Duck Soup @ the Charles Theatre

Don't miss DUCK SOUP at the Charles-- Saturday and Monday showings only.


Showtimes:
Saturday, November 21 at Noon
Monday, November 23 at 7 PM
No show Thursday.

1933 Leo McCarey. Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern, Edward Arnold. 68m. bw. 35mm.


"A Marx Brothers revival has long been overdue. Let's hope the Charles' presentation of their masterpiece "Duck Soup" helps kicks one off. It's a good thing that the Charles plays old movies more than once a week. The punning effrontery of Groucho and the dialect comedy of Chico come so fast and mock-furious that even their target audiences in the 1930s had to attend the films several times to catch all the jokes. Each brother of the brothers (except game, banal Zeppo) could also be a sight gag unto himself. And each had his comic force multiplied when he played off another Marx or two. Chico's piano-playing, for example, could be a drag, but the group knew how to mine it for laughs.


They had already annihilated college life in their 1932 burlesque "Horse Feathers," and the next year, in "Duck Soup," they took on an even larger institution than academia - statehood - as Groucho (here the president of the struggling nation of Freedonia) and Chico and Harpo (as secret agents) aim fusillades at every aspect of war with an abandon unmatched until Kubrick made "Dr. Strangelove" 40 years later. And even Kubrick backed off from ending his film with a custard-pie fight, while the Marx Brothers merrily sling slimy fruit at Freedonia's patroness while celebrating a meaningless victory over the country of Sylvania. It makes most other parodies of nationalism taste like thin broth, indeed." (Michael Sragow)

"A few years ago I was asked what films I would like to see again just for my own pleasure, and without a second's thought I replied Duck Soup." (Pauline Kael)

Cripsin Glover @ the Charles Theatre

On Thursday, November 19th, Crispin Hellion Glover will appear at the Charles Theatre to present his Big Slide Show and a screening of his film “It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE” (2007. Part 2 of the "It" Trilogy). The screening will be followed by a question and answer session and a book signing.


... But first, get in the spirit before he arrives with a screening of River's Edge at The LOFT (120 North Ave) on wednesday night the 18th at 8pm. First 20 people through the door get free tickets for the events at The Charles.
and let rumors of an after party circulate freely.


Tickets avaiable now at the Charles Theatre box office and at Brown Paper Tickets.
For more information (347) 247 3921
Show Time: 7:30
Tickets are $20 and are available now at the Charles Theatre box office. Buy your tickets early!


Charles Theatre
1711 N. Charles Street
Baltimore
(410) 727-FILM

The LOF/t
120 North Ave
410-914-7878

crispinglover.com/slideshow

FUNCTIONLESS FORM FUNCTIONAL DECOR @ School 33

NOVEMBER 20, 2009 through JANUARY 16, 2010
Opening Reception: Friday, November 20, 6 - 9pm

Triple Stage Darkness opens @ the Hexagon

Triple Stage Darkness
New paintings and illustrations by Mike Riley
November 12th – December 4th, 2009.
Opening reception: November 13th from 7 – 9pm with light refreshments.
Hexagon Gallery
1825 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Gallery Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 12-3, by appointment, or during performances.

The Hustler @ the Charles Theatre

This week the Charles presents an archival print of THE HUSTLER starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason.



Showtimes:
Saturday, November 7 at Noon
Monday, November 9 at 7 PM
Thursday, November 12 at 9 PM

1961 Robert Rossen. Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, Murray Hamilton, Myron McCormick, Michael Constantine, Stefan Gierasch, Jake LaMotta (bartender), Art Smith (uncredited). 134 m. bw. Cinemascope.


Robert Rossen's 1961 feature is a somber morality play postulating as existential hero a pool hustler perfecting his craft (Paul Newman at his best). It makes wonderful use of its seedy locations (memorably filmed in black-and-white 'Scope by Eugen Shuftan, who won an Oscar for his work) and its first-rate secondary cast (Piper Laurie, Jackie Gleason, George C. Scott, Myron McCormick, and Murray Hamilton). Adapted by Rossen and Sidney Carroll from a Walter Tevis novel, this picture is so much better than Martin Scorsese's belated sequel The Color of Money that they don't even belong in the same category. A postnoir melodrama with metaphysical trimmings, it does remarkable things with mood and pacing, and the two matches with Gleason as Minnesota Fats are indelible. (Jonathan Rosenbaum)



watch trailer

The Pendulum, The Pit, and Hope opens @ Metro Gallery

The Pendulum, The Pit, and Hope
New work from Natasha Tylea
Opening Reception: November 7, 2009 at 8pm
November 7th through November 29th
Metro Gallery


This work strives to find the most overlooked or ordinarily mundane
subjects and locate the corner where it all gets weird. To witness the
irk in life. Little explorations in the moment between a grim reality
and a possibly great reality, the space between despair and
enlightenment. There is a comfort there, as these sensations are the
sustenance of life, but there is also the spook of fate in our bones.
The photographs conjure this sensation while giving new light to the
spook. There is always a sense of hope in all these mixed emotions, if
one resists the whitewashing methods of this America and the dumbing,
numbing, narrowing down of letting fear live here. The photographs are
carefully conceived in seconds. The work is often composed entirely of
painterly moods from hues, stark instances, quaint folks or insect
perspectives. The camera for Natasha, lives in this hope and that
spook, and channels it by hand.

Group Salon @ Gallery 788

Gallery 788 in Pigtown will host a group salon opening November 5th from 6 - 10 pm

Photos from the opening of Knit Wit @ Nudashank

For more information on Nudashank exhibits and events, visit www.nudashank.com

Matthew Barney Film Screenings @ Shriver Hall

The Center for Art, Design & Visual Culture at UMBC presents:


Matthew Barney Film Screenings
7 pm - Thurs, Oct. 29
Shriver Hall, JHU
FREE

Films:
Cremaster 4, 1994

Cremaster 4, was Barney's first film in a series of five called Cremaster Cycle. Biologically, the cremaster is a muscle that raises and lowers the testicles. Barney uses the descension of the cremaster muscle as a symbol for the onset of male gender (which appears about nine weeks after a fetus is conceived). The five films progress from a state of undifferentiated gender (a fully ascended cremaster muscle, represented by floating Goodyear Blimps and other symbols), through the organism's struggle to resist gender definition, to the inevitable point where maleness can no longer be denied (complete descension of the cremaster and release of the testes).


Drawing Restraint 10, 2005

The Drawing Restraint series is a project Barney began while an undergraduate at Yale. The central theme of the series is the relationship between self-imposed resistance and creativity. Barney's theory is that encumbrance can be used to strengthen an artists output, much as resistance is used by athletes to build muscle. Drawing Restraint 10 is a video re-staging Drawing Restraint 6, which was never documented. In this video, Barney jumps on a trampoline which has been set at an angle, attempting to draw two linked field emblems on the ceiling.

Lettering & Type Book Launch Party @ MICA

Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore
Falvey Hall in the Brown Center
Thursday, October 29
6:30–8:30 PM.

Reception, book signing, and collaborative alphabet from 6:30 to 7:30. Fan Letter from 7:30 to 8:30. This event is free and open to the public.

The highlight of the evening will be Fan Letter: 26 Artists and Designers Present Their Favorite Letter or Typographic Character, featuring designers, artists, and musicians (including many contributors to Lettering & Type) giving a two-minute ode to an alphabet letter or typographic character. These may range from multimedia presentations, performances, videos, stories, poems, animations, songs, stand-up comedy, rants, short plays, demonstrations, Gregorian chants, etc—however they choose to depict their letter.

Prior to Fan Letter, there will be a reception with authors Bruce Willen and Nolen Strals, as they help kick off a participatory Exquisite Corpse Alphabet and sign copies of Lettering & Type: Creating Letters and Designing Typefaces.

Artists, designers, illustrators, and musicians participating in Fan Letter:
Ken Barber & Ben Kiel—Delaware, House Industries (H); Kim Bost and Ted McGrath—New York (T); Andrew Byrom—Los Angeles (N); Jennifer Daniel—New York, New York Times (D); John Downer—Iowa City (J); Shaun Flynn—Baltimore (W); Brockett Horne—Baltimore, MICA (¶); Gary Kachadourian—Baltimore (P); Justin Thomas Kay—New York (&); John Langdon—Philadelphia (X); Eric Leshinsky—Baltimore (*); Ian Lynam—Japan (B); Joe Macleod—Baltimore, City Paper (U); Kelley McIntyre—Baltimore (G); Abbott Miller—Baltimore, Pentagram (A); Adam Okrasinski—New York (K); Kevin O’Neill and Karisa Senavatis—New York, Will Work For Good (C); Jennifer Cole Phillips—Baltimore, MICA (S); Robby Rackleff—Baltimore, Blue Leader (M); Theresa Segreti—Baltimore (O); Whitney Sherman—Baltimore (F); Kevin Sherry—Baltimore, Squidfire (Z); Justin Sirois—Baltimore, Narrow House Recordings (Y); Scott Sugiuchi—Baltimore, Exit10 (Q); Tore Terrasi—Boston (I); Sara Tomko—Baltimore (E); Carlos Vigil—Baltimore (R).