cynthia nixon

Strong Summer Line-Up at THE NEON

June 14, 2017 By Jonathan McNeal

Hello Most Metro!

We’ve got a lot of films to pack in this summer…so we’re moving right along this week! If you still need to see CHURCHILL, Thursday will be your last chance to see it at THE NEON. On Friday, we will open PARIS CAN WAIT – the new film by Eleanor Coppola (June is for the Coppolas! We’ll open Sofia Coppola’s new film BEGUILED later this month and we’ll even bring back a sparkling wine from Francis Ford Coppola’s vineyard at the end of the month). We’ll hold onto MY COUSIN RACHEL for another week.

Synopsis for PARIS CAN WAIT: “Eleanor Coppola’s feature film directorial and screenwriting debut at the age of 81 stars Academy Award nominee Diane Lane as a Hollywood producer’s wife who unexpectedly takes a trip through France, which reawakens her sense of self and her joie de vivre. Anne (Lane) is at a crossroads in her life. Long married to a successfully driven but inattentive movie producer (Alec Baldwin), she finds herself taking a car trip from Cannes to Paris with a business associate of her husband (Arnaud Viard). What should be a seven-hour drive turns into a journey of discovery involving mouthwatering meals, spectacular wines, and picturesque sights.” (Sony Classics) Click this LINK to visit the film’s official site.

In last week’s NEON Newsletter, I mentioned that “Tickets are flying” for A VERY SORDID WEDDING! I wasn’t kidding. As I write this paragraph, we only have 3 tickets left at our box office…so we’ve added a second screening. “It’s 2015, seventeen years after Peggy tripped over G.W.’s wooden legs and died in SORDID LIVES, and life has moved into the present for the residents of Winters, Texas. Sissy Hickey (Dale Dickey) is reading the Bible, cover to cover, trying to make some kind of sense out of what it really says about gay people. Her niece Latrelle Williamson (Bonnie Bedelia) has divorced her husband Wilson (Michael MacRae) who has taken up with a hot young gold digger (Katherine Bailess). Latrelle’s now out and proud gay son Ty (Kirk Geiger) is on his way back to town with a black man (T. Ashanti Mozelle) and news of their own. Her sister LaVonda (Ann Walker) is still cussin’ and drankin’ and is being blackmailed to sit with the sick and afflicted…As the sordid saga continues, the cast of colorful characters are all on a collision course for shenanigans and fireworks.” (from official site) Join us for a very PRIDE-ful “Encore” screening on Thursday, June 22 at 10:00. Tickets are available at THE NEON’s box office or by clicking this LINK.

Dayton native Eric Mahoney (director of NORTH DIXIE DRIVE) is coming back to town to shoot additional material for a new documentary…and we’ve sheduled a one-time screening of MADLY, a film he produced, on Thursday, July 6 at 7:30. “Six groundbreaking directors, six iconic international destinations, six visions of modern love in all of its complications. From Producer Eric Mahoney comes the award winning feature MADLY, taking viewers on a passionate trip around the world with short vignettes from acclaimed directors: Gael Garcia Bernal, Sion Sono, Sebastian Silva, Mia Wasikowska, Anurag Kashyap, and Natasha Khan. Indiewire writes, ‘the film, like love itself is hard to resist.’ Actress Radhika Apte was also awarded Best International Actress at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.” (taken from press notes) Proceeds from this special one time screening will go to help finance Mahoney’s current project, a documentary on the Dayton, OH band Brainiac. For more information about the new BRAINIAC film, please visit this LINK. Tickets, just $10 each, are on sale now at THE NEON’s box office. Mahoney will be in attendance for a Q&A at this screening.

This Saturday, June 17, we’ll be collecting money for The Alzheimer’s Association’s LONGEST DAY project – a series of events that recognize the endurance of caregivers and those living with Alzheimer’s. We’ll be asking everyone if they’d like to round up their ticket price for the day – with all extra money going to The Alzheimer’s Association (of course we’ll accept additional donations, too). We hope you’ll make it down to see us this Saturday.

I’m delighted to announce that we now have official dates for 2 more special events. MANIFESTO, the new film starring Cate Blanchett in 13 different roles, will be here for a few screenings beginning July 8 (check out the trailer below). On July 10, we will host a one-time special screening of SPRING STREET Season 1 – the new series from creator (and Dayton Native) David Beck. I’ll write more about these screenings next week…but if you can’t wait, read more now on our website – www.neonmovies.com

Thanks so much for your continued support.
See you soon,
Jonathan

SHOWTIMES for June 13 – June 22:

CHURCHILL (PG) 1 Hr 45 Min
Tuesday-Thursday (June 13-15): 2:50, 5:10, 7:30
FINAL DAY – June 15!

MY COUSIN RACHEL (PG-13) 1 Hr 46 Min
Tuesday-Thursday (June 13-15): 3:00, 5:20, 7:40
Friday & Saturday (June 16 & 17): 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40
Sunday (June 18): 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20
Monday-Thursday (June 19-22): 3:00, 5:20, 7:40

PARIS CAN WAIT (PG) 1 Hr 32 Min
Friday & Saturday (June 16 & 17): 12:50, 3:00, 5:10, 7:20, 9:30
Sunday (June 18): 12:50, 3:00, 5:10
Monday-Wednesday (June 19-21): 3:00, 5:15, 7:30
Thursday (June 22): 3:00, 5:15

A VERY SORDID WEDDING (NR) 1 Hr 49 Min
Thursday (June 22): 7:30, 10:00

COMING SOON:
(All Dates Are Tentative. Dates Often Move And Sometimes Disappear)
June 23 – A QUIET PASSION
June 24, 25 & 28 – MAURICE
June 30 – THE BEGUILED
July 8, 9 & 12 – MANIFESTO
TBE – BEATRIZ AT DINNER
TBD – THE HERO
July 21 – MAUDIE
TBD – THE WEDDING PLAN
TBD – JEREMIAH TOWER
TBD – DEAN

TIFF 2016 – Day #1

September 9, 2016 By Jonathan McNeal

Hello Everyone.

With the pass that I have, I can screen as many “press/industry screenings” that I’d like during the festival. That said, those screenings are just screenings. It’s awesome to have the opportunity to see so many films with an audience, but part of the reason I come to a festival (people come for a variety of reasons) is to hear filmmakers talk about their craft. Thus I have the opportunity to obtain two “public screening” tickets per day. Public screenings are the fun, glamorous screenings where they roll out the red carpet and hold Q&A’s with directors, producers, screenwriters and actors. These tickets are only available two days in advance of each screening, so I find myself in line every day during the festival…usually before 7am.

This morning, I was out to obtain tickets for Barry Jenkins’ MOONLIGHT and a curated interview with Isabelle Huppert. Both take place on Saturday…and I got both!

Then I was off to my first screening at 9:00am – Kenneth Lonergan’s MANCHESTER BY THE SEA. This film had a lot of tonal qualities of Lonergan’s first feature – YOU CAN COUNT ON ME. With a wonderful central performance by Casey Affleck (and a spectacularly touching small role by Michelle Williams), the story is about a man who seems to lead a rather thankless life of mundane routines (he’s a janitorial handy man for an apartment complex). When he gets a call that his brother has passed away, he is forced to confront lingering pain from his past – told through a series of flashbacks. Though I thought the film was a bit overscored, the drama really works and the story unfolds in a lovely way. There were a couple moments of schtick that I thought seemed a bit out of place – but so is life. I think this film will go far.

Olivier Assayas’ PERSONAL SHOPPER was next on my list. This non-traditional ghost story had me teetering back and forth throughout…I was invested, I was raising my eyebrows, I was intrigued, I was disappointed…and then I ultimately was sold by the final 10 minutes. Kristen Stewart gives a great performance as a woman who shops for high-end designer clothing and jewelry for a wealthy client who is always on the go. She’s also a medium. While trying to connect to the spirit world for a client, she’s also hoping to catch a sign from her recently deceased brother. Assayas’ previous work included THE CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (with Juliette Binoche as well as Stewart) and of my favorites from TIFF in 2008 – SUMMER HOURS. This film won’t go down as one of my favorites, and I know many people will be quite disappointed, but I was a fan by the end.

The third film of the day for me was Terence Davies’ A QUIET PASSION – a film about Emily Dickinson starring Cynthia Nixon. The film opens in a sort of parochial school. A teacher asks students who have given themselves to Christ to go to one side and for students who are still working toward giving themselves to Christ to the other. Left in the middle is one student – a young Emily Dickinson (at this point played by Emma Bell). The dialog is sharp and thoughtful (one of the best strengths throughout the film), and the teacher eventually tell Dickinson, “You stand alone in your rebellion.” This telling line haunts the remainder of the film. Though I found some filmmaking devices to be odd choices (one superimposed was particularly weird), it’s ultimately a thoughtful and visually stunning film with wonderful performances and some very funny moments due to razor sharp dialog.

The official “Opening Night Film” was a big Hollywood remake – THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, directed by Antoine Fuqua (SOUTHPAW, BROOKLYN’S FINEST) and starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke and many more. Here’s the point that some of you might find disappointing…I left 20 minutes into the film. (I almost never write about films that I don’t finish.) I went to the Opening night with my friend Glenn Kiser – a great filmmaker who attended The Dayton LGBT Film Festival with his short film SABBATICAL. We had “great” seats – very close to the stage…only paces from all of the stars and director. The movie started an hour late and the speakers were above us – thus pushing the sound far behind us and bouncing off the back walls. Having difficulty understanding any of the dialog, we decided to leave. Not being a film I would seek out under any other circumstances, I wasn’t disappointed…it gave me a great opportunity to catch up with Glenn and finally grab dinner.

At the end of the day, I’ll simply say I’ve seen 3 films (and a dozen stars) so far.

Thanks for reading!

More soon,

Jonathan

TIFF 2015 – Day #8

September 18, 2015 By Jonathan McNeal

Hello Everyone.

Today was the first day I didn’t have to get up terribly early, and that extra 45 minutes of sleep was much appreciated.

My day started off with a screening of a film that will be on the top of my list – SPOTLIGHT, directed by Tom McCarthy. This is a newsroom procedural of the Boston Globe uncovering the Catholic Church scandal in 2001. Starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Liev Schreiber, this film has a great script, tight editing and at times plays like a thriller. The material is certainly chilling – especially when one character states that when it comes to priests and pedophilia, it’s not just a few bad apples, it’s “a recognizable psychiatric phenomenon.” I think it could go the distance for numerous nominations this season.

VICTORIA, directed by Sebastian Schipper, was next on my list. This 2+ hour film was done in one long, mobile take. It’s the story of a young woman who gets caught up with a group of guys after leaving a nightclub in Berlin. She’s romantically interested in one of the guys, but the gang has a mission that night…and she ends up getting tangled up in a bank robbery. Though the last 40 minutes are quite exhilarating, it takes a long time to get moving. Because it’s one shot, we would never buy the protagonist’s motivations to join the guys on their heist if we didn’t have time for her to form a connection. Thus we are forced to watch the set-up of their relationship in what would normally be trimmed down to 15 -20 minutes (instead it takes more than an hour – some of which is rather tedious). The film is technically incredible and the performances are wonderful too…I just felt it went on too long – but I understand that’s part of the point.

JAMES WHITE, directed by Josh Mond, was my final film of the day. Cynthia Nixon and Christopher Abbott both give incredible performances in this film about a walking powder keg who is taking care of his sick mother. Abbott plays James – a hot-headed, partying slacker with bursts of violence, and the performance is riveting. The raw feel of the film truly puts us in the heart of New York without ever feeling like a triptych, and there are a couple powerful moments between mother and son which really cemented Josh Mond as a filmmaker to watch. The director and cast were present for a Q&A, and Nixon was asked about her preparation for the part. She spoke eloquently of having lost her mother to Cancer during the same year of shooting the film and of losing two close friends to AIDS in the 90’s…and how she was able to draw upon those bedside experiences to prepare for the role.

Only one more day!

Thanks for reading,

Jonathan