the smartest dumb movies
After 3 weeks with Oppenheimer we meant to lighten the mood a little, but it looks like we’ve got fascism and nuclear annihilation on the brain, so we opted for a bunch of the smartest “dumb” movies ever made. We’ve got three monster movies with varying degrees of political allegory, a Hong Kong action film with thinly veiled social commentary, and Step Brothers with Will Ferrell.
Starship Troopers
If you ever need a reminder that film criticism should be taken with a grain of salt, remember that a startling number of reviewers failed to notice that Starship Troopers was a satire. With something like American Psycho you can (sort of) understand the mix-up, but it’s hard to imagine how anyone believed the director of Robocop and Showgirls had made straight-faced film where Doogie Howser turns into a psychic space Nazi.
Starship Troopers plays Friday (8/11) at 9:45, Sunday (8/13) at 7:00, and Thursday (8/17) at 7:00. For the late show on Friday, we’re going to kick up the volume a little, and play it extra loud. Tickets
Shin Godzilla
Shin Godzilla seems like a film that would have minimal appeal outside Japan, but sharp filmmaking turned national concerns into something universal, where paralyzed government bureaucracy becomes almost as scary as the monster itself. And that monster is pretty frightening, because Shin Godzilla delivers one of the most unnerving manifestations of Godzilla ever put on screen.
Shin Godzilla plays Saturday (8/12) at 7:00, Sunday (8/13) at 4:15, and Tuesday (8/15) at 7:00. Tickets
Pacific Rim
Pacific Rim may be a big, loud monster-punching action movie (and an excellent one at that), but it’s packed with subtle subversions of tired tropes. There’s a fully developed female character, with her own story ark, who is treated as an equal. And instead of being heroes, hotshot pilots who go rogue just get people killed. Sure, it’s populated mostly with manly-men, but those men open up and talk about their feeling, repeatedly.
Pacific Rim plays Friday (8/11) at 7:00, Saturday (8/12) at 9:45, and Monday (8/14) at 7:00. For the late show on Saturday, we’re going to kick up the volume a little, and play it extra loud. Tickets
Cinema City:
A Better Tomorrow
A Better Tomorrow was far from John Woo’s first time directing, but it’s the first movie that feels like it’s truly his. The film follows fallen triad boss Sung (Ti Lung) as he attempts to reform and make amends to his brother Kit (played by Wong Kar-wai regular Leslie Cheung), while balancing loyalty to his best friend Mark (Chow Yun-fat). The expected gunfights follow, but so does a surprisingly deep exploration of loyalty and family.
A Better Tomorrow plays Wednesday (8/16) at 7:00. Tickets
NotCool Presents:
Step Brothers
In all fairness, we’re aware that Step Brothers is actually a pretty pointed satire of juvenile male entitlement, but let’s put that aside for the moment, because we’re also aware that most of you will be coming to watch it after boozy brunch on Sunday. Just know that it’s surprisingly clever if you want to think about it, but still really funny if you don’t.
Step Brothers plays Sunday (8/13). Doors open at noon for an art market hosted by NotCool, movie starts at 1:00. Tickets
