Artvoice: Buffalo's #1 Newsweekly
Home Blogs Web Features Calendar Listings Artvoice TV Real Estate Classifieds Contact
Previous story: Movie Times (Fri. Feb. 20 - Thurs. Feb. 26)
Next story: News of the Weird

Film Now Playing

Opening This Week:

MADEA GOES TO JAIL—This season’s Tyler Perry movie. With Derek Luke, Keshia Knight Pulliam, David Mann and Tamela J. Mann. Market Arcade, Regal Elmwood, Regal Galleria, Regal Hollywood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit

FIRED UP—Horny high school football players disguise themselves as cheerleaders. Starring Nicholas D’Agosto, Eric Christian Olsen, and Sarah Roemer. Directed by Will Gluck. Regal Elmwood, Regal Galleria, Regal Hollywood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit

WALTZ WITH BASHIR—The first animated film to be nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar is based on director Ari Folman’s experiences as an Israeli soldier during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, during which 800 civilians were massacred at a refugee camp. Reviewed this issue. Amherst

ETC:

KINGS OF THE EVENING—In the Deep South during the Great Depression, the impoverished residents of a rural community raise their self-esteem with a weekly dress-up competition. Starring Lynn Whitfield, Tyson Beckford, Glynn Turman, James Russo, and Bruce McGill. Director Andrew P. Jones and co-star Willard E. Pugh will be present at the screening, which opens this year’s WNY Black Film Festival. Sat 6pm. Market Arcade Film and Arts Center, 639 Main St. (855-3022).

LAURA (1944)—Dana Andrews is the police detective who falls in love with the portrait of the woman whose murder he is investigating in this film noir classic. Co-starring Gene Tierney, Vincent Price and Clifton Webb. Directed by Otto Preminger. Fri, Sat, Tues 7:15pm, Tue 8pm. The Screening Room, Northtown Plaza in the Century Mall, 3131 Sheridan Drive, Amherst 837-0376

LIFEBOAT (1944)—The first and most successful of Alfred Hitchcock’s experiments in working with a restricted cinematic canvas. A lifeboat in the Atlantic ocean holds nine people: eight survivors of a ship torpedoed by a German submarine, and one of the sub’s crewmen. The war propaganda aspect dates it (even Spielberg might consider the Nazi caricature a bit excessive), but it remains interesting as an exercise in style, and a rare chance to see Tallulah Bankhead at her best. With William Bendix, Walter Slezak and Hume Cronyn. Fri 9pm, Sat 9pm, midnight, Sun 4, 9pm. Hamburg Palace Theatre, 31 Buffalo St, Hamburg (649-2295) www.hamburgpalace.com

THE RULES OF THE GAME (France, 1939)—In a weekend at a country house, the bourgeoisie, the aristocracy, and the servants all come under microscopic examination. Banned in France until 1956 for being “demoralizing,” Jean Renoir’s social satire hasn’t lost any of its bite. Introduced by Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian. Thurs Feb 19, 7:30 pm. Albright Knox Art Gallery, 1285 Elmwood Ave. (882.8700)

THE SHOP ON MAIN STREET (Czechoslovakia, 1965)—This Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film was also nominated for Best Actress Ida Kaminska, as an elderly Jewish woman in a Fascist-occupied Slovak town during World War II who comes under the reluctant protection of a local peasant trying to avoid political commitment. Directed by Ján Kadár. Presented as part of the Buffalo Film Seminar. Tues 7 pm, Market Arcade Film and Arts Center, 639 Main St. (855-3022).

THEATER OF WAR—The working methods of Marxist playwright Bertolt Brecht and actress Meryl Streep get equal attention in this documentary about a recent Manhattan revival of Brecht’s anti-war play Mother Courage And Her Children. Directed by John W. Walter (How to Draw a Bunny). Tues-Thurs 7pm. Hamburg Palace Theatre, 31 Buffalo St, Hamburg (649-2295) www.hamburgpalace.com

THE THIRD MAN (Great Britain, 1949)—Even though he doesn’t appear as Harry Lime until the last few minutes of this post war suspense drama, Orson Welles is usually accused of/credited with stealing it. But take him away and you’d still have a memorable film, with Joseph Cotton searching the streets of Vienna for clues about the death of his friend. With atmospheric photography and that zither tune that will stick in your head for days. Fri-Sat 9 pm, Thurs 2/26 7:15pm. The Screening Room, Northtown Plaza in Century Mall, 3131 Sheridan Drive, Amherst (837-0376)