine selections available.  This is your second chance to see this decidedly not-so family friendly film this summer, so I won’t bear repeating myself.

Frontyard Features (40films/40nights)

• An American in Paris @ 8:15 PM (or dusk) on Friday August 10th in Lafayette Park
• Casablanca @ 8:15 on Saturday August 11th in the Whitaker Pool Pavilion of Tower Grove Park
  
  While An American in Paris is a screening to make up for a previous show that was rained out, Casablanca is showing at last. You could think of it as an inevitable part of the series, considering it’s status among AFI ranked films (from which most of the films are supposed to be selected) is usually #1 or 2 among all films in the last century (depending on how hopelessly-romantic America feels at the time).

And if the temperature still hover around “stay-indoors” levels, you can further alleviate your cabin-fever with the last Cinemaspoke screenplay reading of Denise Ward-Brown’s original “Already Cooked” on Monday August 13th.  For more information on that screenplay competition, please check out their webpage.