Arts & Entertainment - Film

July 2008

FILM

Detroit Film Theatre: Jean-Luc Godard stacked the lineup for his CinemaScope epic Contempt, bringing in director Fritz Lang (to act), Jack Palance, and the beautiful Brigitte Bardot. The film is a study of marital breakdown and artistic compromise — in a way only Godard could pull off. July 5-7. • The Deadly Mantis is a film about a giant mantis, the size of an earthmover, ravaging Washington, D.C., and New York, while The Monolith Monsters does a lot of the same thing — smashing everything in its sight. July 5. • The director, Canadian wunderkind Guy Maddin, calls it a “docutasia.” His film My Winnipeg is half documentary, half surrealism, but one singular vision. It’s a dream about Maddin’s wintry hometown memories as a child. July 11-13. • Creature From the Black Lagoon and It Came From Outer Space are two movies that have been copied and adapted over and over again. The themes in these humanoid, fantasy movies have traveled through the decades. July 12 • My Brother Is an Only Child was a hit in Italy. One brother is a communist and one is a fascist and what starts off as sibling rivalry turns into social upheaval. July 18-20. • Sinbad takes on everyone in these two fantastical adventures of one of the world’s most famous sailors. In The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, creatures, strangle lands, and amazing adventures aren’t uncommon. July 19. • A man wants to marry his nubile cousin but can’t because, well, his wife won’t let him. Since divorce was illegal in Italy in the 1960s, he hatches a plan of murder in Divorce Italian Style . July 25 and 27. • Jim Henson was a visionary and a puppeteer. In Muppets, Music and Magic: Jim Henson’s Legacy, you’ll see rare recordings of Henson’s early career as a puppeteer, as well as his first experiments with commercials and television programs. July 27, Aug. 10 and 17. Contact the DFT or visit the Web site for show times. All tickets $6.50-$7.50. 5200 Woodward, Detroit; 313-833-7900; dia.org/dft.

Detroit Science Center IMAX: The next best thing to actually going somewhere and seeing something in person is seeing it at an IMAX. So, this summer, if you can’t make it to the Grand Canyon, head on down to the Science Center for a little trip out west. Grand Canyon Adventure will take you to one of America’s greatest sites, fly you over, and drop you down into this expansive natural monument. And it’ll cost just the price of a theater ticket. • This isn’t your traditional mummy movie. You’re not going to find the walking dead, shrieks in the audience, or Brendan Fraser. Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs is a real-life adventure through the past to extract clues about the fascinating and mysterious culture of the Egyptian past and their mummies. All through September. $7.25-$12.95. 5020 John R, Detroit; 313-577-8400; detroitsciencecenter.org.

The Redford Theatre: This version of Pride and Prejudice comes from 1940. It’s a movie about matchmaking — or at least the attempt to do it. This version was also the first film to win the Oscar for Best Art Direction. July 11-12. • The shipwrecked Swiss Family Robinson (1960) not only has to deal with survival on a lost island, but roaming pirates. That’s a tough break. July 25-26. All films $4. 17360 Lahser, Detroit; 313-537-2560; redfordtheatre.com.

This article appears in the July 2008 of Hour Detroit.
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