On the big screen . . .

You may've noticed that I'm a bit of a movie fan, and I think sometimes it's a real treat to re-visit older movies on the big screen, at the theater, the way they were intended to be seen. In Durham we have the ability to take advantage of doing so at The Carolina Theater from time to time.

In fact, I did that with one of my favorites, The Princess Bride, when it was shown a couple of years ago for its 20th Anniversary.

A few more are coming up at The Carolina that you might want to see again on the big screen, with a box of popcorn and giant soda. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II will be showing in May for one week only (May 8 - 14).

If you've never seen those two, now's your chance to see them at the theater. How cool is that?

Also for Star Trek fans, Star Trek IV and Star Trek First Contact, will be shown 4 days only, April 20 - 23.

Details are here.

It's an offer you can't refuse. (Sorry . . . I couldn't help it.)
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Bull Pen Lounge

Some friends and I found ourselves downtown after 6 pm on Sunday, having just seen Milk (yes, it's as good as all the reviews say) at The Carolina. We wanted to grab some coffee and sit a bit and talk about the film before we all went our separate ways for the evening. Blue Coffee was closed and every place else seemed to be too. So we headed over to the Marriott, which is conveniently hooked onto The Carolina Theater upstairs --I always forget about that--to see if the Marriott's "Bull Pen Lounge" was open. It was. I honestly couldn't remember the last time I'd been there.

The coffee wasn't bad, and we tried some desserts on the menu, and relaxed and dissected the film we just watched. The service at the Bull Pen was fine, although our server was wearing latex gloves, which was odd. We weren't rushed and the place wasn't busy on a Sunday night anyway. Here's what desserts we tried, and they were fairly tasty (but for the completely out-of-season 'fresh' strawberries which tasted faintly of strawberry):

Cheesecake

Creme Brulee

Strawberry Shortcake

Afternoon film at The Full Frame Documentary Film Fest

We took in the documentary Body of War at The Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham this afternoon as part of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. It was truly as phenomenal as I thought it would be based on what I'd already seen and read about it. Because we Durhamites were lucky enough to have this screened at the film festival this weekend, the filmmakers Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro were present and took some questions after the screening. The following is a low res pic from my cellphone camera:

Fletcher Theatre inside The Carolina seats over 1,000 and was full from what I could observe.

I'm hoping the film makes a regular run at The Carolina Theatre soon for anyone who wants to see it but didn't see it at the film festival. It was very warmly received today, which was not lost on the filmmakers.

I also highly recommend the CD that Tomas Young put together for the film and all the profits from the CD go to the Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Also, this was just another of the innumerable reasons why Durham rocks. I heard about this film only 2 weekends or so ago, saw the Bill Moyers show on it, and today I saw the movie at The Carolina Theatre and had a chance to hear the filmmakers talk about it in person. How cool is that?

Orange traffic cones laid out, banners hoisted: now with pics

Just to supplement my previous blog entry on The Full Frame Documentary Film Fest that's cranking up downtown, I snapped a few of pictures today.

Carolina Theatre as it looked today, before most of the filmmakers and filmgoers descend on it:

Lanes fulls of orange cones and blocked off beside the Carolina:


Signs around downtown pop up for the weekend:

Orange traffic cones laid out, banners hoisted

Downtown is humming with activity this afternoon and will soon be inundated with scores of film folks because it's time for the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.

From my observations in the past, the attendees tend to travel in little groups, wearing their Film Fest creds on a lariat around their necks. Fun to see them looking down at their maps and up at the street signs, trying to find Bull McCabe's or Brightleaf Square. Other times they have cell phones pressed up against their heads and gesticulate wildly. Also interesting to see the press satellite trucks line up beside the Carolina Theatre if a celebrity or two is in town for the festival.

Full Frame is recognized as the premier documentary film festival in the United States by both The New York Times and indieWIRE and is well-known for its southern hospitality, relaxed atmosphere and walkable venue layout. During the past decade Full Frame has welcomed both first time and celebrated filmmakers including Martin Scorsese, Abbas Kiarostami, Michael Moore, Syndey Pollack, Errol Morris, Barbara Kopple, Ken Burns, Ric Burns, Charles Burnett, Mira Nair and Jonathan Demme.

We scored tickets for Saturday to see Body of War, which I blogged about here earlier.

You can check here to see if there are any films you'd like to catch.

"In harm's way . . ."

You hear the phrase a lot--that we're putting our military men and women "in harm's way."

This movie, Body of War, has just been released and shows what "harm" meant to one young man, Tomas Young. Similar harm has happened to over 35,000 men and women coming home from Iraq with life-altering injuries. (We passed the 4,000 dead mark today, sadly).

I'm going to call and email The Carolina Theatre to see if will be coming here to Durham.

I caught the interview with the producers/directors on Bill Moyers and hadn't heard of the film before. It is now on my must-see list. More info here, and a picture of Mr. Young, on the wiki page for the movie.

http://youtube.com/bodyofwar

Powerful beautiful film "Persepolis" at The Carolina Theatre

The film is about an Iranian girl, Marjane, growing up at the time of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. It shows, through luscious black and white animation, how Iran dramatically changed when the powerful combination of religious fundamentalism and nationalism oppressed and deprived families such as Marjane's. You see her family's hopes for her to someday be an educated, independent woman dashed as the fundies demand women be hidden by scarves and adhere to religious laws.

Marjane's rebelliousness and tendency to push back against authority as a teen eventually lead her parents to send her to Vienna, but she doesn't quite fit in there either. She can't get out of her mind what her family is going through back home Iran.

I couldn't get out of my mind the nasty influence of rah-rah nationalism combined with religious fundamentalism and what it can do to a civilized country in such a relatively short time.

It's utterly absorbing. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, and Jury Prize at 2007 Cannes, along with a host of other film awards. Here's the official site.

The film is based on the autobiographical novel by Marjane Satrapi. I intend to get a copy of this so I can compare it to what I saw on the screen.

Catherine Deneuve voices Marjane's mother in the film.

Go see it on the big screen while it's in town if you can. Highly recommended.

Like "Rocky" but with words instead of fists

Really loved watching "The Great Debaters" at the theater at Northgate recently. (The seats are super-comfy, btw.)

As most know by now, "The Great Debaters" springs from actual events in the early to mid-1930's when the African American debate team from tiny Wiley College in Texas defeated scores of teams from larger schools, and also defeated debate teams from prestigious white universities. What a moving story to bring to the screen, and in support of that sort of film--African American cast, great story, not a blow-'em-all-up--I had to lay my bucks down at the theater and vote with my money. Give me more of that sort of film, please.

The cast was intense and compelling (Forest Whitaker and Denzel Washington among others), the cinematography beautiful, the score powerful, the wardrobe and setting perfect. It was, as all good period films should be, like being put in a time capsule and fired back to 1935. There are some quibbles by reviewers that the movie leans toward being formulaic, but like "Rocky" there is some familiar satisfaction in that. Good guys triumphing! Lord knows I need a little of that considering the last few years in this country. There are some harrowing moments in the film and we get a small but awful taste of what it felt like to be in the cross-hairs of random violence and hate in the Jim Crow South.

One scene that stuck with me was the father (Forest Whitaker) of one of the debaters waiting up late for his teenage son after his son fails to come home at night on time. Take the horrible things that most parents imagine could've happened to their teenagers and then wonder how that would've felt back then under those circumstances.

Below the actual winning Wiley debate team that the movie focuses on, and an article full of the history of the Wiley Debate team here:


Melvin Tolson, center, is the Debate Coach played
by Denzel Washington in the film.


Durham Bull Pen gives "The Great Debaters" 2 horns up.