There's no way to discuss the seventh and penultimate season of Showtime's hit Dexter without acknowledging how the previous year ended. Therefore, if you haven't finished the sixth season, stop reading now. You've got work to do.
As Simon Lam gets older, he gets better. The veteran actor has appeared in such in seminal HK action films of the 1990s as Once Upon a Time in China (opposite Jet Li) and Bullet in the Head (directed by John Woo); in the aughts, he graced audience and critical favorites Election and Ip Man.
Lee Van Cleef enjoyed a secondary career in Italy cranking out spaghetti
Westerns, with little regard to quality. However, 1972’s Grand Duel — aka The Big Showdown — is deserving of its Grand label. No wonder Quentin Tarantino borrowed its sweeping theme song by Luis Bacalov for Kill Bill; you'll recognize it in two notes.
Early in The Last Stand,
the small-town sheriff played by Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "It's my
day off. Should be a quiet weekend." That's the new way of saying, "I've
got one week to retirement," because it signals — with flashing neon
and everything — that life is going to royally upend those plans.
One of the most inconsistent franchises in movie history is the one beget by Tobe Hooper's 1974 classic, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. How does one follow all those less-than-beloved sequels? Lionsgate's latest in the series — the seventh — has a solution: Ignore 'em.
Another month, another flood of special-engagement films coming to a theater near you, but not necessarily the ones you expect. You'll be pleased if you're into shorts, documentaries and/or things that are free. Let’s get to ’em!
In chronological order, we have ...
The Dome of Heaven 6 p.m. April 5 University of Central Oklahoma’s Center for Transformative Learning 100 University Drive, Edmond free
UCO alum Diane Glancy returns to campus tonight to show her new film, The Dome of Heaven, a chronicle of a dysfunctional family’s struggle for stability. The free screening concludes with a Q-and-A with the director, who’s also a well-known, award-winning novelist, poet and playwright.
Red Carpet Film Festival 7 p.m. April 7 Sam Noble Museum of Natural History 2401 Chautauqua, Norman $5
Six short films will be screened at the fourth annual Red Carpet Film Festival on Saturday. What makes them special is that they are produced by students of the Moore Norman Technology Center’s digital video production and graphic design classes, with scores provided by music students at ACM@UCO. Clocking in at 10 minutes each, the shorts are “Restless,” “My Eyes Are Bigger Than Yours,” “Vengeance,” “The Chill,” “The Guardian” and “Bring Me to Life.” Get tickets — only $5 — and more info at redcarpetfilmfest.webs.com.
Introduction to Documentary Film 2:30-4:30 p.m. April 12 Oklahoma City Museum of Art 415 Couch $35
Here’s a nifty idea: Take a class for the fun of it, especially when said sessions explore documentaries. That’s the intent behind a two-hour class for six Thursdays, beginning April 12, as part of the University of Oklahoma’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Kathryn Jenson White, an Oklahoma Gazette film critic and associate professor at OU, will lead the classes at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. On the syllabus are such acclaimed, accessible, influential and even revolutionary works as Nanook of the North, The Thin Blue Line, Roger & Me, Grizzly Man, Shut Up and Sing and Taxi to the Dark Side. To register, call 325-3488 or visit olliatou.org.
Blue Like Jazz April 13 AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, Cinemark Tinseltown, Moore Warren
Having earned $345,000 in 30 days, Blue Like Jazz is the most-funded film in Kickstarter history, and it opens in three metro theaters on April 13. With a cast of unknowns and based on Donald Miller’s best-selling 2003 nonfiction book, the comedy is about a young man who flees his Bible Belt upbringing to attend college at “the most godless campus in America,” and struggles with keeping his faith. I suppose this is counterprogramming to Cabin in the Woods?
Children of War April 15 Fambul Tok April 22 Oklahoma City University’s Meinders School of Business 2501 N. Blackwelder free
OCU’s ongoing, free documentary series continues with Children of War, about former child soldiers in Uganda, on April 15 and Fambul Tok, about forgiveness following Sierra Leone’s brutal war, on April 22. Both are free. For more information, call 208-5472 or visit okcu.edu/film-lit.
Grateful Dead Second Annual Meet-Up at the Movies 2012 7 p.m. April 19 AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, Cinemark Tinseltown, Hollywood Spotlight 14 in Norman
You know how Deadheads follow the Grateful Dead from concert to concert? I wonder if that holds true when the concert is a film. I guess you could find out April 19, when three area theaters host a never-before-seen summer 1989 gig from the Alpine Valley Music Theatre. A slideshow of band photos will precede the feature, as will a previously unreleased live track from 1974. Grab info and tickets at fathomevents.com, man!
Switch 6 p.m. April 24 Oklahoma City University’s Meinders School of Business 2501 N. Blackwelder free
Screening on the OCU campus for free is the documentary Switch, about trends and the future of the energy industry, with an aim to encourage a balanced national understanding on the topic and its utter importance. Interested? Reserve your complimentary tickets at switchenergyproject.com. —Rod Lott
