Message from the Magic Lantern: We’re good
I received an email this morning from Joe Davis, the owner/manager of the rejuvenated
Magic Lantern.
I’ll share it here:
Happy New Year to everyone. I hope everyone had a great holiday season.
Thanks
to those people who came and bought gift certificates, and I apologize to
those who tried to get one and we were out. I’ve got a fresh stock
again and will certainly be more prepared for the next holiday season.
And speaking of another holiday season brings up an
oft-asked question, “How is the Magic Lantern doing? Will it stay
open?” The answer is we are doing well, we’ve got two feet solidly on
the ground and, yes, it appears our loving and growing fan base has made
sure that our doors will stay open and the best independent films will
continue to come to Spokane. All this without popcorn…
We have two very good films leaving today.
“New
York, I Love You”
and
“Red Cliff.”
“New York” is an American version of
“Paris, je t’aime,” a film which consists of many smaller and separately
filmed short segments each by a different director and each showcasing
the discovery of love in the great city of New York. If you are a fan
of love, and a fan of New York, then this is your movie. The lack of
central plot which regularly makes any story (and therefore film) work
is missing, but a central theme is present instead. So far the
feedback from viewers is positive.
“Red Cliff” may be one of those underappreciated
gems which flies under the radar until Oscars. It’s a John Woo film,
which for any fans of “Hard Boiled,” “The Killer,” etc., conjures up his
stylized and extremely artistic rendering of some pretty violent
situations, giving them less of a shock value aspect and significantly
more “watchability.”
“Red Cliff” is a return to John Woo’s roots in which he uses his
full artistic abilities as a director to reproduce one of the greatest
battles in China’s 5,000-year history. The cast is great, no expense
was spared, and how often can one really pull of a great love story,
war story, and martial arts epic all in one? I would not hesitate to
put it in the must see category for those into the genre and the “give
it a shot” category for those who are willing to take a chance. The
bad news: today is the last day to see it.
Finally, we are getting
“The Young Victoria”
and
“Antichrist”
which start tomorrow. Check the web site for times, and stay tuned for another email (I’ve not seen either yet so I’ve got nothing to say about them). Upcoming films include:
“The Messenger”
and
“Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans.”
Also SpIFF is coming in late January.
Again,
have a great and fruitful new year. Try to make time to see a good
film (one without a lot of explosions). And don’t forget:
Oscars are
around the corner
.
Joe
Below
: The trailer for “The Young Victoria.”
* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Spokane 7." Read all stories from this blog