I’ve had mixed feelings about the Fox Theatre since I arrived in Atlanta in September. I drive past it frequently on Peachtree Street on the way to assignments or friends’ places, and it’s a pretty gorgeous building. It’s clearly old. It’s clearly a landmark. It clearly stands for something.
Unfortunately, most of the time, it’s rich-ass folk.
I mean, seriously, go to the Web page. Pretty quickly you’ll deduce the core audience. The theater’s sponsors include Lexus, Delta, the Georgian Terrace Hotel and the Livingston Restaurant and Bar. It mostly advertises plays — boring-ass plays starring Fantasia effing Barrino.
Now, I’m not unaware there are plenty of people who find stuff like that entertaining and interesting and worthy of big ticket prices and so forth. And I’m not a class warrior. In fact, I’d probably like Fantasia in “The Color Purple” if someone forced me to watch it. I don’t doubt it’s a worthwhile production. (Digression: One time in high school I went to a journalism conference at Columbia University and we went to see “Jekyll & Hyde,” and I missed seeing Sebastian fricking Bach in the lead role by two weeks. Two weeks! That’s criminal.)
Suffice it to say, I have no use for the Fox Theatre most weekends, which is a shame because it looks awesome.
But they’ve actually done something pretty cool this time.
The theater is hosting the Coca-Cola Film Festival, which isn’t so much of a festival as a series. There’s no rhyme or reason to the selection of films, which isn’t really a problem because each is good. They seem like they’re trying to put on a range of programming: something for cinephiles, something for… Spike Lee fans, something for families and so forth. Regardless, it’s all classy pictures. There’s no genre crap on the list.
Plus, tickets are $8. I cannot argue with this. This is a very good deal.
SCHEDULE
“Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music” — 40th Anniversary
Thursday, July 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Never seen this. I hated the ’60s. (I’m a very big Didion fan.) I don’t think I’ll check this out.
“Slumdog Millionaire”
Friday, July 10 at 7:30 p.m.
“Slumdog” is wicked good. Everyone saw it, including my mom, Louise. Louise loved it. She likes uplifting movies. Moms love this thing.
“Up”
Saturday, July 11 at 1 p.m.
“Up” is probably Pixar’s best movie. “Finding Nemo” was the best. “Up” is better, actually, particularly the 8-minute montage at the beginning of the movie that made the entire theater I watched the movie with cry like children — and they cried for characters they’d known only 15 minutes! That’s a hell of an accomplishment. See “Up” here if you can. I would also avoid the 3D version that costs an extra $6. It’s not worth it. They weren’t focused on 3D when they made it.
“Do the Right Thing” — 20th Anniversary
Saturday, July 11 at 8 p.m.
The is easily the festival’s main event. Director/writer Spike Lee is coming to do a Q&A after the screening along with some of the show’s cast. I’m hoping for John Turturro, Roger Guenveur Smith (who plays Smiley) and Rosie Perez. That would be sick. I bought three tickets today. It’ll probably sell out when people start hearing about it.
If you go, make sure you check out The Root’s 20th Anniversary “Do the Right Thing” package, including essays and an interview with Lee.
“Breakfast at Tiffany’s”
Thursday, July 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Been meaning to fill this gaping hole in my film education. I’ve never seen “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” I’ll probably check this out.
“Star Trek” (2009)
Friday, July 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Already saw this. First half is amazing. Second half gets… smushy, particularly when they start going all “Back to the Future 2″ all over the thing.
“Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”
Saturday, July 25 at 2 p.m.
Haven’t seen this, but Jonah Hill is in it. Good times.
“2001: A Space Odyssey”
Saturday, July 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Sit down, buckle up, strap in… do whatever you do to prepare yourself for wicked-ass shit.
And then get ready to fall asleep kind of.
I’m a huge Kubrick fan. Love all his stuff, including “2001.” But you gotta be down to watch “2001.” You gotta be committed. You can’t walk in there expecting to be entertained. “2001″ is about entertaining yourself because Kubrick made a movie for you… in space. That’s really reductionist, but here’s why you check that:
The Fox Theatre is also setting up a slate of movies for August too. I’ll post them here when the list becomes available.
Saw 2010 the other day. Pretty awesome in its own right
re: “Night at the Museum 2″
You should totally check the movie out, but not for Jonah Hill. He’s barely in it and not really that good. But everyone else is great!
I will probably wait to see “Night at the Museum 2″ until it comes out on DVD.
Barry, how the crap did you see “2012?”
You forgot to mention the significance of Do The Right Thing: it was the movie Barack and Michelle saw on their first date together. Night at the Museum 2, however, was the movie he watched when he decided to not release the torture fotos. Bad times.
I saw an amazing hitchcock double feature at the fox one summer during college. summer fox movies RULE.