Just in time for the upcoming Oscars, shocking I know, several theatres here in the Twin Cities have decided to host some movie marathons of films nominated for this year’s Oscars, from Live Action and Animated short films, to Documentary to every Best Picture nominee, you can find them somewhere in the Cities this weekend and next.
Live Action and Animated Short Films The Lagoon Cinema
Animated – 2:50 & 7:15 (Daily)
Live Action – 5:10 & 9:30 (Daily)
Matinee $7 | General $9
Twin Cities Gold Film Festival Woodbury 10 Theatre
The Most Dangerous Man in America – Sat @ 7:00 (Twin Cities Premiere)
Food Inc – Fri @ 1:00 | Sat @ 5:00 | Sun @ 3:00
Burma VJ – Fri @ 3:00 & 9:00 | Sat @ 3:00 | Sun @ 1:00
Which Way Home – Fri @ 7:00 | Sat @ 9:00 | Sun @ 5:00 (Twin Cities Premiere)
The Cove – Fri @ 5:00 | Sat @ 1:00 | Sun @ 7:00
Tickets $6 | Festival Pass $25
Best Picture Marathon Day 1 (Feb 27th)
AMC Eden Prairie 18
10:30 – Avatar
1:45 – Up
3:45 – A Serious Man
6:30 – Precious
8:45 – District 9
AMC Arbor Lakes 16 & AMC Rosedale 14
10:30 – Avatar
1:45 – Up in the Air
4:00 – Precious
6:45 – The Blind Side
9:15 – Inglourious Basterds
Day 2 (March 6)
AMC Eden Prairie 18
10:30 – An Education
12:45 – The Hurt Locker
3:25 – Up in the Air
6:00 – The Blind Side
8:30 – Inglourious Basterds
AMC Arbor Lakes 16 & AMC Rosedale 14
10:30 – Up
12:45 – A Serious Man
2:45 – The Hurt Locker
6:00 – An Education
8:00 – District 9
Thanks to word that Minneapolis based distributor Apparition is going to distribute the Australian neo-noir The Square here in North America I finally found an excuse to watch director Nash Edgerton’s short film Spider. I had heard good things about The Square, and I figured that his short might help give me an idea of what type of filmmaker Edgerton is.
Well, if The Square has as much malicious glee as Spider I could be in for a real treat.
Jack and Jill are always hurting each others feelings. But like Mum said, Its all fun and games until someone loses an eye.
For those of you wondering what I’ve been up to these past few weeks while the site has run silent, I’ve been working like crazy out at the new Kerasotes Theatre in St Louis Park that is scheduled to open this Friday, November 20th. The Showplace Icon Theatre will be a bit different from your standard movie theatre experience, which is why I am so excited to tell you about it.
So just what is so special?
Bathroom attendents
Yup. Each of our bathrooms will have an attendant to make sure everything is clean and fully stocked throughout our operating day.
Reserved seating in every auditorium
That’s right. Every seat in every auditorium is reserved. Which means you will get to pick and choose where you sit in any theatre. Like sitting up in the corners? No problem. Have an entire party and want to be sure you get seats together? Done. And just in case you are worried about finding your seat, we will have ushers in every theatre to assist you.
After 7pm every one 16 and under must be accompanied by their parent our guardian
We want to be a theatre that caters to both adults and to families that are seeing a film together. While we enjoying having kids and teenagers alike, what we don’t want to be is a theatre where kids can simply be dropped off and allowed to run around all day. We want people to come to our theatre to watch movies.
No admission to a movie after the first 5 minutes
One of the primary goals for the Showplace ICON is to remove as many distractions as possible from the theatre going experience. A common issue is people trying to avoid watching the ads before the films, so they come late to purchase tickets and then wander in during the film and try to find seats, disrupting the film for every one else. With our reserved seating groups will no longer have to worry about finding the seats they want, and everyone will know where they will be sitting o that eliminates any potential seating issues. Thus the only reason to now show up late would be to try and miss the ads. Which brings me to my next point.
No ads
And by no ads I mean no digitally projected Coke sponsored “special presentation” during admission and no ads before the trailers. All you will have is a blank screen until we roll trailers and start the film. Once you enter the theatre we want you to enjoy the movie you paid to see and not being forced to watch ads. And since the feature will start 5 minutes after we start we won’t let people into the film once it starts so you can enjoy what you paid to see, the movie.
All digital presentation
Both sound and projection are 100% digital and you are about to experience film like you never have before. No more having to worry about films being out of focus or brain wraps causing the prints to melt. And in the case of emergency, we can actually pause the film and rewind if need be.
All 3D theatres have silver screens
One of the biggest complaints about 3D films is that the image can be dark and muddled, our 3D screens are specially made with a silver additive that allows them to reflect images much better, allowing the light to be reflected back at the audience, which makes the images appear bright and colourful and which in turn helps eliminate eye strain and the headaches they can cause.
Digital sound in every theatre
While previously mentioned, we are the first theatre in Minneapolis that uses 100% digital sound, and oh the noise, noise noise it is capable of. Multiple channels in each theatre and the crisp, clear sound makes for a listening experience just as impressive as the viewing experience.
Bar and lounge area upstairs for those 21+
If you are 21 and over you can enjoy a drink or some food at our upstairs bar and lounge. Nuff said.
VIP section available for auditoriums 1 & 2
This is possibly our coolest feature in the entire theatre. Both theatres 1 & 2 offer VIP seating for an additional $5 charge for people 21+. What this is is balcony seating for both of those theatres which have leather love seats and tables so that people can bring their drinks and food in from the bar and lounge to enjoy while they watch their movies. Its an incredibly comfortable, fun, relaxing and cool environment to watch the biggest movies out today.
Those are just some of the many features you’ll find at our theatre, along with other ammenities like real butter for your popcorn, pizzas at the concession stand and an easy to find floor staff and management team willing to help fill your every need. But the best reason to come to the Showplace ICON is our main house, which is Theatre #1.
Now I’ve been to almost every theatre in the Twin Cities. I love The Uptown, The Heights, The Riverview, and The Parkway just to name a few. And I’ve seen some impressive theatres that offer great picture and sound at them and other theatres around town, but I’ll put up our main house against any of them and not think twice about it. The seating is around 450, which is big but not huge, but the size of the auditorium is massive, possibly even bigger then The Uptown. The screen is just as huge, topping out at 70ft, making it large enough to be a mini IMAX screen. And if that isn’t impressive enough, the sound system in that house has 3x the power of the Metrodome. Then add in the VIP seating the lounge and all of our other amenities an you have a viewing experience that simply can’t be matched in the Twin Cities, and possibly anywhere else in the country. Starting this Friday, its a great time to be a film fan in Minneapolis.
While my last entry for The Crazies was a fairly mainstream film that should be easy for people to see, this next choice is one I’ve been keeping an eye on for a few months now. As an added bonus, this film was made here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, making it extra easy for me to keep tabs on it.
The film I am speaking of is Phasma Ex Machina, which essentially means Ghost from the Machine. Based on the trailer I’ve heard people compare it to Primer, but with that title the film seems to have more of an existential bent in mind and honestly the first film that comes to me is Ghost, which may or may not be a bad thing. Phasma Ex Machina doesn’t seem to be planning to layer on the sappy love story, but rather delve potentially into more of an eerie ghost tale, which would be a welcome sight.
The good news is that it looks like post-production is almost wrapped up, and the film should start being screened around town and festivals. Be sure to check out their website where you can follow the film on Twitter and Facebook, read their production blog and sign up for the newsletter to keep up to date on any potential screenings in your area.
I’ve never been so stressed out for a movie. It should be noted that at the moment I started writing this I hadn’t even seen the film yet, though I am sitting in the theatre waiting for it to start. It all started this morning. I’d known a few days earlier that Paranormal Activity had finally been booked to play in Minneapolis, but I had foolishly assumed that it would get a standard run. Instead, the film had been booked for just two midnight shows on Friday and Saturday night, making Anna’s and my plans to watch it on Sunday morning totally meaningless. So when I woke up this morning I didn’t know how frantic my day was about to become.
Luckily for me I discovered early on that their would be no Sunday screening. Knowing that Anna would kill me if I didn’t get tickets I did what any man would do, I called her at work and got permission for us to go out past our bedtime.
The conversation that followed was rather strange, as Anna assured me that her sister had told her the 7:30 show had sold out so I must be mistaken. After assuring her that their was no such show I was finally given the go ahead to order tickets and that was that. Or so I thought.
A few short hours later, as I drove to work, I received a frantic phone call from Anna. She had just talked to her sister who had assured her that the Friday show was sold out and that I couldn’t have possibly ordered tickets.
“Well it might be sold out now but I bought tickets.”
“But Lindsey said the show was sold out before today.”
“That’s great. But I bought tickets.”
“Are you sure?”
“Do you want me to show you the confirmation?”
“But Lindsey said it was sold out.”
“She also said the show was at 7 o’clock.”
“I don’t know why you are getting frustrated.”
“I don’t know why you are questioning me about tickets I bought on your orders.”
“I don’t trust online ticketing.”
“Since when?”
“I don’t want us to show up and find out the ticket you bought were already sold.”
“Good lord, you sound like my parents.”
Sure enough, over the next few hours I would receive a few more phone calls questioning whether the tickets I ought had actually been bought. By the time I finally got home from work I was exasperated by the onslaught of disbelief that it was actually possible to buy tickets online. Even once we showed up for the movie, over an hour early based on Anna’s demands, I was still being questioned on whether the tickets were actually purchased. So by the time we finally got seated I had had about all I wanted from Paranormal Activity.
So as for my thoughts? Paranormal Activity is a nice little film. The actors (Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat) both do a good job and the effects are very good, but the film suffers from some gaping plot holes and inconsistencies. Its not a movie that will hold up well to any sort of analysis or scrutiny, but the film is fun to watch and it does offer plenty of scares. Its not as good nor scary as it is billed, but for a bare bones true Indie film its is top notch entertainment. The good news is it scared the socks off of Anna, meaning I have all sorts of ways that I can enact my revenge for the hell she put me through all day. And don’t feel sorry for her, she’s earned it.
Just in time for the upcoming Oscars, shocking I know, several theatres here in the Twin Cities have decided to host some movie marathons of films nominated for this year’s Oscars, from Live Action and Animated short films, to Documentary to every Best Picture nominee, you can find them somewhere in the Cities this weekend and next.
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