Sunday Night Film Club – Boston

“In his entertaining new documentary, Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) takes on a franchise even more lethal than McDonald’s—Al Qaeda. With no military experience, knowledge or expertise, he sets off to do what the CIA, FBI and U.S. military have all failed to do: find the world’s most wanted man. But before he finds bin Laden, he first needs to learn where he came from and the environment and influences that shaped him. Following bin Laden’s trail through some of the most dangerous places in the world, Spurlock encounters both the rational and the radical faces of the Middle East. He risks life and limb to uncover the truth about bin Laden, and in doing so explores the lines that divide, those that unite, and the countless shades of grey between.”

p.s. Tickets for the Boston Independent Film Festival are now on sale. The film club will be seeing “Mongol” on Sunday, April 27th at 7pm at the Coolidge. Head on over to the festival’s site to preorder tickets for this and any of the festival screenings!

“Starring the incomparable and exquisite Brigitte Bardot, CONTEMPT is the story of a woman who gradually develops an overwhelming contempt for her husband (Michel Piccoli), a screenwriter beset by doubts when he is hired to doctor the script for a new film version of The Odyssey. He finds himself caught between the director (legend Fritz Lang playing himself), who wants to remain faithful to Homer, and the vulgar American producer (Jack Palance) who is interested only in filling the screen with topless mermaids. Adapted from the novel by Alberto Moravia, featuring a sublime score by Georges Delerue, shot in breathtaking CinemaScope by Raoul Coutard, CONTEMPT in a new 35mm print is undoubtedly the cinematic treat of the spring!”

“This wonderful Canadian feature premiered to acclaim at last year’s Independent Film Festival of Boston but has failed to find a U.S. distributor, not one to be stopped by such a fact, the Brattle has gone ahead and negotiated with the filmmaker to offer this premiere run of one of the most endearing of revolutionary films. Dan (McKellar) and Linda (Wright) are a couple of forty-something ex-radicals who ride their bikes everywhere, live off the grid and maintain their pot and vinyl record habits by picking trash and selling their finds on eBay. When their usual pot dealer is busted, Dan runs across a new one, Susan (Litz) – who happens to be pretty, young, and impressionable. A sort-of love triangle develops between the three but, when Susan uncovers the secret revolutionary past of her new clients, she becomes inspired and heads down a path that has the potential to upset everyone’s lives more than any romantic entanglement could. An excellent film with three great performances, a truly outstanding soundtrack and a witty, playful script that stands above most of the quirky, perky indie films that play every year in film festivals. Winner of a Special Jury Prize at The Independent Film Festival of Boston 2007!”

Decorated Iraq war hero Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) makes a celebrated return to his small Texas hometown following his tour of duty. He tries to resume the life he left behind with the help and support of his family and his best friend, Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum), who served with him in Iraq. Along with their other war buddies, Brandon and Steve try to make peace with civilian life. Then, against BrandonÂ’s will, the Army orders him back to duty in Iraq, which upends his world. The conflict tests everything he believes in: the bond of family, the loyalty of friendship, the limits of love and the value of honor. Co-starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Abbie Cornish. Directed by Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry).

This feature is the closing film for the Boston Underground Film Festival. Tickets might sell out, so you may want to pre-order them from the Brattle.

The festival runs from March 20th through the 23rd. It’s a great festival, so head on over to their site and see if there are any other films you are interested in!

“Meet Otis. Otis is about as well-intentioned as a serial-killer can be. He just wants a date to the prom. His victims survive so long as they are willing to play along. While Otis may think he is still in high school, he is actually a pizza delivery driver and perpetual fuck-up.”

“Meet the Lawsons – an idyllic suburbanite family. They are average in almost every way. But when teenage daughter Riley is abducted by Otis, the remaining broodÂ’s desire to take matters into their own hands is exacerbated by the FBIÂ’s appointment of an insufferable douchebag as the agent in charge of the investigation, and facilitated by Riley’s clever escape from OtisÂ’ clutches.”

“As the situation becomes more farcical, and the Lawson’s quest for vengeance becomes more indiscriminate, the stage becomes set for a tragedy of Mystic River-like proportionsÂ… only way funnier. Featuring an impressive cast and clever script, Otis is a wickedly subversive dark comedy that marks the directoral debut of veteran producer Tony Krantz (TVÂ’s 24, Mulholland Drive).”

“A car dealer with a dodgy past and new family, Terry (Jason Statham) has always avoided major-league scams. But when Martine (Saffron Burrows), a beautiful model from his old neighborhood, offers him a lead on a foolproof bank hit on London’s Baker Street, Terry recognizes the opportunity of a lifetime. Martine targets a roomful of safe deposit boxes worth millions in cash and jewelry. But Terry and his crew don’t realize the boxes also contain a treasure trove of dirty secrets – secrets that will thrust them into a deadly web of corruption and illicit scandal that spans London’s criminal underworld, the highest echelons of the British government, and the Royal Family itself…the true story of a heist gone wrong…in all the right ways.”

“Based on the true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, counterfeiter extraordinaire and bohemian. After getting arrested in a German concentration camp in 1944, he agrees to help the Nazis in an organized counterfeit operation set up to help finance the war effort. What followed was the biggest counterfeit money scam of all times. Over 130 million pound sterling were printed, under conditions that couldn’t have been more tragic or spectacular. During the last years of the war, as the German Reich saw that the end was near, the authorities decided to produce their own banknotes in the currencies of their major war enemies. They hoped to use the duds to flood the enemy economy and fill the empty war coffers. At the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, two barracks were separated from the rest of the camp and the outside world, and transformed into a fully equipped counterfeiters workshop. “Operation Bernhard” was born. Prisoners were brought to Sachsenhausen from other camps to implement the plan: professional printers, fastidious bank officials and simple craftsmen all became members of the top-secret counterfeiter commando. They had the choice: if they cooperated with the enemy, they had a chance to survive, as first-class prisoners in a “golden cage” with enough to eat and a bed to sleep in. If they sabotaged the operation, a sure death awaited them. For THE COUNTERFEITERS, it was not only a question of saving their own lives, but also about saving their conscience as well…”

“TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE, the latest documentary from now two-time Oscar-nominee Alex Gibney (ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room), confirms his standing as one of the foremost non-fiction filmmakers working today. A stunning inquiry into the suspicious death of an Afghani taxi driver at Bagram air base in 2002, the film is a fastidiously assembled, uncommonly well-researched examination of how an innocent civilian was apprehended, imprisoned, tortured, and ultimately murdered by the greatest democracy on earth. Intermingling documents and records of the incident with candid testimony from eyewitnesses and participants, the film uncovers an inescapable link between the tragic incidents that unfolded in Bagram and the policies made at the very highest level of the United States government in Washington, D.C. Combining the cool detachment of a forensic expert with the heated indignation of a proud American who holds his country to a high standard, GibneyÂ’s film reveals how the Bush administration has systematically betrayed the very ideals it professes to uphold.”

“A smart kid with a tough family life discovers that he has the ability to teleport. Empowered, he leaves home for NYC. While using his abilities to track the man he blames for the death of his mother years earlier, he draws the attention of both the NSA and a possibly nefarious guy his own age who has the same abilities and enters into a dangerous game of cat and mouse with both.”