Nashville for Free

Can you really call something a film festival if it’s only screening two movies? Ah, who knows, but who really cares, the Tennessee State Museum is screening two movies for free this Saturday!

They’re showing Cleopatra and Cleopatra. Confused? As you may have guessed by now, there has been more than one movie made titled Cleopatra, and today you have the opportunity to see two of them sans cost. First up at 10:15am it’s Cecil B. DeMille’s 1934 version of Cleopatra starring Claudette Colbert, and then at 12:30pm they’ll move to the 1963 epic production of Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Rex Harrison. See one, see both, they’re about the same historical figure so there will probably be some plot similarities (surprise!) but if they’re showing them back to back like that I imagine that there’s something worth seeing in both of them.

If they wanted to play movies about Egypt it kinda makes you wonder why they didn’t pick The Mummy, right? I’m joking. Well, half joking, I love that movie. Haters can hate, but The Mummy was awesome.

Again, and as usual, I digress. Here’s the schedule:

• 10:15am – Cleopatra (1934)
• 12:30pm – Cleopatra (1963)

Beware of any curses!

-Emily

Usually I’m pretty picky about movies. I’ll just say it, I’m kind of a snob. I am incredibly rarely seen at a Regal cinema and most of the films I see at the Belcourt are the older films they show. I’ll be the first to admit that I often miss seeing really good movies in theaters because ewww it’s a blockbuster/remake.

However, I have a massive soft spot in my heart for Robert Downey Jr.

That’s why Sherlock Holmes was one of those few times I dished out $10 to see a big blockbuster movie, and would you believe this, I absolutely LOVED it.

There’s action, mystery, Robert Downey Jr., it’s just a really good, fun movie. Is it a cinematic masterpiece? No, not at all, but it’s a blast almost from start to finish. Sherlock Holmes fans might not love it, but someone looking to be entertained for the evening is unlikely to be disappointed.

Speaking of wanting to be entertained, you’re in luck! Sherlock Holmes is this week’s installment of Movies in the Park, and it’ll start tonight at sundown. You’ll want to get there early because the police will be there keeping you safe by monitoring how many people enter the park, so entrances will be blocked. Probably. But you’ll be safer! Huzzah!

Enjoy your terribly enjoyable action mystery.

-Emily

Vanderbilt is in the habit of serving up free screenings of stellar smaller-run movies and like the best of addicts, can’t quit it just because it’s summer. Vandy’s Flicx program lets Vanderbilt students (including graduate school students) see movies for free at The Belcourt. Every showing includes a faculty-led discussion afterwards and oftentimes there are special opportunities like a skype conference with the director or a visit by an actor or actress who is a Nashville native.

This summer they will be showing a particularly great slue of great flicks at the Belcourt. In June they are showing all of director Terrence Malick’s major motion pictures leading up to his new movie, The Tree of Life, on June 24. In August, they are showing road trip movies and throughout the summer season there are various other “first-run films” available for (free) viewing. Coming up next in Flicx’s lineup, Queen of the Sun is being screened at 7 pm on June 3. An award-winning documentary on the global bee crisis, Queen of the Sun is directed by Taggart Siegel (The Real Dirt on Farmer John) and looks at the bee crisis from a philosophical, environmental and personal level.

Students can register online at https://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/form/dycUFi for movies. Once registered, students just have to sign in when they get to the theater and then sit back and enjoy their free show. Below are some of the upcoming movies but there are more listed on the Flicx website.

• Jun 3, 7 pm; Queen of the Sun
• Jun 4/5; National Velvet
• Jun 7; Badlands
• Jun 9, 7 pm; Last Mountain
• Jun 10; Incendies
• Jun 11/12; A Place in the Sun
• Jun 14; Days of Heaven

-Meryem Dede

Meryem is a student at Vanderbilt University. She majors in Russian and something else that the editor cannot remember right now. The editor would like to apologize to Meryem for that. Meryem enjoys talking about Russia, being vegetarian, and long walks in the heat. She also has spent time as an editor at The Slant, which we highly recommend because it is intentionally funny.

One of my favorite parts about Nashville in the summer is the plethora of free outdoor movies. Between Movies in the Park and the Belcourt there will be plenty of opportunities to watch awesome films in the open air. They’re always great fun and this year the movie selection is pretty awesome.

Movies in the Park, which take place in Centennial Park, run every Wednesday in the month of June. Be sure to bring a blanket or a chair that sits low to the ground and maybe a little bit of cash for the food vendors. This year The Grilled Cheeserie, Cupcake Collection, Fleur de Lis, Moosehead Kettle Corn, Tin Can Treats, Chili Pop’s, Moe’s Southwest, and Joe’s Crabshack will be there ready to feed you. The films start when it gets dark and the schedule is as so:

• June 1 – 500 Days of Summer
• June 8 – Harry Potter (the latest one)
• June 15 – Sherlock Holmes (also the latest one)
• June 22 – Despicable Me
• June 29 – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (the NON edited version)

Like I said, pretty fantastic lineup of films. The Belcourt is also showing some pretty cool movies this year for their annual outdoor cinema series. They show one every second Saturday beginning at sundown and I highly recommend bringing some sort of comfortable camping chair or a blanket and a pillow, because that pavement in the parking lot can be rather unforgiving. Their films this year are:

• June 11 – The Blues Brothers (ROCK!!!)
• July 9 – Destry Rides Again
• August 13 – Wargames
• September 10th – Psycho (the original)

Yes, that’s right, Blues Brothers AND Psycho in one film series. Looks like it’s gonna be an awesome summer, y’all!

-Emily

It’s kind of hard to imagine that the Freedom Riders campaigns began 50 years ago this month. It really wasn’t that long ago, in the grand scheme of things, that brave men and women risked their lives in the fight for equal rights. Yeah, people put their lives at risk and all they were doing was riding integrated buses down south.

Those were some dark times.

Freedom Riders is, as you might have guessed it, is the story of the people who took those rides. People who often endured savage beatings for something that seems so trivial today. It was directed by award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson (The Murder of Emmett Till,Jonestown, Wounded Knee) and features interviews and testimony from the Riders, state and federal government officials, and journalists who witnessed the rides firsthand.

You’ll be able to see it on PBS, but why do that when you can see it for free at your friendly neighborhood art theater? It’s playing at the Belcourt tomorrow night at 6:30pm and while it’s free you still need to RSVP to rsvp@wnpt.net with “Freedom Riders” in the subject line.

Enjoy your educational film experience.

-Emily

There are lots of reasons to love the Belcourt. There are so few theaters like it in the world – theaters that show new independent movies as well as older films, theaters that have awesome community events and in general try to bring really cool things to the community. I have to say, there would be a huge hole in Nashville’s culture without the Belcourt.

The Belcourt’s newest cool film series is even better than most because this one is absolutely free. It’s called Film Forward, and the Belcourt is apparently one of only a few theaters in the world that has it. It’s “a cultural exchange program designed to enhance cross-cultural understanding, collaboration and dialogue around the globe by engaging audiences through the exhibition of film and conversation with the filmmakers” that’s brought to us by the fine folks at the Sundance Film Festival, so you know it’s going to have some top-notch films.

You can find a list of the films that are screening as well as their times at Nashvillest. You can also find it on the Belcourt’s website, but in my opinion it’s a little easier to figure out on Nashvillest (because they are so awesome).

The only bummer is that a lot of these films are showing at noon on weekdays, which I’m sure won’t work for a lot of schedules, at least not mine. If you can attend those screenings then I’m jealous of you lucky folks with awesome schedules. Of course, that means you’re either a student, unemployed, or work really late. Enjoy your free movies dudes.

-Emily

You know what I like? Movies. I watch all kinds, good movies, old movies, Lifetime movies, I just like watching movies. That’s why I like International Lens. They show movies every week, and for free. That’s right, every week International Lens at Vanderbilt shows movies that you probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

Take Moloch Tropical, the movie they’re screening tonight at the Sarratt Cinema at 7pm. It’s about a fictional Haitian president (based on Henri-Christophe, the first King of independent Haiti) and is about on the last days of his reign before a violent revolution erupts around him.

Hey, that actually sounds pretty interesting. It promises a Haitian take on Alexander Sokurov’s Hitler pic Moloch, which I haven’t seen, but I’ve heard that it one several awards in Russia. As for Moloch Tropical, director Raoul Peck offers a critique of absolute power in an apparently beautifully shot film.

Now, before you go running to RottenTomatoes you check the rating you should know that this was not a film that has been released in theater, but if you’ve ever been to a film festival you’ll know that this doesn’t mean it’s not a good movie, it just means most critics aren’t going to rate it. Hell, Tribeca Film Festival thought it worthy to give a screening to, and so did International Lens. And that means masterpiece or not, it’s probably worth seeing, especially for free.

-Emily

International Lens continues in its quest to introduce us to movies we never would have seen otherwise with a screening of Freedom House Street Saviors, a film about the country’s first specially-trained paramedic emergency unit. But these paramedics weren’t some young medical students and they weren’t advantaged upper-middle class white kids. They were, to quote the poster, “hardcore unemployed black men” from some bad, bad neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.

That’s right, these were some guys from dangerous neighborhoods who were recruited to get specific medical training for emergency situations because they wanted to help save lives in their neighborhood. And they did that. Their work was groundbreaking and we probably have them to thank for modern day EMTs, but sadly their work has been all but completely forgotten.

That’s what Freedom House Street Saviors wants to correct, our forgetfulness. The documentary tells the story of these paramedics and spells out their legacy in 90 minutes. It screens for free tonight at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema at 7pm.

-Emily

The past two Fridays I’ve done something that I’ve (surprisingly) never done before in my three years in Nashville: I went to films at the Frist.

It’s not that the movies have never struck my fancy. It’s not even that I wasn’t sure I could find anyone to go with. I’ve just been lazy about my Friday nights. “Hey,” I would think to myself, “I’ll just get in on Netflix.”

But I never do get the movies on Netflix. Never. And just like that, I miss out on seeing a potentially really good movie and free popcorn because I’m lazy.

All that has changed, my friends. As I mentioned before Matt and I have been going to the Strangeness of the Ordinary film series there that celebrates directors who were inspired by the photography of William Eggleston, whose work they currently have on display. Last week they screened Blue Velvet and this week it was Drugstore Cowboy.

Now let’s talk about the experience. You sit in a room with a not-huge but not-small projection screen filled with folding chairs. You get free popcorn. You can grab a seat cushion from the Frist but I suggest you bring your own (that’s a story for another time). The crowd is enthusiastic and respectful, and the only cost to you is the $3 or so that you pay for parking if you use their lot. The only negative thing I could think of is that I thought that Blue Velvet was a little loud.

As for the movies themselves, I enjoyed both Blue Velvet and Drugstore Cowboy, but I favored the later. Blue Velvet was a good movie and it really got me going after awhile, but it was a little slow for me. I have to give the Frist credit for their choices though, they didn’t pick films that wouldn’t piss anyone off. All three of the movies in this series (Virgin Suicides is next) are messed up. There’s drugs, there’s sex, there’s violence, there’s general “oh my god what the hell is going on here” weirdness all over the place. I’m sure a few of their donors wouldn’t approve, but the Frist is an art museum, and damnit, they’re going to pick the films that are art, not the films that are bubblegum.

I applaud you, Frist Center, and I look forward to joining you next Friday at 7pm for a screening of The Virgin Suicides.

-Emily

If you’re from Jacksonville, Florida or ever call anyone from there then you’ll know that 904 is the city’s area code. If you’re from there you might also know that Jacksonville is the Sunshine State’s murder capitol and has been for nine years.

That’s where the documentary The 904 comes in. It documents the “real-life story of a city’s effort to stem the tide of violence threatening to consume it” through a woman named Beverly McClain. Beverly’s son was murdered two years before this film was released and it made her realize the magnitude of Jacksonville’s problem. She hasn’t found out who murdered her son, but she has made it her life’s mission to help comfort grieving families, consult with the police about killers, and work to raise awareness and funds for Families of Slain Children Center, the center she one day hopes to open.

This film will be screening for free at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema tomorrow, Tuesday February 1st at 7pm. It’s not rated and the running time is 66 minutes long.