“Money is just like women and popcorn: the more you get the more you want.”
Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in GIRL CRAZY is currently available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive. Ordering info can be found HERE
Mickey Rooney. Judy Garland. Gershwin music. And Tommy Dorsey to play it. Who could ask for anything more? From Garland’s rendition of “But Not for Me” to the grand finale of “I Got Rhythm,” Girl Crazy is one of the most buoyant tunefests ever put on-screen. Rich kid Danny Churchill (Rooney) has a taste for wine, women and song, but not for higher education. So his father ships him to an all-male college out West where there’s not supposed to be a female for miles. But before Danny arrives, he spies a pair of legs extending out from under a stalled roadster. They belong to the dean’s granddaughter, Ginger Gray (Garland), who is more interested in keeping the financially strapped college open than falling for Danny’s romantic line. At least at first.
Special Features: Introduction by Mickey Rooney(HD); Commentary by Film historian John Fricke; Comedy Short “Hollywood Daredevils” ; Vintage Cartoon “The Early Bird Dood It” ; “I Got Rhythm” Stereo Remix Version (HD); Audio Only Bonus “Bronco Busters” Outtake; Theatrical Trailer (HD)
“Americans live on ketchup and milk. I’m a whiz at geography.”
Cinema St. Louis’ 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festivalruns July 17-23, 2020. Individual tickets are $10 for general admission, $8 for Cinema St. Louis members and students with valid and current photo IDs. All-access passes are available for $25, $20 for CSL members. Ticket and Pass Purchaseinformation can be found HERE. Regrettably, streaming rights to most of the films Cinema St. Louis planned to feature at the 2020 Robert Classic French Film Festival were not available to them. But they are pleased that they’re able to offer a trio of works from the original lineup: Marguerite Duras’ rarely seen “India Song”; a new restoration of Jacqueline Audry’s “Olivia”; and René Clément’s “Rider on the Rain,” which is part of their year-long Golden Anniversaries programming that features films from 1970. All films are in French with English subtitles.
Tom Stockman, editor of the We Are Movie Geeks website. will be hosting the 1970 thriller RIDER ON THE RAIN
In the 1970 French noir RIDER ON THE RAIN from director René Clément, Charles Bronson played Harry Dobbs, an undercover US Army Colonel in France trying to track down an escaped sex maniac. Marlene Jobert played a rape victim who manages to kill her attacker and, in a panic, disposes of the corpse. What follows is a tense cat-and-mouse scenario between these two full of humor and style. Wearing a mischievous smile throughout RIDER ON THE RAIN, Bronson manages an odd suggestion of sadism and romance, a mysterious figure that enhances the mystery. A suspenser in the Hitchcock mold, RIDER ON THE RAIN won the Golden Globe award in 1970 as Best Foreign Film and was an breakthrough film in Charles Bronson’s career – it was a enormous success all over the world (except the U.S.) and was his first hit where he carried the lead after gaining fame in the ensemble action films. In the French language version of RIDER ON THE RAIN, Bronson’s voice is dubbed while in the English version, everyone’s voice except Bronson’s is dubbed. I prefer the English version. Note the American RIDER ON THE RAIN movie poster with a shirtless Bronson manhandling Ms Jobert. It’s one of my very favorite Bronson posters even though there’s no scene in the movie remotely like it. Artist Basil Gogos, best known for his many covers of ‘Famous Monsters of Filmland’ magazine, did this painting. I had Gogos autograph my poster and he recalled that Bronson refused to sign off on the image until he went back in and added more veins in his muscles.
René Clément — the legendary director of “Forbidden Games” and “Purple Noon” — delivers a stylish thriller starring screen legend Charles Bronson. When a beautiful young woman (Marlène Jobert) in the South of France is stalked and then assaulted by a mysterious masked assailant, she kills the man in self-defense and, in a moment of misjudgment, dumps his corpse over a cliff into the sea instead of calling the police. Trying to return to her life before the attack, her world is turned upside down when an American investigator (Bronson) shows up and, to her horror, seems to know everything about what she has done. “Rider on the Rain” is presented in the 118-minute French-language cut. With an introduction and post-film discussion by Tom Stockman, editor of the We Are Movie Geeks website.
The other film in the Classic French Film Festival are:
Olivia
Jacqueline Audry, 1951, 96 min., B&W, new restoration
A remarkable work by Jacqueline Audry (1908-77), one of France’s groundbreaking female filmmakers, “Olivia” deserves rediscovery after being neglected for almost 70 years. Plunging the viewer — and the main character — into a true lion’s den, Audry depicts a 19th-century boarding school for young girls. The two mistresses of the house, Miss Julie (Edwige Feuillere) and Miss Cara (Simone Simon), are engaged in a turf war — and a war of the heart. Competing for the affections of their students, they rouse passion, hatred, and unexpected reversals of loyalties. Although “Olivia” does not address female homosexuality directly, the film sensitively explores the students’ discovery of love and attraction. With an introduction and post-film discussion by Cait Lore, film critic for Cinema St. Louis’ The Lens.
India Song
Marguerite Duras, 1975, 120 min., color
Associated with both the nouveau roman literary and the Left Bank film movements, Marguerite Duras was a versatile polymath who worked as a novelist, playwright, essayist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and film director. From a cinematic perspective, Duras’ best-known work is her screenplay for Alain Resnais’ “Hiroshima, mon amour,” but she also directed more than a dozen of her own features. Because Duras’ films remain difficult to access in the U.S., the Classic French Film Festival is especially pleased to offer what many consider her masterpiece, “India Song.” Based on an unproduced play that adapted her novel “Le Vice-consul,” the film chronicles the discontent of the wife (Delphine Seyrig) of the French ambassador in 1930s India. Bored with her oppressive lifestyle, she compulsively sleeps with a series of men but refuses the advances of the entranced vice-consul of Lahore (Michael Lonsdale). With an introduction and post-film discussion by Jean-Louis Pautrot, professor of French and international studies at Saint Louis University.
Read Stephen Tronicek’s WAMG review of YOU DON’T NOMI HERE
RLJE Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, is releasing the acclaimed documentary YOU DON’T NOMI on July 21, 2020. The feature screenwriting and directorial debut of Jeffrey McHale, YOU DON’T NOMI is available on DVD for an SRP of $27.97 and on Blu-ray for an SRP of $28.97.
Now you can win the Win the YOU DON’T NOMI. We Are Movie Geeks has four copies to give away. Just leave a comment below telling us what your favorite movie directed by Paul Verhoven. (mine’s ROBOCOP. It’s so easy!)
1. YOU MUST BE A US RESIDENT. PRIZE WILL ONLY BE SHIPPED TO US ADDRESSES. NO P.O. BOXES. NO DUPLICATE ADDRESSES.
2. WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN FROM ALL QUALIFYING ENTRIES.
In YOU DONT NOMI, a chorus of film critics and fervent devotees explore the complicated afterlife of 1995s biggest film flop, Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls, from disastrous release to cult adoration and extraordinary redemption. The films features Adam Nayman (Vice Guide to Film), April Kidwell (I, Nomi) and Peaches Christ (Milk). Check out the trailer:
” Oh, my God. It’s a… it’s a sarcophagus. Buried at the base of Anubis. He must have been someone of great importance. Or he did something *very* naughty.”
he Skyview Drive-in in Belleville (5700 N Belt W, Belleville, IL 62226) will be showing THE MUMMY (1999) Double Feature With THE MUMMY RETURNS (2001) beginning July 17th. The Skyview’s site can be found HERE . The other screen at the Skyview will be showing Jurassic Park and JAWS
WHAT WE FOUND is a coming of age mystery/thriller releasing on August 4th from Freestyle Digital Media. Written and directed by Ben Hickernell, this crime thriller stars Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), James Ransone (It Chapter Two, Sinister), Brandon Larracuente (13 Reasons Why, Bloodline), Yetide Badaki (American Gods), and more.
Available on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, YouTube Movies, Cable and Satellite On Demand on August 4th!
A group of friends are starting their freshmen year at a tough public high school when their friend Cassie disappears in West Baltimore. With the police unable, or unwilling, to find her, the young friends take it upon themselves to find out what happened her, undertaking a harrowing journey that will change them all.
Vertical Entertainment is proud to present YES, GOD, YES, the semi-autobiographical debut from filmmaker Karen Maine, co-writer of OBVIOUS CHILD. YES, GOD, YES is a fresh, fun look at what solo explorations of sexuality can look like for a girl in the Midwest. Featuring a talented roster of young actors and comedy veterans, toplined by the enormously appealing Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things), the film premiered at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival, where it was awarded a Special Jury Prize for Best Ensemble. Vertical Entertainment will premiere the film in Virtual Cinemas and select drive-ins on Friday, July 24, and the film will launch on digital and VOD platforms on Tuesday, July 28.
In the Midwest in the early 00s, sixteen-year-old Alice (Natalia Dyer) has always been a good Catholic girl. But when an AOL chat turns racy, she discovers masturbation and becomes guilt-ridden. Seeking redemption, she attends a mysterious religious retreat to try and suppress her urges, but it isn’t easy, especially after a cute boy (Wolfgang Novogratz) starts flirting with her. Alice’s sense of shame is spiraling when she uncovers a shocking truth about the retreat’s most devout. Desperate and confused, she flees and meets an unlikely ally (Susan Blackwell) who offers an alternative view of what it means to be good. For the first time, Alice realizes she can decide for herself what to believe and finally gets the release she needs. Here’s the trailer for YES, GOD, YES:
Interview conducted by Tom Stockman
Tom Stockman: Congratulations on your film YES, GOD, YES. I really enjoyed it. appreciated that it was and short. That’s good for a comedy.
Karen Maine: Thanks! I was pretty nervous at first with how short our final cut turned out to be, but my editor Jennifer Lee and I realized adding anything back in would just slow it down. We had the perfect cut and we didn’t want to make it longer just to make it longer.
TS: What filmmakers do you do you admire?
KM: I’m a big fan of Nora Ephron. I also really like Deniz Gamze Ergüven. She did a film in 2015 called MUSTANG, a coming-of-age film that was really good.
TS: YES, GOD, YES is your first feature film, correct?
KM: It is the first feature film that I directed and wrote. I did co-write the film OBVIOUS CHILD in 2014 that was based on a short film that I also co-wrote.
TS: Was OBVIOUS CHILD autobiographical?
KM: It was written by a group of four girls over a long length of time, and it wasn’t autobiographical to any one of us in particular, but it was influenced by women we each knew. We’d watched movies like KNOCKED UP and JUNO, and didn’t see the women we knew depicted in these films. It felt like the pregnancies were being used for plot devices. So we decided to make a film where a woman chooses to have an abortion but the film still has all the makings of an entertaining romantic comedy.
TS: OBVIOUS CHILD played here, but I didn’t see it. Did it get blowback from pro-life groups?
KM: I’m sure it did, but because it’s an indie film, I don’t think it reached too many pro-life groups. There were a few negative articles, for sure, but overall the response was largely very positive
TS: And then you made the short called YES, GOD, YES.
KM: Correct, I had actually written the screenplay for the feature of YES, GOD, YES before we made the short. I initially wanted to find someone else to direct it, because I never saw myself as a director. I had a filmmaker friend who I sent the script to, and she told me that I should direct it since it was based on my own life (YES, GOD, YES is much more autobiographical.) So we decided to first make it as a short and see how it turned out and it went really well.
TS: So then the short became a tool for getting funding for the future?
KM: Yes, and also to prove that I was capable of directing.
TS: Had Natalia Dyer just come off of Stranger Things?
KM: Yes, the show’s first season had premiered just a week or so before we shot the short and was just becoming a hit as we were shooting the film. I have been a fan of hers for a long time, since I had seen her in I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS. One of our producers had her email address, and sent her a cold email, and we cast her two days before we started shooting.
TS: I imagine her fame will help you in marketing your film. Everybody watches that show. Exactly how autobiographical is YES, GOD, YES?
KM: Well not 100% but I did base it mostly on my life growing up in Iowa and going to Catholic school for 15 years. We were taught the same curriculum as Alice is taught in the film. We were told not to have sex before marriage. Our sex education consisted mostly of graphic slides of STDs and a graphic partial birth abortion video, but we had no actual useful sex education. When you are a teenager, you’re discovering your body and I wanted to approach that from a young woman’s perspective. The focus is not the classic coming-of-age story. It’s not about losing your virginity, but about discovering yourself long before those partnered experiences. The religious retreat that she goes on is a very real retreat, but I changed the name. Although anyone who’s been on it will recognize it right away.
TS: I can remember a couple going to a couple of those religious camps in the mid-70s. There was some “Jesus time“ but I recall playing sports and riding horses and being outdoors. It was a very pleasant experience as I remember. The dialogue is real and clever in your film. I liked the story about the young woman discovering her sexuality by rewinding the sex scene from TITANIC over and over. Where did that dialogue come from?
KM: That’s all from my childhood growing up in Des Moines in the late 90s. The Internet was a thing then, but nothing like it is now. I had such a sheltered upbringing that the only things I could piece together about sex were from family-friendly films like TITANIC and AOL chat rooms, so to me, watching the sex scene in TITANIC seemed very scandalous. When you’re that age you’re intrigued and you want to see more but there wasn’t as much easily accessible information.
TS: My daughter attends Drake University in Des Moinesand on the drive up there from St. Louis you see billboard after billboard promoting the pro-life position. It’s makes for a boring drive.
KM: Yes and there has been much legislation just over the last few years in Iowa that has shut down most of the abortion clinics, which is awful and such. But I remember seeing those billboards all over the state growing up. There’s even the occasional one in Brooklyn, where I live now.
TS: So describe your journey with faith and religious guilt?
KM: Growing up, everyone I knew was Christian or Catholic and conservative so it was hard to understand that there were other perspectives out there. Even when I was 18, I had a class with a teacher who told us that if we were gay we were going to hell. Fortunately I had friends who stood up to that teacher. That was the first time I realized that you could challenge someone’s teachings. From that point on I became less of a rule-follower. After I graduated from high school, I moved to Chicago, and then New York. I’ve been an atheist, probably just as a response to the intensity of my own upbringing. I am more open-minded now. My husband is Jewish and we celebrate Jewish holidays together. I like aspects of Judaism because they are so open to debate and it seems much more scholarly which is much more appealing to me .
TS: Did you study filmmaking or writing in college?
KM: I went to The New School in New York where I studied creative nonfiction writing. I wrote an essay about the religious retreat that is depicted in the film and that essay is what got me thinking about making the film in the first place. I did take a screenwriting course, but that was about the extent of my filmmaking studies. I’ve learned a lot about filmmaking from listening to interviews with directors like Yorgos Lanthimos and Greta Gerwig on podcasts like ScriptNotes and Fresh Air.
TS: How has YES, GOD, YES been received?
KM: Good. I think the most interesting thing is that I find other people at these film festivals that have been on religious retreats like this. That’s less common in New York, but when we show it in places like Texas and Georgia, I meet a lot of people who went on similar retreats and have similar memories about feeling guilty about their sexuality during their teen years .
TS: Where was YES, GOD, YES filmed?
KM: We filmed it right outside of Atlanta in a few different small rural areas.
TS: Were there any unexpected challenges in making a feature, after having just made shorts?
KM: Yes, it’s much more like a marathon, where a short is more like a sprint. We shot in 16 days with a low budget, which is not much time but we had a terrific cast and crew and we got everything we needed. It went smoothly. No big bumps, just smaller ones that might come up during any project.
TS: Was the dialogue totally scripted or did you let your actors improvise a bit?
KM: We mostly stuck to the script. We changed things a couple of times when we needed to. Tim Simons, who plays the priest, haw a comedy background so he was improvising a bit but most of the actors closely followed the script
TS: What’s your next project?
KM: I shot a pilot in London last year that’s being produced by the BBC . It’s called Starstruck and stars a New Zealander comedian. I’m going to go back next year and direct more of that series. I’m working on a few other things but they’re all in the early stages now.
RLJE Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, will release AN ACCIDENTAL STUDIO on July 28, 2020 on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital HD. The documentary was directed and produced by Bill Jones(Boom Bust Boom), Kim Leggatt (Joy Division), and Ben Timlett(Anatomy of a Liar). RLJE Films will release AN ACCIDENTAL STUDIO on DVD for an SRP of $27.97 and on Blu-Ray for an SRP of $28.97. Check Out the Trailer:
Now you can win the Win the Blu-ray of AN ACCIDENTAL STUDIO. We Are Movie Geeks has three copies to give away. Just leave a comment below telling us what your favorite movie that George Harrison appeared in. (mine’s A HARD DAYS NIGHT. It’s so easy!)
1. YOU MUST BE A US RESIDENT. PRIZE WILL ONLY BE SHIPPED TO US ADDRESSES. NO P.O. BOXES. NO DUPLICATE ADDRESSES.
2. WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN FROM ALL QUALIFYING ENTRIES.
AN ACCIDENTAL STUDIO charts the early years of HandMade Films seen through the eyes of the filmmakers, key personnel, and the man who started it all: former Beatle George Harrison. With unreleased archive interviews and footage with Harrison, exclusive interviews with Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Richard E. Grant, Neil Jordan, Ray Cooper and unseen interviews with Bob Hoskins, the film explores HandMade’s baptism by fire, the risk it took in producing uniquely crafted intelligent films and the stories that grew up around it.
The DVD and Blu-Ray will include a bonus feature of the Exclusive Premiere Q&A filmed live, featuring Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, and Ray Cooper, presented by Sanjeev Bhaskar.
“Who cares what a lot of females wear on the beach, as long as I can keep you in a one-piece bathing suit? Baby, you’re a swimmer. You belong in the water. Wet, you’re terrific. Dry, you’re just a nice girl who ought to settle down and get married.”
Esther Williams in MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID (1952) is available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive. Ordering information can be found HERE
James Sullivan works the carny circuit, promoting the likes of a boxing kangaroo or grappling bear. Then the wheeler-dealer meets a million-dollar idea: beautiful swimming champ Annette Kellerman. She’ll churn through a River Thames PR stunt. Cause a bathing-suit scandal among Boston bluebloods. Headline New York’s Hippodrome. And become a Hollywood swimsation as cameras roll and Rin Tin Tin looks on. Glamorous, amphibious Esther Williams portrays the real-life aquatic star in a splashy biopic costarring Victor Mature and loaded with stunning spectacle (including a must-see Busby Berkeley masterwork). Is this lovely Esther’s signature film? Well, she called her 1999 autobiography The Million Dollar Mermaid.
An original spin on the horror genre – and from a producer of Papillon – Let It Snow arrives on DVD, Digital and On Demand September 22 from Lionsgate. Separated from her fiancé after sneaking onto a restricted slope, a free-riding snowboarder must survive not only against nature, but also the masked snowmobile rider in black who is out for her blood.
The Let It Snow DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $19.98.Check out the trailer:
A terrifying blend of action and horror, Let It Snow may just be the ride of your life. As Mia and Max visit a remote European resort for a free-ride snowboarding vacation, they ignore the receptionist’s disturbing tales of unexplained deaths on the nearby trails. But when they sneak onto a forbidden slope, Max goes missing, and Mia finds herself attacked by a masked snowmobile rider. Now she must brave the rider’s vicious attacks – as well as a massive avalanche – if she hopes to survive.
“Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) screens Friday and Saturday Nights July 17th and 18th at the Sky View Drive-in in Litchfield, Il. (1500 Historic Old Route 66)Admission is only $7 (free for kids under 5). The movie starts at dusk (9:00-ish).The Sky View’s site can be found HERE
It wasn’t until the 1980s when IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE became the perennial holiday favorite it’s known as today. The ultimate feel-good classic from director Frank Capra was a box-office disappointment when it was initially released in 1946. Due to a clerical error in 1974, the film went into public domain and was then shown on every low-rent local access channel in varying degrees of quality for years and was released on VHS by a variety of fly-by-night home video companies – including the infamous colorized version. In 1993 Republic Pictures enforced its claim to the film’s copyright. It stopped being televised as often but by then everyone had fallen in love with its charms and taken to heart its message: It’s not so much about what you leave behind when you die, but it’s more about how you use your life while you live.
