Our series Beauty is Everything: Vincente Minnelli closes Thursday night at the Heights Theater with a screening of the 1958 Oscar winner for Best Picture, Gigi. Review by Trylon volunteer Geoffrey Steuven. Alternately remembered as a late, great MGM musical and one of the worst films to ever win the Best Picture… Continue reading
The Trylon’s Jim Jarmusch: No Answers Provided series continues with one of our absolute favorites, Down by Law. Review by Trylon Volunteer Michelle Baroody. When Down by Law was released in 1986, Roger Ebert wrote that this “is a movie about cheap whiskey and black coffee, all-night drunks and lost… Continue reading
The Trylon’s Jim Jarmusch: No Answers Provided continues this week, with his masterful acid western, Dead Man. Review by Trylon volunteer Caty Rent. Every Night & every Morn Some to Misery are Born. Every Morn & every Night Some are Born to sweet delight. –William Blake, Augeries of Innocence Dead Man is… Continue reading
The Trylon is celebrating the work of comedian/writer/director Harold Ramis this weekend with two of his funniest movies–Stripes and Groundhog Day. Review by Trylon regular Aaron Vehling. There’s a point in Harold Ramis’ 1993 film Groundhog Day when arrogant Pittsburgh weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) posits that the omniscience and… Continue reading
Our Jackie Chan Adventures series closes with the eponymous action star’s first American vehicle, Rumble in the Bronx. Review by Trylon volunteer Thorn Chen. Almost immediately as he gets to the Bronx, Ma Hon Keung (Jackie Chan) gets on the bad side of neighborhood motorcycle thugs and its head Tony… Continue reading
The Trylon’s celebrated 5th Anniversary Silent Film Festival has been a rousing success, and it closes this weekend with the man who started it all: Buster Keaton. Five years ago we presented a month of sold-out Keaton shows to inaugurate the Trylon, and we’ve been going strong ever since. Come… Continue reading
Our wonderful Jackie Chan Adventures series continues with what some consider his greatest movie, The Legend of Drunken Master! Review by Trylon regular Ben Schmidt. The Legend of Drunken Master is exactly five things: 1. It’s the best kung fu movie ever made. 2. It’s so damned good, it transcends… Continue reading
The Trylon’s Jackie Chan Adventures continues with the crazy historical epic Project A. Review by Trylon regular Ben Schmidt. Project A is a weird bird. But any bird that allows Jackie Chan, Samo Hung, and Yuen Biao to sing together is worth watching, this film being no exception. They three are… Continue reading
Our Hackman in the Seventies series closes with what is arguably the man’s greatest film, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation. Review by Aaron Vehling. In Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, Gene Hackman’s Harry Caul is renowned for his unparalleled ability for audio surveillance, and for the blood on his hands… Continue reading
Our wonderful Gene Hackman in the Seventies series continues with what is arguably the least known of Hackman’s great films, Scarecrow. There is no reason whatsoever for this little masterpiece to have fallen through the cracks. Released in 1973, after Hackman had won his Oscar for The French Connection, and… Continue reading
The Trylon and Heights Theater’s fabulous series, 1939: Hollywood’s Zenith, continues with George Cukor’s classic, The Women. Review by Trylon volunteer Maria Gomez. “I come from a world where a woman’s gotta come out on top….or it’s just too darn bad.” –Miriam Aarons Men have long been trying to understand… Continue reading
American Jesus review by Trylon volunteer David Berglund. There is likely no more essential subject of study in a pursuit to understand American culture than Christianity. It is undeniable that the person of Jesus defines America – not because he holds the nation’s allegiance, but because no matter your worldview… Continue reading
Our Gene Hackman in the Seventies series continues with what might be his most unheralded role, as angry cop turned heroin addict in French Connection II. This sequel is outstanding, though difficult to endure. Don’t miss it! Review by Trylon volunteer Michelle Baroody. Released in 1975, French Connection II was directed by John Frankenheimer, the… Continue reading
Our Gene Hackman in the Seventies series opens with perhaps his most iconic role, as angry cop “Popeye” Doyle in William Friedkin’s The French Connection, for which our man won his first Oscar (and which inspired the name of the fried chicken franchise!) Review by Trylon volunteer Michelle Baroody. The… Continue reading
The Trylon and Heights Theater’s 1939: Hollywood’s Zenith series continues with perhaps the most iconic American musical ever made: The Wizard of Oz. Review by Trylon regular Ben Schmidt. Oz. The great and powerful film most of us have fond memories of watching…on television. But even on the tube, The… Continue reading
We close out our wonderful Alec Guinness Centennial with the David Lean epic Lawrence of Arabia. This nearly four hour masterpiece is like digesting a great novel in one evening–you emerge from the theater shaken, a bit overwhelmed, maybe a tiny bit starstruck, and better for the experience. Add to… Continue reading
The Trylon and Heights Theater’s 1939: Hollywood’s Zenith series begins at the Heights on Thursday night, with Frank Capra’s acclaimed Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington review by Trylon regular Ben Schmidt. In roughly a month, Michael Bay’s new Transformers movie will flicker to life in theaters… Continue reading
The Trylon’s celebrated Alec Guinness Centennial continues with our final Ealing Studios comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets. Review by Trylon volunteer David Berglund. In a few short weeks, the Tony Awards will take place at Radio City Music Hall. More likely than not, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,… Continue reading
The Sixth Annual Hitchcock Festival closes with the Master’s final film, Family Plot. Don’t miss this rare screening! Family Plot review by Trylon volunteer Greg Hunter. Imagine a film of hazy California afternoons. A film in which a stretch of sun-bleached coast is as fine a backdrop for violence as… Continue reading
Our brilliant Alec Guinness Centennial continues with what is probably the man’s most underrated comedy, The Horse’s Mouth, for which he received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay (but not his acting, which is a crime.) Don’t miss this rare 35mm screening! The Horse’s Mouth review by Trylon volunteer Patrick… Continue reading
Our Nicholas Ray series, Inside the Outsider, comes to a close with what is unquestionably his masterpiece, Rebel Without A Cause, screening Thursday night at the Heights Theater. Rebel Without A Cause review by Trylon volunteer Caty Rent. Rebel Without A Cause is without a doubt one of the most iconic… Continue reading
Our celebrated Alec Guinness Centennial continues tonight with a wonderful screening of the Ealing Studio’s comedy The Man in the White Suit. This creature was nimbly directed by the woefully underrated Alexander Mackendrick–who did Sweet Smell of Success, Whiskey Galore!, The Ladykillers (screening May 19 & 20 at the Trylon)… Continue reading
Hot Blood review by Trylon theater manager Nikki Weispfenning. Our Nicholas Ray retrospective is almost over, and what have we seen? Lynching! Police brutality! Murder during wartime! Before we get back to the serious problems of the juvenile delinquents in Rebel Without A Cause (screening at the Heights on May 8), let us… Continue reading
The Sixth Annual Hitchcock Film Festival continues at the Heights Theater with a wonderful 35mm screening of Suspicion, regarded by some to be the master’s finest (and starring the intense Joan Fontaine, and a very strange Cary Grant.) Suspicion review by Aaron Vehling. Dear Aaron: I’m getting married to this… Continue reading
Is there a better way to open our Sixth Annual Minneapolis, Minnesota Alfred Hitchcock Film Festival at the Riverview Theater than with Psycho? Probably not. Psycho review by Trylon volunteer Caty Rent. Psycho was based on a novel by pulp novelist Robert Bloch. The novel was loosely inspired by Wisconsin… Continue reading
There can be no question: this weekend’s pairing of John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China with W. D. Richter’s The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension is, literally and hyperbolically, the single greatest film event in the history of Minnesota. Do not miss either of these under… Continue reading
Imagine, if you will, the bastard child of the Defenders and Trash Film Debauchery and, well, honestly, if you can imagine that you’re beyond help. However, that’s what you’re gonna get Wednesday night, when Theaters at Mall of America programmer Chris Grap gets grilled on his choice by TFD’s Theresa… Continue reading
The underrated On Dangerous Ground continues our Nicholas Ray: Inside the Outsider series this month. Here we see one Jim Wilson, a Los Angeles police detective who has taken the word “embittered” and made it his personal philosophy–when we first see him here, he is in his apartment, alone, cleaning… Continue reading
Johnny Guitar review by Trylon volunteer Geoffrey Stueven. This month we’re celebrating director Nicholas Ray as an outsider, and his 1954 Western Johnny Guitar gives us a title character who looks, at least in the opening minutes, like a worthy stand-in for the director. There goes Johnny (Sterling Hayden) on his… Continue reading
Review by Trylon volunteer Patrick Vehling. Drafthouse Films, the company responsible for the theatrical and DVD/Blu-Ray distribution of Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45, is one amongst many such studios that are part of a massive resurgence of amazing HD remasters, usually from the original camera negatives. Drafthouse has taken great… Continue reading
Stray Dog review by Trylon volunteer Greg Hunter. Stray Dog (1949), the next installment in our Kurosawa Sans Samurai series, is the rare detective story in which the lead must solve a problem almost entirely of his own making. The film follows Murakami (Toshirô Mifune), a well-intentioned rookie, as he… Continue reading
That’s right, everybody! It’s time once again for your favorite secret-awful-or-nearly-awful movie of the month, the Defenders! You know the drill: a local personality, working in conjunction with the Trylon, will steal in to the theater while you wait, patiently, and put on… what? A lost classic you’ve never heard… Continue reading
The Trylon’s celebrated Monday and Tuesday night Premieres continues its trend of masterpieces that have inexplicably failed to find a home somewhere else. We’re proud to present Indie wunderkind Joe Swanberg’s All the Light in the Sky. Local film critic Peter Valelly writes of the movie, “It’s a testament to the… Continue reading
Our Kurosawa Sans Samurai series continues with one of the master’s finest films noir: Drunken Angel! Angel was the first of sixteen collaborations between Kurosawa and his pair of muses: Takashi Shimura and the famous Toshiro Mifune. Primarily this is the story of the good doctor Sanada (Shimura), the “drunken angel”… Continue reading
In Vic + Flo Saw a Bear, our eponymous heroes are former convicts, freshly released from prison and in love with one another, who end up in the backwoods of Quebec. Of course, nothing will go exactly right, as old crimes and misdemeanors assert themselves while this poor couple is just… Continue reading
The Trylon and Heights Theater’s Ain’t We Got Fun?: Pre-Code Hollywood series comes to a riotous close with a double-feature (two for the price of one!) of the Marx Brothers’ Animal Crackers and the insane Girls About Town, directed by George Cukor. Don’t miss it! Review of Animal Crackers by Trylon… Continue reading
We’re proud to open our Kurosawa Sans Samurai series with what might be the greatest of all of the auteur’s non-samurai films: Ikiru, starring the incomparable (and criminally underrated) Takeshi Shimura. Review by Trylon volunteer David Berglund. Filled with heartbreak and insight, Akira Kurosawa’s gently personal Ikiru marks a high… Continue reading
Review by Trylon volunteer David Berglund. All things considered, it is no wonder MGM opted to remake Carrie this year. Not only is Stephen King’s novel a heralded American classic in a nation obsessed with the horror genre, but Brian De Palma’s previous 1976 adaptation of the novel is so unique in… Continue reading
Our David Lynch: Surreal Marvel comes to a close with Blue Velvet, widely regarded as his masterpiece (among a slew of already great and shockingly original films.) Blue Velvet review by Trylon volunteer Michael Popham. David Lynch’s trippy Blue Velvet is set in Lumberton, North Carolina, a small town that’s… Continue reading
The Ain’t We Got Fun: Pre-Code Hollywood series continues with another incredible double-feature (yes, 2-for-1!) at the Heights Theatre on Monday night. Check out the insanely entertaining Search for Beauty and Murder at the Vanities, both from 1934… and well before Hollywood “cleaned up” its act. Search for Beauty and Murder… Continue reading
