Screening Report 1/9/25
Cinesthesia! Duck Soup! Mills Folly! An ape popstar!
Hello, and welcome back to the Horizon Line. Next week’s report will drop just before the Oscar nominations, and based on this week’s Golden Globes, SAG Awards nominations, and DGA Awards nominations, we’re seeing films which have become awards favorites continuing to roll onto our screens.
I want to make an addendum to my highlight last week - action movie Game Changer is originally filmed in Telugu, but AMC is also presenting the Hindi dub. In the case of Daaku Maharaaj, the film is only screening in Telugu.
In repertory, Madison Library’s Cinesthesia returns with David Cronenberg’s adaptation of Naked Lunch. Based on the work of William S. Burroughs and an inspiration for Luca Guadagnino’s own Burroughs adaptation Queer, the film is a cult classic adaptation of a supposedly unadaptable novel.
AMC has added another week of screenings for Se7en in IMAX! I saw the remaster this weekend, and while it’s made some headlines for the technology used in the remaster, it still looks great.
Next week, I want to highlight two screening venues. Duck Soup Cinema is presenting 1920 hidden gem Yes or No at the Overture Center with live accompaniment and post-film discussion - this is a ticketed event. In addition, Mills Folly Microcinema at the Art Lit Lab is presenting a collection of shorts from the Ann Arbor Film Festival, offering a great endorsement of new faces in Midwestern film culture. They are also collecting submissions for their upcoming April 30th exhibition of short films.
In new releases next week, I want to highlight that AMC is presenting Oscar hopeful September 5th with a Q&A, and draw extra attention to Pedro Almodovar’s first English language The Room Next Door starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore. Looking ahead, on the 23rd, we’ll see the return of UW Cinematheque starting with a free screening of awards frontrunner The Brutalist, which will also be playing at AMC that weekend. That weekend of the 24th also looks to be premiering Brave the Dark, The Colors Within, Flight Risk, and Presence, which we’ll talk more about last week.
One last note - starting next week, I’m planning to start distributing these newsletters on Wednesdays rather than Thursdays. It seems that the commercial theaters have announced all screenings for the week in time for the update to go out ahead of the UW Cinematheque weekend.
PLUG ZONE
This week I was informed of JoAnne Pow!ers show Fire Worship on WORT 89.9 FM and her segment The Wages of Cinema, which highlights screenings in a similar manner to this one. If you’re looking for updates on area screenings I might have missed, Pow!ers has been doing this segment for over a decade, so I highly recommend tuning in to her show!
In new release reviews this week, Cap Times critic Rob Thomas published a review of the Robbie Williams ape-effects biopic Better Man and Pamela Anderson vehicle The Last Showgirl, with included quotes below.
THIS WEEK (1/10/25-1/16/25)
New Releases:
-Better Man - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
“Michael Gracey depicts Williams’ life with all the restraint and subtlety that you would expect from the director of “The Greatest Showman.” Although all the shiny artifice and coked-up mania of the filmmaking style may be the perfect way to illustrate life inside the bubble of fame.” - Rob Thomas-The Last Showgirl - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
““The Last Showgirl” was clearly built around Anderson, and such star vehicles are usually an opportunity for an underappreciated actor to show off her dramatic chops. Which she does, as Shelley’s delusions about her life start to crumble, and Anderson expertly plays her rage and disappointment, and growing awareness that she may have devoted her life to the wrong things.” - Rob Thomas
-Den of Thieves 2: Pantera - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Daaku Maharaaj - AMC, 6pm 1/11 and 1/12 at Marcus Point
-Game Changer (Telugu) - AMC, Marcus Point
-Game Changer (Hindi) - AMC
-Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare (1/13-1/15) - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-A Complete Unknown - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Babygirl - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Moana 2 - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Mufasa: The Lion King - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Nosferatu - 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
-The Damned - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-The Count of Monte Cristo - AMC
-The Fire Inside - AMC
-Flow - AMC
-From Ground Zero - AMC
-Gladiator II - AMC, Flix Brewhouse
-Homestead - AMC
-Kraven the Hunter - AMC
Repertory:
-Labyrinth: 1/11 10:30am and 7pm at Flix Brewhouse, 1/12 6pm at Flix Brewhouse
-Paprika - 1/12 4:30pm with subtitles at AMC
-Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: 1/14 7pm at Flix Brewhouse
-Naked Lunch: 1/15 6:30pm at Madison Central Library
-Se7en - AMC
NEXT WEEK (1/17/25-1/23/25)
New Releases:
Autumn and the Black Jaguar - AMC
Marked Men: Rule & Shaw - Marcus Point
One of Them Days - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
Pay Dirt: The Story of Supercross - 7:30p 1/22 at Marcus Palace
The Room Next Door - AMC
September 5 - AMC (with pre-recorded Q&A)
Wolf Man - AMC, Flix Brewhouse
The Brutalist - 1/23 7pm at UW Cinematheque, 1/23 6pm at AMC
Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour - 7pm 1/22 at the Art Lit Lab
Better Man - AMC
Repertory:
Almost Famous - 6p 1/18 at Flix Brewhouse
Yes or No - 2p, 7p 1/18 at the Overture Center
The Goonies (1/19-1/20) - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
Mamma Mia - 11:15a 1/19 at Flix Brewhouse
Little Shop of Horrors - 6:30p 1/21 at Flix Brewhouse
Talk To Me - 7p 1/22 at AMC
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