ANN ARBOR – Award season is just around the corner, which means a busy January for filmgoers in Ann Arbor. Thankfully the Michigan and the newly renovated State Theatre has you covered.
Opening on Friday, Jan. 5 at the State, "I, Tonya," starring Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding, shows another side of the competitive ice skater who became famous for her husband's attempt to sabotage her rival, Nancy Kerrigan. Robbie's performance has been lauded by many critics and is currently holding strong with 90 percent positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
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On Saturday, Jan. 6, "Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story" opens at the Michigan. The documentary explores the life of the Austrian actress who fled an oppressive marriage to create a name for herself as one of Hollywood’s top leading ladies in the 1940s. Behind the scenes, she was also a talented inventor who created a radio system that is now considered the basis of Bluetooth technology. Directed by Alexandra Dean, the film was hailed by New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis for its form and style. "Ms. Dean relates Lamarr's ventures, those onscreen and off, with savvy and narrative snap, fluidly marshaling a mix of original interviews and archival material that includes film clips, home movies and other footage," Dargis wrote.
Continuing the month of terrific films, "The Post" opens at the Michigan on Friday, Jan. 12. Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, "The Post" depicts the journalists from The Washington Post and The New York Times who published the Pentagon Papers regarding the involvement of the United States government during the Vietnam War. About the film, IndieWire film critic David Ehrlich wrote, "There's topical, there's timely, and then there's 'The Post,' which feels less like a historical thriller set in 1971 than it does an exhilarating caricature of the year 2017."
Nominated for 3 Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture, Drama, "Call Me By Your Name" opens at the State on Friday, Jan. 19. Set in Northern Italy in 1983, the film focuses on 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) begins a relationship with his father’s research assistant, Oliver (Armie Hammer), while bonding over their Jewish heritage and the beguiling Italian landscape. "This coming-of-age love story is all texture, tone and nuance," Detroit News film critic Tom Long wrote. "Luca Guadagnino has made a lovely cinematic feather. And it floats down beautifully, riding a soft breeze of melancholy and grace."
Closing out the month is "Phantom Thread," which opens at the Michigan on Jan. 19. The film marks the reunion of Daniel Day-Lewis and Director Paul Thomas Anderson, who last worked together in 2007’s Best Picture nominee "There Will Be Blood." "Phantom Thread" is said to be Daniel Day-Lewis’ last on-screen role and is set in the glamour of 1950’s post-war London, where renowned dressmaker and his sister are at the center of British fashion, dressing royalty, movie stars, heiresses, socialites, debutantes and dames with the distinct style of The House of Woodcock. "This devilishly funny and luxuriantly sensuous film is so successful as entertainment that it's hard to stop and notice the extreme degree of craft that went into its construction," Slate film critic Dana Stevens wrote.
"To use what will be the first of several unfortunate but necessary textile metaphors, Anderson -- who also wrote the script and did his own 35mm cinematography -- hides his aesthetic seams such that the visual, auditory, intellectual, and emotional experiences of seeing 'Phantom Thread' come together into an irreducible and deeply satisfying whole."
For more information about the Michigan Theater and its schedule, visit michtheater.org. To keep up with the latest films screening at the State Theatre, visit statetheatrea2.org.
The Michigan Theater Foundation, Inc. (the "Foundation") is a Michigan nonprofit organization, the purpose of which is to bring together audiences and support to appreciate and advance cinema and the performing arts, measurably benefit the diverse communities it serves, and maintain and protect the historic building entrusted to it. The Michigan Theater Foundation operates The Michigan Theater, The State Theatre, Art House Convergence and the Cinetopia Film Festival.
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