Sunday Night Film Club – Boston

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is the long-awaited feature film version of John le Carres classic bestselling novel. The thriller is directed by Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In). The screenplay adaptation is by the writing team of Bridget OConnor & Peter Straughan.

Brandon (Michael Fassbender, A Dangerous Method and Jane Eyre) is a New Yorker who shuns intimacy with women but feeds his desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his wayward younger sister (Carey Mulligan, Drive and An Education) moves into his apartment stirring memories of their shared painful past, Brandon’s insular life spirals out of control. Winner of 3 awards at the 2011 Venice Film Festival, including Best Actor (Fassbender), Shame is an intense drama from award-winning British director Steve McQueen (Hunger). Co-starring Amy Hargreaves, Hannah Ware, James Badge Dale and Nicole Beharie.

On vacation in Los Angeles, Walter, the world’s biggest Muppet fan, his brother Gary (Jason Segel) and Garys girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) from Smalltown, USA, discover the nefarious plan of oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to raze the Muppet Theater and drill for the oil recently discovered beneath the Muppets’ former stomping grounds.

(Note from Sean: This could my favorite film of 2011. Definitely my favorite from IFFBoston 2011.)

Beloved by children of all ages around the world, Elmo is an international icon. Few people, however, know the man behind the Muppet. In this entertaining and inspiring documentary, filmmaker Constance Marks introduces us to that man.

Kevin Clash grew up dreaming of one day working with his idol, master puppeteer Jim Henson. He began building puppets at the age of 10 and performed on Baltimore television as a teenager. Displaying incredible creativity and talent at a young age, Clash eventually attracted the attention of Muppet designer Kermit Love who introduced him to Henson and helped him find a home on Sesame Street.

This moving documentary, rich in rare archival footage and interviews, follows Clash from his early days in Baltimore to his current role voicing and performing one of the most famous puppets in the world, and along the way offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the world of the Muppets.

“Six years after their Guantanamo Bay adventure, stoner buds Harold Lee and Kumar Patel cause a holiday fracas by inadvertently burning down Harold’s father-in-law’s prize Christmas tree.”

In 2006, thousands of new electric cars were purposely destroyed by the same car companies that built them. Today, less than 5 years later, the electric car is back… with a vengeance. In Revenge of the Electric Car, director Chris Paine (Who Killed the Electric Car?) takes his film crew behind the closed doors of Nissan, GM, and the Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors to chronicle the story of the global resurgence of electric cars. Without using a single drop of foreign oil, this new generation of car is America’s future: fast, furious, and cleaner than ever. With almost every major car maker now jumping to produce new electric models, Revenge follows the race to be the first, the best, and to win the hearts and minds of the public around the world. It’s not just the next generation of green cars that’s on the line. It’s the future of the automobile itself. Featuring CEO and President of Renault and Nissan Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk, Former Vice Chairman of GM Bob Lutz and EV do-it-yourselfer Greg “Gadget” Abbott. Narrated by Tim Robbins.

Note: This film is a $15 ticket with a live soundtrack, if you are interested in attending you should certainly buy tickets early!

An amazingly macabre film even by Brownings standards, THE UNKNOWN features the great Lon Chaney as Alanzo, an apparently armless circus knife-thrower, and Joan Crawford as his beautiful assistant, and the object of his obsession. Featuring a live score performed by Bostons own CIRKESTRA, a globe-trotting circus music band.

“Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.”