Hey folks, Harry here... For you folks in the Arizona region of planet Earth, you missed out last night on seeing 2001 and METROPOLIS on the big screen. Sorry. For those that wonder what sort of thing I responded to in BUTT-NUMB-A-THON Essay Contest, well beside the usual nude photos of would-be female attendees, the next best sure-fire way to get in were the letters that somehow demonstrate a fervor for film. If I could get a vibe from the letter that this was somebody that understood the roadtrip for film passion and love. That feeling of traveling for a 'movie'. That the person writing was wanting to come because... it was imprinted upon their DNA. Well, Mike and his brother... well they convinced me in a very passionate essay about growing up as movie geeks in Arizona - how deeply they love movies and share that love for film together. I so dig that vibe, that they got a pair of golden tickets. They might not know everything and they might not of had a great deal of amazing experiences with film... But they certainly will this December 14th and 15th. And when they watch JULES ET JIM, TOUCH OF EVIL and CITIZEN KANE - all for the first time over the next three weeks... They'll have coronaries of geek love. Those 3 movies are three of the purest works of blissful cinema ever to be put to screen. Most film geeks know TOUCH OF EVIL and CITIZEN KANE - but I'm telling ya, go get JULES ET JIM & THE MAN WHO LOVED WOMEN -- watch them as a double feature and fall a lifetime in love with Truffaut. Do it, and you'll smile even bigger when watching CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. I promise.
Hi there Harry (or Moriarty),
I had mentioned to you in my BNAT4 Essay that my brother and I were going to make the trek to see METROPOLIS in Chandler, Arizona (which is 80 minutes north of where I live at in Tucson) on 11-16-02. Well, about a week before hand I was checking out the madstonetheaters.com website, to see if they had any news up about METROPOLIS, and they didnt, but they did have some news that was so glorious it made my eyes water. What was this news you ask? Well, they had listed on 11-16-02 that 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY was going to be showing there!! I was literally in shock. Until 11-16-02 I had never seen 2001 in my life; I had heard many great things about it, and just as many negative things about it.
Well, after viewing it (and btw, it was the 70mm version, with the Intermission music and all), I swear its the shortest movie I have ever seen. My brother and I (I'll be 21 next week; he's 16) walked out of that theatre and all we could do was talk about the movie: its look, its sound, and most of all its theme(s). At this moment I am really thinking about getting that 70mm version of it on DVD now b/c that is the only way I ever want to see this movie again.
The next movie up was METROPOLIS, which as you know Harry (or Moriarty), is a titan among films, old or new. I had never seen this film either, and I am glad that Ive held out this long from seeing b/c the new "remastered" version with the original score is one of the more mindblowing films (next to MAGNOLIA and DARK CITY and 2001) I've seen in the last five, maybe ten years. Admittedly, Ive only seen two silent movies (NOSFERATU is the other, my bro. owns that one, thinks highly of it too), but seeing METROPOLIS on a big-screen (with a half capacity crowd, ironically there was only fifteen people, if that for 2001. I was disappointed about the latter) is almost as touching as seeing 2001 I think. I'll be renting BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN soon. So, I had to drive 80 minutes each way to see these glorious, awe-inspiring films and was it worth it? Hell yes!!
Now, I listed JULES ET JIM, TOUCH OF EVIL, and CITIZEN KANE as well, and here's why: Madstone Theaters is having a 4-week series called "FILMS THAT ARE TOO BIG FOR YOUR TV" (something like that at least) and its basically, these four wonderfully made movies that everyone should see at least once I presume. All this week they are playing 2001, but the following weeks they're playing JULES ET JIM, TOUCH OF EVIL, and CITIZEN KANE, all of which will be in one-week engagements only. I have not seen the latter three movies either, but I know they're all supposed to be works of art, so my brother and I will be making the trek again for the next three weekends before we head out to Austin, TX on 12-13-02. I found it ironic that you mentioned TOUCH OF EVIL (I cant wait to see Orson Welles as a tubby bordertown sheriff!!) on your film noir list, and I'll be seeing it very soon for the first time on a big-screen. Well, I just wanted to pass this information along to anyone that lived in the Chandler/Phoenix/Scottsdale/Tucson area's of Arizona that would be interested in seeing such wonderful movies, maybe even for the first time. Oh, and for times and such, I guess they could check out madstonetheaters.com (in some areas around the USA, they'll even be showing THE SEARCHERS and the first two GODFATHERS...cool).
See you all at BNAT4,
Mike
