CWRU Film Society Spring 2000 Schedule

Movie information provided by the Internet Movie Database. Schedule subject to change without notice.

Friday, January 21 - Saturday, January 22, 2000
25th Science Fiction Marathon
Tickets go on sale Friday at 6pm.
8:00pm eXistenZ (1999)
9:50pm Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
12 midnight Surprise I
2:30am Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969)
4:00am Frankenhooker (1990)
6:00am Fantastic Voyage (1966)
8:00am Scanners (1981)
10:00am First Men in the Moon (1964)
11:30am Things to Come (1936)
1:30pm The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993)
2:30pm Alien (1979)
4:30pm Surprise II
6:30pm Silent Running (1971)
8:00pm Wing Commander (1999)
9:45pm Trekkies (1997)
11:30pm The Matrix (1999)

Friday, January 28, 2000 7:00, 9:00, 11:00pm
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Rated R (80 min.) Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez
With Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, Joshua Leonard

Three film students travel to the mountains of western Maryland to make a student film about a local urban legend... The Blair Witch. The three went into the woods on a two day hike to find the Blair Witch, and never came back. One year later, the students’ film and video was found in an abandoned house in the woods. The resulting footage was edited together in hopes of solving the mystery of their disappearance. This was a smash hit at the Sundance Film Festival.

Saturday, January 29, 2000 7:00 and 9:30pm
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Rated PG (126 min.) Director: Terry Gilliam
With John Neville, Eric Idle, Uma Thurman

This is the third film in Gilliam’s “fantasy trilogy.” (Time Bandits and Brazil are the other two.) This is a fantastic tale of a 17th century aristocrat, his talented henchmen and a little girl in their efforts to save a town from defeat by the Turks and their numerous adventures along the way including being swallowed by a sea-monster, a trip to the moon and a dance with Venus.

Tuesday, February 1, 2000 Free Showing! 7:00pm
Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
No Rating (104 min.) Director: Wim Wenders
With Ry Cooder, Luis Barzaga
*Sponsored by the University Program Board*

Note: This replaces 1947 Earth. A group of legendary Cuban musicians, some as old as their nineties, were brought together by Ry Cooder to record a CD. In this film, we see and hear some of the songs being recorded in Havana. There is also footage from concerts in Amsterdam and New York City's Carnegie Hall. In addition, many of the individual musicians talk about their lives in Cuba and about how they got started in music. Great soundtrack!!

Friday, February 4, 2000 7:00, 9:30 and 12 midnight
Mystery Men (1999)
Rated PG-13 (121 min.) Director: Kinka Usha
With Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, William H. Macy

In order to generate more endorsement revenue, Champion City’s resident superhero Captain Amazing arranges for the release of supervillian Casanova Frankenstein, only to be captured by him. The city’s fate rests in the hands of seven loser superhero wannabes: the fork-flinging Blue Rajah, the shovel-wielding Shoveler, the possessed bowling ball-hurling Bowler, the flatulent Spleen, the only-when-nobody’s-looking Invisible Boy, the mysterious Sphinx, and the perpetually-angry Mr. Furious.

Saturday, February 5, 2000 7:00 and 9:15pm
Waking Ned Devine (1998)
Rated PG (91 min.) Director: Kirk Jones
With Ian Bannen, David Kelly, Fionnula Flanagan

When word reaches two elderly best friends that someone in their tiny Irish village has won the national lottery, they go to great lengths to find the winner so they can share the wealth. When they discover the “lucky” winner, Ned Devine, they find he has died of shock upon discovering his win. Not wanting the money to go to waste, the village enters a pact to pretend Ned is still alive by having another man pose as him, and then to divide the money between them.

Tuesday, February 8, 2000 Free Showing! 7:00pm
An American in Paris (1951)
No Rating (113 min.) Director: Vincente Minnelli
With Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant

Jerry Mulligan, a struggling American painter in Paris, is “discovered” by an influential heiress with an interest in more than Jerry’s art. Jerry in turn falls for Lise, a young French girl already engaged to a cabaret singer. Jerry jokes, sings and dances with his best friend, an acerbic would-be concert pianist, while romantic complications abound.

Friday, February 11, 2000 7:00, 9:45pm and 12:30am
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Rated PG (136 min.) Director: George Lucas
With Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman

This was one of the independent “sleeper” hits of last year! This film follows theadventures of two mystical “Jedi knights” (Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi) who are assigned to protect the young queen Amidala from the clutches of the evil Trade Federation who has occupied her planet. On a far away planet, Tatooine, they meet a young boy, Anakin Skywalker, who shows potential strength in ways of “the Force.” Together, with the help of the lovable JarJar Binks, they confront the evil Federation during their invasion of Coruscant in an epic battle on land and in the air.

Saturday, February 12, 2000 7:00 and 9:30pm
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Rated PG (125 min.) Director: Elia Kazan
With Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter

The film version of Tennessee William’s Pulitzer Prize winning play firmly establishedBrando as an international sex symbol and allowed us to “trust the kindness of strangers.” Wonderful acting and direction (from most of the same people who performed on Broadway) give us a touching story of a lower middle class couple in New Orleans whose lives are turned upside down when the wife’s refined sister comes for a visit.

Tuesday, February 15, 200 Free Showing! 7:00pm
Raise the Red Lantern (1992)
Rated PG (125 min.) Director: Yimou Zhang
With Cuifen Cao, Li Gong, Caifei He

Yimou Zhang is one of China’s greatest (and most controversial) directors. In the 1990’s he has directed incredibly moving films which demonstrate the beauty and hardship of living in China; many starring his ex-wife, the beautiful Li Gong. All of his films are banned from public screenings in China. Lantern presents the story of a powerful lord who has numerous wives within his manor. Competition among the wives to win the master’s approval/attention is fierce. The title refers to a red lantern being raised in front of the particular wife’s room, who the master will visit each evening.

Friday, February 18, 2000 7:00, 9:45pm, and 12:30am
Fight Club (1999)
Rated R (139 min.) Director: David Fincher
With Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter

Fincher and Pitt reunite to tell a tale of disallusionment, social injustice and male bonding through bare knuckle street brawling. Our unnamed narrator (Norton) is a depressed young professional who feels lost and undesired in this world. A chance encounter with Tyler Durden changes all this. To get back in touch with their manhood, they begin a “fight club” in the basement of an abandoned warehouse. The word spreads of this club and the popularity grows to where Durden begins to create “fight clubs” all over the country, spreading his word and cult celebrity. As Durden’s popularity soars, his ideas begin to escalate into explosive proportions where our narrator begins to question Durden’s motives and sanity.

Saturday, February 19, 2000 7:00 and 9:15pm
Dirty Harry (1971)
Rated R (102 min.) Director: Don Siegel
With Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, Reni Santino

After gaining international fame in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, Eastwood was cast by Don Siegel in his most famous role, “Dirty” Harry Callahan. In the first of five Dirty Harry films, a bank robbery and an attempted suicide form the prelude to the main event: catching a skillful sniper who is murdering the innocent while holding a city to ransom. Catching him becomes a war between good and evil - with the protagonists on both sides shown as ruthless, bitter and merciless products of a violent society.

Tuesday, February 22, 2000 Free Showing! 7:00pm
West Side Story (1961)
No rating (151 min.) Directors: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
With Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno

Musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in New York City, where rival street gangs (the Jets and the Sharks) battle for territory and respect. Is the love affair between former Jets leader Tony, and Maria, sister to Sharks’ leader Bernardo, doomed to failure?

Friday, February 25, 2000 7:00, 9:30pm and 12 midnight
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Rated PG-13 (106 min.) Director: M. Night Shyamalan
With Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Haley Joe Osment

Ever wonder what that cold feeling on the back of your neck was? Well, now we know-dead people still walking the earth. Or so Cole Sear says. Cole is a social outcast in grade school who doesn’t talk to classmates and often has weird visions. Malcom Crowe is a child psychologist who takes on the task of curing Cole who exhibits the same behavior as an ex-patient who attempted to kill Malcolm. Crowe spends a lot of time with Cole, destroying the relationship with his wife, to discover the “secret” Cole has.

Saturday, February 26, 2000 7:00 and 9:00pm
Run Lola Run (1999)
Rated R (79 min.) Director: Tom Tykwer
With Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup

Lola rennt is one of the most-breathtaking films of last year with kinetic film-making feeding the on screen frenzy. After finding some money, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) has to deliver 100000 DM. Unfortunately he leaves the cash in the subway - a dosser (Joachim Krol) is very happy about that. Now there are 20 minutes remaining for Manni to deliver the money otherwise he’s for the high jump. Desperately he phones his girlfriend Lola (Franka Potente) who helped him out of every situation so far. Will she be able to get 100000 DM in twenty minutes?

Tuesday, February 29, 2000 Free Showing! 7:00pm
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Rated PG-13 (94 min.) Director: Frank Oz
With Rick Moranis, Steve Martin, Ellen Green

A musical remake of the 1960 Roger Corman cult classic! Seymour, an orphan and a nerd, is taken in and given a job by Mr. Mushnik, the owner of a run down florist shoppe in the seedy part of town. Seymour spends his time doing menial tasks and dreaming of the shop assistant, Audrey. One day, just after an eclipse of the Sun, Seymour discovers a strange plant. He buys it and names it — Audrey II. While caring for Audrey II, Seymour discovers the plant’s rather unique appetite. The plant grows and grows, as does Seymour’s popularity and infatuation for Audrey, but who will get her first?

Friday, March 3, 2000 7:00 and 10:00pm
The Insider (1999)
Rated R (157 min.) Director: Michael Mann
With Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer

Based on a true story about Dr. Jeffrey Weigand, who became the first ever tobacco executive to come forward with incriminating evidence accusing tobacco companies of regulating the levels and effectiveness of nicotine in cigarettes, the story focuses on his relationship with the CBS 60 Minutes segment producer who convinced him to come forward. Weigand almost loses everything (career, family, life) by coming forward against his former employer Brown and Williamson, and the other companies in Big Tobacco. Brilliant performances by Pacino and Crowe highlight this film.

Rock and Roll double feature!
Saturday, March 4, 2000 7:00pm
The Doors (1991)
Rated R (138 min.) Director: Oliver Stone
With Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Kyle MacLachlan

Oliver Stone’s homage to 60’s rock group The Doors also doubles as a biography of the group’s late singer, the “Electric Poet” Jim Morrison. The movie follows Morrison from his days as a film student in Los Angeles to his death in Paris in 1971, at the age of 27. The movies features a tour-de-force performance by Val Kilmer, who not only looks like Jim Morrison’s long-lost twin brother, but also sounds so much like him that he did much of his own singing. It has been written that even the surviving Doors had trouble distinguishing Kilmer’s vocals from Morrison’s originals.

10:00pm and 12 midnight
Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)
Rated R (99 min.) Directors: Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe
With Bob Geldof, Christine Hargreaves, James Laurenson

The movie tells the story of rock singer “Pink” who is sitting in his hotel room in Los Angeles, burnt out from the music business and only able to perform on stage with the help of drugs. Based on the 1979 double album “The Wall” by Pink Floyd, the film begins in Pink’s youth where he is crushed by the love of his mother. Several years later he is punished by the teachers in school because he is starting to write poems. Slowly he begins to build a wall around himself to be protected from the world outside. The film shows all this in massive and epic pictures until the very end where he tears down the wall and breaks free.

Tuesday, March 7, 2000Free Showing! 7:00pm
Tommy (1975)
Rated PG (107 min.) Director: Ken Russell
With Roger Daltrey, Elton John, Ann Margret

Russell’s vision for The Who’s seminal rock opera, “Tommy,” is a virtual explosion of imagery and music (especially Ann Margret cover in baked beans). The story centers around Tommy, a traumatized child who retreats into his own mind, and his only touch with the outside world is pinball. Tommy begins a mystical journey to become enlightened. When he awakens from his inner journey, he forms a holiday camp to teach others how to follow his path to enlightenment through pinball.

Friday, March 10, 2000 - Saturday March 11, 2000
No Movies Due To Spring Break.

Tuesday, March 14, Friday, March 17, Saturday March 18, 2000
No Movies Due To Spring Break.

Tuesday, March 21, 2000 Free Showing! 8:00pm
The Atomic Cafe (1982)
No Rating (92 min.) Directors: Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty

A compilation of 1960’s films about what to do in case of a nuclear attack and the effects of radiation, also includes footage of tests which exposed troops to an atomic bomb in order to measure the effects of radiation. Just remember, “Stop! Drop! And cover!”

Friday, March 24, 2000 7:00, 9:30pm and 12 midnight
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
Rated R (113 min.) Director: John McTiernan
With Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, Denis Leary

Self-made billionaire Thomas Crown is bored of being able to buy everything he desires. Being irresistible to women, he also does not feel any challenge in that area. But there are a few things even he can’t get, therefore Thomas Crown has a seldom hobby: He steals priceless masterpieces of Art. After the theft of a famous painting from Claude Monet, the only person suspecting Thomas Crown is Catherine Banning. Her job is to get the picture back, no matter how she accomplishes her mission. Unfortunately, Catherine gets involved too deeply with Thomas to keep a professional distance to the case. Fortunately, Thomas seems to fall for her, too. Remake of the 1968 film starring Steve McQueen.

Saturday, March 25, 2000 7:00 and 9:00pm
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
Rated PG (90 min.) Director: Stephen Herek
With Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin

Ted “Theodore” Logan and Bill S. Preston esquire won’t graduate if they don’t do well in their history presentation. This would be both bogus and uncool! A dude called Rufus comes from the future in a telephone box to help them, as their lives are apparently rather important to the future of mankind! They travel through time doing some interesting research for their history presentation, and generally being excellent to each other!

Tuesday, March 28, 2000 Free Showing! 7:00pm
The Accused (1988)
Rated R (106 min.) Director: Jonathan Kaplan
With Kelly McGillis, Jodie Foster
*Sponsored by the Association for Women Students*

The Accused is a brutally honest portrayal of the struggle for justice a low middle class woman has after being gang raped at a local bar. “Did she come onto the men?” “Look at the clothes she was wearing!” “Was she ‘asking’ for it?” She must face all of these questions and accusations to get justice after these men took her pride and dignity. Jodie Foster won her first Academy award for this role.

Friday, March 31, 2000 7:00, 9:30pm, and 12 midnight
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Rated G (92 min.) Directors: Ash Brannon, John Lasseter
With voices of Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, Joan Cusack

In “Toy Story 2,” the fun and adventure continues when Andy goes off to summer camp and the toys are left to their own devices. Things shift into high gear when an obsessive toy collector kidnaps Woody who unbeknownst to himself is a highly valued collectable. It’s now up to Buzz Lightyear and the gang from Andy’s room - Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, Rex and Hamm – to spring into action and save their pal from winding up as a museum piece. There’s plenty of excitement and fun as the toys get into one predicament after another in their daring race to get home before Andy does.

Saturday, April 1, 2000 7:00 and 9:30pm
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Rated R (112 min.) Director: Spike Jonze
With John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, John Malkovich

A puppeteer (John Cusack) discovers a door in his office that allows him to enter the mind and life of John Malkovich for 15 minutes and then dumps you on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. The puppeteer and a co-worker on the famous 7½ floor try to turn the portal into a small business for people who want to escape their own lives, if just for a few minutes. Things become confused when some people want to stay as Malkovich. Look for the great CWRU reference!

Tuesday, April 4, 2000 Free Showing! 7:00pm
The Red Violin (1998)
Rated R (131 min.) Director: Francois Girard
With Carlo Cecchi, Samuel L. Jackson, Greta Scacchi

In present day Montreal, a famous Nicolo Bussotti violin, known as “the red violin,” is being auctioned off. During the auction, we flash back to the creation of the violin in 17th century Italy, and follow the violin as it makes its way through an 18th century Austrian monastery, a violinist in 19th century Oxford, China during the Cultural Revolution, and back to Montreal, where a collector tries to establish the identity and the secrets of “the red violin.”

Friday, April 7, 2000 7:00, 9:30pm and 12 midnight
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Rated R (128 min.) Director: Tim Burton
With Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson

The classic poem of “The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow” is brought to life by gothic film-maker Tim Burton. Johnny Depp plays Ichabod Crane, and to win the heart of Katrina Van Tassel (Christina Ricci) he will have to brave the nearby woods, even though several decapitated bodies have been found. And then the legend of the axe wielding headless horsemen come together to make this movie.

Saturday, April 8, 2000 7:00 and 9:30pm
Sneakers (1992)
Rated PG-13 (126 min.) Director: Phil Alden Robinson
With Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd

Martin Bishop is the head of a group of experts who specialize in testing security systems. When he is blackmailed by Government agents into stealing a top secret black box, the team find themselves embroiled in a game of danger and intrigue. After they recover the box, they discover that it has the capability to decode all existing encryption systems around the world.

Friday, April 14, 2000 7:00, 9:30pm and 12 midnight
Dogma (1999)
Rated R (130 min.) Director: Kevin Smith
With Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino

The great grand niece of Jesus Christ enlists Metatron (the messenger of God) to prevent two fallen angels from reentering Heaven and thus undoing the fabric of the universe. Along the way, she is aided by two prophets, Jay and Silent Bob. With the help of Rufus, the 13th Apostle, they must stop those who stand in their way and prevent the angels from entering Heaven.

Saturday, April 15, 2000 7:00 and 10:15pm
The Abyss (1989)
Rated PG-13 (171 min.) Director James Cameron
With Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn

During the height of the Cold War the USS Montana, a US nuclear ballistic submarine, sinks into an ocean abyss due to unknown circumstances. The US Navy scramble to the scene to rescue survivors and recover the nuclear missiles on board before nearby Russian forces do. Their best hope is a team of divers attached to a submersible drilling platform not far from the crash site. During the operation freak weather conditions damage the platform and sever its communication with the surface. As World War III looms above and tensions rise between the divers and a deployed SEAL team the rescuers discover that there is something else besides the submarine in the Abyss.

Tuesday, April 18, 2000 Free Showing! 8:00pm
Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
No rating (87 min.) Director: Godfrey Reggio

Koyaanisqatsi is a documentary presented as a visual concert of images set to the music of Phillip Glass. While there is no plot in the traditional sense, there is a definite scenario. Through the use of extensive time lapse photography and slow motion photography, the film makes comparisons between different types of physical motion. This technique of comparison exists throughout the film, and through it we are allowed to examine the world around us. Through this the film conveys its key message, which is Koyaanisqatsi: life out of balance; crazy life; life in turmoil; life disintegrating; a state of life that calls for another way of living.

Wednesday, April 19, 2000 FREE SNEAK PREVIEW! 7:00pm
U-571 (2000)
Rated PG-13 (?? min.) Director: Jonathan Mostow
With Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi

This movie gives a ficitional portrayal of the crew of an American submarine in World War II who seizes a German U-Boat and steals their code machine. Things go awry when their sub is sunk during the operation and they need to take the U-Boat home through hostile waters...

Friday, April 21, 2000 7:00, 9:30pm and 12 midnight
The World is Not Enough (1999)
Rated PG-13 (128 min.) Director: Michael Apted
With Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Denise Richards

James Bond temporarily resigns from MI6 to head up security for Elektra King after her father, a prominent oil tycoon, is killed in a bombing attempt on MI6 headquarters. The assassin, Renard, is intent on using the resources of King Enterprises to accomplish a twisted vendetta against MI6. As Renard starts to set his plan in motion, Bond must fight to protect the very organization that he has devoted much of his life to.

Saturday, April 22, 2000 7:00 and 9:00pm
UHF (1989)
Rated PG-13 (97 min.) Director: Jay Levey
With Weird Al Yankovic, Michael Richards, Kevin McCarthy

An unemployed visionary finds a job as the manager of a television station his uncle owns. Unfortunately, due to gambling debts, the uncle is forced to consider selling the station to a rival station’s owner. With popular less-then network standards of programming, George and his friends try to save the town’s new favorite station.

Friday, April 28, 2000 7:00, 9:30pm, 12 midnight
Man on the Moon (1999)
Rated R (120 min.) Director: Milos Forman
With Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Courtney Love

A biopic based on the life of Andy Kaufman, the brilliant, yet eccentric comedian who went onto enjoy a career as lovable foreign car mechanic Latka Gravas on TV’s “Taxi” and later gained infamy as an inter-gender wrestling champ. The film studies some of Kaufman’s comedy antics as well as his personal life and his relationship with his manager George Shapiro, his best friend/partner Bob Zmuda and his girlfriend Lynne Marguiles.

Adult Movie Night Returns!
Must be 18 or older with proof of age ID for admittance.
Saturday, April 29, 2000 7:00pm
Flesh Gordon (1972)
Rated X (78 min.) Directors: Michael Benveniste, Howard Ziehm
With Jason Williams, Cindy Hopkins, Joseph Hudgins

Emperor Wang (the Perverted) is leader of the planet Porno and sends his mighty "Sex Ray" towards Earth, turning everyone into sex-mad fiends. Only one man can save the Earth, football player Flesh Gordon. Along with his girlfriend Dale Ardent and Professor Flexi-Jerkoff, they set off towards the source of the Sex Ray, unaware of the perils that face them!

9:30pm and 11:00pm
Deep Throat (1972)
Rated X (61 min.) Director: Gerard Damiano
With Linda Lovelace, Harry Reems, Dolly Sharp

Deep Throat is the touchstone adult film. The first ever porn film to earn over $1 million at the box office and legitimize adult entertainment as mainstream and profitable.