Mr. Rostan at the Movies: 70 Millimeters of Sheer Adventure

Andrew Rostan was a film student before he realized that making comics was his horrible destiny, and he’s never shaken his love of cinema. Every week, he’ll opine on current pictures or important movies from the past.

lawrence-of-arabia-charge-on-aqaba

The Oscar nominations are in for the present. The winners on the 28th will help shape the future of Hollywood. Let’s look back now at the past.

Seeing movies on actual film is an essential part of loving them—one of the only things I admired about The Hateful Eight was Quentin Tarantino’s effort to create an experience you could never recapture in home theaters or digital. The Music Box Theatre, a Chicago institution where we have seen many modern classics and revivals, knows this. It will be hosting its annual 70mm Film Festival from February 19th to March 10th, showing fifteen features on a 41-foot screen with 7.1 channel surround sound, all projected in the greatest format known to humankind.

Needless to say, attending this festival is a strong recommendation, and it runs long enough to give Chicagoans plenty of chances to see a great film. To help you pick, here is our brief guide to what will be shown and what makes it ideal for the 70mm treatment.

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Mr. Rostan at the Movies: Gunslingers, Puppets, and Jennifer Jason Leigh

Andrew Rostan was a film student before he realized that making comics was his horrible destiny, and he’s never shaken his love of cinema. Every week, he’ll opine on current pictures or important movies from the past.

Jennifer Jason Leigh

For my final column before the Academy Awards nominations are announced, I want you, fair readers, to imagine a Venn diagram. One circle is that fascinating genre, the Revisionist Western. The other circle is of films starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, who has never become a major star but has rewarded the cinema faithful with an fascinating career marked by great choices and performances. (If you haven’t seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High, then stop reading right now and instead watch that.) I’m going to start with a film in the intersection of those circles, then branch off into two films that occupy the other circles, all of which went into wide release this weekend…and I save the best for last.

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Mr. Rostan at the Movies: “The Danish Girl”

Andrew Rostan was a film student before he realized that making comics was his horrible destiny, and he’s never shaken his love of cinema. Every week, he’ll opine on current pictures or important movies from the past.

The_Danish_Girl_trailer

My critical role here at the Addison Recorder runs headlong into my long, complex history with The Danish Girl, a film that has followed me around for nearly a decade and left me with me an impression as great as that made by Red Desert. I recommend this movie, but I am grateful today to have this venue to explain why.

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