A musical midnite double feature beamed from the other side of the galaxy with INTERSTELLA 5555 and WAVE TWISTERS.
INTERSTELLA 5555
2003 | Dir. Kazuhisa Takenouchi | 68min | Digital
Interstella 5555 is a visualization of Daft Punk’s landmark concept album Discovery brought to life under the supervision of anime godfather Leiji Matsumoto (Galaxy Express 999, Space Battleship Yamato). The film follows an intergalactic pop band as they’re kidnapped by evil Earthbound record execs, and a lone super-fan’s quest to rescue them.
WAVE TWISTERS
2001 | Dir. Syd Garon, Eric Henry | 46min | Digital
Wave Twisters is the first ever turntablism-musical from the addled mind of Bay-area skratch pikl DJ Q-Bert. Set in a galaxy where the five tenets of hip-hop are suppressed by a lucha-masked dark lord, the film follows a squad of rebels led up by DJ and space-dentist The Dental Commander as he and his crew goes to battle to save hip hop. Wave Twisters is a goofy, colorful assault on the senses with performances from faceless space invader Buckethead & turntablism gurus Q-Bert, Yogafrog, D-Styles and Flare.
Part of Nitehawk’s April MUSICAL MIDNITES series.
Starring: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Mary Kay Bergman, Isaac Hayes
The third graders of South Park are the only ones who can save Terrance and Phillip, vulgar Canadian television personalities whose new R-rated film has scandalized all of America! As a result, American calls war on Canada with Terrance and Phillip winding up on death row. This hilarious film will have you singing along to songs like the infamous “Blame Canada” and a love duet between Saddam Hussein and Satan. After two decades, it’ll still seem oddly relevant.
One family. Four generations. In love with the sound of AMERICAN POP.
A 35mm presentation.
A multi-generational immigrant’s tale from animator Ralph Bakshi, American Pop follows a Jewish family that’s chewed up by the music industry and the forces of history. From ragtime to big time, the film chronicles the evolution of pop music in the context of 20th century history and the personal stories of those who lived and died by their art. Using his patented rotoscoping technique, Bakshi brings to life a century of American music from Gershwin & Dave Brubeck to Sam Cooke & Herbie Hancock.
Part of Nitehawk’s April MUSICAL MIDNITES series.
Starring: Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, Bernadette Peters, Kirsten Dunst, Angela Lansbury
Directed by former Disney animation directors Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, Anastasia is an animated film adaptation of the legend of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. In it, the daughter of the last Russian Tsar, Nicolas II, Anastasia is found by two Russian con men, Dimitri and Vladimir, who seek the reward that her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Marie, promised to the ones who’ll find her. But the evil mystic of the Tsar family, Rasputin, still wants the Romanov family to be destroyed forever.
Starring: Peter Lind Hayes, Mary Healy, Hans Conried, Tommy Rettig
It may not be the best known of children’s musicals but this musical fantasy film but the only feature written by Dr. Seuss is quite extraordinary. Filled with surreal landscapes and tongue-twisting rhymes, you’ll recognize the signature visual and narrative style for which Dr. Seuss is famous. The film features Young Bart Collins, lulled to sleep by the monotony of his piano lessons, dreams of a castle ruled by his piano teacher, the eccentric Dr. Teriwilliker. Dr. T is determined to prove that his “Happy Fingers Method” of teaching piano is the best method in the world. Having banished all other musical instruments to the dungeon, Dr. T lures 500 reluctant little boys to perform in a colossal concert on the grandest grand piano ever built. In his effort to escape, Bart comes in contact with some of the strangest characters imaginable – Siamese twins on roller skates, a human drum and the most memorable villain since the Grinch.
Starring: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmare, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson, David Rudman
Broadway bound, the Muppets take Manhattan by storm in this magical musical about breaking into show business! Fresh out of college, Kermit, Fozzie and the entire cast of Kermit’s musical “Manhattan Melodies” head for the Big Apple with plans to turn their small play into a big hit! All they need now is someone to produce their show! But when no one in town will even meet with them, it’s up to Kermit to believe hard enough for all of his friends that the show WILL go on! Family entertainment has never been more fun than this comedy marking Frank Oz’s solo directorial debut.
CATFIGHT is a brutally hilarious story of two bitter rivals whose grudge match spans a lifetime.
Two former college friends, who now find themselves in very different walks of life, meet up at a fancy cocktail party: Veronica (Sandra Oh) has become the entitled, wine-loving wife of a rich businessman, while Ashley (Anne Heche), along with her lover Lisa (Alicia Silverstone), struggles to make ends meet as an artist. As the two women reconnect, long-buried hostilities, jealousy, and anger explode into a vicious, bloody fight that leaves both of them battered and bruised – and ready for more.
A cyborg policewoman attempts to bring down a nefarious computer hacker in the new GHOST IN THE SHELL.
The Major (Scarlett Johansson) is a special ops, one-of-a-kind, human-cyborg hybrid who leads an elite task force known as Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, she faces an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotics’ advancements in cyber technology.
Terrence Malick’s SONG TO SONG. A song to live to. A song to love to. A song to break up to.
In this modern love story set against the Austin, Texas music scene, two entangled couples – struggling songwriters Faye (Rooney Mara) and BV (Ryan Gosling), and music mogul Cook (Michael Fassbender) and the waitress whom he ensnares (Natalie Portman) – chase success through a rock ‘n’ roll landscape of seduction and betrayal.
Kristen Stewart stars as a young American personal shopper in Paris in Olivier Assayas’ supernatural thriller, PERSONAL SHOPPER.
Olivier Assayas, the internationally-acclaimed director of Clouds of Sils Maria and Summer Hours, returns with this ethereal and mysterious ghost story starring Kristen Stewart as a high-fashion personal shopper to the stars who is also a spiritual medium. Grieving the recent death of her twin brother, she haunts his Paris home, determined to make contact with him.
