I was surprised. After booking it with a ho-hum expectation (which is how it performed at the box office) I ended up watching Miss Potter twice. So did many other folks last weekend. Everyone coming out really seemed surprised and delighted. I didn’t hear any bad comments what-so-ever. Of course many who dislike a show keep that to themselves as they rush out the door privately fuming that they “spent five whole dollars on that!”

In the films, Beatrix (may I be so bold as to use her given name?) explains that although there may be more profit in developing her land, surely there’s more value in farming it. And opting for, perhaps, more value than profit on the one screen this coming weekend we decided to hold over Miss Potter so those who missed Potter could have another opportunity to enjoy the beautiful Isle of Man scenery, the magic and the sweetness of Beatrix Potter’s story.

I highly recommend it to all Bennett Street Films members. For what that’s worth.

It looks like I’ve not explained on this site any sort of followup to the news about the 2007 mini-movie mixer. As you may or may not know, it did not happen. Not even close.We had, wait, let me count them…uhm…one…Yes. We had precisely one entrant to the mini-movie mixer. Complete and utter failure to ‘get the word out’, I’d say. I think we’ll set up a future Mixer and have a real long call for entries and send out a reminder every so often.Or something.

(unrated, 101 Minutes, Turkey/France)

Sun, April 22 at 1:30
Mon, April 23 at 6:30

Synopsis (watch trailer here):

Winner of the prestigious Fipresci Award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, CLIMATES is internationally acclaimed writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s sublime follow-up to his Cannes multi-award winner DISTANT. Beautifully drawn and meticulously observed, the film vividly recalls the cinema of Italian master Michelangelo Antonioni with its poetic use of landscape and the incisive, exquisitely visual rendering of loneliness, loss and the often-elusive nature of happiness.

During a sweltering summer vacation on the Aegean coast, the relationship between middle-aged professor Isa (played by Ceylan himself) and his younger, television producer girlfriend Bahar (the luminous Ebru Ceylan, Ceylan’s real-life wife) brutally implodes. Back in Istanbul that fall, Isa rekindles a torrid affair with a previous lover. But when he learns that Bahar has left the city for a job in the snowy East, he follows her there to win her back.

Boasting subtly powerful performances, heart-stoppingly stunning cinematography (Ceylan’s first work in high definition) and densely textured sound design, CLIMATES is the Turkish filmmaker’s most gorgeous rumination yet on the fragility and complexity of human relationships.

(unrated, 106 Minutes, Iraq/English)

Sun, April 15, 2007 at 1:30
Mon, April 16, 2007 at 6:30

Synopsis:

Shadow Distribution is proud to present the US theatrical release of THE SITUATION, a film by Philip Haas, starring Connie Nielsen (GLADIATOR, BROTHERS), Damian Lewis (KEANE, BAND OF BROTHERS), and Mido Hamada.

Combining elements of thriller, romance, and war movie, THE SITUATION, set exclusively in Iraq and the first U.S. feature film to deal with the occupation, dramatizes one of the countless human stories that lie behind the headlines of the current war. When a group of American soldiers throw an Iraqi boy off a bridge in Samarra, the incident sets off a chain of events that exposes the deep rifts among the Iraqis in Samarra and results in yet another cycle of violence between the insurgents and the corrupt Iraqi police.

Anna (Connie Nielsen) is an American journalist who decides to write a story about the assassination of an Iraqi leader whom she admires. At the same time, she is pulling away from a relationship with Dan (Damian Lewis), an American intelligence official who thinks the war can be won with hearts and minds, and towards Zaid (Mido Hamada), a young Iraqi photographer who shows her there are people, rather than sides, in the conflict. As she tries to make sense of the half-truths of Iraq, she gets caught up in the violence and finds her life in danger.

There seems to be some confusion about dates for upcoming movies. That’s understandable, given the way I’ve added titles mid-way.

Here’s the deal:

Notes On A Scandal will run at the theater from March 22 through March 25. Bennett Street Films will buy members’ tickets to this show (one ticket per membership, please).

The Last King of Scotland will run at the theater from March 29 through April 1. Bennett Street Films will buy members’ tickets to this show as well (one ticket per membership, please).

March 25 at 1:30 & March 26 at 6:30 will have an unannounced super-ultra-sekrit-show. Show up and find out what it is! Probably a video. A really funny movie. That’s all I’m saying! What suspense! Then…

I’m going to take a little break from these extra shows and skip a few weekends. There are some other things I need to take care of. Then…

The Situation will play on April 15 & 16.

Climates will play on April 22 & 23.

I took it as a challenge when Mark Morford wrote the following:

So then. Here is this point of pride. Here is this semi-elitist notion and I say this without fear of sounding overly pompous or egotistical because, believe you me, I have surely enjoyed plenty of other time-wasting activities about which I can be cheerfully mortified.

But at least I have this: I now can honestly say I have not seen a single one of the films listed in “Worst of the Worst: The 100 Worst-Reviewed Movies of All Time.” Is this not a good thing? Is this not something worthy of moderate celebration? Because it certainly feels like it.

He’s writing, of course, about the WOTW over at rotten tomatoes. I, unfortunately, have seen several of these pictures. But hey, I work at a movie theater. I had to! At least that’s my excuse!

Many of these movies did quite well at the box office. I don’t just mean the box office in Buffalo. I mean nationally. But in Buffalo too. Why is it that critics and audience so rarely agree?

Another thought: I need to set up a better database so I can have quick access to our ticket sales. It would be fun to look at the titles from this WOTW that we showed and see how they did compared to our best and to our worst. Fun. Okay. I gotta get another hobby…

Brave New Films is on the edge of something. I’m not a fan of all they produce, some of it is too rushed. And I have other complaints. Some of their stuff is certainly well worth watching. But they are not a movie studio. Nor are they some joker with a webcam and YouTube account. They are somewhere between the two. (Check out Brave New Theaters for even more interesting changes they’re trying to make in the movie world.) Much of what they’ve made in the past year has been as close to democratic movie making as possible. They blur the line between audience and source. Just as YouTube and the web in general has, Brave New Films has blurred the line between content provider and content consumer.

One of their new projects is the Iraq Veterans Memorial.

In the spirit evident in other Brave New Films this is a “moving memorial”, open to input, even video footage, or especially video footage, and other contributions from the general public. Visit their website to learn more.

10,495 voters over at imdb.com and this film gets a 7.8 out of a possible 10. I don’t know if there’s a connection or not, but the first “plot keyword” listed is cleavage. Uh huh.

Of course they summarize the user comments with:

“Wonderful, warm and touching.”

That’s certainly why I want to see the film!

Whatever the reason, I’m sure this is going to be a great film. It is playing Sunday at 1:30 and Monday at 6:30. That would be March 18 & 19.

Curse of the Golden Flower
(Action/Adventure, 114 Min., Rated R)
Feb. 25 at 1:30
Feb. 26 at 6:30
In 2004, Zhang Yimou caused a sensation with his astonishing HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, and his CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER is yet another dazzling, visually stunning film. Calling again upon the talents of the striking Gong Li, Yimou tells an epic tale of lust and power set in the opulent world of the Later Tang dynasty. The plot follows the story of the Emperor (Chow Yun Fat) and his Empress (Li) and the tragic disintegration of their royal family–whose problems go far beyond the merely dysfunctional.

Children of Men
(Drama/Sci-Fi, 109 Min., Rated R)
March 4 at 1:30
March 5 at 6:30
In 2027, as humankind faces the likelihood of its own extinction, a disillusioned government agent agrees to help transport and protect a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea where her child’s birth may help scientists to save the future of mankind.

The Painted Veil
(Drama/Romance, 125 Min., PG-13)
March 11 at 1:30
March 12 at 6:30
Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil is a love story set in the 1920s about a young English couple, Walter (Edward Norton), and Kitty (Naomi Watts), who get married for the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai, where she falls in love with someone else. When he uncovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China ravaged by a deadly epidemic, and takes her along.

Volver
(Comedy/Drama, 121 Min., Rated R)
March 18 at 1:30
March 19 at 6:30
Raimunda lives in Madrid with her daughter and her husband who is always drunk. Her sister is separated and works clandestinely as a hairstylist for women. The two sisters lost their parents in a fire in La Mancha, their birth village, years ago. Their aunt still lives in the village and continues to speak about Raimunda’s mother as if she were still alive. When the old aunt dies the situation changes and the past returns (volver) in a twist of mystery and suspense.