13015 Larchmere Blvd.
Shaker Hts., OH 44120
216.795.9800
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FREE MOVIESThursday, March 20, 2008
Harriett
I have free passes for a pair of movies here. I don't know much about the films, but you can check the trailers out online and decide for yourself. Besides, they're free. If you're interested, please call or email to reserve and then come pick 'em up. Cheers.
21. Wednesday, March 26, 7:30pm at Regal Richmond Town Square.
Stop-Loss. Thursday, March 27, 7:30pm at Regal Richmond Town Square.
CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Sunday, March 16, 2008
Harriett
The film line-up was good enough to stay the whole day, but my eyeballs have a two-film limit. Erika really wanted to see the animation, and I finally got to see Jump!
The Thread of Life -- This was a delightful animation from Syria. It featured two wonderful worlds, one foriegn, one fantasy, and a feast of colors, shapes and a gorgeous soundtrack. It took awhile to really hook me, and was sometimes a little slow, but its build, the storyline, and its moral were all well delivered.
Jump! -- This is the film I missed while stuck on the RTA on my birthday. It received two extra screenings, however, and I made it at last. It's a documentary on the sport of rope skippers -- a highly competitive and gymnastic version of jumprope. There's the speed competition (won by a kid with asthma who looked like she held her breath for 3 minutes), the individual freestyle, and pairs freestyle, and the legendary double dutch. The film tells a good story from five different teams, but doesn't cover them quite equally. I loved some of the overlapping and editing tricks, but hated the occasional emotional voyeurism. The sport is an awesome show, and seeing the preparation for it made it even more enjoyable. That much fast-clipping gives me a headache though, and makes me wonder if I ever saw one full routine. Still, I'm sure it will prove a very popular film, and will probably do wonders for escalating the popularity of the sport, and for this it is to be commended.
CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Saturday, March 15, 2008
Harriett
It got crowded during the interim of Film Fest week. Yikes! But we managed okay, with the exception of the time between the two films, trying to make it down the hall from one theatre to another. Bedlam.
Roming -- I enjoyed this Czech/Slovak film about the Gypsies, and the quest for a written epic to give their culture the status and respect other cultures achieve through written literature. Two stories intertwine, one the enactment of the epic being written, one a modern tale of trying to keep the culture alive. It's also a father-son story, and a coming of age story, and all four stories are nicely done, with humor. I especially liked the seeming disparity of the two tales at the beginning, and their winding ever closer together by the end of the film, and a sweet happy ending. Not that it wasn't a challenge to get there!, which only makes it the more sweet.
The Art of Negative Thinking -- I need to remember to avoid Norwegian black humor films. (Last year, Erika walked out of The Bothersome Man twice.) Although it definately had its moments, the overall effect was much more depressing than some films billed as sob-stories or violent stupidity. I commend the actors in this film however, as well as a tight well-worked script and skillful filming. But it's hard to recommend something that borders on cruel, sadistic, depressing, hopeless and sick. Still, the sun rises at the end of the film, and with it comes hope. After the night preceeding, there's really no other direction possible.
PI
DAYFriday, March 14, 2008
Harriett
It's Pi Day! Happy Birthday, Pi! Featured to left is an entry from the International Edible Books Festival (coming up again this year, on Saturday April 5th!). But, even better than pies, I have music! I am delighted to learn that some intrepid soul caught Lucy Kaplansky in action, and you can hear her dad's Song About Pi with a simple click. Thanks to Lucy and Irving Kaplansky for the Pi song, and to whoever sneaked it onto the web.
HOLLYWORDSTuesday, March 11, 2008
Harriett
The Global Language Monitor has announced the top ten HollyWORDIES of 2007. These catchphrases from films often work their way into common language, so if you're wondering where these sayings came from, here's the source. Note the top two are films made from books.
1. “Call it, Friendo.” (No Country for Old Men) – Chigurth’s flip of the coin (Javier Bardem).
2. “I drink your milkshake.” (There Will Be Blood) – “I drink it up!” Daniel Day Lewis.
3. Juno-verse (Juno) -- phraseology includes "doodle that can't be undid,” “Silencio”, and, of course, "Shoulda gone to China, because I hear they give away babies like free iPods." (Ellen Page).
4. “Maddness? This is S-P-A-R-T-A!” (The 300) – Kin Leonardis engages the Persians in Battle (Gerald Butler).
5. “I’m not the guy you kill; I’m the guy you buy off.” (Michael Clayton) – Michael Clayton’s self description (George Clooney)
6. “I think I am beginning to disappear.” (Away From Her) -- (Julie Christie)
7. “Either you're somebody, or you ain't nobody.” (American Gangster) – Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington).
8. “Squeezin' that watch won't stop time.” (3:10 to Yuma ) – Ben Wade (Russell Crowe)
9. “Sometimes birth and death go together.” (Eastern Promises) -- Anna (Naomi Watts)
10. “It was the things you don't choose that makes you who you are.” (Gone Baby Gone) -- Casey Affleck as Patrick Kenzie
CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Sunday, March 9, 2008
Harriett
Cleveland begain to recover from the snow on Sunday, including the RTA trains. We went downtown twice, in fact, to see three films. Let's call it River Day.
Mahek -- I thought an Indian children's film with a Walter Mitty plot would be great. I was a bit disappointed by it, and its molasses pace. While seeing upper-middle-class India was interesting, I wanted to shake young Mahek out of her daydreaming depression. The wide range of costumes was great, however.
Up the Yangtze -- I would like to know more about the Three Gorges Dam, especially its massive scope, its engineering and construction, its impact on the environment, the dispossed, and the new urban beneficiaries. There are two films about this project in the film festival this year, and I thought I chose the one that wasn't a film about one family's ordeal of relocation. Well, I was wrong about that. It was an interesting film, but small in scope. I would like to know both sides of the story. Perhaps that requires two different films? And why did the omniscient Chinese-American filmmaker never reveal himself or his grandfather who took him to see the Yangtze River of his youth? Where are the archival photographs, or at least a chronology of maps? How much of this naturalistic film was scripted and rehearsed?
Black Waters -- a film about the Ganges River in India was cancelled.
Return of the Cuyahoga -- Well now, I learned something. The most interesting tidbit was that the famous photos of the Cuyahoga River on fire were not from the 1969 event that began Cleveland's reputation as the Mistake on the Lake, but probably a photo from the 1920s. Manipulative and powerful propaganda! The interviews were mostly informative and covered many fields (except the industrial dumpers, of course). I would recommend this film to anyone interested in environmental politics.
CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Saturday, March 8, 2008
Harriett
The #1 film choice for me was Jump, a film about competitive jump roping. The massive snowstorm that started on Friday had dumped more than a foot of snow by Saturday afternoon, and there was no end in sight. Driving was out of the question, but I would have taken the Rapid anyway. Even walking to the station was a challenge. The trains seemed to be running fine, and a rail-mounted snowplow was just ahead of our train, which looked like a good sign. But after a slow and hiccup-ing kind of ride, the train broke down just before reaching the station and trainyard at E. 55th St. Eventually the driver radioed for help ("this train is not moving, 704"), and help arrived from both ends, and failed to make our train move. After an hour and a half of waiting, we were issued off the train, and told to board another train, which ignored us. Back on the train. This tedious wait was made more painful by Miss Suburban Mom whose middle name must be Entitlement. She actually called customer service on her cell phone, thinking that the peons on phones would have more control over the situation than the technicians out in the cold checking the brake lines.
Okay, so we did eventually arrive at Tower City. I had allowed 1.5 hours for this trip (which takes 17 minutes under normal conditions), but we missed the movie anyway (yup, the whole thing). It was about time for the next round, so we stayed and watched World's Best Commercials. Some of them were great, but I needed more funny ones. Still, the fat guy applying for a brewer's job who did his costumed Flashdance as inspiration for hiring him without any experience, was a real winner. Give the dude a beer.
CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Friday, March 7, 2008
Harriett
And, we're off! On this first public night, I saw two films. Here's the report:
Vivere -- a German/Dutch film of 3 women who converge, given in turn from each woman's perspective. I liked the way their stories of the same events were different, and the twist realization at the conclusion of the film (never spelled out, but somehow obvious, even though contrite).
Bluff -- French Canadian film featuring various stories a condemned apartment building tells - fabulous, riveting, and engrossing. Highly recommended.
BOOKS MAKE THE OSCARSWednesday, January 23, 2008
Movies based on books were among the major Oscar nominations, which were announced yesterday. The awards ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, February 24, but may be slimmed down because of the writers' strike.
No Country for Old Men, based on the Cormac McCarthy book, was nominated for best picture, best director (Ethan and Joel Coen), best supporting actor (Javier Bardem) and best adapted screenplay. Altogether the film garnered eight nominations.
There Will Be Blood, based on Upton Sinclair's novel Oil!, won nominations for best picture, best actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), best director (Paul Thomas Anderson) and best adapted screenplay. There Will Be Blood also had eight nominations.
Atonement, based on Ian McEwan's novel, won nominations for best picture, best supporting actress (Saoirse Ronan) and best adapted screenplay and garnered seven nominations overall.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, based on the memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby, was nominated for best director (Julian Schnabel) and best adapted screenplay.
Other movies based on books that had major nominations included Charlie Wilson's War (Philip Seymour Hoffman, best supporting actor); Into the Wild (Hal Holbrook for best supporting actor) and Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud for best animated feature film).
RAINING
MOVIE PASSES Friday, November 30, 2007
Harriett
When it rains, it pours! Not only have I given away close to 75 movie passes for The Golden Compass today, but I seem to have a couple others here as well. I have very limited quantities of these, and I'm giving them away on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are interested, please call first to reserve (216.795.9800), and come pick 'em up. Each pass admits two; one per customer, please. Thanks.
JUNO
Wednesday, Dec. 5, 7:30pm @ Shaker Square
THE KITE RUNNER
Thursday, Dec. 6, 7:30pm @ Shaker Square
ATONEMENT
Tuesday, Dec. 11, 7:30pm @ Shaker Square
GOLDEN
COMPASS FREE PASSES Thursday, November 29, 2007
Harriett
The good news is, we're giving away free passes for the preview screening of The Golden Compass! This is exciting stuff!
The troublesome part is that the Free Times ad that announces this wondrous deal has the date wrong. It reads Thursday, November 30 for pass give-aways, and of course that date doesn't exist. We'll be giving away the passes on Friday at noon (no earlier!). Sorry for the mix-up.
See you at the preview on Tuesday, December 4 at 7:30pm at Regal Richmond Town Square.
APOLLO'S
FIRE
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Harriett
A customer walked in yesterday and my greeting fell out of my mouth without thinking: "are you the famed Anna?" I know Anna, or at least her voice, from numerous concerts at CWRU's Chapel, Court and Countryside early music series. She earned her Ph.D. in music at Case, and sings with many different early music ensembles (there seems to be a rather small and academic world of early music performers). This weekend she was back in town to sing with Apollo's Fire, and while I am disappointed that she was only in the chorus and didn't have a solo role, it was a great performance. Yeah, I went -- Anna gave me tickets! Nice customer...
GENE'S
JAZZ HOT
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Harriett
We call Gene's Jazz Hot the house band here, but they were really regulars down the street at Cafe Limbo. With the sudden loss of Cafe Limbo, Gene's Jazz Hot was feeling homeless, and that's just not right for the house band! So, without further ado, we present Gene's Jazz Hot on the second Thursday of October and November, and see how it goes (subtext: come support the band and buy a book at intermission!). Donations for the band gladly accepted.
Concert: Thursday, October 11, 6:30pm-9:00pm
THE
DUHKS
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Harriett
A most excellent concert with The Duhks at Kent Stage last night. The Canadian group had us rocking and tapping all night... a wonderfully tight ensemble of fine musicians, each and every one of them.... I walked out with three new cds, rather extravagant even for me....
So, why do I have to drive from the metropolis of Cleveland to the small town of Kent to see a good concert?
THE
GOLDEN COMPASS
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Harriett
The story I always heard was that Philip Pullman had multiple offers to film The Golden Compass, but he kept refusing, saying it is too magical and complex to work in a cinematic fashion. Then he saw Peter Jackson's first installment of The Lord of the Rings and said, gee, Peter Jackson can film my book. To which Jackson answered, as the rumor goes, sure, as soon as I finish the Ring cycle.
Now with the Ring firmly in the past, the movie version of The Golden Compass is slated to open December 7, 2007. The official previews begin with reference to the Ring movies, but the director has changed many times apparently. In the end, screenwriter Chris Weitz gets the credit. I wonder who his daemon is. I eagerly await the movie... Both the trailer and the longer Comic Con preview are available on the official movie site. There's also a cool Meet Your Daemon game -- mine is a crow named Thaleron.
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