Watch CBS News

Movie Blog: This Week's Best Bets

This week's list of the best screenings around town features at least a couple movies I'm not very fond of, actually. I hope that you take this as a mark of my own possibly hopeless attempts to remain objective about what people might consider the "best bets." Or maybe I just acquiesce to the idea that "best bets" are in the eye of the beholder. Or, and this is probably the most likely answer, I just like the idea of sending people to see really weird, not especially "tradition of quality" movies, as in the first of our listees this week.

-------

Wednesday, June 25: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Turtles in Time(Trylon Microcinema)

Last week, they screened Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the park. It would've been nice to report that, this week, they're screening TMNT 3: Turtles in Time in a sewer. Unfortunately, that's far from the case, though I wouldn't be surprised if the people behind Trash Film Debauchery jumped at the chance to do just that. In any case, they're showing this much-derided franchise misfire at Trylon this week. I dare you to watch it and tell me Howard the Duck is worse. (Then again, I'd dare you to watch Casablanca and tell me Howard the Duck is worse, because life's too short not to feel that way.)

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III" (1993) Theatrical Trailer by Chas Blankenship on YouTube

-------

Thursday, June 26: Wuthering Heights (Heights Theater)

Wrapping up a month's worth of 75th anniversary screenings for the films of 1939, the Heights presents, well, the Heights, Hollywood's biggest and perhaps most renowned version of the Emily Brontë's dingy tale of masochistic, arguably abusive love. This being post-Code studio moviemaking, and this cast including Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier and David Niven, modern audiences might find some of the sweeping rapture missing from the entire enterprise. But hey, if you want the dirty version, read the book.

-------

Thursday, June 26: The Sandlot(Kenwood Park)

Why is this one of the best movies to see in the out-of-doors this summer? The week before Fourth of July, baseball, kids, dust, nostalgia. Do you need a map? Anyone who doesn't recognize the magic in the scene where the fireworks let the backlot baseball kids play their only night game that summer was never truly a kid. Check out our Twins blogger Tracy Perlman's 2013 post about the movie's 20th anniversary.

-------

Thursday, June 26: Best of the 24 Hour Film Project (Riverview Theater)

The cream has risen to the top, and it's time to see the best of the best from the latest 48 Hour Film Project. As stated on their site: "A few dozen teams will showcase the efforts of their labor at the Riverview before the following week's awards show determines which teams walk away with prizes and which deserve to head to the national competition of 48 Hour filmmakers. Check out some of their efforts (and vote to determine audience favorite) at the premiere screenings."

-------

Saturday, June 28: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Uptown Theater)

You can never see this one too many times, but as Uptown brings the film back to do "The Time Warp" again just in time for Pride Week, the question remains whether repeat views dull its impact. The hyper-sexualized antics of Rocky Horror have helped it remain a pillar of the midnight flick community, but ... well, when a movie has become fodder for the likes of Fox's Glee, you know something in society has shifted. What was once underground has moved above and is now firmly mainstream. What does that mean? Has movie society been subject to erosion? Does it take more to shock away the blue-haired brigade the same way Rocky Horror used to? Maybe not. Thanks to Tim Curry's titanic central performance as the irrepressible Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Rocky Horror is less a monument to disobeying authority as it is a love letter to living your life the way you see fit. Strip away the fishnet stockings, and you're looking at the central theme of almost every single episode of Oprah's defunct talk show.

(The Rocky Horror Picture Show)/ Science Fiction-Double Feature by Dario Licci on YouTube

Other Recent Movie Blogs

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.