CWRU Film Society Fall 2000 Schedule

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

Sunday, August 27, 2000 Free Showing! 8:00pm
The Mask of Zorro (1998)
Rated PG-13 (136 min.) Director: Martin Campbell
With Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Anthony Hopkins

Come enjoy a free movie showing before classes begin!! The original Zorro, Don Diego de la Vega (Hopkins), is captured and imprisoned just as Spain concedes California to Santa Anna. Twenty years go by and his mortal enemy, Don Rafael Montero, returns to California with his kidnapped daughter and a plan to become wealthy at the expense of the peasants. Don Diego then escapes from prison, thirsty for revenge, and trains a new Zorro (Banderas) to take his place. Great sword fighting and heroic acts highlight this blockbuster.

Friday, September 1, 2000 7:00pm, 9:30pm, 12:00am
High Fidelity (2000)
Rated R (113 min.) Director: Stephen Frears
With John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Jack Black

Arrested development confronts 30-something Rob Gordon (Cusack) when Laura (Hjejle), his smart and successful lover, leaves him because he hasn’t changed since they met. He reviews his top five worst breakups, reconnects with these former loves to find out why they dumped him, and wallows in misery from losing Laura. Much of it plays out at his downtown Chicago record store where he and two clerks, socially inept savants, live and breathe music. Rob makes fruitless attempts to win Laura back, indulges in new relationships laced with fantasy, and dabbles in introspection.

Saturday, September 2, 2000 7:00pm, 10:00pm
The Hurricane (1999)
Rated R (155 min.) Director: Norman Jewison
With Denzel Washington, John Hannah, Deborah Unger

This film tells the true story of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter (Washington), an African-American man who rose above his troubled youth to become a top contender for the middleweight boxing title. However, his dreams are shattered when he is accused of a triple murder, and is convicted to three natural-life terms. Despite becoming a cause celebre (highlighted by Bob Dylan’s social anthem “Hurricane”) and his resolution to prove his innocence through his autobiography, years of fruitless efforts have left him discouraged. This changes when an African-American boy and his Canadian mentors (Hannah, Unger) read his book and are convinced enough of his innocence to work for his exoneration despite a racist establishment working against them.

Friday, September 8, 2000 7:00pm, 9:15pm, 11:30am
The Big Kahuna (1999)
Rated R (90 min.) Director: John Swanbeck
With Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, Peter Facinelli

Larry (Spacey), Phil (DeVito) and Bob (Facinelli) are three salesmen at a Midwestern business conference. Larry is a smooth-talking slick operator whose brutal honesty comes as no surprise to his old pal Phil but shocks and offends young Bob. Just married, deeply religious and a bit nervous about his first convention, Bob’s wholesome righteousness irks Larry to no end. Phil, who’s been in the business the longest, is trying to keep the peace. Recently divorced and emotionally and physically exhausted, Phil has suddenly found himself forced to reassess his life and purpose. As the evening progresses, the three men wait for an important potential client to stop by their hospitality suite. By the end of the film, each man has been transformed in ways that they - and the audience - would never expect.

Saturday, September 9, 2000 7:00pm, 9:15pm
Go (1999)
Rated R (103 min.) Director: Doug Liman
With Katie Holmes, Sarah Polley, Jay Mohr

This movie has been described as Swingers for the teenage crowd. The story unfolds from three perspectives as a bunch of young Californians try to get some cash, do and deal some drugs, score money and sex in Las Vegas, and generally experience the rush of life.

Friday, September 15, 2000 7:00pm, 10:00pm
Gladiator (2000)
Rated R (154 min.) Director: Ridley Scott
With Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen

After defeating the last of Rome’s great enemies, general Maximus Decimus Meridias (Crowe) has been named keeper of Rome and its empire by dying emperor Marcus Aurelius, so that rule might pass from the Caesars back to the people and Senate. Marcus’ neglected and power-hungry son Commodus (Phoenix) has other ideas, however. Escaping an ordered execution, Maximus hurries back to his home in Spain, too late to save his wife and son from the same fate. Taken into slavery and trained as a gladiator by a man named Proximo, Maximus lives only that he might someday take his revenge on Commodus for the death of his family. The time soon comes when Proximo’s troupe is called to Rome to participate in a marathon of gladiator games. Maximus wastes no time in making his presence known, and is soon involved in a plot to overthrow the emperor and restore dignity to the empire and his family.

Saturday, September 16, 2000 7:00pm, 9:15pm
The Opposite of Sex (1998)
Rated R (105 min.) Director: Don Roos
With Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan, Lisa Kudrow

A 16-year-old Louisiana girl named Dedee (Ricci) moves in with her homosexual half-brother Bill (Donovan) and immediately becomes attracted to his partner Matt (Ivan Sergei). She finally succeeds in seducing him, and regrettably becomes pregnant. The whole affair boils over into a scandal exposing her brother and the true parent of the child is called into question as it is revealed that there has been a series of lovers.

Friday, September 22, 2000 7:00pm, 9:30pm, 12:00am
Three Kings (1999)
Rated R (114 min.) Director: David O. Russell
With George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube

This was one of the best (but little seen) films of 1999. In the days immediately after the Gulf War, a group of American soldiers come across a secret map that discloses the whereabouts of a bunker where Iraq is storing stolen gold and treasure from Kuwait. The soldiers hope to take the gold and keep it for themselves. However, when they arrive at the site, they discover that the Iraqi army is more concerned about persecuting its civilians than stopping them from stealing the gold. They learn that the civilians have been encouraged by the U.S. government to rise up and fight Sadaam Hussein, but are facing certain execution because the U.S. military refuses to help them. This incident creates a crisis of conscience for the American soldiers. Do they take the money and run, leaving the civilians to face certain death at the hands of the Iraqi army, or do they risk losing the gold in order to escort them safely across the border into Iran?

Saturday, September 23, 2000 7:00pm, 9:30pm
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Rated R (118 min.) Director: Terry Gilliam
With Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Tobey Maguire

An adaptation of a Hunter S. Thompson (the writer of “cult favorite” articles for Rolling Stone in the ‘60s and ‘70s) novel of the same name. The film details a wacky search for the elusive “American Dream”, by Thompson (Depp) and his crazed lawyer (Del Toro). Fueled by the massive amount of drugs they purchased with an advance from a magazine to cover a desert car race in Vegas, they set out and encounter police, reporters, gamblers, racers, and hitchhikers in their adventures through the modern American West.

Friday, September 29, 2000 7:00pm, 9:30pm, 12:00am
Shanghai Noon (2000)
Rated PG-13 (110 min.) Director: Tom Dey
With Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Lucy Liu

This 19th-century Western casts Chan as Chon Wang, a clumsy Imperial Guard to the Emperor of China. When Princess Pei Pei (Liu) is kidnapped from the Forbidden City, Wang feels personally responsible and insists on joining the guards sent to rescue the Princess, who has been whisked away to the United States. In Nevada and hot on the trail of the kidnappers, Wang is separated from the group and soon finds himself an unlikely partner in Roy O’Bannon (Wilson), a small time robber with delusions of grandeur.

Saturday, September 30, 2000 7:00pm, 10:00pm
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Rated PG-13 (150 min.) Director: Hayao Miyazaki
With voices of Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, Billy Bob Thornton

The time and place is the Muromachi era, Japan. A prince of a small village, Ashitaka (Crudup) is cursed to endure a slow but certain death by a Boar God. To find a possible cure to the curse, he travels westwards. Hearing of a Shishi-Gami (Deer-God) that may be his salvation, he soon comes across a village of iron miners and there finds himself in the middle of a battle between the animal gods of the forest, led by a girl called Princess Mononoke (Danes), and the iron miners, led by a woman who is trying to create a sanctuary for human outcasts. Alongside this battle is a mysterious group of men who are after the head of the Shishi-Gami in a quest to gain immortality. Why did the Boar God suddenly become evil? Can he persuade all those involved to make peace or is conflict inevitable between man and nature?

Friday, October 6, 2000 7:00pm, 9:30pm, 12:00am
Keeping the Faith (2000)
Rated PG-13 (128 min.) Director: Edward Norton
With Ben Stiller, Edward Norton, Jenna Elfman

A priest (Norton) and a rabbi (Stiller), best friends since childhood, both fall in love with Anna (Elfman), another friend who has recently returned to New York for her job. However, neither of the men can seriously pursue the relationship due to their religious beliefs: the priest cannot break his vow of celibacy and the rabbi feels he cannot marry her because she is not Jewish. This is a terrifically funny film that is also Norton’s feature directorial debut.

Saturday, October 7, 2000 7:00pm, 10:30pm
Magnolia (1999)
Rated R (188 min.) Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
With Jason Robards, Tom Cruise, Melinda Dillon

This is one of last year’s most interesting films, from the director of Boogie Nights. The stories of seven people are intricately interwoven in this tale of love and modern morality in Los Angeles. All seven seem to be strangers, yet eerily related. Featuring a soundtrack by Aimee Mann and an incredible performance by Tom Cruise, this is a film that you will talk about for weeks afterwards.

Wednesday, October 11, 2000 FREE SNEAK PREVIEW! 7:00pm
The Contender (2000)
Rated R (126 min.) Director: Rod Lurie
With Joan Allen, Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges

When the sitting Vice President dies, Senator Laine Hanson (Allen) is chosen by the President (Jeff Bridges) to be the first woman to hold the office. The selection meets with opposition from members of both parties, in particular a powerful political adversary (Oldman) who will seemingly stop at nothing to discredit her. Her confirmation hearings set off a firestorm of controversy as shocking secrets from Hanson's past are revealed, threatening her personal life as well as her political future. Laine Hanson has what it takes to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Now she must prove she has the stomach for what it takes to get the job.

Friday, October 13, 2000 8:00pm, 10:00pm, 12:00am
Chicken Run (2000)
Rated G (84 min.) Directors: Peter Lord, Nick Park
With voices of Mel Gibson, Julie Sawalha, Miranda Richardson

From Aardmann Animation and the geniuses behind Wallace and Grommit, Chicken Run is a comedy escape drama with a touch of passion set on a sinister Yorkshire chicken farm in 1950s England. The film follows the turbulent romance between two farmyard chickens, Rocky (Gibson) and Ginger (Sawalha), who yearn for freedom and plan a daring ‘prisoner of war’-style escape.

Saturday, October 14, 2000 8:00pm, 10:15pm
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Rated R (96 min.) Director: Sofia Coppola
With James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst

This is the feature directorial debut of Sophia Coppola (daugher of Francis Ford Coppola). She combines an incredible visual style with a unique sense of pace to tell the story of an eclectic group of boys living in an affluent American suburb in the 1970s, whose lives are forever changed by their obsession with the five young, troubled Lisbon sisters. (And to dispel all of this summer’s rumors, one of the stars, Kirsten Dunst, was NOT coming to CWRU!!)

Friday, October 20, 2000 - Saturday, October 21, 2000
No Movies due to Fall Break

Friday, October 27, 2000 7:00pm, 9:30pm, 12:00am
The Crow (1994)
Rated R (102 min.) Director: Alex Proyas
With Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincock

This would have been Brandon Lee’s (son of Bruce Lee) breakout film, if he hadn’t been “accidentally” killed on the set during a stunt. Eric Draven (Lee) and his fiancée are brutally murdered on Devil’s Night, when the henchmen of crime boss Top Dollar (Wincott) traditionally indulge in wanton acts of violence and arson. A crow brings Draven’s restless soul back from the dead in order to seek revenge upon his killers.

Double Feature Night!
Saturday, October 28, 2000 7:00, 9:00pm
Dracula (1931)
No rating (75 min.) Director: Tod Browning
With Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners

The classic monster movie just in time for Halloween! After a harrowing ride through the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe, Renfield enters castle Dracula to finalize the transferal of Carfax Abbey in London to Count Dracula (Lugosi). Renfield is drugged by the eerily hypnotic count, and turned into one of his vampiric thralls, protecting him during his sea voyage to London. After sucking the blood of and turning the young Lucy Weston into a vampire, Dracula turns his attention to her friend Mina Seward (Chandler). Mina’s father then calls in a specialist, Dr. Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan), to diagnose the sudden deterioration of Mina’s health. Van Helsing, realizing that Dracula is indeed a vampire, tries to prepare Mina’s fiancée (Manners) and Dr. Seward for the measures that will have to be taken to prevent Mina from becoming one of the undead.

Saturday, October 28, 2000 12:00am
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Rated R (100 min.) Director: Jim Sharman
With Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon, Tim Curry

Since last year was such a success, we decided to “Do the Time Warp again!” Come join the Film Society and the Rocky crowd celebrate Halloween with this cult movie classic! Dress up, bring squirt guns, toast, rice, and the Plain Dealer! Dr. Frank N. Furter (Curry), Riff Raff, Janice (SLUT!), and the rest will all be there!! A live performance by the on-campus Rocky cast Voyeuristic Intentions will accompany this show. Come early for the de-virginization exercises!

Friday, November 3, 2000 7:00pm, 10:00pm
The Patriot (2000)
Rated R (164 min.) Director: Roland Emmerich
With Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson

After proving himself on the field of battle in the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin (Gibson) wants nothing more to do with such things, preferring the simple life of a farmer. But when his son Gabriel (Ledger) enlists in the army to defend their new nation, America, against the British, Benjamin reluctantly returns to his old life to protect his son and the rest of his family from British tyranny.

Saturday, November 4, 2000 7:00, 9:15pm
12 Angry Men (1957)
No rating (96 min.) Director: Sidney Lumet
With Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley

The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury files into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American man is guilty of murdering his father. What begins as an open-and-shut case soon becomes a showcase of each juror’s prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other. Based on the play of the same name, all of the action takes place within the confines of a small jury room on the hottest day of summer.

Friday, November 10, 2000 7:00pm, 9:15pm, 11:30pm
Titan A.E. (2000)
Rated PG (94 min.) Directors: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman
With voices of Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman

A thousand years in the future, Earth is destroyed by an attacking race of aliens known as the Drej. Cale (Damon), a human teenager, has received a map from his father that will lead him to the Titan, a starship that contains the key for finding a new home planet. However, the Drej are in hot pursuit, and wish to stop Cale at all costs . . . A fantastic blending of hand-drawn and computer-rendered animation makes this movie a must-see.

Saturday, November 11, 2000 7:00pm, 9:30pm
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Rated R (127 min.) Director: James Mangold
With Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea DuVall

Susanna (Ryder) is depressed and directionless after finishing high school in the late 1960s. A suicide attempt lands her in Claymore, a mental institution. She befriends the band of troubled women in her ward (Georgina the pathological liar, the sexually abused Daisy, the burn victim Polly) but falls under the hypnotic sway of Lisa (Jolie), the wildest and most hardened of the bunch. Will Susanna resign herself to remaining at Claymore and perpetually act out like Lisa, or will she finally pull her mind together and leave institutional life behind? Angelina Jolie won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for this film.

Double Feature Night!
Friday, November 17, 2000 7:00pm
Shaft (1971)
Rated R (90 min.) Director: Gordon Parks
With Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi

Come see the original before you see the Jackson version! In one of the earliest and best of the “blaxploitation” films, John Shaft (Roundtree) is the ultimate in suave black detectives, who is trying to bring safety and order to Harlem. He first finds himself up against Bumpy (Gunn), the leader of the black crime mob, then against black nationals. He finally ends up working with both against the white mafia who is trying to blackmail Bumpy by kidnapping his daughter. That Shaft is one bad mother . . . SHUT YOUR MOUTH . . .

Friday, November 17, 2000 9:00, 11:15pm
Shaft (2000)
Rated R (99 min.) Director: John Singleton
With Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa L. Williams, Jeffrey Wright

When spoiled college kid Walter Wade (Christian Bale) kills a young black student, John Shaft (Jackson) makes the arrest. Walter then skips bail and flees the country. After two years of waiting, Shaft hauls Walter back into custody when he secretly returns to the States. But when Walter’s wealthy father posts bail once again, he goes back out on the streets and looking to put Shaft in a body bag. So do two of Shaft’s corrupt police colleagues (Dan Hedaya and Ruben Santiago-Hudson) as well as Dominican drug lord Peoples Hernandez (Wright) who wants revenge on Shaft for humiliating him in the neighborhood he rules.

Saturday, November 18, 2000 7:00pm, 10:00pm
The Shining (1980)
Rated R (146 min.) Director: Stanley Kubrick
With Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd

In Stanley Kubrick’s haunting adaptation of the Steven King novel, Jack Torrance (Nicholson) gets a job as the custodian of the Overlook Hotel in the mountains of Colorado during the off-season. As Torrance and his family will be the only occupants of the hotel for the entire winter, they receive full run of the Overlook. When snowstorms block the Torrance family in the hotel, Jack’s son Danny (Lloyd) discovers that the hotel is haunted and that it is slowly driving Jack mad.

Friday, November 24, 2000 - Saturday, November 25, 2000
No Movies due to Thanksgiving Break

Friday, December 1, 2000 7:00pm, 9:30pm, 12:00am
Boys Don't Cry (1999)
Rated R (118 min.) Director: Kimberly Peirce
With Hilary Swank, Chloe Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard

This film, based on actual events, was one of the hardest-hitting movies of 1999. Brandon Teena (Swank) is the popular new guy in a tiny Nebraska town. He hangs out with the other boys, drinking, cussing, and bumper surfing, and he charms the young women who have never met a more sensitive and considerate young man. Life is good for Brandon, now that he’s fit in and is dating hometown beauty Lana (Sevigny). However, Brandon Teena is actually a woman named Teena Brandon. When Brandon’s best friends make this discovery, his life eventually is ripped apart by betrayal, humiliation, rape, and murder. Hilary Swank won the Academy Award for Best Actress with this incredible performance.

Saturday, December 2, 2000 7:00pm, 9:00pm
Office Space (1999)
Rated R (89 min.) Director: Mike Judge
With Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, Ajay Naidu

Written and directed by Mike Judge of Beavis and Butthead fame, this comedy lampoons modern workday situations. Peter Gibbons (Livingston), thanks to a hypnotic suggestion, decides not to go to work ever again. His decision comes during a crucial period of layoffs at his company, and when his two best friends are affected, the three conspire to plant a virus that will embezzle money from the company into their own bank accounts. A terrifically smart and funny movie that brings white-collar frustrations to life . . . and then kicks them to death.

Friday, December 8, 2000 7:00pm, 9:30pm, 12:00am
Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Rated PG-13 (123 min.) Director: John Woo
With Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton

Directed with John Woo’s signature style (slow motion action scenes, incredible gun play, motorcycle chases), this was one of the biggest films of the past summer. IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) has been sent on a mission to retrieve and destroy the only supply of a genetically created disease named “Chimera.” With the help of international thief Nyah (Newton), with whom he quickly develops a love interest, he must also contest with a gang of international terrorists headed by a former IMF agent. A great smash hit to close out a fantastic semester!