September 23rd, 2019: Wilcox's Forbidden Planet @ 7:30 pm
w/ guest speaker Dr. Cordelia Ross
Forbidden Planet is a classic sci-fi adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest. When Adams (played by Leslie Nielsen) and his crew are sent to investigate the silence from a planet inhabited by scientists, he finds all but two have died. Dr. Morbius (Prospero) and his daughter Altaira (Miranda) have somehow survived a hideous monster who roams the planet. Unknown to Adams, Morbius has made a discovery, and he has no intention of sharing it (or his daughter!) with anyone or any thing! (from IMDB.com)
Forbidden Planet has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it is one of the most influential science fiction movies of all time, entering the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 2013 because of its "cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance." |
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October 28th, 2019: Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet @ 7:30pm
w/ guest speaker Dr. Paul Phelps
The classic Shakespearean romantic tragedy is updated by director Baz Luhrmann to a post-modern Verona Beach where swords are merely a brand of gun and bored youths are easily spurred toward violence. Longtime rivals in religion and business, the Montagues and the Capulets share a page from the Jets and Sharks of West Side Story when they form rival gangs. Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) is aloof toward the goings-on of his Montague cousins, but after he realizes that Juliet (Claire Danes) is a Capulet at the end of one very wild party, the enmity between the two clans becomes the root of his angst. He relies heavily -- and with serious consequences -- on his rebel gender-bender of a friend, Mercutio (Harold Perrineau Jr.), and Father (not Friar) Lawrence (Pete Postlethwaite) for protection and support. Romeo is, of course, exiled, and it looks like Juliet will be forced into an arranged marriage with the bland Paris (Paul Rudd). It ends, as Romeo and Juliet must, when Romeo hears a tragic piece of misinformation and brings his suicide wish to what was meant to be Juliet 's temporary tomb. This time, though, the turf and the weapon of choice have taken a turn toward the surreal. (from rottentomatoes.com)
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February 11th, 2020: McCarthy's Ophelia @ 7:30pm
w/ guest speaker Dr. M. Tyler Sasser
Daisy Ridley stars in a version of Shakespeare's Hamlet told from the point-of-view of Ophelia, adapted from the popular YA novel of the same name. As a rebellious and motherless child, Ophelia is taken into Elsinore Castle by Queen Gertrude as one of her most trusted ladies-in-waiting. Soon enough, Ophelia captures the affections of the young Prince Hamlet. A passionate romance kindles between the 2 in secret as the kingdom is on the brink of war amidst its own political intrigue and betrayal. When Hamlet's father is murdered and the prince's wits begin to unravel into an insatiable quest for vengeance, Ophelia sharply navigates the rules of power in Denmark all while struggling to choose between her true love and her own life. (from IMDB.com)
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April 6th, 2020: Branagh's All is True @ 7:30pm
w/ guest speaker Professor Seth Panitch
In All is True, acclaimed director of Cinderella, Thor, and Jack Ryan Kenneth Branagh returns to his roots of putting Shakespeare on the silver screen in this bold and highly original film. The year is 1613, Shakespeare is acknowledged as the greatest writer of the age. But disaster strikes when his renowned Globe Theatre burns to the ground, and devastated, Shakespeare returns to Stratford, where he must face a troubled past and a neglected family. Haunted by the death of his only son Hamnet, he struggles to mend the broken relationships with his wife and daughters. In so doing, he is ruthlessly forced to examine his own failings as husband and father. His very personal search for the truth uncovers secrets and lies within a family at war. (from IMDB.com)
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