vision2020
Re: This week at the Kenworthy
Pam Palmer wrote:
> Reviews of this week's films below!
>
> WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 7:00 pm
> "Pulp Fiction", rated R (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
>
> Pulp Fiction is film three of the "Philosophy in Film Series," organized by
> Joseph Keim Campbell, and is FREE TO ALL WSU AND UI STUDENTS with ID cards
> (All others $4): The film will be hosted by Gail J. Stearns, Director of
> The Common Ministry at WSU. Dr. Stearns will give a brief introduction to
> the film and lead a discussion of the film after it is completed.
>
> FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16 & 17, 6:30 and 8:45 PM
> Singing in the Rain, not rated ($4 Adults, $2 Children 12 & under)
>
> Other movies coming to the Kenworthy:
>
> Hard Days Night, rated G
> Friday, Feb. 23 & Saturday, Feb. 24
> 6:30 and 8:30 PM
>
> (Show times for the following movies will be announced soon)
>
> Godfather 2 (March 2 - 3)
>
> Delicatessin (March 10)
>
> Boesman and Lena (March 16 - 17)
>
> The Searchers (March 28)
>
> Chocolat (March 30 - 31)
> *************************
>
> Pulp Fiction (1994) REVIEW:
>
> Excerpted from a review By Roger Ebert
> Chicago Sun Times - Date of publication: 10/14/1994
>
> Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Running time: 154 minutes.
> Classified R (for strong graphic violence and drug use, pervasive strong
> language and some sexuality).
> Plot Outline: The stories of two mob hit men, a boxer and a pair of diner
> bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.
>
> John Travolta stars as Vincent Vega, a mid-level hit man who
> carries out assignments for a mob boss. We see him first with
> his partner Jules (Samuel L. Jackson); they're on their way to a
> violent showdown with some wayward Yuppie drug dealers,
> and are discussing such mysteries as why in Paris they have a
> French word for Quarter Pounders. They're as innocent in their
> way as Huck and Jim, floating down the Mississippi and
> speculating on how foreigners can possibly understand each
> other.
>
> Travolta's career is a series of assignments he can't quite
> handle. Not only does he kill people inadvertently ("The car hit
> a bump!") but he doesn't know how to clean up after himself.
> Good thing he knows people like Mr. Wolf (Harvey Keitel),
> who specializes in messes, and has friends like the character
> played by Eric Stoltz, who owns a big medical encyclopedia,
> and can look up emergency situations.
>
> Travolta and Uma Thurman have a sequence that's funny and
> bizarre. She's the wife of the mob boss (Ving Rhames), who
> orders Travolta to take her out for the night. He turns up stoned,
> and addresses an intercom with such grave, stately courtesy
> Buster Keaton would have been envious. They go to Jack Rabbit
> Slim's, a 1950s theme restaurant where Ed Sullivan is the
> emcee, Buddy Holly is the waiter, and they end up in a twist
> contest. That's before she overdoses and Stoltz, waving a
> syringe filled with adrenaline, screams at Travolta, "YOU
> brought her here, YOU stick in the needle! When I bring an O.D.
> to YOUR house, I'LL stick in the needle!"
>
> Bruce Willis and Maria de Medeiros play another couple: He's
> a boxer named Butch Coolidge who is supposed to throw a
> fight, but doesn't. She's his sweet, naive girlfriend, who doesn't
> understand why they have to get out of town "right away." But
> first he needs to make a dangerous trip back to his apartment to
> pick up a priceless family heirloom - a wristwatch. The history
> of this watch is described in a flashback, as Vietnam veteran
> Christopher Walken tells young Butch about how the watch was
> purchased by his great-grandfather, "Private Doughboy Orion
> Coolidge," and has come down through the generations - and
> through a lot more than generations, for that matter. Walken's
> monologue builds to the movie's biggest laugh.
>
> The method of the movie is to involve its characters in sticky
> situations, and then let them escape into stickier ones, which is
> how the boxer and the mob boss end up together as the captives
> of weird leather freaks in the basement of a gun shop. Or how
> the characters who open the movie, a couple of stick-up artists
> played by Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer, get in way over their
> heads. Most of the action in the movie comes under the heading
> of crisis control.
> ****************************
>
> Singin' In The Rain (1952) REVIEW:
>
> Excerpted from http://www.filmsite.org/sing.html go there for full review
> by Tim Dirks
>
> Singin' in the Rain (1952) is one of the most-loved and celebrated
> film musicals of all time from MGM, before a mass exodus to filmed
> adaptations of Broadway plays emerged as a standard pattern. The joyous
> film, co-directed by Stanley Donen and star Gene Kelly, is a charming and
> thoroughly enjoyable experience with great songs, dances, casting and
> story. It was produced during MGM studios' creative pinnacle during the
> 1940s and 1950s. The creative forces at the studio in the Freed Unit -
> composed of producer Arthur Freed, Vincente Minnelli, Stanley Donen, and
> actor/choreographer Gene Kelly - collaborated together to produce such gems
> as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), On the Town (1949), An American in Paris
> (1951), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and Gigi (1958). This film
> was another extraordinary example of the organic, 'integrated musical' in
> which the story's characters naturally express their emotions in the midst
> of their lives. Song and dance replace the dialogue, usually during moments
> of high spirits or passionate romance.
>
> The colorful, witty film is set in 1927 - it humorously satirizes and
> parodies the panic surrounding the troubling transitional period from
> silents to talkies in Hollywood of the late 1920s as the sound revolution
> swept through. The plot of the film is about a dashing romantic silent film
> star (Don Lockwood) and his blonde screen partner (Lina Lamont) who are
> pressured by the studio boss to make a sound picture, The Dueling Cavalier.
> There's one serious problem, however - the female star has a shrill,
> screechy New York accent. The star's ex-song-and-dance partner (Cosmo)
> proposes to turn the doomed film into a musical, and suggests that Don's
> aspiring actress/girlfriend (Kathy Selden) dub in her singing voice behind
> the scenes. The results of their scheming provide the film's expected happy
> resolution.
>
> Surprisingly, this great film was basically ignored by film critics
> when released. It received only two Academy Award nominations - Best
> Supporting Actress (Jean Hagen), and Best Musical Score and didn't win any
> awards. Now, it is often chosen as one of the all-time top ten American
> films, and generally considered Hollywood's greatest musical.
>
> * * * * * * * * *
> Please e-mail me at ppalmer@moscow.com if you know of someone who wishes to
> receive notice of the movie schedules and other Kenworthy events on a
> regular basis.
> Thank you!
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> PAMELA PALMER ppalmer@moscow.com
>
> Events Committee
> Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre
> P.O. Box 8126
> Moscow, ID 83843
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
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