We are in the dog days of summer and the peak of summer blockbuster season with the release of The Amazing Spiderman and The Dark Knight Rises. Chip has the take on Spidey and the Caped Crusader. Chip, who rarely (if ever) bestows a film with a five star rating, happily gave the nod to the third and final film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.
While I am looking forward to seeing the latest from Gotham City, I have been watching some smaller films. Fortunately, for those movie goers preferring something besides big budget CGI fests for fan boys, there are some fine independent and art house releases coming down the pike as well. Moonrise Kingdom, To Rome with Love, and Your Sister’s Sister continue to play. The Intouchables and Safety Not Guaranteed are hitting Asheville as we go to press. The latest low budget movie in theatres right now is Safety Not Guaranteed, and for my money it is (along with Moonrise Kingdom) one of the best movies of the year so far.
In August, we’ll also see Trishna, a 21st century, Indian version of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, as well as this year’s Sundance fave, Beasts of the Southern Wild. In fact, The Fine Arts Theatre is using its downtime during Bele Chere to convert to digital projection systems and will re-open on August 3 with Beasts of the Southern Wild and Moonrise Kingdom.
With all of the theatres in our area now projecting in digital, the era of film and its reels of beautiful celluloid has passed. But, for sentimental reasons, we’ll keep bringing you our Reel Takes on what’s new and what’s newly re-discovered in film each month.
Enjoy the show!
Trouble the Water
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2009, and winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Trouble the Water focuses on a couple who live through the ordeal of the flood and its aftermath. Held in conjunction with the exhibition The Elemental Arts: Air | Earth | Fire | Water.
If You Go: Trouble the Water screening, Saturday & Sunday, August 11-12 from 2-4 p.m. Free with membership or museum admission. Asheville Art Museum, 2 South Pack Square, downtown Asheville. Phone (828) 253-3227 or visit www.ashevilleart.org
Oops! Last month the review for Moonrise Kingdom erroneously cited The Squid and the Whale as one of Wes Anderson’s films. Um … hello, that would be Noah Baumbach, not Wes Anderson. Our apologies!