Pick of the Week: “Back of the Future“ (Amazon Prime) — For the month of October, and apparently only the month of October, Amazon Prime is exclusively streaming Robert Zemeckis’ time-travel comedy-adventure plus its lesser two sequels. Watching the 1985 movie 30 years later really is like traveling back to the future.
IMG_7870.CR2
“Testament of Youth” is now playing at Sundance Cinemas. PG-13, 2:09, three stars out of four. I’ll be doing a post-show chat after the 7:30 p.m. Tuesday show at Sundance Cinemas, 430 N. Midvale Blvd.
“Testament of Youth” is a British period drama as good-looking as any Merchant-Ivory production, but underneath its handsome exterior burns a cold, measured fury. Taken from Vera Brittain’s memoir of being a World War I field nurse, the film brings Brittain’s sorrow and anger at the cost of war intact to the big screen.
SWOP 6-23-14-1.CR2
“Sleeping With Other People” opens Friday at Star Cinema. R, 1:35, three stars out of four.
“Sleeping With Other People” is a love letter to New York romantic comedies, or at least a well-crafted sext. Writer-director Leslye Headland previously made the delightfully mean “Bachelorette,” where underneath several layers of nasty behavior hid a rather earnest ode to female friendship.
“The Martian” opens Friday at Point, Palace, AMC Fitchburg and Sundance Cinemas. PG-13, 2:22, three and a half stars out of four.
I’m going to be a sucker for any movie that includes a shoutout to ’80s Infocom text adventures. But, “Leather Goddesses of Phobos” aside, “The Martian” is a terrific piece of entertainment, awe-inspiring and suspenseful in all the ways you would expect, funny and loose in all the ways you wouldn’t expect.
Pick of the week: “Boogie Nights“: Paul Thomas Anderson’s ensemble drama about the heyday of ’70s porn is wildly entertaining and ambitious, with terrific performances from Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.
“Eden” has its Madison premiere at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St. The screening is free for museum members and $7 for non-members. R, 2:11, three stars out of four.
Those expecting “Eden” to be a joyful paean to EDM and rave culture will be disappointed. Those expecting “Eden” to be a sensationalized cautionary tale of the toll that the drugs-and-sex culture surrounding dance culture will also be disappointed.
Instead, Mia Hansen-Love’s film finds a bittersweet middle path, following the gentle rise and fall of a moderately-successful French DJ. “Eden” was co-written by Hansen-Love’s brother Sven and based on his own life as a musician, and has the ring of authenticity in its portrayal of the practical side of creating killer beats.
Sundance Cinemas will extend its fall Screening Room Calendar of independent, foreign and documentary films into mid-November, starting off with one of the most talked-about horror movies of 2015.
The current calendar finishes up with “Testament of Youth” opening this Friday. (And I should mention that I’m doing hosting a post-show talk after the 7 p.m. show on Tuesday — come by and chat!) Then the next one kicks in on Oct. 9, and it’s the Austrian horror film “Goodnight Mommy,” about a violent war of wills between a mother covered in bandages and her two young sons, who don’t believe she’s really their mother.
Here’s the remainder of the screening room calendar:
Oct. 16: “Meet the Patels” — In this affable personal documentary, a first-generation Indian-American man tries to find the woman of his dreams while still keeping his parents happy.
Oct. 23: “The Amazing Nina Simone” — The second documentary of 2015 about the enigmatic and tumultous jazz/soul singer (after “What Happened Miss Simone?“) looks at Simone’s life and legacy, with extensive interviews with friends and associates.
Jimmys Hall – Written by Paul Laverty, Directed by Ken Loach, Produced by Rebecca O’Brien
Oct. 30: “Jimmy’s Hall” — The great director Ken Loach makes another film about Ireland’s past, this time set in a 1921 dance hall that becomes a flashpoint of controversy from both local politicians and the Catholic Church.
Nov. 6: “Coming Home” — A Chinese man returns home after years in a forced labor camp, only to find his wife no longer remembers him in the latest from director Zhang Yimou (“Raise The Red Lantern”).
Nov. 13: “Labyrinth of Lies” — In 1960s Germany, a young prosecutor stirs the buried guilt of the nation when he prosecutes a former Auschwitz guard turned schoolteacher.
I’ve been doing the Instant Gratification column for a while now, each week cluing you in to five new movies on Netflix, Amazon Prime or some other streaming service. Recently, somebody suggested to me that along with keeping track of what movies are arriving on Netflix, I should keep tabs on what movies are leaving as well.
The streaming site is constantly churning and updating its selections, as deals it’s made with movie studios and pay-cable services come and go. So, this is the first of a monthly “Gone in an Instant” column, running down the movies that you’d better cram in before the end of the month.
FILM STILL – PAWN SACRIFICE – Liev Schreiber (left) stars as Boris Spassky and Tobey Maguire (right) stars as Bobby Fischer in Edward Zwick’s PAWN SACRIFICE, a Bleecker Street release. Date Added 8/4/2015 3:25:00 PM Addtl. Info Credit: Takashi Seida
“Pawn Sacrifice” is now playing at Sundance, Point and Palace Cinemas. PG-13, 1:54, three stars out of four.
Two guys in suits stare at a wooden board may not be the most cinematic of circumstances. So the “Pawn Sacrifice” makes the safe and smart decision to spend as little time on the chess pieces as possible, instead focusing on the minds of the players.
And, in the case of Bobby Fischer, there is plenty to focus on.
Was it only a few weeks ago that the only new movies we had to choose from were “Sinister 2” and “American Ultra”? Now that fall is underway, it’s an embarrassment of riches for the movie lover in Madison, from the Sundance Cinemas Screening Room series to the UW-Cinematheque fall series to the WUD films at Union South. And the big Oscar contenders are just starting to hit theaters.
Add to the list the Spotlight Cinema series at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. The series, programmed by Tom Yoshikami and Mike King, has been invaluable in bringing acclaimed new films to Madison that might not have gotten here by other means. This year’s eight-film series looks especially strong, including the new films by celebrated foreign directors Jafar Panahi, Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
Madison Movie 