THE GENIUS OF ORSON WELLES

It's a weekend of Welles at The Loew's Jersey, the grand movie house (with a recently restored organ) at 54 Journal Square in Jersey City. It's a great chance to appreciate details in Citizen Kane, which opens the weekend. Admission is $6; $4 for seniors, students with ID, and pre-teens.

Here's the schedule.

Fri Feb 1 8:00 pm Citizen Kane
Sat Feb 2 3:00 pm The Lady from Shanghai
Sat Feb 2 6:30 pm The Magnificent Ambersons
Sat Feb 2 8:40 pm Touch of Evil (new print)

Here's a recent video tour of the landmark theater. I still haven't been there myself!



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THIS WEEKEND: TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH!

I'm still sticking with Saturday's Sam Fuller at Falkenau screening as the thing to do in the area this weekend. But it's true that the movie program at Loew's Jersey Theatre has a lot of appeal. And there are many other great things to do, too.

In fact, this weekend turns out to be an example of what sets the metropolitan area apart as a cultural center. Here are some other events:

The Encores! production of Stairway to Paradise, starring Kristin Chenoweth

The Emile de Antonio documentary series at Anthology Film Archives featuring screenings of Point of Order, a tightly edited view of how Joseph Welch managed to give Joseph McCarthy his well-deserved comeuppance. Saturday afternoon there's a panel discussion of that film.

The last days of Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia. I saw Part One courtesy of TKTS last night and loved it--my main disappointment is that, barring a miraculous extension, I won't be able to see the other two parts.

Guy Maddin's Brand on the Brain!, with live music and sound effects plus live narration by the likes of Laurie Anderson, Justin Bond, Anne Jackson, Lou Reed, Isabella Rossellini, and Eli Wallach (also seen in two of the three Jersey City screenings)

And tonight there's that Air/TV on the Radio gig

I'm sure I'm missing a lot of other great (or at least promising fare. For the moment, I'm simply dizzied by cultural overload.

Here's the trailer for Brand Upon the Brain!



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JERSEY CITY SHOWDOWN(S)

I know I just touted this weekend's Sam Fuller offerings at the Museum of the Moving Image--especially Saturday afternoon's Falkenau program. And I stand by the recommendation. But there's another attractive movie program this weekend, in Jersey City, that I also want to note.

Three big Westerns from three continents will be shown on the big screen of the Loew's Jersey Theatre on Friday and Saturday. As you can see from this Scoboco post, the grand, old-timey moviehouse is an attraction in itself. Adult admission is $6, with combo discounts available.

Sergio Leone's great The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly will show Friday night at 8 pm--it's arguably the main attraction of the this "East Meets West(ern)" series, as it is a quintessential example of widescreen moviemaking. Be warned, though: It's violent and 161 minutes long.

Here's short trailer featuring Ennio Morricone's famous theme.



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Another superb example of filmmaking shows on Saturday at 2 pm. Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai is a masterfully told and meaningful adventure story enhanced by exemplary casting that underscores the personality differences among the main characters. This offering is the longest of the bunch, clocking in at 208 minutes. Beforehand there will be programs related to Japanese culture.

Here's a fantastically done scene: A crowd watches in amazement as an unarmed master samurai, posing as a Buddhist priest, rescues a baby from an armed rogue.



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The Seven Samurai "inspired" Hollywood's The Magnificent Seven, the third offering, which will play at 8:30 pm. The storyline holds up well, the acting is also good, and rousing Coplandesque score by Elmer Bernstein is one of the "classics." This one is relatively short, at a mere 126 minutes. There will be a talk with a Q&A after the movie.

Here's a trailer.



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