Stephen King on DAWN OF THE DEAD

Tomorrow night, IFS is showing DAWN OF THE DEAD at 7 PM and 9:15 PM. Come see this movie that even Stephen King liked.

"I hope Fox and Warner Bros. will settle their nasty cat-fight over Zack Snyder's WATCHMEN movie. I think Snyder's tremendously talented (I just watched his DAWN OF THE DEAD remake to see if it holds up -it does), and WATCHMEN is one graphic novel that cries out for a film adaptation. That one has been made and I might not be allowed to see it seems absurdly unfair." 

-Stephen King, "Wishing and Hoping", Entertainment Weekly, 1/23/09

For the whole article, click here.

Film Reports from February 18-22

Yes, we do still show most of our movies on 35mm film. And we now post our projectionist's take on the film. When you walk in the door you can see how the nights print will be right at the box office. Here are the Projectionist's (Tony's) Opinions for last week:

CHILDREN OF MEN

Condition: Perfect. Print is clean and free of scratches. Print is uncut. Appears to have been run very few times. Possibly a studio archival print.

Comes From: Blowning Cinema in Notre Dame, IN

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID

Condition: Excellent. Clean and splice free. There may be some very minor base scratches on the right side of reel 1. 

Comes From: Criterion Pictures in Morton Grove, IL

FEARS OF THE DARK

Condition: Good. Clean and  splice free. Some base scratches in the middle of the picture throughout the movie, but not too bad. 

Comes From: TCD Wilmington Distribution Center in Wilmington, OH

JCVD

Condition: Fair-good. Some dirt. Some minor base scratches. 3 splices throughout reel 2. Good both cues. Replaced all head and tail splices. 

Comes From: Lyric Cinema Cafe in Fort Collins, CO

Look for this week's projection's review at the box office before the film starts.

Facebook

Ok, we know everyone has/wants one, whether they admit it or not. One cool way to get into the Facebook world and get more information on all of the great films that IFS are playing is by becoming a fan of the International Film Series. Just follow the link here, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boulder-CO/International-Film-Series/38116812724?ref=ts%20 or click on the Facebook link on the side panel. Even if you're curious, just check it out. Facebook is a great and easy way to discuss all of the films we show in Meunzinger, but you can also discuss anything you want pertaining to the film realm. So joining is just a click away. Come on...we know you want to.

Another Round of Youtube Favorites

VIRGIN PRINT!

According the projectionist who inspected tonight's print of THE HUSTLER, it's an untouched print! Power-house performances by Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason in beautiful black-and-white CinemaScope - don't miss it!

On another note from the projectionist: "When the police officer came to talk to that strange guy in the lobby, I overheard him saying to the officer "well why don't the clowns who show movies in here all hours of the night get in trouble too?"

Well... it certainly was a night full of clowns, especially seeing as how last night's film (A BOY AND HIS DOG) was full of 'em. And not the "funny-clown" kind, mind you, but the "post-apocalyptic, underground-dwelling, seamen-extracting" kind.

**UPDATE**

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (originally to play on April 8th) is coming SOONER! On Monday, March 16th at 7PM there will be a FREE showing of HEDWIG with director John Cameron Mitchell at the showing. This showing is sponsored by CWA. Don't miss your opportunity to meet the director and see a great film!

SKILLS LIKE THIS will now be played on April 8th at 7 PM only. $6 GA and $5 with a CU ID. This is a great local film, shot entirely in Denver using local people. Another super film you shouldn't miss!

For more information on all the IFS films, check out our website at www.internationalfilmseries.com

Manager Comments

I've been bugging the managers to add more comments to their nightly account forms and am happy to report that they are now finally giving me more detailed views on how things went. Here's a sample:

CHOCOLATE - SAT - 2/7/9: "2 guys were so excited that digi-beta meant $4 tix that they almost vomited all over the place...Speaking of which, the encrusted vomit from last night's narcoleptic was kept warm under a carpet square and the stench was only detectable up to 2.5 feet away, though the general color -" (okay, I'm going to skip the rest of this one. Next-)..."One kid came out of the theater half-way through to tell me how funny the movie was and then went back in... And after the 2nd show half the audience hung around yammering about how bitchin' kung-fu is."

Customer comments: "What it lacked in plot it made up 4 in 12 yr olds kickin' ass" On a scale of 1-5, all people who submitted cards give it a 4 or 5.

OSCAR SHORTS - ANIMATION - 2/8/9: "Refund for the 1st show for two tickets because he thought the crowd was too intellectual because they laugh at every joke." (?!) "We're busting people pretending to be film students." Tsk, tsk, tsk!

CHOCOLATE - missing can still M.I.A.

I won't bury the lead. The answer is "no."

We had hopes for a "hail-mary"-last-minute find of the missing 35mm can of CHOCOLATE for tonight (Friday). That did not happen. Still... I've had my cell phone on all night hoping that, maybe, the missing can would be located in time to give our audience the celluloid awesomeness of CHOCOLATE by tomorrow/Saturday night. But it's approaching midnight, and the film is still missing. So we're still stuck screening a DigiBeta copy this Saturday as well.

I'm tempted to post the actual emails from Technicolor, UPS, and other folks associated with shipping that are all madly trying to find the missing cannister of CHOCOLATE - but I won't. It's a long needless slog and I can sum it up in far fewer words.

There are are SEVEN prints of this film- and all are spoken for. SIX are hitting the screen. Ours is not. Two days ago we received one-of-two cannisters for the film, and the alert went out. At first, it seemed like maybe it was not a big deal and the other can was simply in Commerce City. But the next day the alarms went up a notch: the missing can with half of the 35mm film reels we needed was neither in Commerce City or in its previous scan location of California. It was missing. Lost. Lots of people were - and still are - working on the case, and they all came - and are still coming up - with zeroes.

Still: A lot of scrambling took place to make sure the show could go on tonight here in Boulder and Magnolia overnighted to us a nice DigiBeta Tape. It has way better resolution than your regular DVD, and our digital projector has 2,500 lumens to ensure a good show. We're selling tix at $4 to give you a discount and, my manager tells me, the audience for both shows this Friday (over 200 folks!) enjoyed the proceedings.

Sure... I'm still hoping my phone will ring before the Saturday screening with good news. And, if so, I'll share it with blog readers immediately. But it probably won't. And I'm hoping you'll still take a chance on the DigiBeta screening because, really, unless your home theater can compete with the large-screen you get in a theater with 400 seats, the martial arts magic will still be better at Muenzinger.

NEW: PROJECTIONIST REPORTS TO BE PLACED AT CASHIER'S TABLE

Our first week was plagued with some bad prints. If we get a bad print well in advance of our screening date, we can always try to replace it (if there are enough copies). But, sometimes, as in the case of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, the print gets to us just hours before the screening - so the only person who can relay to us what kind of condition the print is in is the projectionist.

To this end, I'm going to instruct the projectionists to provide a sheet of paper that will be visible to all buying tickets at the cashier's desk. This will let people know what shape the print is in for that night. For example, this Wednesday, for THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, the print report reads as follows:

ORIGINAL PRINT FROM 1964 IN GREAT SHAPE FOR ITS AGE. DOESN’T LOOK SCRATCHED, BUT IT’S BRITTLE, WITH SOME SPLICES (NOTHING TOO JARRING).
MGM ASSURES US THAT IT’S THE BEST PRINT THEY HAVE.

(Postscript: It is ironic to me that older prints we show are often in better shape than the new prints we get stuck with. Ironic, but not surprising given how many films are now sent to platter-houses where everything is automated and there is no print condition oversight.)

Fun Video from YouTube -THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT

If you have a video on youtube that you would like to share leave a comment with the url and we will check it out.