YOU CAN TRUST MELANIE TO BE MELANIE
The Quentin Tarantino retrospective kicks off this week at the Loft and yes, "Pulp Fiction" screens on Saturday, Sept. 6, and yes, it's one of the most influential movies of the last few decades, but the highlight this week is "Jackie Brown," starring Pam Grier, Robert Forester, Robert DeNiro, Samuel L. Jackson and a bunch of other stars. First of all, it's still thrilling to see Grier and Forester, both of whom had essentially disappeared from the screen before this film, both turn in amazing performances, interacting together immaculately. Also, and this might be partially what Tarantino took from his source material, Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch," but the characters seem to have been captured in the midst of circumstances that pull them from disparate universes where they live full complicated lives. It's a great story that Tarantino handles especially well (and for what it's worth, my favorite of his films). You can enjoy a 35mm film print of "Jackie Brown" on Thursday, Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. Regular admission prices apply.
Also at the Loft this week, an one-off screening of "The Dog," a documentary about John Wojtowicz, the real-life inspiration behind the character played by Al Pacino in "Dog Day Afternoon." Filmed over 10 years and including footage of the robbery that made him infamous, the documentary touches upon the gay liberation movement of the era and the incredibly unique character Wojtowicz was. "The Dog" shows on Monday, September 8 at 7 p.m. with tickets also at regular admission prices. More info on those films and others (like "Stripped to Kill," a Roger Corman film starring Norman Fell as the owner of a strip club where dancers are getting murdered left and right and showing Monday, Sept. 8) at loftcinema.com.
TWO NOUNS COMBINED TO ELICIT A PRESCRIBED RESPONSE
Still no specific opening date yet for Roadhouse Cinemas, the alcohol-and-food serving theaters that were announced as the replacement for the former Crossroads Cinema at Grant and Swan. Turns out the renovations involved in revamping the somewhat outdated space are taking a bit longer than previously estimated. A post on Facebook states they are hoping to open in September.
COME ON, PELICANS!
In "Strange Programming Ideas at National Theater Chains," the local Cinemark theaters (Park Place, El Con and Oro Valley Marketplace) is showing "Scarface" (the 1983 version, predictably, not the 1932 Howard Hawks film) on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 2 p.m. So, if you're finished with brunch by that time or are getting out of church, perhaps you'll want to see a film overloaded with violence and graphic drug usage. A more enjoyable choice than next week's opening of the third installment of the "Atlas Shrugged" film series no one seems to want to continue, but to each their own.
