This August, the Museum of the Moving Image is screening on weekends eight classics, both filmed and projected in 70 mm, that leap right off the screen. Tickets are $12.
2001: A Space Odyssey Aug. 7, 7pm; Aug. 8, 2pm; Aug. 9, 2pm. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. 1968, 159 mins (with intermission). Kubrick’s mysterious and profound epic—“the ultimate trip”—is about nothing less than the beauty and banality of civilization, blending cool satire, an elaborate vision of the future, and passages of avant-garde cinematic inventiveness.
Brainstorm Aug. 8, 6pm; Aug. 9, 6pm. Dir. Douglas Trumbull. 1983, 106 mins. 70mm. Douglas Trumbull’s science-fiction thriller about a device that can record thoughts and dreams features stunning visual effects to portray telepathic experiences, cutting between widescreen and standard size. The film stars Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, and Louise Fletcher. Brainstorm has not been shown in 70mm in New York for more than 20 years. This 70mm print is also notable for its original magnetic soundtrack.
Tron Aug. 14, 7pm; Aug. 15, 7pm; Aug. 16, 7pm. Dir. Steven Lisberger. 1982, 96 mins. 70mm. With Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, Barnard Hughes. Groundbreaking for its pioneering use of computer graphics, the cult favorite Tron follows rebel computer programmer Kevin Flynn as he is scanned and transported into an autocratic universe of zipping vectors and shiny surfaces, somewhere inside of a computer mainframe. An expensive and risky venture for Disney at the time, TRON is notable for its sophisticated sets and elaborate costumes designed by renowned French comic-book artist Moebius (Alien, 1979), but perhaps the film’s true innovation lies in its extensive use of 3-D CGI combined with photographic images.
It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World Aug. 15, 2pm; Aug. 16, 7pm. Dir. Stanley Kramer. 1963, 205 mins. This epic Hollywood comedy is a three-hour-plus extravaganza of slapstick excess that lets loose an unparalleled cast of legends—including Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Spencer Tracy, and Jonathan Winters (and that’s just for starters)—in a wild plot about a hunt for buried treasure. With its super-wide frame, jam-packed with gags big and small, Stanley Kramer’s classic is endless juvenile fun that has retained an intense fan following.
West Side Story Aug. 21, 7pm; Aug. 22, 2pm. Dirs. Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise. 1961, 151 mins. With Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno. Beautifully restored in 2011 for the 50th anniversary of its release, West Side Story has stood the test of time as one of the most beloved film musicals. In its adaptation of the Romeo and Juliet story—featuring unforgettable songs by Leonard Bernstein and choreography by Jerome Robbins—feuding families are replaced by warring New York City gangs, the white Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks. When forbidden love escalates their rivalry, tragedy strikes and doesn't stop until the climactic and heartbreaking ending.
Lawrence of Arabia Aug. 22, 6pm; Aug. 23, 4pm. Dir. David Lean. 1962, 217 mins (with intermission). With Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn. The apex of David Lean’s magnificent career was this unparalleled spectacle which won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, and rocketed Peter O’Toole to stardom as real-life adventurer T. E. Lawrence, a former British officer whose expedition to Cairo in 1916 leads him to side with the Arabs against the Turks. The film also introduced Omar Sharif, already a major star in Egyptian cinema, to English-speaking audiences. With its overwhelming widescreen desert vistas, this is one of cinema’s most transporting experiences.
The Master Aug. 29, 2pm; Aug. 30, 2pm. Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson. 2012, 144 mins. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix, Hoffman, and Adams all received Oscar nominations for their performances in Paul Thomas Anderson’s spellbinding saga of post–World War II America. Phoenix creates the unforgettable Freddie Quell, a wayward soul who falls under the spell of a spiritual guru (Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his greatest performances), who may or may not be a huckster. In this haunting drama, Anderson creates one mysterious, richly evocative image after another.
Interstellar Aug. 28, pm; Aug. 29, 6pm; Aug. 30, 6pm. Dir. Christopher Nolan. 2014, 169 mins. With Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain. A stunningly realized science-fiction epic with philosophical, cinematic, and narrative ambition reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar is an immersive and exhilarating film experience that captures Nolan’s love for large-format celluloid film.
For tickets or more information, visit movingimage.us.
