Secrets of the City

The Star Tribune’s Colin Covert is not impressed by the second film from Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody, Jennifer’s Body, a film set in Minnesota: Fans of … Cody (and I count myself a big one) can only hope her followup to “Juno” will soon be forgotten, an awkward asterisk in a proud career.

He’s not alone. The film is currently at a miserable 34 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sent from above on a mission of salvation, a man (initials J.C.) tries to bring hope to a troubled and frightened world. He performs miracles, yet he is betrayed, persecuted, slain, and rises from the dead to speak to disciples and others who will spread his word after he assends back into the heavens.

 I’m speaking, of course, of the 1951 sci-fi classic “The Day The Earth Stood Still.” It is showing, tonight only, at the Heights Theater.

I09 introduces us to Serpent Lake, a film apparently set in Minnesota about a murderous lake monster. The trailer is pure cinema trash, but hilariously so.

RiffTrax, the Mystery Science Theater 3000 spinoff that features local (and once-locals) Bill Corbett, Mike Nelson, and Kevin Murphy, will be live on August 20. What movie? Plan 9 from Outer Space, yo! Where?

Well, that’s a bit harder to explain. Have you seen those ads about love movie events in theaters? Late night showings of live events that are broadcast to multiple screens? That sort of thing? That’s what they’re doing.

Perfect Duluth Day points us to Jobbers, a film about the Minnesota wrestling scene. Look great!

Tonight is that start of MSPIFF, theTC’s annual festival of international films. As it happens, the program has a local component: I’ve done some capsule reviews of locally lensed films here, while Rob Nelson interviews Dawn Mikkelson and Melissa Koch, who made the excellent documentary The Red Tail, about the Northwest employees strike and Northwest’s eventual outsourcing of many jobs that previously were handled locally.

As Jason’s Station has reported, today a number of “tea party” protests will be held across the state. Because many of us MNspeakers love movies, I thought I would discuss this by citing movies with similar themes, plot lines or connections. Please try to follow the cinematic spirit of this thread in your comments! The tea party movement got its inspiration from an on-air rant from CNBC’s Rick Santelli that reminded me of this scene from “Network.”

While bloggers on the right and left argue wither this movement is real grassroots or astroturf, I thought of two movies that showed the dark side of a populist political action, the Capra classic “Meet John Doe” and “A Face in the Crowd.”  Of course, organizers hope to keep this events nonpartisan and focused on issues like the national anger the AIG bonuses stirred up. Perhaps showing this Disney film about the original American protestors would help.  Personally, I prefered this darker Disney tale of Revolution.

Any other movies come to mind?

east-lake points out that Paste Magazine has declared the Riverview one of the best movie houses in America. I agree: Between the great popcorn at the Riverview and the margaritas at the Parkway, we Minneapolitans can really enjoy seeing a movie. What are your favorite local theater memories?

Well, this is rather astounding. We Like It Here points to a channel of Super-8 movies produced by St, Louis Park’s Troop 379 back in the 1970s. But these aren’t you’re ordinary home movies. Many of them are acrefully edited and narrated, with a professional score that sounds like the soundstrack to old Disney films. Fascinating.

One of the most watched videos on YouTube this weekend was The Science of Watchmen, featuring U of M professor Jim Kakalio, whose shtick is discussing the science of superheroes, and, as a result, was actually tapped by the Watchmen filmmakers to consult on the film.