Movie Blog: This Week's Best Bets
In addition to the remaining screenings of Drinking Buddies, which Jonathon Sharp reviewed here, and today and tomorrow's showings of Viola at the Trylon, which Sharp will be reviewing tomorrow. And, even though Friday the 13th has passed, there are still a few opportunities to catch the Friday the 13th and Friday the 13th Part 2 double feature at the Parkway Theater after the fact. If you've already had your fill of bad luck as of late, then maybe one of these other five suggestions might bring you some good fortune. One of them is at least sure to provide your bare walls with some attractive covering:
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Monday, September 16 & Tuesday, September 17: Viola (Trylon Microcinema)
Watch for Jonathon Sharp's review tomorrow of what Take-Up Productions is calling "a web of romantic intrigue and revelation ... delicately unraveled in this dazzling riff on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Sure to be pronounced one of the best films of the year, (director Matías) Piñeiro's understated drama is a vivid tribute to both the simplicities and complexities of life."
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Wednesday, September 18: Nicollet Island (Riverview Theater)
Fixies, beards, the Minneapolis skyline, microbrews, and particle accelerators. Imagine if Primer dropped right down into the middle of Nordeast and you probably have a handle on the aim of Nicollet Island, an ultra-DIY, lo-fi sci-fi adventure about four friends who find a secret lab underneath the title island with designs on ending the world as we know it. Down a Grain Belt and head over to the Riverview for a free screening of what could be the next underground Twin Cities classic.
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Wednesday, September 18: The Defenders: Chris Hewitt (Trylon Microcinema)
The Defenders continues mystifying and perplexing curious and adventurous cinephiles as local notables select their favorite out-of-lockstep and/or otherwise less-than-defensible programming choices. So long as you can keep your butt in the seat, you're home free. This month, Pioneer Press critic Chris Hewitt challenges viewers to submit to one of his idiosyncratic (albeit top secret) selections, which the Trylon's website confirms is not going to be Brian De Palma's Blow Out. Of course, it's entirely possible that it might be Brian De Palma's The Bonfire of the Vanities, Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes or Brian De Palma's Mission to Mars. Challenge happily accepted!
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Saturday, September 21 & Sunday, September 22: Movie Poster Sale (Trylon Microcinema)
Movie fans will want to arrive at the Trylon promptly at 11 a.m. on Saturday with cash in hand as the theater opens up its movie poster archives to anyone willing to spend from $5 to $35 for their bounty. And as anyone who has walked down that long, sultry hallway to the intimate back room already knows, you'll want to plunder their booty. Don't miss it.
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Friday, September 20 through Thursday, September 26: Informant (St. Anthony Main Theater)
Informant covers the participation of an FBI informant who helped the feds crack down on the infamous RNC Welcoming Committee, who planned on shattering Molotov cocktails during the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Brandon Darby, depending on your personal ethics and/or political affiliations, will likely emerge as one of the year's most compelling movie heroes or villains. To my eyes, director Jamie Meltzer gives Darby just enough rope to hang himself with, maybe no more so than when he chides the college-aged kids protesting alongside him for ordering coffee shop lattes.
