Peripheral Vision: Short Cuts
7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23
$7 / $5 for students with ID
Doors and Varsity Bar at 6:30
The Varsity has formed a partnership with an SIUC professor to continue its Peripheral Vision Film Series. "Running Time: Exploring the Nature of Shorts and Feature Films" is presented each Wednesday evening for six weeks. Walter Metz will explore the concept of duration in storytelling and will screen a film that illustrates the problems narrative artists encounter when deciding how and why to begin and end their work. After each screening, Metz will lead a discussion of each film.
Here’s this week’s film:
“Short Cuts” (1993) Nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards, Robert Altman brings the words of Raymond Carver to life in this sprawling anthology film. Drawing upon nine of Carver’s most famous works, the film revolves around the lives of twenty-two characters dealing with luck, death, infidelity, and so much more in Los Angeles during the Medfly epidemic.
Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK_PoMY0MOw
Screening begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $7 or $5 for students with ID. Advance tickets are available at Eventbrite. Tickets are not available in advance at the venue but can be purchased on the night of each filming when doors and the Varsity Bar open at 6:30.
Friday Flicks: Beetlejuice
7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25
$7 / $5 for students with ID
Doors and Varsity Bar at 1:30
Thanks to the carelessness of a cute little dog, newlyweds Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin are killed in a freak auto accident. Upon arriving in the outer offices of Heaven, the couple finds that, thanks to a century's worth of bureaucratic red tape, they're on a long celestial waiting list. Before they can earn their wings, the couple must occupy their old house as ghosts for the next 50 years. The house is now owned by insufferable yuppies Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones. Horrified at the prospect of sharing space with these obnoxious interlopers, Davis and Baldwin do their best to scare O'Hara and Jones away, but their house-haunting skills are pathetic at best. In desperation, the ghostly couple engage the services of a veteran scaremeister: a yellow-haired, snaggle-toothed, profane, flatulent "gonzo" spirit named Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton). (1988)
Rated PG for adult situations and language, violence.
The movie will begin at 7. Tickets are $7 or $5 for students with ID. They are available in advance at Eventbrite. They are not available in advance at the venue, but can be purchased the night of the show when doors open.
Special: Rocky Horror Picture Show
10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25
$7 / $5 for students with ID
$1 Prop Bags
A Carbondale Halloween favorite returns to The Varsity with a screening of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25. The screening will follow at 7 p.m. screening of “Beetlejuice.”
The downtown venue will be open to all creatures of the night as they enjoy this tale of an engagement trip gone horribly right. Say hello to Riff Raff, Magenta, Columbia, Dr. Frank-N-Furter and the whole Transylvanian crew.
The 1975 musical, an homage to the campy sci-fi and horror films of the 1950s, follows the strange tale of Brad and Janet, who are on their way to visit an old professor. When their car breaks down, they seek help at a mysterious castle and soon realize they have wandered into a night that will change their lives forever. They are introduced to Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a gender-busting mad scientist who is working on his dream of building the perfect man. Each twist and turn reveals new sides of the residents of the castle, as well as our young lovers.
The movie stars, among others, Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, and Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick as the young lovers. It is rated R; those younger than 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Enjoy the cult classic, complete with callbacks, props, dancing and the induction ceremony. Have you never been to a showing before? Don’t know the steps to the Time Warp? Confused about your feelings for Frank? Don’t panic! Ms. Demeanor and her cast of characters will make you feel right at home as they bring you into the Rocky Horror family.
Tickets are $7 or $5 for students with ID. They are available in advance at Eventbrite. They are not available in advance at the venue but will be available at 9 p.m. when doors open. Active participation prop bags will be only $1.
PV: Secret Life of Walter Mitty
7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30
$7 / $5 for students with ID
Doors and Varsity Bar at 6:30
The Varsity has formed a partnership with an SIUC professor to continue its Peripheral Vision Film Series. "Running Time: Exploring the Nature of Shorts and Feature Films" is presented each Wednesday evening for six weeks. Walter Metz will explore the concept of duration in storytelling and will screen a film that illustrates the problems narrative artists encounter when deciding how and why to begin and end their work. After each screening, Metz will lead a discussion of each film.
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (1947) The first feature-length adaptation of the beloved short story, Danny Kaye plays the titular lead character as he deals with the crushing reality of his day-to-day life. Everyone from his fiancée to his mother to his boss bully him in some way or another, causing Walter to retreat into daydreams based on the pulp magazine stories his publishing company prints. However, things get complicated as a woman who almost exactly resembles his dream woman enters his life and drags him into a real-life adventure!
Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awthjYwVAr4
Tickets are available in advance at Eventbrite. (See link) Tickets arenot available in advance at the venue but can be purchased when doors open the night of the screening.
Friday Flicks: Coco
7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1
$7 / $5 for students with ID
Doors and Varsity Bar at 6:30
Despite his family's baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel (voice of Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (voice of Benjamin Bratt). Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead after a mysterious chain of events.
Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector (voice of Gael García Bernal), and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history. (2017) Rated PG for thematic elements
Tickets are available in advance at Eventbrite (see link). Tickets are not available in advance at the venue but can be purchased the night of the show when doors open. Doors and the Varsity Bar open at 6:30.
Special Screening: Pavarotti
2 and 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3
$10 adults / $5 students with ID
Doors and Varsity Bar at 1:30
Sure, you can see Ron Howard’s documentary “Pavarotti” on a streaming service, but the only way you will see it in Southern Illinois on a big screen with a state-of-the-art sound system is at The Varsity.
Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who died Sept. 6, 2007, left behind an operatic legacy. Howard’s film takes a look at the “King of High C’s” with never-before-seen footage, backstage scenes, concert and performance footage, interviews with family and friends, wives and ex-wives, and daughters.
“This documentary is built around a massive archive … that allowed us to relive Pavarotti’s career – or, if you don’t know much about him, which younger viewers probably won’t – to taste the unprecedented quality it carried,” wrote Variety reviewer Owen Gleiberman in June, when the movie was released.
Pavarotti’s foray into mainstream music and pop culture was frowned upon by some, but there is no question he brought many, many listeners to the genre that otherwise might have been ignored. His personal life was also put under a critical microscope.
“But, the movie pays ample testament to how that voice, for 40 years, poured out of him, rapturous and tragic, soaring on wings of pure emotion, at times racked with a spiritual pain that was surely his own. Viewers are free to wag their fingers at the choices he made, but Howard adopts a no-muss-no-fuss tone of benevolent civility that feels like a legitimate way to go, keeping Pavarotti’s identify as a singer front and center,” wrote Gleiberman.
From the filmmaking team behind the highly-acclaimed documentary “The Beatles – Eight Days a Week,” “Pavarotti” is a riveting film that lifts the curtain on the icon who became perhaps the greatest operatic tenor of all time, then broke out of the classical realm to become a music superstar.
Trailer: www.cbsfilms.com.
To read Gleiberman’s full review, to go https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/pavarotti
Tickets are available in advance at Eventbrite. (See link below) They are not available at the venue until 30 minutes before screenings.
Peripheral Vision: Slingblade
7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6
$7 / $5 for students with ID
Doors and Varsity Bar at 6:30
The Varsity has formed a partnership with an SIUC professor to continue its Peripheral Vision Film Series. "Running Time: Exploring the Nature of Shorts and Feature Films" is presented each Wednesday evening for six weeks. Walter Metz will explore the concept of duration in storytelling and will screen a film that illustrates the problems narrative artists encounter when deciding how and why to begin and end their work. After each screening, Metz will lead a discussion of each film.
“Sling Blade” (1996) In this Oscar winning adaptation of Billy Bob Thorton’s short film “Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade,” Thorton plays Karl Childers, an intellectually challenged man released from a psychiatric hospital after serving time for murder. While working as an engine repairman in his small Arkansas hometown, he befriends a young boy who allows him to stay at his house with his mother. It is through this that Karl’s road to recovery is challenged as complications come one after another, while also dealing with the demons of his past.
Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RLVfo4SZfg
Tickets are available in advance at Eventbrite (see link). Tickets are not available in advance at the venue but can be purchased on the night of each filming when doors and the Varsity Bar open at 6:30.
Friday Flicks: Pythons Holy Grail
7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8
$7 / $5 for students with ID
Doors and Varsity Bar at 6:30
The Pythons savage the legend of King Arthur, juxtaposing some excellently selected exterior locations with an unending stream of anachronistic one-liners, non sequiturs, and slapstick set pieces. The Knights of the Round Table set off in search of the Holy Grail on foot, as their lackeys make clippety-clop sounds with coconut shells. A plague-ridden community, ringing with the cry of "bring out your dead," offers its hale and hearty citizens to the body piles. The good guys are nearly thwarted by the dreaded, tree-shaped "Knights Who Say Ni!" A feisty enemy warrior, bloodily shorn of his arms and legs in the thick of battle, threatens to bite off his opponent's kneecap. And, a French military officer shouts such taunts as "I fart in your general direction."
Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin collaborated on the script and assumed most of the onscreen roles, while Gilliam and Jones served as co-directors. (1975) Rated PG
Tickets are available in advance at Eventbrite (see link). Tickets are not available in advance at the venue but can be purchased the night of the show when doors open. Doors and the Varsity Bar open at 6:30.
PV Film: Lumiere and Company
7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13
$7 / $5 for students with ID
Doors and Varsity Bar at 6:30
The Varsity has formed a partnership with an SIUC professor to continue its Peripheral Vision Film Series. "Running Time: Exploring the Nature of Shorts and Feature Films" is presented each Wednesday evening for six weeks. Walter Metz will explore the concept of duration in storytelling and will screen a film that illustrates the problems narrative artists encounter when deciding how and why to begin and end their work. After each screening, Metz will lead a discussion of each film.
“Lumière and Company” (1995) In 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the Cinématographe camera and projector, which revolutionized filmmaking into the art form we know today. A century later, this anthology film was commissioned to honor their contribution to the arts. Forty of the world’s best filmmakers, including Spike Lee and David Lynch, created shorts just like the Lumières. The only requirements were that they had to be under a minute, could not have synchronized sound, and cannot be more than three takes.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0aqmD90pE0
Tickets are available in advance at Eventbrite (see link). 7 p.m. Tickets are not available in advance at the venue but can be purchased on the night of each filming when doors and the Varsity Bar open at 6:30.