STEVEN SPIELBERG RETROSPECITVE, PART II
Date: Fri, July 3rd 2009 - Mon, August 31st 2009External Link: Event Website
Event Tags: The Movies
Location: AFI Silver Theatre & Cultural Center
July 3 - August 31
Part II of AFI Silver's retrospective of Steven Spielberg's films includes the filmmaker's most celebrated mature works, including Oscar winners SCHINDLER'S LIST and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, and also many titles that merit a second look, from the supremely entertaining CATCH ME IF YOU CAN to the dystopian sci-fi hits A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE and MINORITY REPORT to the hard-hitting political thriller MUNICH and even HOOK--a movie with a sturdy cult following.
 |
AFI Member passes will be accepted at all screenings in the Steven Spielberg Retrospective, Part II series. |
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
#71 on AFI 100 Years . . . 100 Movies
Having survived the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach--depicted in a harrowing, 24-minute tour-de-force sequence that puts the viewer in the middle of the disorienting and deadly fog of war--Captain Tom Hanks receives an unusual assignment: lead his squadron to find missing paratrooper Private Ryan (Matt Damon) in occupied France. Ryan's brothers are already casualties of war, and the Army wants to send him home to his family--assuming he's still alive. Spielberg's passion project retooled many of the shopworn conventions of World War II movies into a more visceral, less triumphalist depiction of warfare, its horrors and its sacrifices. Hanks's squadron is ably filled out by Vin Diesel, Edward Burns, Jeremy Davies, Adam Goldberg, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper and Giovanni Ribisi. Nominated for 11 Oscars, winning 5, including Spielberg's second win for Best Director.
DIR/PROD Steven Spielberg; SCR Robert Rodat; PROD Ian Bryce, Mark Gordon, Gary Levinsohn. US, 1998, color, 170 min. In English, French, German, and Czech with English subtitles. RATED R
Friday, July 3, 3:30; Saturday, July 4, 1:30; Monday, July 6, 3:30
HOOK
When Captain Hook (a humorously hambone Dustin Hoffman) kidnaps the children of the now grown-up and settled down Peter Pan (Robin Williams)--a paunchy, no nonsense corporate lawyer--Peter must return to Neverland and remember how to be a kid again, in order to save his own. Featuring a touching story, inventive production design and a brilliant score by longtime collaborator John Williams--plus Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell!--this is a marvelous, underrated film that the entire family can enjoy.
DIR Steven Spielberg, SCR James V. Hart, Malia Scotch Marmo, based on the novel by J.M. Barrie; PROD Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Gerald R. Molen. US, 1991, color, 144 min. RATED PG
Sunday, July 12, 2:45; Monday, July 13, 4:00, 7:00
JURASSIC PARK
Thanks to an amber-trapped mosquito, genetics company InGen has been able to create an island theme park populated by dinosaurs. To calm investors, CEO John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) allows a group of experts a sneak preview--but the dangerous stakes are raised even higher when security fails, a storm hits, and the dinosaurs break loose. Boasting astonishing effects and a wonderful cast, this film is one of Spielberg's most visceral, thrilling adventures.
DIR Steven Spielberg; SCR Michael Crichton, David Koepp, based on the novel by Michael Crichton; PROD Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen. US, 1993, color, 127 min. RATED PG-13
Saturday, July 18, 7:00; Sunday, July 19, 2:45; Monday, July 20, 4:00
AMISTAD
Steven Spielberg's wrenching drama tells the true story of the 1839 rebellion aboard the slave ship La Amistad, led by former farmer Cinque (Djimon Hounsou). Captured in U.S. waters, its passengers are tried for insurrection, but their case soon becomes a larger political battle, making its way to the Supreme Court under the defense of John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins). Nominated for four Academy Awards, this is historical filmmaking of the highest order.
DIR/PROD Steven Spielberg; SCR David Franzoni; PROD Debbie Allen, Colin Wilson. US, 1997, color, 152 min. In English, Mende and Spanish with English subtitles. RATED R
Monday, July 20, 6:30; Tuesday, July 21, 6:30
SCHINDLER'S LIST
Special Free Screening!
Perhaps Spielberg's greatest achievement to date in a career full of great achievements, SCHINDLER'S LIST was the film that silenced doubts as to the director's ability to handle serious material, and was instantly recognized as the most compelling representation of Holocaust history ever committed to film. Liam Neeson is the conflicted Nazi industrialist who chooses to safeguard over 1,000 Jewish workers, eventually buying their freedom and helping to spirit them to safety. Ben Kingsley masterfully plays Schindler's cautious accountant and go-between, while Ralph Fiennes shines with his complex portrayal of the villainous Nazi Commandant Amon Goeth.Winner of seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Spielberg (his first, after four nominations).
DIR/PROD Steven Spielberg; SCR Steven Zaillian, based on the novel by Thomas Keneally; PROD Branko Lustig, Gerald R. Molen. US, 1993, b&w and color, 195 min. In English, Hebrew, German and Polish with English subtitles. RATED R
Sunday, July 26, 1:30
A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Originally developed by Stanley Kubrick, who passed the project to Spielberg in the '80s amid frustrations with the limits of special effects technology, AI is a fairy tale wrapped in a futuristic dystopian sci-fi thriller. Young David (Haley Joel Osment) is a mecha, an advanced robot capable of near-human emotions, taken in by a couple whose real son has been stricken by disease. David's happy existence is threatened when their son recovers and returns home, easily winning the competition for mother's affections. Determined to win back his mother's love, David sets out on a quest to become a real boy, joined along the way by fellow mecha Gigolo Joe (Jude Law dialing up the charm, channeling Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire).
DIR/SCR/PROD Steven Spielberg, based on the story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" by Brian Aldiss; PROD Bonnie Curtis, Kathleen Kennedy. US, 2001, color, 146 min. RATED PG-13
Saturday, August 1, 3:00; Sunday, August 2, 12:30
MINORITY REPORT
The year is 2054, and Washington, DC, is essentially crime-free thanks to the Precrime division of the police force, where three isolated psychics, the "pre-cogs," enable cops to apprehend criminals before they commit crimes.Tom Cruise stars as the confident captain of the division, hoping to prove Precrime's suitability for nationwide implementation, and all goes well until the precogs inexplicably implicate him in a future murder. Spielberg consulted with experts to ensure that all the futuristic technology depicted in the film would conceivably be developed in the real world; multi-touch computer interface systems (iPhones, anyone?) and targeted Internet advertising make a compelling case for a future that looks a lot like Spielberg's vision.
DIR Steven Spielberg; SCR Jon Cohen, Scott Frank based on the short story by Philip K. Dick; PROD Bonnie Curtis, Gerald R. Molen, Walter F. Parkes. US, 2002, color, 145 min. RATED PG-13
Sunday, August 9, 2:30; Monday, August 10, 4:00; Tuesday, August 11, 7:00; Thursday, August 13, 7:00
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
The incredible true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr., who successfully passed himself off as an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, and masterfully forged checks to con the airlines out of nearly 3 million dollars... all before his 21st birthday. It's the swinging '60s, and for a time the sky is the limit for the opportunistic wunderkind, but eventually the long arm of the law catches up to him. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the young con man on the run, and Tom Hanks is the embattled FBI agent on his trail. Amy Adams and Elizabeth Banks dazzle in the roles of sweet young things who fall under DiCaprio's spell; Christopher Walken's supporting turn as Frank Abagnale, Sr. garnered him an Oscar nomination.
DIR/PROD Steven Spielberg; SCR Jeff Nathanson, based on the book by Frank Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding; PROD Walter F. Parkes. US, 2002, color, 141 min. RATED PG-13
Friday, August 14, 4:10; Saturday, August 15, 4:45; Sunday, August 16, 2:30; Monday, August 17, 4:10; Wednesday, August 19, 6:45; Thursday, August 20, 4:10
THE TERMINAL
Tom Hanks lands at JFK Airport, a would-be visitor to New York City, whereupon he learns that the government of his Eastern European homeland has been overthrown, rendering his passport invalid. Immigration laws prevent him from exiting the airport and entering the US, leaving him stranded in the airport in bureaucratic limbo. As the weeks turn into months, he finds a surprisingly full life in the microcosm of the airline terminal, complete with a love interest in the form of sympathetic flight attendant Catherine Zeta-Jones. Stanley Tucci keeps him on his toes as the frustrated airport official determined to get rid of the unwanted guest.
DIR/PROD Steven Spielberg; SCR Sacha Gervasi, Jeff Nathanson; PROD Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes. US, 2004, color, 128 min. RATED PG-13
Friday, August 21, 4:30; Saturday, August 22, 12:30; Monday, August 24, 7:00, Tuesday, August 25, 4:30
MUNICH
"Forget peace for now, we have to show them we're strong." Charged with this directive by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, hardcase Mossad agent Geoffrey Rush assembles a crack team of agents to track down and eliminate the Palestinian terrorists responsible for the assassinations of Israeli athletes at the '72 Summer Olympics. Former Mossad agent and father-to-be Eric Bana leads the pan-European hit squad, which includes brawny Daniel Craig, buttoned-down Ciaran Hinds, bomb expert Mathieu Kassovitz and master forger Hanns Zischler.The team is ruthlessly focused on the mission, but as the bodies pile up and collateral damages mount, the feeling that violence just begets more violence becomes hard to shake for Bana.
DIR/PROD Steven Spielberg; SCR Tony Kushner, Eric Roth, based on Vengeance by George Jonas; PROD Kathleen Kennedy, Barry Mendel, Colin Wilson. US, 2005, color, 164 min. In English, German, French, Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles. RATED R
Saturday, August 29, 2:15; Monday, August 31, 6:45
