Sweet Smell of Success

Opening:

ANTIVIRAL—Writer-director Brandon Cronenberg makes his debut with a subject that his father David would probably love, about a clinic that implants fans with diseases harvested from celebrities. Starring Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Wendy Crewson and Malcolm McDowell. Reviewed this issue. Screening Room

GIRL RISING—Documentary about girls in various countries battling abuses like arranged marriages and child slavery. Directed by Richard Robbins. Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker

THE LORDS OF SALEM—A new horror film directed by Rob Zombie. Given his work on the Halloween remakes, our excitement is minimal. Starring Sheri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison and Jeff Daniel Phillips. Regal Quaker, Regal Transit

OBLIVION—Sci-fi epic starring Tom Cruise as the last man on Earth, harvesting its remaining assets for a population that has moved to a moon of Jupiter. Directed by Joseph Kosinski (Tron Legacy). Reviewed this issue. Aurora, Flix, Maple Ridge, Market Arcade, New Angola, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Walden Galleria, Sunset Drive-In, Transit Drive-In, Regal Transit

ETC:

CHANNELS: STORIES FROM THE NIAGARA FRONTIER—A new program of documentaries by local filmmakers about local issues. See the feature this issue. Squeaky Wheel

PETE KELLY’S BLUES (1955)—Jack Webb (who also directed) as a trad jazz bandleader playing at a speakeasy in 1927 Kansas City. With Janet Leigh, Edmond O’Brien, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Lee Marvin; look for Jayne Mansfield as a cigarette girl. Hallwalls

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957)— Tony Curtis had one of his best roles as bottom-feeder Sidney Falco, a struggling Manhattan publicist who is desperate to get in the good graces of ruthless gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster, in a part based on Walter Winchell). Vivid performances, fine jazz score by Elmer Bernstein, outstanding camerawork by James Wong Howe that perfectly captures NYC nightlife. Scripted by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman; directed by Alexander Mackendrick. Hallwalls

WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967)—Suspense classic starring Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman terrorized by a gang of thugs looking for a cache of heroin that has been hidden in her apartment. With Alan Arkin and Richard Crenna. Directed by Terence Young (Thunderball). Screening Room

WITHIN THE WHIRLWIND—True story based on the memoirs of Evgenia Ginzburg, a Russian teacher who spent ten years in Stalin’s Siberian gulag. Starring Emily Watson, Ian Hart and Ulrich Tukur. Directed by Marlene Gorris (Antonia’s Line). Presented as part of the Buffalo Film Seminar. Market Arcade

THE WRECKING CREW—Documentary about the studio band that played on hundreds of sessions in the 1960s with Phil Spector, the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Rivers, Sonny and Cher, the Fifth Dimension, the Byrds, Sam Cooke, and many others. (The full list is amazing.) The band included guitarist Tommy Tedesco from Niagara Falls, whose son Denny produced this film and is interviewed this issue. Market Arcade