Venture into the Unknown (via Movies)!
New living situations. New cultures. Routines and demands that are heretofore alien to you. A new school year can feel like a journey into a different world, so our latest movie display centers people encountering lands and entities wholly unknown to them. Sometimes they are whisked into a realm beyond imagination; sometimes they discover an acquaintance is an otherworldly being. We’ve got friendly aliens, parasitic aliens, aliens curious about this thing called “cake”, and, of course, dragons.
The library will also be restarting its Midweek Movie Night series in September. To start, we will be showing two films about encountering the unknown. First off, we will being showing the summer horror flick Backrooms, in which a struggling furniture store owner (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and later his therapist (Renate Reinsve) discover a labyrinth of blah hallways and rooms of malformed furniture in which something malevolent roams. Later, in collaboration with the Anthropology Club, we will be screening Arrival. Join us as Amy Adams plays a linguist tasked with deciphering the language of a strange alien species that has landed their starships on Earth. This post will be updated with details as they become available!
On sci-fi TV classic Galaxy Quest, Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen) played daring Peter Quincy, Gwen DeMarco (Sigourney Weaver) was the alluring Tawny Madison, and Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman) was the alien genius Dr. Lazarus. Now they are all struggling actors who grudgingly prop up their careers with gigs at fan conventions. At one event, Jason agrees to help a group of costumed attendees. When they transport him and his former castmates to a working replica of their TV starship, he realizes they have been enlisted by an alien race with no concept of fiction. (1999, dir. Dean Parisot, 102 minutes)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Lab tech Elizabeth (Brooke Adams) is worried about her boyfriend (Art Hindle). One morning, she awoke to discover he had thrown away an exotic flower she got him, and he’s been distant ever since. Elizabeth confides in fellow San Francisco Health Department employee Matthew (Donald Sutherland). Meanwhile, their friends Jack (Jeff Goldblum) and Nancy (Veronica Cartwright) discover an embryonic humanoid resembling Jack growing from a plant pod at their spa. Elizabeth’s fears of malign duplicates are warranted. Based on the novel by Jack Finney. (1978, dir. Philip Kaufman, 115 minutes)
Nani Pelekai (Tia Carrere) struggles to maintain stable employment after her parents died in a car crash. Her little sister Lilo (Daveigh Chase) has always been rambunctious, but her strange new dog Stitch (Chris Sanders) has become a new source of trouble. As Lilo attempts to domesticate Stitch, she is unaware that her pet is in fact Experiment 626, a dangerous, erratic, and nigh-indestructible creation of genetic engineering, and agents of the United Galactic Federation have infiltrated Earth to capture him. (2002, dir. Chris Sanders & Dean DeBlois, 85 minutes)
Thomas Jerome Newton (David Bowie) arrives on Earth with a mission: retrieve water to end a catastrophic drought on his home planet. His plan: use his advanced alien technology to patent countless “inventions” and found a powerful company that can finance his water scheme. His disguise as an eccentric English businessman appears foolproof, but he finds himself distracted by human vices like alcohol and becomes entangled with a human girlfriend (Candy Clark) and suspicious company engineer (Rip Torn). Based on the novel by Walter Tevis. (1976, dir. Nicolas Roeg, 138 minutes)
Daydreamer Bastian Balthazar Bux (Barret Oliver) escapes bullies on his way to school by hiding in a bookstore. He becomes absorbed in a story about the land of Fantasia, which is threatened by a shapeless malevolent force. The warrior Atreyu (Noah Hathaway) is tasked with acquiring a cure for the ill Childlike Empress (Tami Stronach): a new name bestowed by a child from beyond Fantasia. Little does Bastian know that the story characters believe he could be the solution to their crisis. Based on the novel by Michael Ende. (1984, dir. Wolfgang Petersen, 94 minutes)
Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) used to design arcade games. In fact, he’s responsible for ENCOM’s greatest hit, Space Paranoids. Resenting his dismissal, Flynn hacks ENCOM’s mainframe to prove executive Ed Dillinger (David Warner) plagiarized his work. ENCOM’s Master Control Program, now a rogue AI, responds by zapping Flynn with an experimental laser that digitizes him into cyberspace. With the help of Tron (Bruce Boxleitner), a security program, Flynn plots to overthrow Master Control from inside the world of games. (1982, dir. Steven Lisberger, 96 minutes)
A nameless woman arrives in Glasgow. She has no personality and rarely speaks. Her one preoccupation is seducing single young men, luring them to her abode where they seemingly vanish into an abyss. As the woman goes about her work, there are signs she aspires to serve a different purpose. (2013, dir. Jonathan Glazer, 108 minutes)
Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) and her dog, Toto, are caught by a tornado and thrown from the American prairies into the far-off land of Oz. To return home to Kansas, she ventures down the Yellow Brick Road to meet the Wizard of Oz, befriending the Tin Man (Jack Haley), the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), and the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) on the way. Unfortunately, Dorothy has earned the enmity of the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), who covets her enchanted ruby slippers. Based on the novel by L. Frank Baum. (1939, dir. Victor Fleming, 102 minutes)
