2004 Winter Weekly Movies!

By popular demand, weekly movie nights were no longer a summer-only phenomenon! The winter was not as successful as a typical summer, and in the future, movie nights will probably only be summer-only again. Here is a list of what we watched this summer, including foreign films, older classics, and cult films.

• Seven Beauties - This film, my own pick, was the first-ever winter movie night. I have seen three films directed by Lina Wertmuller and thought all were great, but this is my favorite. The story goes back and forth between two periods of an Italian man's life, one in which he is a petty thief shortly before WWII, the other in which he is a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. Oh, and it is a comedy - a very dark comedy! The crowd had a positive reaction to this movie, with opinions ranging from good to great.
• Wall Street - Suggested by Hen, this Oliver Stone film from the 80s starts Michael Douglas in his Academy Award winning Performance as Gordon Gekko, the business tycoon who almost convinces the audience that "greed is good". Although a bit dated, I personally like the movie, although I think opinions overall were mixed.
• Padre Padrone - My own pick, this Italian film from the Taviani brothers is based on the true story of the filmmaker's youth, growing up as slave labor to his abusive father. Everyone present liked this movie with a few people thinking it is great.
• Flowers of Shanghai - Suggested by Alex (although he had not previously seen it), this Chinese film was directed Hsiao-hsien Hou, one of the best directors of the 90s according to a Village Voice critic. The film concerns the relationship between prostitutes in Shanghai in the late 1800s and the men who use their services. Alex and a few others liked this very much, but many of us (including myself) found it boring and pointless.
• Angels in America - Suggested by Jamshid, we watched this recent made-for-HBO miniseries over two weeks. I and a few others had a generally positive opinion of it, but nobody thought it was great and many people thought it was bad. The melodrama was certainly overdone. I liked most of the acting, but several people disagreed with me there as well. The huge acclaim the film has received is certainly not deserved.
• A Big Hand for the Little Lady - My own suggestion, I remembered thinking this was great as a young kid and I still think so now! This western comedy (not everyone agreed the humor was intentional) from 1966 concerns a high stakes poker game, and most of the action of the movie is about a single hand of five card draw poker! The case includes Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, and Burgess Meredith. Most people enjoyed the movie (I think there was one exception), but not everyone thought it was actually good.
• Red versus Blue - Suggested by Dave, this movie was made by a bunch of, well, nerds (obviously) who filmed a video game and dubbed on dialogue. I agree with Dave, I think it is very funny, and a couple of other people agreed. Unfortunately though, most people present in a large crowd got bored of it after five or ten minutes.
• Gaza Strip - Suggested by Hen, this documentary shows the condition of children living in the Gaza Strip. Through interviews, we learn about their opinions, and begin to understand (if we did not already) what leads some of them to violence. Everyone agreed this documentary had a strong anti-Israeli bias, and considered it to some extent to be propaganda. Personally, I think the bias is the most interesting part of the film, as it matches the bias of the subjects. I liked the documentary overall, although I think it is far from great; some other people just found it badly made and uninteresting. (Hen and at least a couple of other people think it is great.)
• The Night of the Living Dead - I have been trying to get people to watch the original classic for years and finally decided to show it as a movie night. I think it's a fantastic horror film. We had a small crowd for this movie, and opinions ranged from fair to great, so nobody disliked it (including those who rarely like horror movies), but most people weren't crazy about it either.
• Dawn of the Dead - This is the fantastic sequel to the Night of the Living Dead, made almost a decade later. Unfortunately, we had our smallest movie night turnout ever for this movie, consisting of only me, Dave Evans, and Jay Harmon. Only I had seen this movie before. All three of us now think the movie is great.
• The Misfits - Suggested by Katie, this is a John Huston film based on a screenplay by Arthur Miller starring Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, and Eli Wallach. The plot concerns a love triangle involving its complex characters. With its impressive credentials, it is no surprise that the movie went over very well, with impressions ranging from good to great.
• Les Enfants Terrible - Suggested by Yaniv, this film, written by Jean Cocteau and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, concerns the life of a brother/sister pair and the few other people in their lives. There are many similarities with this year's Bertolucci film, The Dreamers. I think that everyone liked the film, although several of us had certain reservations about it.

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