Saturday, March 31, 2012

Mar 30th
Fire in Babylon*
GB 2011. E&G/Hargitay & Hargitay Pictures in Motion/Cowboy Films/Passion Pictures. 87m.

Documentary charting the rise of the West Indies cricket team to world dominance during the politically explosive 1970s and 80s.
Interview-linked narrative with several insightful contributions from most of the West Indies' greatest players combined with some evocative archive footage; as a sports film, as vibrant to watch as Senna and When We Were Kings although slightly less dramatic, and lacks an outside non-West Indian voice.

Written and Directed by: Stevan Riley.
Producers: Charles Steel, John Battrek.
With Contributions by Viv Richards, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Gordon Greenidge, Clive Lloyd, Bunny Wailer, Frank I, Colin Croft, and others.
Photography: Stuart Bentley.
Music: Various.
Editing: Peter Haddon.

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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Mar 20th
Tron**
US 1982. Walt Disney. 96m. Super Panavision 70

A games designer is sucked into the world of the computer to combat a master program that is becoming too powerful for its own good.
Slick and innovatively animated (for its time) electronic fantasy, a cult-sci-fi item for its computer graphics, although its framing device is unconvincing and the humans (as programs) rather unattractively photographed.

Written and Directed by: Steven Lisberger, from a story by himself and Bonnie MacBird.
Producer: Donald Kushner.
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, Barnard Hughes, Dan Shor, Peter Jurasik, Tony Stephano.
Photography: Bruce Logan.
Music: Wendy Carlos.
Electronic Conceptual design: Syd Mead, Jean "Moebius" Giraud, Peter Lloyd.
Visual Effects Supervision: Richard Taylor, Harrison Ellenshaw.
Production Design: Dean Edward Mitzner.

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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Mar 12th
High Anxiety*
US 1977. Twentieth Century Fox/Crossbow. 94m.

The agoraphobic new head of a California asylum finds his sanity threatened.
Thriller spoof with occasional funny moments and even more occasional passing references to Hitchcock, but with little of his style or suspense.

Written by: Mel Brooks, Ron Clark, Rudy DeLuca, Barry Levinson.
Producer/Director: Mel Brooks.
Starring: Mel Brooks, Harvey Korman, Madeleine Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Ron Carey, Howard Morris, Dick Van Patten, Barry Levinson.
Photography: Paul Lohmann.
Music: John Morris.

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Sunday, March 04, 2012

Mar 4th
The Artist** (PG)
Electric Palace, Harwich#

A fading silent star is helped by a hot young talent whom he helped to get her big break.
What did it matter that the plot practically mimicked that of Singin' in the Rain? Hardly original in its concept, but with some occasional surprises such as the hero's nightmare of not being heard in a world of sound, this atmospherically made silent melodrama tribute has won over audiences and critics alike, and is a refreshing reminder of the power of silent films.

d: Michel Hazanavicius
s: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, Lucky (the dog), John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Missy Pyle, Malcolm McDowell, Ed Lauter
ph: Guillaume Schiffman

# projected in digital, using the Electric Palace's original 1911 screen

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