Category Archives: Saturday Matinee

Saturday Matinee: The Internet’s Own Boy

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internetsownboyEditor’s Note: Tomorrow marks the birthday of Aaron Swartz. Had the government not driven him to an early death he would have been 29.

Synopsis by TakePart.com

The Internet’s Own Boy follows the story of programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz. From Swartz’s help in the development of the basic internet protocol RSS to his co-founding of Reddit, his fingerprints are all over the internet. But it was Swartz’s groundbreaking work in social justice and political organizing combined with his aggressive approach to information access that ensnared him in a two-year legal nightmare. It was a battle that ended with the taking of his own life at the age of 26. Aaron’s story touched a nerve with people far beyond the online communities in which he was a celebrity. This film is a personal story about what we lose when we are tone deaf about technology and its relationship to our civil liberties.

Saturday Matinee: Land of the Dead

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3768363“Land of the Dead” (2005) is writer/director George Romero’s fourth film in his “Night of the Living Dead” series and  is possibly the most underrated installment so far. The film offers a variety of new twists to the series such as the development of basic problem solving skills among zombies and the not-too-subtle symbolism of a walled city ruled by a dictator from the top of a luxury high rise. It continues and heightens the social commentary most apparent in the second film of the series, “Dawn of the Dead” while steering it in surprising directions. While the film is not without it’s share of plot holes, it’s screenplay is satisfying nevertheless, and features good performances from Dennis Hopper, Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, Asia Argento and Eugene Clark (with surprise cameos by Shaun of the Dead’s Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright).

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ja94s

Saturday Matinee: Short Film Double Feature

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An imaginary friend is forced to consider retirement when his creator/best friend starts to grow up.

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The members of a fourth-grade class pull an innocent April Fool’s Day prank on their teacher that accidentally kills her. Fearing jail time, they set out to cover up the murder before their D.A.R.E. officer shows up for his weekly lesson.

Saturday Matinee: The Fuck-It Point

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THE-FUCK-IT-POINT

Synopsis by Savage Revival:

A film about civilization, why we should bring it down and why most civilized people don’t.

[THE FUCK-IT POINT]
‘When you have had enough. When you decide to take matters into your own hands and don’t care what’s going to happen to you. When you know that from now on you will resist with whatever tactic you think is most effective.’

Saturday Matinee: Freeway

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“Freeway” (1996) is a satisfyingly dark retelling of Little Red Riding Hood written/directed by Matthew Bright and featuring excellent performances by Reese Witherspoon as the protagonist, a seemingly stereotypical “white trash” teen, and Keifer Sutherland as the “wolf”, a secretly psychopathic high school guidance counselor. While the film works on the level of a traditional exploitation film, it provides much welcome commentary on racism, sexism, class-ism and societal hypocrisy.

(Video may not stream on some portable devices.)

 

Saturday Matinee: Missing

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missing_poster“Missing” (1982) is one of the best of director Costa-Gavras’s long filmography of great political dramas. It’s based on the true investigation of the disappearance of American filmmaker and journalist Charles Horman during the 1973 Pinochet coup in Chile. Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek both contribute outstanding performances as Charles’s father and wife, who are led by officials through a darkly revelatory bureaucratic maze on their quest to find the truth about Charles’s fate.

Saturday Matinee: High Velocity

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“High Velocity” (1976) is an obscure b-movie starring Ben Gazzara and Paul Winfield as Vietnam vets hired by a corporation to rescue a CEO kidnapped by an underground resistance group in the Philippines. On one level, it’s an early version of the heroic mercenary film which had a resurgence in the 80s after the success of Rambo and Missing in Action, but it’s also unrelentingly cynical with a surprisingly astute depiction of colonialism, government/corporate corruption and the power elite. The film is further elevated by a great lead performance by Ben Gazzara and atmospheric soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith (famous for his work on Star Trek). Interestingly, High Velocity was the first film produced by Takafumi Ohashi, who later produced tons of great (and not-so-great) Japanese genre features.