YOU KNOW I CAN'T STAND TO BE TICKLED
The biggest news of the film week that doesn't involve actually seeing movies right now is most likely the announcement of the schedule for the Loft Film Fest, running from Oct. 16 to Oct. 19. We'll have a lot more on the festival as it approaches, but gosh, what a lineup. First, there will be pretty big names: Bruce Dern, Stacy Keach and Larry McMurtry will all be there to receive awards. Plus, of course, the actual movies and when you're opening with a 3-D film by Jean-Luc Godard ("Goodbye to Language"), that's a good start. Other highlights based on my own personal preferences include "The Winding Stream" (Friday, Oct. 17), a documentary about the history of country music; "Fort Tilden" (also that Friday), the Grand Jury Winner at SXSW this year; the latest film from Studio Ghibli, "The Tale of The Princess Kaguya" (Saturday, Oct. 18); and "Memphis" (Sunday, Oct. 19), one of the most anticipated films of the year. Believe me, there's much, much more worth seeing than just those. More info at loftcinema.com.
IN 2 WEEKS, YOU'D HAVE A DIAMOND
In movies you can actually see this week, there's definitely some great first-run stuff at the Loft this week, but yet, I have to mention that they're screening "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" for their Late Night Cult Classics series on Friday, Sept. 26 and Sat. Sept. 27 at 10 p.m I'm a sucker for a John Hughes film and I've certainly seen this film and the adventures of Abe Froman the Sausage King of Chicago a million times on TV, but I'm probably going to keep my 12-year-old son up a little late and drag him to one of the two weekend showings. Maybe it's not the brightest idea to glamorize ditching school, stealing cars and having an adventure miles away from home, but to heck with it, it's an amazing film and every teen could use a bit of Ferris in their life. More info, of course, at loftcinema.com
THINGS I THOUGHT I'D NEVER WRITE: DON'T MISS "WOLFCOP'
Don't forget, the Arizona Underground Film Festival continues through Monday, and the event closes out with the Arizona Premiere of "Wolfcop," a story of a cop ... well, you get it. Remarkably, the reviews are really solid for the film with the Guardian writing "Director Lowell Dean's horror-comedy isn't as good as 'Ginger Snaps,' the last great Canadian werewolf picture, but it's enough of a gory hoot with its redneck milieu and old-school, in-camera special effects to anchor a fun, chemically assisted night out. You can't but help warming to a movie in which the star werewolf kills three armed robbers wearing pig masks." Truer words have rarely been written. "Wolfcop" is scheduled for The Screening Room on Monday, Sept. 27 at 9:15 p.m. More info at azuff.org.
