A Special Surprise Screening of THE MASTER in 70mm to Benefit The Film Foundation

A very last minute and nearly secret screening of the yet unfinished film-- and your first and possibly only chance to see this film in Chicago on 70mm!

The Music Box Theatre is thrilled to announce a very special surprise screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film THE MASTER in glorious 70mm on Thursday, August 16^th, at 10:00pm.  Tickets will be sold as a special donation to The Film Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to the preservation of film of which Mr. Anderson is a board member.

The film has garnered a lot of buzz as Anderson’s first film since 2007’s THERE WILL BE BLOOD and was filmed on 65mm in preparation for distribution in the 70mm format.  Since the Digital Cinema Revolution took hold of most cinemas over the past few years there have been fewer and fewer auditoriums outfitted for 70mm.  At this time the Music Box Theatre is the only known commercial space in the Chicagoland area capable of screening in 70mm. 

Following a blog post by Time Out Chicago  writer Ben Kenigsberg on July 30^th (view the article here:http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/film/15552236/will-paul-thomas-andersons-the-master-show-in-70mm-in-chicago) the idea was born for this special surprise screening to benefit The Film Foundation. 

WHAT:                   A Special Surprise Screening of THE MASTER in 70mm to Benefit The Film Foundation

WHERE:                  The Music Box Theatre, 3733 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60607

                             Seating is limited!

WHEN:                   Thursday, Aug 16^th, 2012 10:00pm

TICKETS:                 $10 donation to The Film Foundation 

WHY:                      To help preserve film

www.musicboxtheatre.com 

About The Film Foundation:

The Film Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1990 by Martin Scorsese, dedicated to protecting and preserving motion picture history by providing annual support for preservation and restoration projects at the leading film archives. Since its inception, the foundation has been instrumental in raising awareness of the urgent need for film preservation and has helped to save over 560 motion pictures.

In addition, the foundation also creates innovative educational programs such as The Story of Movies, an interdisciplinary curriculum designed to teach students about the cultural, artistic, and historical significance of film.

http://www.film-foundation.org

About THE MASTER:

Set for wide release beginning September 21^st, 2012 THE MASTER will screen in most venues on 35mm or Digital Cinema Packages. The film is a 1950s-set drama centered on the relationship between a charismatic intellectual known as "the Master" whose faith-based organization begins to catch on in America, and a young drifter who becomes his right-hand man.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson

Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams

http://cigsandredvines.blogspot.com/ Cigarettes & Red Vines, the Definitive Paul Thomas Anderson Resource

About the Music Box Theatre:

For nearly 30 years the Music Box Theatre has been the premiere venue in Chicago for independent and foreign films, festivals and some of the greatest cinematic events in Chicago. It currently has the largest theater space operated full time in the city. The Music Box Theatre is independently owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corporation. SMBC, through its Music Box Films division, also distributes foreign and independent films in the theatrical, DVD and television markets throughout the United States. www.musicboxtheatre.com. 

Download the entire Music Box Theatre Summer Calendar here:http://www.musicboxtheatre.com/assets/calendars/MusicBox_Summer2012.pdf

National Theatre of Great Britain's Frankenstein a Must See at Music Box #review

Frankenstein--dark, dazzling & macabre

2012 TONY© AWARD-NOMINATED ONE MAN TWO GUVNORS, JUNE 16 & 21, AND DANNY BOYLE’S SMASH STAGE PRODUCTION OF FRANKENSTEIN, STARRING JONNY LEE MILLER & BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, JUNE 18-19, & JULY 22, 25-26!

Check out our prior coverage including all the Music Box/ National Theatre show details HERE.

We were super stoked to have an advanced press sneak peek at Frankenstein (Version 2) Jonny Lee Miller as The Creature; Benedict Cumberbatch as Victor Frankenstein (2h 5m).   Pure theatre geeks will want to check out both versions, documented in this fabulous flip flop of leading roles.   We could only make the second version, but chatted up other critics who saw both and they personally preferred the second.   

Coincidentally, both actors are currently playing TV versions of Sherlock Holmes, and word is both did stellar jobs alternating in the stage roles of The Creature and Victor Frankenstein.  We thoroughly enjoyed Jonny Lee Miller's Creature, who embodied both the innocence and wonder and the vengeful fury of a toddler thwarted.  The brief "making of" documentary at the beginning was also an intriguing and informative high point and a welcome prelude.   

We've been doing a long form exploration via video interviews on How Creatives Parent and How Parents Create at ChiIL Mama/ChiIL Live Shows.   This was a stellar example of what we've been discovering.   Producing a new human changes you on a fundamental physical and mental level and flows through creative work in a vital way.  Miller said there was a lot of his two year old that went into his depiction, and it showed.   Even the initial entrance of The Creature was so birth like, as he emerged into this world.

By contrast, the others who saw Cumberbatch's Creature said his characterization was much more lurchy and marionette like.  The actors also studied stroke victims and those recovering from accidents, doing physical and speech therapy to regain control of their adult bodies, which also manifested in the physical characterization.   All in all, this challenging role was handled with impressive finesse.   

We were also quite impressed with the set design, lighting, costumes and make up.   The choices were unique and added much to the caliber of the show as a whole.   Sometimes it's hard to capture the immediacy and intimacy of live theatre on film, but the camera work is phenomenal and the show is still compelling on screen.  We liked the steam punk costume choices for the villagers.  The mob made a symbolically and visually impressive entrance when they first met The Creature, on their noisy, industrial, gear laden contraption.    

The Creature more closely resembles a man than a big green monster, but the play painfully and poignantly showcases the monstrous nature within man.   Mentally and emotionally this adaptation is more true to Shelley's book than most other Frankenstein movies and screen plays, but even more cynical and crackling with dark intensity.  The multilayered characters, excellent plot twists, and psychological and moral conundrums have us still thinking about the show days later.   Highly recommended.

We had planned to catch a press preview of One Man, Two Guvnors, too, but I ended up making an emergency trip to the vet instead, as my 110lb Akita was yelping in pain.   Fortunately it turned out to be a pinched neck nerve, so very painful but nothing lethal.   However, sometimes family....even the creatures under our care, have to take precedence.

Music Box tickets for all 3 shows are priced at $15 (advance), $18 (day of), and $20 to see both Frankenstein versions (advance sale only).  They can be purchased at the Music Box Theatre box office or online by clicking here.

The Music Box Theatre, Chicago’s year round film festival located at 3733 N. Southport Avenue, is proud to present limited engagement screenings of two National Theatre of Great Britain hits this summer:  the 2012 multiple Tony Award-nominated One Man Two Guvnors, featuring the current Broadway cast that transferred from the National, and Danny Boyle's smash hit stage production of Frankenstein, starring Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch, who alternate in the roles of The Creature and Victor Frankenstein.   

*Can't make the Music Box dates?   You've got one more chance at Northwestern.
SAVE 20% ON THE NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE BROADCAST OF FRANKENSTEIN!
June 26 & July 24, 2012

Oscar-winner Danny Boyle (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire) returned to the theatre to direct this visionary production with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller in alternating roles of Frankenstein and the Creature. It will return to cinemas worldwide this summer for a limited season of encore screenings, with two broadcasts at the Theater and Interpretation Center at Northwestern University: Tue, Jun 26, 7pm & Tue, Jul 24, 7pm.  The broadcasts will be held in the Ethel M. Barber Theater, 30 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston.  Mention code NUNTL and save 20% on full-price tickets (valid on advance purchase only).  (847) 491-7282 or  buy online!




Dueling Sherlocks


Can't get enough of JONNY LEE MILLER & BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH playing the same characters?


People on both sides of "the pond" and around the world dig Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes, on the BBC series of the same name.   A third series of the contemporary take on the timeless characters is slated for 2013.
 

This fall, CBS is set to unveil a new modern day version of Sherlock Holmes, "Elementary," set in New York and starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu.   Check out the trailer here.


The Show


On Air:
Thursdays 10/9c

 

Starring:
Jonny Lee Miller (Sherlock Holmes)

Lucy Liu (Joan Watson)

Aidan Quinn (Captain Tobias Gregson)

 

Executive Producers:
Rob Doherty

Sarah Timberman

Carl Beverly

Michael Cuesta

 

In a modern-day take on Sherlock Holmes, the iconic detective is taking on New York. Just out of rehab, he's been assigned to live with his worst nightmare-sober coach, Dr. Joan Watson. Holmes's unsurpassed skills of deduction and Watson's medical expertise come together to create a dream team for solving the NYPD's most impossible cases.


 

Found Footage Festival Brings 2012 Show to Chicago

Curators Will Tape New DVD at Music Box Theatre

The Found Footage Festival, the acclaimed touring showcase of odd and hilarious found videos, will make its triumphant return to Chicago in June with a brand-new show. Hosts Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett, whose credits include The Onion and the Late Show with David Letterman, are excited to show off their 2012 lineup of found video clips and live comedy on Saturday, June 16th  at 8:30 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre (3733 N. Southport Ave.). The special, one-night-only appearance will be taped for the Found Footage Festival’s Volume 6 DVD. Tickets are $12 and are available HERE.

 
The Found Footage Festival is a one-of-a-kind event showcasing videos found at garage sales and thrift stores and in warehouses and dumpsters throughout North America. Curators Pickett and Prueher host each screening in-person and provide their unique observations and commentary on these found video obscurities. From the curiously-produced industrial training video to the forsaken home movie donated to Goodwill, the Found Footage Festival resurrects these forgotten treasures and serves them up in a lively celebration of all things found.

Among the new clips featured in the 2012 program:

-  A video featuring a woman whose enthusiasm for craft sponging borders on psychotic
-  A new collection of exercise tapes, including one called “The Sexy Treadmill Workout”
-  Never-before-seen clips from the Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser yo-yo pranks that the FFF hosts pulled on local news stations last year
-  An “opening act” of found classroom films from the ‘60s and ‘70s, curated especially for the show by renowned collector Skip Elsheimer of A.V. Geeks
-  Highlights from a 1986 video about how to care for your ferret
 
The Found Footage Festival was founded in New York in 2004 and has gone on to sell out hundreds of shows across the U.S. and Canada, including the HBO Comedy Festival at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. The festival has been featured on National Public Radio, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and G4 TV’s Attack of the Show, and has been named a critic’s pick in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and The Chicago Tribune. The FFF can also be seen twice a week in a popular web series on The Onion’s A.V. Club, in the hit documentary “Winnebago Man,” and in their new book, “VHS: Absurd, Odd and Ridiculous Relics from the Videotape Era.” 

For more info, check out the festival’s official website HERE.
 

ABOUT THE CURATORS:
Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher began collecting found videotapes in 1991 after stumbling across a training video entitled, “Inside and Outside Custodial Duties,” at a McDonald’s in their home state of Wisconsin. Since then, they have compiled an impressive collection of strange, outrageous and profoundly stupid videos. Pickett, a writer/director, and Prueher, a former researcher at the Late Show with David Letterman, have written for The Onion and Entertainment Weekly and directed the award-winning documentary, “Dirty Country” (www.dirtycountrymovie.com), now available on DVD. They are also the masterminds behind the Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser yo-yo pranks that hit local morning TV news shows across the Midwest and have since racked up millions of hits on YouTube.
 
About the Music Box Theatre:
For nearly 30 years the Music Box Theatre has been the premiere venue in Chicago for independent and foreign films, festivals and some of the greatest cinematic events in Chicago. It currently has the largest theater space operated full time in the city. The Music Box Theatre is independently owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corporation. SMBC, through its Music Box Films division, also distributes foreign and independent films in the theatrical, DVD and television markets throughout the United States. www.musicboxtheatre.com. 

Download the entire Music Box Theatre Summer Calendar HERE.

Award Winning Brit Flicks at Music Box

No need to pop for airfare to London’s West End or even Broadway:

CHICAGO’S MUSIC BOX THEATRE PRESENTS SCREENINGS OF TWO NATIONAL THEATRE OF GREAT BRITAIN HITS:

2012 TONY© AWARD-NOMINATED ONE MAN TWO GUVNORS, JUNE 16 & 21,
AND  DANNY BOYLE’S SMASH STAGE PRODUCTION OF FRANKENSTEIN, STARRING JONNY LEE MILLER & BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, JUNE 18-19, & JULY 22, 25-26

The Music Box Theatre, Chicago’s year round film festival located at 3733 N. Southport Avenue, is proud to present limited engagement screenings of two National Theatre of Great Britain hits this summer:  the 2012 multiple Tony Award-nominated One Man Two Guvnors, featuring the current Broadway cast that transferred from the National, and Danny Boyle's smash hit stage production of Frankenstein, starring Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch, who alternate in the roles of The Creature and Victor Frankenstein.   

The screenings are produced by National Theatre Live, a groundbreaking initiative of London’s renowned National Theatre to broadcast the best of British theatre to cinemas around the world, both live and in “encore screenings” (repeats of the live performances that are recorded and replayed without losing any of their magic and immediacy). The first season of events, which began in June 2009 with the acclaimed production of Phèdre starring Helen Mirren, was seen by over 165,000 people on 320 screens in 22 countries.
 
The comedy sensation One Man, Two Guvnors stars British breakout comic actor (and Tony nominee for Best Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role in a Play) James Corden as Francis Hensall (“One Man”).  Always famished and easily confused, Henshall agrees to work for a local gangster as well as a criminal in hiding (“Two Guvnors”), both of whom are linked in a web of schemes, extortions and romantic associations…none of which Francis can keep straight. He has to do everything in his power to keep his two guvnors from meeting, while trying to eat anything in sight along the way.  Simple.  Falling trousers, flying fish heads, star-crossed lovers, cross-dressing mobsters and a fabulous on-stage band are just some of what awaits at this most “deliriously funny” (Daily Telegraph) play.  

Richard Bean’s side splitting comedy, directed by Tony- and Olivier-award winning director Nicholas Hytner, is nominated for seven Tony awards for its Broadway engagement, following a sold-out run in London’s West End at the National Theatre.   Encore screenings of One Man, Two Guvnors take place at the Music Box Theatre Saturday, June 16, at 2pm and Thursday, June 21, at 7:30pm. Tickets, priced at $15 (advance) and $18 (day of), can be purchased at the Music Box Theatre box office or online at www.musicboxtheatre.com.

Academy Award© -winning film director Danny Boyle returned to the stage with an electrifying production of Mary Shelley’s classic 1818 novel Frankenstein about a scientist and his creation.  Called “the most viscerally exciting and stunning show in town,” (Daily Telegraph), Frankenstein enjoyed a sell-out run at the National Theatre in 2011, and went on to win awards including the 2012 Olivier Award for Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch ( PBS TV’s “Sherlock Holmes”) and Jonny Lee Miller (“Trainspotting”), who alternate the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature.  

Of note, the British Boyle (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire), who is orchestrating the $42 million Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, has recently been quoted as saying he took some inspiration from the “Frankenstein” story while formulating his Olympic plans.  Encore screenings of Frankenstein take place at the Music Box Theatre, Monday and Tuesday, June 18 and 19, at 7:30 pm; Sunday, July 22 at 6 and 8:30 pm; and Wednesday and Thursday, July 25 and 26 at 7:30 pm.  There are two versions - Miller and Cumberbatch alternate as Victor Frankenstein and the Creature; for specific casting, please visit www.musicboxtheatre.com.  

Tickets, priced at $15 (advance), $18 (day of), and $20 to see both versions (advance sale only) can be purchased at the Music Box Theatre box office or online at www.musicboxtheatre.com


About the Music Box Theatre:
For nearly 30 years the Music Box Theatre has been the premiere venue in Chicago for independent and foreign films, festivals and some of the greatest cinematic events in Chicago. It currently has the largest theater space operated full time in the city. The Music Box Theatre is independently owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corporation. SMBC, through its Music Box Films division, also distributes foreign and independent films in the theatrical, DVD and television markets throughout the United States. www.musicboxtheatre.com.  

SAVE THE DATES AND BEAT THE SUMMER HEAT:

Download the entire Music Box Theatre Summer Calendar here: http://www.musicboxtheatre.com/assets/calendars/MusicBox_Summer2012.pdf