Rachel Getting Married
Date: Friday, March 13th
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Site: Boone Country Chambers Room, 8th and Walnut, in Downtown Columbia Need Directions?
For the next installment in the Movies and Mindmaps series, we’re heading back to Indy (films that is). For that last two months we have screened and discussed some recent mainstream favorites. (Wall-E and The Dark Knight).
So, coming up March 13th, we’ll watch a recent Ragtag Favorite, Rachel Getting Married.
Detroit Film Reviewer, Tom Long, says it best:
“Rachel Getting Married” is simply one of the best films of the year, an edgy movie that nevertheless feels as if it’s been filmed in your neighbor’s living room….
It’s a successful experiment that leaves you with a mix of hope and despair. To the lovers, best wishes. To the lonely, our sympathies.
Racking up the awards, Dark Knight was clearly one of the best films of 2008. Join us on January 30th at 6:30 p.m. as we watch and discuss this Christopher Nolan instant classic.
Preter Travers of Rolling Stone says this about the film:
No fair giving away the mysteries of The Dark Knight. It’s enough to marvel at the way Nolan — a world-class filmmaker, be it Memento, Insomnia or The Prestige — brings pop escapism whisper-close to enduring art. It’s enough to watch Bale chillingly render Batman as a lost warrior, evoking Al Pacino in The Godfather II in his delusion and desolation. It’s enough to see Ledger conjure up the anarchy of the Sex Pistols and A Clockwork Orange as he creates a Joker for the ages. Go ahead, complain about the movie being too long, at two and a half hours, for short attention spans (it is), too somber for the Hulk crowd (it is), too smart for its own good (it isn’t). The haunting and visionary Dark Knight soars on the wings of untamed imagination. It’s full of surprises you don’t see coming. And just try to get it out of your dreams.
We’ll discuss evil and good. Order and chaos. Get in in the conversation. Still not excited? Watch the trailer below.
For December, we’ll watch one of PIXAR’s finest acheivements. Wall-E has been heralded as one of the best animation films ever made.
For this round of film viewing and discussing, we’ll look specifically at how PIXAR brings together both art for children and social commentary for all. This film truely is for all ages as it tackles some of the greatest issues we as Americans face today. Remarkably, this film speaks on such complex issues in quite simple ways, allowing young children to soak in and reflect on the pressing issues of the day.
Chris Orr of The New Republlic says this about the film:
Characteristically sharp as this second half is, though, it’s the earlier, Earthbound portion of the film that lingers, the quiet, nearly dialogue-free moments alone with WALL·E and the problematic object of his affections. That Pixar could make this ambulatory trash compactor so expressive, could convey his longing and loneliness so emphatically simply through the images reflected in his binocular lenses, is a cinematic miracle. You might have to go back the better part of a century to find a mainstream movie in which so much is conveyed with so very few words.
It would be easy to go on about the sheer visual beauty of WALL·E, which marks yet another milestone in the evolution of animation. Oscar-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins (No Country for Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) was even brought in to consult on the look of the film and offer advice on its “lighting.” But, in the end, this technical mastery is less remarkable than the humanistic ends to which it is applied.
It is an irony of Pixar’s oeuvre that its films so often feature inanimate objects (toys, cars, robots) that offer lessons in what it means to be human. But, deliberately or not, these stories appear to be refractions of a sort, retellings of the story of Pixar itself: the high-tech start-up at the cutting age of digital animation which, again and again, reminds us of the power of motion pictures–even ones about robots–that possess a vital, beating heart.
I have been to Movies and Mindmaps several times. What a great way to watch a movie! After each film there is a discussion about the themes and views to which the movie of the evening espouse.
This particular movie was cute. As always - the talking points were apt, the dicussion was thought-provoking and enjoyable and it is fun to watch a movie on a large screen, but in a setting that is almost as relaxed as my own living room (I brought a blanket, took my shoes off and put my feet up in an available chair).
During the discussion many topics were addressed. We spoke about our societies focus on the disposable and growing focus on recycling or being “green”. We addressed issues such as finding love, being genuine, and other issues regarding what is meaningful about life.
I began to look past the technical aspects of this animated film and to examine the ideas which are being promoted. I found it interesting that the movie portrayed these characters as ignorant of history and comfortable with letting machines and others “do” and “think” for them, all the while being fat and happy.
After watching this fun satire of American society, I am rethinking my lifestyle and asking where I can better make a difference in my community.
The elections are coming up soon and they have everyone talking about the big issues of today: the economy, the war, and of course, health care.
Coming up in October, we’ll be watching and discussing, SiCKO, a highly controversial documentary from 2007 directed by Michael Moore.
Moore, takes the discussion on Health Care in America to a new high (or new low, depending on your take).
As always, following the film, we’ll have a discussion. We’ll focus this time around, not just our opinion on health care, but we’ll spend equal time discussing how we have formed our opinions on health care (or any topic for that matter).
Get ready for a lively discussion. Never just watch a movie.
Be excited as next month’s film and discussion will be led by guest speaker Aarik Danielsen, writer for the Columbia Missourian. For more info about Aarik and his work, go here.
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine says this about the film:
There can be no debate about Day-Lewis. “Gargantuan” is a puny word to describe his landmark performance. Try “electrifying” or “volcanic” or anything else that sounds dangerous if you get too close. His triumph is in making us see ourselves in Plainview, no matter how much we want to turn away. Day-Lewis and Anderson — a huge talent with an uncompromising gift for language and composition — are out to batter every cliché Hollywood holds dear. There Will Be Blood hits with hurricane force. Lovers of formula and sugarcoating will hate it. Screw them. In terms of excitement, imagination and rule-busting experimentation, it’s a gusher.
Join us for another film and discussion on Friday, March 14th as we watch and discuss Sean Penn’s Into the Wild.
Here’s what one film critic, Amy Biancolli, has to say about the film:
It is not overdone; nothing in this film is overdone. Yet we realize, as we follow this tender, wounded, idealistic young man, that his voyage takes him not away from humanity but toward it. With one brutal exception, everyone he meets showers him with love: Vince Vaughn’s giddy farmer, Catherine Keener’s maternal hippie, Hal Holbrook’s soft and melancholic widower. As ever, Penn seems to direct with one hand over his heart, to feel it beating. Even the flaws in his work (most recently, 2001’s The Pledge) betray an ease with the language of suffering that can make his movies tough to watch, and not for the usual reasons. It’s the emotions that are graphic, the sorrow that draws blood.
It’s time for another edition of Movies and Mindmaps!
On Friday, January 25th, we’ll meet at 6:30 p.m. to watch The Devil Came on Horseback.
Movie Critic, Scott Foundas, says this about the film:
THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK When fresh-faced former U.S. Marine Brian Steidle traveled to Sudan in 2004, he expected to serve as an international observer to the recently announced cease fire in the troubled African country’s two-decade civil war. Instead, he found himself a witness (and ultimately a whistle-blower) to a new, even deadlier conflict just then erupting in Sudan’s Darfur region, where militias loyal to the predominately Arab government were engaged in a genocide against Darfur’s black African inhabitants. Armed only with a still camera, Steidle recorded the horrific sights that he saw, all the while the U.S. government — in an all-too-predictable case of Rwanda redux — hemmed and hawed about whether or not to intervene. Composed of grueling footage shot in the Darfur combat zone and Steidle’s plainspoken narration, directors Annie Sundeberg and Ricki Stern’s The Devil Came on Horseback offers a remarkable portrait of one man for whom “Save Darfur” became not just a slogan on a T-shirt, but a mission statement emblazoned on his soul. It is also a sickeningly effective call to action that asks how we in the most powerful nation on the planet can, even in the presence of a smoking gun, remain so loath to effect change.
I have been to Movies and Mindmaps several times. What a great way to watch a movie! After each film there is a discussion about the themes and views to which the movie of the evening espouse.
This particular movie was cute. As always - the talking points were apt, the dicussion was thought-provoking and enjoyable and it is fun to watch a movie on a large screen, but in a setting that is almost as relaxed as my own living room (I brought a blanket, took my shoes off and put my feet up in an available chair).
During the discussion many topics were addressed. We spoke about our societies focus on the disposable and growing focus on recycling or being “green”. We addressed issues such as finding love, being genuine, and other issues regarding what is meaningful about life.
I began to look past the technical aspects of this animated film and to examine the ideas which are being promoted. I found it interesting that the movie portrayed these characters as ignorant of history and comfortable with letting machines and others “do” and “think” for them, all the while being fat and happy.
After watching this fun satire of American society, I am rethinking my lifestyle and asking where I can better make a difference in my community.
Comment by Cheryl — January 30, 2009 @ 11:29 am