Screening Report 1/22/2025
The Return of UW Cinematheque, WUD Film, and more!
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Horizon Line Madison. This week marks a wonderful occasion for Madison film fans - the return of UW Cinematheque and WUD Film, whose screenings are free and open to the public in high-quality theaters right in the middle of downtown. I used to be a member of WUD Film almost a decade ago now, and I really think the university’s film programming is a jewel unlike any I’ve heard of in any other city.
In new releases, obviously The Brutalist has received a lot of attention (and a little controversy) already, so I want to highlight other new films. Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, his reunion with Secrets & Lies star Marianne Jean-Baptiste, has been added to AMC’s schedule this week, and the master director of Naked, Topsy-Turvy, and Happy-Go-Lucky represents the absolute greatest in English cinema. Another master, Ocean’s Eleven and Erin Brockovich director Steven Soderbergh, returns to theaters with his first ever horror film, Presence, a haunted house story told from the perspective of the ghost.
By comparison, Naoko Yamada, anime director of series K-On! and films A Silent Voice and Liz & The Blue Bird, is a relative newcomer, but her film The Colors Within has been raved as one of the best animated films of the year. Lastly, I want to make a note of the return of the MMOCA Cinema series on 1/29, starting with Brazilian documentary The Falling Sky and continuing on 2/5 with Hong Sang Soo’s A Traveler’s Needs. These are films that will likely not play anywhere else in Madison, and may even miss traditional streaming platforms entirely, so see them while you can!
In repertory, UW Cinematheque is getting the ball rolling with Tarsem Singh’s fantastical 2006 Lee Pace film The Fall, renowned for its gorgeous imagery created in conjunction with Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and Bram Stoker’s Dracula artist Eiko Ishioka. They continue on Saturday with Paul Newman hockey comedy Slap Shot, a widely regarded “guy movie” cult classic also starring a young Michael Ontkean (Sheriff Truman in Twin Peaks) and legendary character actor M. Emmet Walsh. Shortly after Slap Shot wraps up, WUD Film will be exhibiting Jim Henson cult classic The Dark Crystal, a film maybe best known for scarring Muppet-loving youngsters with its wild creature effects. Sunday, you can find Cinematheque at the Chazen Museum of Art, showing Robert Bresson classic Pickpocket, widely considered one of the best films of all time and a fairly accessible crime procedural for those otherwise scared of international cinema.
The next week, Cinematheque has another full program with renowned international film All We Imagine As Light, French thriller classic The Wages of Fear, and
Czech dark comedy Murdering the Devil. But of special note that week is the heavy programming at the Bartell Theater right near the Capitol - though they play films infrequently, they’ll be showing John Belushi classic Animal House, John Waters’ infamous and “disgusting” Pink Flamingos, Marvel luminary Black Panther, and Steven Spielberg sci-fi epic Close Encounters of the Third Kind from Thursday to Saturday. It’s a busy week with too many great choices, so start making your plans early!
Lastly, looking far ahead at that second weekend of February, we’ll see (among other screenings) the Madison debuts of gonzo action comedy Love Hurts, silly slasher Heart Eyes, Brazil’s critical darling I’m Still Here, Midwest crime fiasco thriller Dead Mail at UW Cinematheque, and a killer double-header of Sorcerer and Seven Samurai at 4070 Vilas.
PLUG ZONE
I wrote a short memorial for David Lynch, whose scene in The Fabelmans inspired the name “The Horizon Line.” Thank you to everyone who’s celebrated his life this past week.
Our friends at Tone Madison wrote a wonderful year in film review for 2024, and I’m not just saying that out of gratitude for the shout-out.
THIS WEEK (1/23/2025-1/29/2025)
New Releases:
-Brave the Dark - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-The Brutalist - 7pm 1/23 at UW Cinematheque, AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Flight Risk - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Presence - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-The Colors Within - AMC, Marcus Point
-Hard Truths - AMC
-Inheritance - AMC
-Sky Force - AMC
-Marked Men: Rule & Shaw - 7:30p 1/23 at Marcus Point
-Between Borders (1/26-1/28): Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force - 7pm 1/29 at AMC
-The Falling Sky: 7p 1/29 at MMOCA
-A Complete Unknown - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace Flix Brewhouse
-Den of Thieves 2: Pantera - AMC, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Moana 2 - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Mufasa: The Lion King - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Nickel Boys - AMC, Marcus Point, Flix Brewhouse
-Nosferatu - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-One Of Them Days - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Wicked - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace Flix Brewhouse
-Wolf Man - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Babygirl - AMC, Flix Brewhouse
-Conclave - AMC
-Dune Part Two - 7:30p 1/24 at The Marquee Union South, 6p 1/25 at The Marquee Union South, AMC
-Flow - AMC
-Kraven the Hunter - AMC
-The Room Next Door - AMC
-Sing Sing - AMC
-Anora - 5:30pm 1/23 at AMC, 1010pm 1/24 at AMC
-The Substance - 2:10pm 1/23 at AMC, 5:20pm 1/25 at AMC
-Pay Dirt: The Story of Supercross - 7:30p 1/27 at Marcus Palace
Repertory:
-Smokey and the Bandit - 7p 1/23 at Flix Brewhouse
-The Fall - 7p 1/24 at UW Cinematheque
-Kung Fu Panda 4 (1/24-1/26) - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-La La Land - 6:45p and 7:30p 1/25 at Flix Brewhouse
-Slap Shot - 7p 1/25 at UW Cinematheque
-The Dark Crystal - 9:30p 1/25 at The Marquee Union South
-Pickpocket - 2p 1/26 at the Chazen Museum
-Singin in the Rain - 11a and 2p 1/26 at Flix Brewhouse
-Dirty Dancing - 5p and 7p 1/28 at Flix Brewhouse
-Major League - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
NEXT WEEK (1/30/2025-2/5/2025)
New Releases:
-All We Imagine As Light - 7pm 1/30 at UW Cinematheque
-A Traveler’s Needs - 7pm 2/5 at MMOCA
-Companion - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Dog Man - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Love Me - AMC
-Valiant One - AMC
-Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force - Marcus Point
Repertory:
-National Lampoon’s Animal House - 8pm 1/30 at Bartell Theater
-Pink Flamingos - 8pm 1/31 at Bartell Theater
-The Wages of Fear - 7pm 1/31 at UW Cinematheque
-Black Panther - 2:30pm 2/1 at Bartell Theater
-Close Encounters of the Third Kind - 6:30pm 2/1 at Bartell Theater
-Murdering the Devil - 7pm 2/1 at UW Cinematheque
-Clueless - 6pm 2/1 at Flix Brewhouse
-Wayne’s World - 6:45pm 2/4 at Flix Brewhouse
-Hellraiser - 7pm 2/5-2/6 at Flix Brewhouse