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BOFCA REPERTORY PICK: 7/9

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Following last week’s screening of Chaplin’s THE GOLD RUSH, the Brattle Theatre is screening Buster Keaton’s SHERLOCK JR. tonight and tomorrow as part of its repertory series based on the documentary, THE STORY OF FILM.

sherlock jr

As half of a double feature that covers the birth of cinema, SHERLOCK JR. is remarkably sophisticated. Clocking in at under an hour, our hero Keaton solves a mystery, falls into a movie, and must win back the hand of his love interest all before a fade to black. Its breakneck pace was standard for the era of short comedy features and one-reelers (around 20 minute shorts). The following year, Chaplin would release THE GOLD RUSH with a decadent 90 minutes in run time. However there’s no time for lulls in SHERLOCK JR., positioned from the start with jokes ready to set off a chain of events. Not a word is spoken (it’s a silent comedy), but it’s perfect this way. The audience gets to fill in what’s going on by context clues with the help of intertitles. It’s our own little mystery as a modern audiences unused to watching movies without dialogue.

But Keaton is a different comedic craftsman than Chaplin. He never smiles. His listless expressions are up to the viewer to interpret. Chaplin overacts: he cries, he laughs, he flirts, and there is no confusion or subtly about it. Both were meticulous about the gags in their films. Chaplin would often fashion ordinary items into different devices, but Keaton would construct elaborate mechanical gags with camera tricks. He does this in SHERLOCK JR. when he falls into the silver screen and into the throws of a movie, an action-packed mystery. It’s akin to a reverse on the plot of Woody Allen’s PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, and Keaton’s reality becomes that of the movies. Not to ruin the scene-changing gag, but remember that this was 1924 and the only tools Keaton had at his disposal were surveyor’s tools and scissors for editing by hand. The scene’s flawless appearance gives the impression that he does all the traveling in the movie within the movie. The movement from location to location doesn’t waver, which is even more impressive when you realize that  cameras were also hand-cranked at the time.

SHERLOCK JR. is a personal favorite of mine, and not just because the main character gets to fall into the world of movie magic. It’s charming as an antique piece (movie tickets at $.40!) and as a comedy. Much of the struggle Keaton experiences, like losing out to a competitor, is relatable. Most of us might not be as rich or powerful as the next guy over, but we are who we are. There’s something American about rooting for the underdog, even if it’s just to see him smile. -Monica Castillo

SHERLOCK JR screens tonight and tomorrow, 7/9 -7/10, at 5:30 PM and 9:15 PM. The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge MA. 02138

BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP: 7/6

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THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

“A rancid, terrible, stiflingly inept, torturous-to-sit-through piece of shit.” – Bob Chipman, The Escapist

“They had a chance to make something new, something hip, something exciting with this. Instead they made a film we’ve already seen.” – Jake Mulligan, The Suffolk Voice

“For those who actually like getting involved with the characters, it’s an improvement.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net

“This might be the most curiously under-populated New York City we have ever seen at the movies. $200 million can’t buy you any extras?” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

“Cut from the same form-fitting cloth as any other superhero movie. This is no art house classic, though it’s certainly better than most movies of its genre.” – Kilian Melloy, EDGE Boston

“Taking for granted that the character’s popularity alone will pull in an audience, they turn in an uneven, often sub-par product with only glimmers of improvement here and there.” – Tim Estiloz, Boston Movie Examiner

“The reason this movie exists is because of Sony’s bottom line. Beyond that, what else does this add? Nothing.” – Steve Head, The Post-Movie Podcast

 

TO ROME WITH LOVE

“MIDNIGHT IN PARIS was profound in a deceptively breezy way. TO ROME WITH LOVE is just plain breezy, but I didn’t mind.” – Sean Burns, The Improper Bostonian

“Woody Allen’s latest vacation may not be his worst film, but it’s his least inspired.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston

“The stories are entertaining but feel unfinished, as if we are watching Allen’s cinematic sketchbook instead of a finished film.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“I loved the comedic surrealism. I would go see it again in a second.” – Steve Head, The Post-Movie Podcast 

 

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

“Some moments seem derivative, or unnecessarily enigmatic, but the sheer exuberance of Zeitlin’s most stunning visuals suggests an artistic voice far too strong to write off.” – Jake Mulligan, The Boston Phoenix

“Here’s a movie that looks, feels and sounds so profoundly different from the vast majority of films that you occasionally want to pinch yourself.” – Bob Chipman, The Escapist

“A junkyard rhapsody that seems to be inventing its own cinematic language as it goes along.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

“One of the most striking, brilliant, poignant and beautifully crafted films I have witnessed within my lifetime. I imagine it will always hold a special place in my heart.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune

 
 

SAVAGES

“So damn refreshing it makes you realize just what pale, pathetic junk we’ve been force fed so far this year.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“Stone may occasionally make you wince at the plot twists and the purple prose, but the film won’t leave you bored.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net

“Travolta the ham, Benicio the cheese, with a hilarious edit by Stone that even holds the tomatoes. Literally.” – Norm Schrager, Paste Magazine

“It may not be perfect, but it’s the perfect anti-summer movie: violent, obliquely political and aimed at adults.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston

“I don’t know of too many surfer dudes who say: ‘We’re going to go all Sunni on their asses!’ But that’s the mark of a Stone film, I suppose.” – Monica Castillo, DigBoston

“Messy and electric, as deeply problematic as it is provocative. In other words, it’s an Oliver Stone movie.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly 
 
 
 

NATURAL SELECTION

“Yes, it’s a road movie, and an unfortunate drama begging to be a comedy.” – Brett Michel, The Boston Phoenix

 

TAKE THIS WALTZ

“It makes you think about just how far good lighting, some risky dialogue and an ambiguous ending can go in covering up a been-there-done-that narrative.” – Jake Mulligan, The Suffolk Voice

 

 

BOFCA INTERVIEW: 7/5

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Drew Goddard at SXSW 2012. Photo by Monica Castillo

Co-writer and director Drew Goddard’s THE CABIN IN THE WOODS returns for late shows July 5th through 8th at the Brattle Theatre. Last March, BOFCA’s Monica Castillo sat down with Goddard at the SXSW Film Festival. As a TV screenwriter, his name can be found in long-running series like BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, ANGEL, ALIAS, and LOST. Goddard made the leap to the big screen with a script for CLOVERFIELD before teaming up with BUFFY creator Joss Whedon for a thoughtfully spooky film that became THE CABIN IN THE WOODS.

Q: So CABIN was on the shelf for a while, wasn’t it?

A: Yeah, well, we were at a studio that went bankrupt. We got delayed a bit, but so did the last James Bond film, THE HOBBIT. But we’re out now!

Q: How did you come up with a horror story that weaved together pop culture and mythology?

A: We just love horror movies, so we started to explore why we loved horror so much. It started to suggest bigger things. Why do we like watch kids getting butchered on-screen? What is it that we enjoy about being scared? It just made us look beyond the horror movie and at the people we are. This sort of sacrificing of youth — that’s been happening forever and that bears a lot in the movie too. We have to go to the mythology because so many of our stories are based off of that. Those roots are very much a part of the horror genre.

Q: How about the basic idea of a house of horrors that other people controlled?

A: You know, it wasn’t a lot more complicated than, “You know what would be cool? This…” Joss had this original idea of people upstairs and people downstairs, and we just pitched that and said let’s explore this. That was fun to see where the story would take us. We didn’t do anything more than to set out to write a movie.

Q: What would you say were some of the horror movies that influenced you?

A: I didn’t try to get any one influence. I wanted to give the film a very elegant look to counteract the ridiculousness that happens. I wanted it to feel grown-up. I wanted to balance the mundane and the simple with the operatic.

Q: So this wasn’t your quick and dirty B-movie?

A: We shot for a while actually, about 40 days. It was some hard months in Vancouver, with a lot of rain and a lot of snow. It was not hard for the actors to look distressed.

Q: How did it feel to work with a cast of young, fresh actors and older, more experienced ones?

A: It definitely felt like I got to shoot two different movies. It was a totally different vibe. What was interesting is that the veteran actors were much more fun than the kids. The kids were way more serious. I think that comes with experience, they know how to let their hair down a little better. But I didn’t expect that.

Q: How was it collaborating with Whedon again?

A: We just got along right away. I love his writing, he’s my favorite writer in the world.

Q: With quite the cult following.

A: Oh my God, I was a part of that. I think that our voices are very similar. It’s very easy for us to write together because we just like each other. We had so much fun writing BUFFY and ANGEL; it felt like the next thing to do was to do when the shows had gotten out. Let’s write a movie. Let’s try to write something fun and fast. We had this original idea and we decided to write it for ourselves. Just a movie we’d like to see. We’ll figure out if anyone would let us make it later.

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS shows Thursday, July 5th through Sunday, July 8th at 9:30 PM. The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge MA 02138

 

BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP: 6/29

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TED

“To my very pleasant surprise, there’s actually something (ok, not that much) going on under the surface here.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston

“While that subtext is there, it’s wrapped with a hilarious collection of jokes ranging from the witty to the tasteless.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net

“Sometimes funny is just funny.” – Bob Chipman, The Escapist

“Hilarious. It has something to say about growing up and says it well.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune

“I had a great time until it decided to try and have a plot.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

 

MAGIC MIKE

“All kidding aside, this movie is unbelievably awesome.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune

“A near-miss, with a few good performances and enough power to hold your interest for a while before finally running out of steam.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net

“Soderbergh is talking about himself, our culture, the economy, and there’s an undercurrent of darkness within all three. He’s hidden a lot inside a flimsy-looking G-string.” – Jake Mulligan, The Suffolk Voice

 

PEOPLE LIKE US

“All of this could have been resolved with a simple fucking conversation.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

“These people are not like us, and frankly, I don’t really like them that much either.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune

“The film’s leads lack the star power to sell this material and make us care in spite of the story.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net

“Yuck.” – Monica Castillo, DigBoston

 

MADEA’S WITNESS PROTECTION

“It’s a feeble vehicle for Perry’s ever-diminishing antics. In short, a real drag.” – Brett Michel, The Boston Phoenix

 

BOFCA REPERTORY PICK: 6/27

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It always surprises me when I can get away with making a Chaplin reference to friends or when I see them dressed as his Tramp character for Halloween. More often than not, my friends haven’t seen his films, but they know of him- the mustache, his duck walk, complete with bamboo cane and bowler hat. I’m lucky if any of them (outside of the film buff bubble) have seen him in any of his short films either.

If you fall into the category of “never seen a Chaplin film,” then consider tonight your night to trek out to the Brattle Theatre and catch one of his best.

THE GOLD RUSH follows Chaplin’s iconic Tramp character to the heyday of the Klondike Gold Rush. He’ll find competitive prospectors and perhaps a love interest, but first the Tramp will have to survive the treacherous snow storms and hunger pains in order to strike gold. It paints a pretty bleak picture of this chapter in our nation’s history, but in true Chaplin style, he takes in suffering with plenty of humor.

We don’t weep for him in THE GOLD RUSH in the same way we might for the THE KID or THE CIRCUS. Neither does this love story feel as deep as the ones in CITY LIGHTS or MODERN TIMES. And the political messages often seen in various other films are not as apparent in THE GOLD RUSH. The government is mostly absent in the frozen wilderness, so the strife the Tramp runs into comes mostly from the weather and the tough crowd that set up the mining town.

Chaplin’s creative gags set this film apart from others in his canon. Although a few of the jokes have not aged as well (for example, the chicken suit dream sequence), there are several memorable ones that can be found in recent movies. For instance, the famous dancing bread sequence Chaplin does at a dinner party to entertain his guests was redone by Johnny Depp for the movie BENNY AND JOON and by Amy Adams in last year’s THE MUPPETS.

Chaplin stuck gold with THE GOLD RUSH: it became the highest grossing comedy of the silent era. He claimed it as the film he wanted to be most remembered for. It’s a movie that for many people may seem oddly familiar: its images have been reprinted in movie and history books for decades. But for the chance to see it newly restored on the big screen? To me, that’s well worth the rush. – Monica Castillo

THE GOLD RUSH screens tonight, 6/27, at 8:00 PM. The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge MA. 02138