by Sam Juliano
The Tribeca Film Festival begins this coming Thursday, and Lucille and I will be busy for the eleven (day) duration of the affair, save for Wednesday the 20th, a day we have another commitment for. I project we will somehow see around 30 to 34 films, which will come close to the 37 we saw last year, though nothing will ever match the 52 do we managed in 2014. We are busy now piecing together a schedule for the event. We are very proud that one of Melanie’s films will be screened this coming Tuesday at the famed Manhattan revival house, the Anthology Film Archives, and we will be there too with bells on. I will have reports on the first part of the Tribeca Festival and Melanie’s screening on next week’s Monday Morning Diary.
The entire family (and our friend Broadway Bob) made an encore trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania over the weekend, sleeping at a Day’s Inn on Saturday night. This was our second visit to the splendidly rustic and historical location in the past year, and I’m afraid we now addicted to this scenic and fascinating enclave. We again completed a comprehensive tour of the battlefield, and survived a 28 degree frigid ghost tour at night, which included a stop in front of the famed Jennie Wade House, where the 20 year old woman lived and became the first civilian casualty of the coming historic three day battle. We had a wonderful meal and Gettysburg Eddie’s on the main road, Steinwehr Avenue. On the way back east we spend Sunday afternoon in the Amish Country, located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, ate at Good and Plenty’s (fantastic Pennsylvania Dutch family meal with deserts) and toured the amazing countryside where the mode of transportation is horse and buggy.
Earlier in the week I watched two more Japanese treasures:
A Fugitive from the Past *****
A Wife Confesses **** 1/2
Click on names for archives
Writers/Founders
Wonders in the Dark 
Have a great time this weekend, Sammy. Would love to make Tribeca some time in the future. We’ve got the TCM Classic Film Fest the following weekend, so we’ve gearing up, as well. 🙂
Thanks so much Robert my friend! I’d love to have you here for some Tribeca action, and I’d enthusiastically share my passes with you! The TCM classic film fest can’t be beat! Enjoy and have a fabulous week!
Wow! Seeing 30-34 films in such a short amount of time Sam makes my eyes hurt just thinking about it! But I know you both have done this kind of marathon many times and so I am sure you are well prepared for the experience. I admittedly have not done much film watching due to getting a few larger paintings completed before our trip to photograph and paint the east coast of Canada for seven weeks beginning near the end of April. One of my new Tofino seascape paintings of the sunset has already found a home with an art collector and I have a few more new paintings now listed as well. So, my art has consumed much of my available waking hours for many weeks. It is all good but I will be looking forward to some movie time soon. Maybe in Charlottetown, PEI! All the best as always 🙂
By the end of the festival our eyes are burning Terrill! Nothing can compare with the 52 we saw two years back, but the amount we have planned this year is certainly enough to take a mighty physical toll. I saw that incredible seascape painting at your site yesterday and it is a stunner! Your art should rightfully always be ahead of all else. Your work in progress/family photo album that leads at your site is utterly magnificent. Have a great week my friend!
Sam – have you seen Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special yet?
https://theschleicherspin.com/2016/04/10/we-got-people-die-everyday-believing-in-things-in-midnight-special/
David, I saw it last night actually, and I really loved it! 4.5 of 5.0 for sure! I will check out your review!
Oh, awesome, I thought it would be right up your alley!
David, you have my taste figured out after all these years! On to The Schleicher Spin right now!
Sam — I always love it when you include family photos. The “kids” (clearly no longer children) look F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C! A great big hello to each and every one!
Aye Laurie, they are getting bigger. Thank you for the very kind words. We had a memorable weekend indeed! Have a great week my friend!
Yes, a fantastic weekend away with the Juliano clan!!! It was my first time in Gettysburg and it definitely won’t be my last. Sure wish it was 28 degrees on Saturday night on the walking ghost tour…it was a crisp 21 degrees!!! As for Lancaster County, I’ve been there many times before and glad to have been able to show them all Intercourse, PA, the proper way. 😉
Aye Bob, a weekend to remember, and a place to visit again and again! I didn’t realize it was that much lower in temperature, but it sure did feel like 21. Lancaster was another remarkable place, and Good n Plenty was fantastic! I’ve had those horse and buggies in my dreams!
Huge congrats to Melanie Spielberg on her upcoming screening — that’s tremendous news.
Glad to hear you had fun at Gettysburg and with the two Japanese movies.
Withing you fortitude for the upcoming Tribeca endeavor. Luckily you won’t have to face Andrew Wakefield’s little wankjob.
Thanks so much John! We are all so thrilled about tonight’s screening. Yes the Wakefield doc was mercifully removed by DeNiro. I guess I would have seen it for curiosity’s sake, but we certainly won’t be missing it. We are presently piecing together our schedule, and will be there for opening night on Thursday! We had a great time. Have a fabulous week my friend.
Sam,
Looks like a great trip! We just got back from Ft. Lauderdale and all had a blast! Really enjoyed the beach and the Everglades National Park where we saw some gators in the wild. It was so good to get away from the cold and snow flakes here in Michigan. It appears we are past that now finally and warmth is coming to the midwest finally! Other than that I’m heading on the road again this week to Kentucky for the weekend which I’m not too thrilled about, but it comes with the job. Can’t believe you are going to attempt to see that many films at the festival, but if anyone can do it, you can! Have a great week Sam!
Jon, when it comes to traveling all over the map you are unparalleled! A trip to Ft. Lauderdale at this time of the year is just what the doctor ordered. You took in quite a bit there, and nice to see you once again made amends for your unavoidable time in Mexico, much as you always manage. Yes the Spring is setting in, though over by us we have a deep freeze honing in on us for tonight. Enjoy your stay in Kentucky, albeit work-related. Well, I’ll see what we can take in at Tribeca. The 52 films of two years ago was an act of insanity, so no records will be broken, but we’ll do well enough. Have a great week my friend.
Sam, the TriBeCa film festival sounds both enticing and grueling. Have fun. Your trip looked like a fun time with the family.
On the movie front I Saw the following…
Hello, My Name is Doris (****) wonderful performance by Fields.
Eye in the Sky (****1/2)
L’Amore (****)
All Things Must Pass (****)
Half a Hero (***)
Breathless (*****)
Also re-watched
Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean (***1/2)
Have a great week and enjoy TriBeCa.
John, the festival certainly is both, as past immersions have proven. This year’s crop is offering several films that already have commercial openings a few weeks after closing day. I am still trying to piece together a working schedule, though tomorrow it all begins. I also enjoyed MY NAME IS DORIS, fully concurring with your star rating. BREATHLESS of course is an all-time classic, and like you I was really smitten with the just-released EYE IN THE SKY. Haven’t seen HALF A HERO, good show with ALL THINGS MUST PASS, and L’AMOUR is right on the money. I think I am also with you on JUDGE ROY BEAN, which is quite memorable but still uneven. You had an amazing week my friend. Many thanks as always!
Hello Sam and everyone!
Hope that you had a wonderful time with your family and that you enjoy the goodness of the film festivals! Me? I’m heading out for the third time to Buenos Aires, Argentina, though this time I was selected in their critics program and I’ll be in workshops, the one that you donated to Sam, thanks to you and many others, I was able to fly there, as otherwise would’ve been impossible (I think of how I barely have any money to eat something while being there, scares me). so, thanks!
Anyway, here are the movies I saw last week:
– Olympic Games on Dankichi Island (1932) ** Pits black natives against animals for the amusement of a white dude.
– Elvis (1979, John Carpenter) ***1/2 John Carpenter surely directs the shit out of this work-for-hire script that has some of the most cheesy, wink-at-the-audience dialogue, ever, tropes that have developed with years and have now become the most hated element in the biopics today. But, at the same time, the direction here is so much better, making it so much more emotional, specially in the parts that it needs to be, that it’s mostly saved by that. Also, Kurt Russell nails the movements, the face and the mouth of the King of Rock, and while mostly harmless it still is 150 minutes long, making it around the slower parts more an endurance test than a fun time discovering things that we already knew about Elvis Presley.
– Pre Vis Action (2016, Gareth Evans) ***1/2 Nice test footage, bro.
– Raiden (1928, Shozo Makino, Sadatsugu Matsuda) **** Slapstick Comedy featuring a sumo wrestler and a fake sumo wrestler. Besides its length, the film manages to have an entire arc of character and build up and final confrontation, which ends up in a comedic sequence that must be among the most pleasant surprises of this survey of Japanese film that I’ve been doing. If you can find this, it’s worth the 17 minutes that it lasts.
That’s all, have a great week Sam!
Jaimie, that was just a small token, I do look forward to meeting you some day my friend! In any event I greatly anticipate your report on your trip to Buenos Aires! Best wishes to you! As always you provide a fascinating and comprehensive weekly viewing report. I’ve only seen the John Carpenter film, which was distinctly mediocre. Thanks again as always! That 1932 film is rather a curiosity.
Sam, very excited to hear about Tribeca!
Sounds like the fam had a wonderful trip to Gettysburg. I know it was a very special time for all involved.
Quiet still for me in terms of movies with the exception of CREED which I finally ran down. I was surprised and impressed and thought Coogler handled the gamble of stepping into that franchise unusually well.
Great to get your report too on the two Japanese films. They both sound like things I would love too.
Thanks so much Jeffrey! We are currently immersed at Tribeca, with four films set for today, and five for tomorrow. Last night we saw WOLVES with Michael Shannon, which was quite a captivating if somewhat cliched drama, and a documentary NIGHT SCHOOL about high school dropouts in Indiana who returned years later for their degrees. Quite an inspiring work I must say. That was actually our second trip to Gettysburg and we again were enriched. Cold weather there for this time of year, but we handled that well. I have to agree with you on CREED, which was a surprisingly entertaining revisit of the tired franchise. I felt for the most part it earned the strong reviews it received. The two Japanese films are positively top-rank, and no doubt you would be quite taken with them my friend. Many thanks as always, and I wish you a great weekend!
Sam, I am really looking forward to your Tribeca report! I looked at the schedule and found some I would like to see if they get commercial releases.
Frank, we saw two very good films last night – NIGHT SCHOOL and WOLVES. As to the latter, there were issues though. I plan to have a ‘best of’ report at the end as well as the usual weekly report. Thank you my friend.