http://www.thedailypage.com/movies Movie content from ISTHMUS | The Daily Page webmaster@isthmus.com (Webmaster) Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:55:57 CST Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=27300 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=27300 Ever see a dream moonwalking? Well, I did. Michael Jackson's posthumously released film about the preparations for his 50-concert comeback extravaganza is a strange creature indeed. Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=27301 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=27301 There are a lot of mind-blowing moments in <i>Soul Power</i>, the documentary about a 1974 music festival that brought James Brown, B.B. King and other greats to Zaire. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=27233 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=27233 Embrace paradox; accept life's mysteries. These are some of the things that serious men learn. God owes us bupkis in the way of answers. With <i>A Serious Man</i>, the Coen brothers have made one of their best and most personal movies. It is rich with ideas and packed with the sort of existential jokes that tickle the Coen boys so. Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=27183 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=27183 Like any good myth, <i>Where the Wild Things Are</i> has lessons to teach, but also ambiguities. To his credit, director Spike Jonze retains ambiguities in his film version, which he wrote with Gen-X literary icon Dave Eggers. But given the book's austerity, the film has quite a few gaps to fill, even at a brief hour and 34 minutes. Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=27062 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=27062 Drew Barrymore's directing debut, <i>Whip It</i>, based on a screenplay about women's roller derby by Shauna Cross, teems with girl-power spirit and exudes an all-encompassing benevolence. Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=26936 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=26936 Although <i>The Informant!</i>'s screenplay is based on Kurt Eichenwald's book of the same name, the movie's addition of an exclamation point to its title is revealing. Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27086 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27086 No matter what you think of Roman Polanski and his current arrest and extradition problems, the director's 1974 private eye classic <i>Chinatown</i> is still a masterpiece of film neo-noir. Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27028 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27028 Some movies appeal to just about everybody -- like the heart-stoppingly entertaining and wonderful 1939 musical that MGM made out of L. Frank Baum's American fairy tale, <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>, now released in a deluxe 70th anniversary DVD edition by Warner. Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=26340 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=26340 On July 1, I saw <i>Public Enemies</i> at the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation's premiere, held at Eastgate Cinemas in Madison. The auditorium was filled with busloads of people who'd made the trip from Columbus to see their neighbors, their main street, and -- just maybe -- <i>themselves</i> on the silver screen. Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=26308 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=26308 In 1934, as the feds were closing in on John Dillinger and other gangsters, Madison was a small capital city in the grip of a spring drought and a summer heat wave. Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0600 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27330 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27330 <i>North by Northwest</i> is Alfred Hitchcock's great romantic/comedy/thriller -- with Cary Grant at his witty, seductive, impeccable best as "wrong man" Roger Thornhill, an overly smug Madison Avenue adman who gets mistaken for an elusive spy. Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27266 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27266 Veteran Italian actor Toni Servillo's craggy wise-hood face -- as impassive and immobile as a dentist staring into your mouth or a panther regarding its prey -- is at the center of a jaw-dropping whirlpool of bloody events and political crime, portrayed or exposed in <i>Il Divo</i>, subtitled <i>The Extraordinary Life of Giulio Andreotti</i>. Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:23:19 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27264 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27264 This year's expanded edition of Tales from Planet Earth represents a significant leap in ambition. Driven by the strong attendance of two years ago, plans for the 2009 festival have grown to set almost double the number of films on a cornerstone theme of "Justice." Tales 2 also engages in close partnerships with nine community organizations. Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27208 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=27208 <i>Monsoon Wedding</i>, Mira Nair's joyous movie about a wedding in Delhi -- constantly disrupted by family squabbles, sudden crises, covert romantic interludes, cultural clashes among the guests, dark buried secrets erupting to the surface and finally, a full-blown monsoon rainfall, not to mention a musical climax that outdoes Bollywood -- is both her most popular film and her best. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=27224 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=27224 Almost three decades after leaving Madison to chase his ambitions, Glenn Silber returns this week for a 30th anniversary screening of <i>The War at Home</i> and the world premiere of his new documentary, <i>Labor Day</i>. The film represents a return to the progressive roots Silber put down in Madison as a UW student and to his independence as a filmmaker. Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=26821 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=26821 I'm sad summer is ending, but crisp weather also portends the fall's entertainment options. Among them is the new calendar of free films at UW's Cinematheque. It starts Friday and offers weekend screenings at Vilas Hall through December. Did I mention it's free?