Sunday Nightcap 4/15/12

I'm finding this being a film reviewer gig rather weird. I'm seeing things way in advance so that I'm almost pre-hype. I'm seeing films at Tribeca, many of which are going to be big to dos in a few weeks/months and it's strange since I've now seen things that people are completely unaware of and cause blank stares when I mention them. There is this odd dislocation that you can't know until you experiece it. I think perhaps Mondocurry knows what I'm talking about.

Anyway....

I had a blast Monday night at Lincoln Center’s screening of Jackie Chan’s Police Story. It was so nice to see it on the big screen at last. As I remarked to the Unseen Films, Planet Chocko, CineAwesome people in attendance I don’t think I’ve ever seen the film in any sort of widescreen, despite having it on DVD.

This lead into a discussion of being able to see old school Asian films (and other films) on a big screen. Mr C was pondering if he was ever going to be able to see the 35mm martial arts film he picked years ago. Its been sitting years for years waiting for a chance to be seen. Sadly the film appears to be turning bad. Rufus from CineAwesome remarked that because the state of film distribution these days the likelihood of seeing any of the old martial arts films on the big screen ever again is small. Part of it is the rights are an issue and part of it is the ability to find a print is small. This then spun out to talk about the various repertory theaters in the New York City area, especially in light of the recently announced opening of an Alamo Draft House.

It was good time that I had to leave because I had to catch a train. (And as many of you know I should have stayed otherwise I never would have ended up flat on my back in the middle of 34th street).

I really need to transcribe these get togethers since its lots of good talk with good people (actually you should watch the Unseen Films, Planet Chocko and CineAwesome Twitter feeds and come along the next time we go out)

The one disappointment of the evening was that despite the screening being a NYAFF sponsored event no one from the festival was officially at the screening, so there was no way to get any word on what is in store for the festival this year.

I need to thank Indewire for including yours truly in their critics wire poll. I don’t know what else to say beyond that but I’m very happy.

And with that I’m going to disappear more fully into Tribeca by weeks end. Three weeks and twenty nine movies in I’m exhausted and the press conferences, interviews and special events haven’t even started. Keep reading because we’ll be giving you a steady stream of reviews and updates

And now to close out some links and a reminder that I'm not going to be doing a nightcap column for a while since I'm going to be otherwise occupied...

What the dinosaurs mean in Tree of Life.

Werner Herzog on death danger and the end of the world