The Maltese Falcon

Opening:

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY—Adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize winning play about a family at each others’ throats while gathered at their Oklahoma home. Starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch and Sam Shepard. Directed by John Wells (The Company Men). Reviewed this issue.

HER—Spike Jonze’s return to form in a futuristic story about a depressed office worker (Joaquin Phoenix) who falls in love with his computer operating system (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). Co-starring Amy Adams, Chris Pratt and Rooney Mara. Reviewed this issue.

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS—The Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961 is the setting for the new Coen Brothers film, starring Oscar Isaac as a singer whose career and life are at a dead stop. With Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman and F. Murray Abraham. Reviewed this issue.

THE LEGEND OF HERCULES—Guess that Clash of the Titans sequel made money after all. Starring Kellan Lutz, Gaia Weiss and Rade Serbedzija. Directed by Renny Harlin (The Adventures of Ford Fairlane).

LONE SURVIVOR— Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, and Emile Hirsch as a team of Navy SEALs sent into Afghanistan in 2005 on a mission to kill Taliban leader Ahmad Shahd. Directed by Peter Berg (Battleship).

ETC:

ATLANTIS: THE LAST DAYS OF KAPTARA—From the recent Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, a likeable low-budget Saturday matinee tribute, using motion capture effects for a fantasy story set in ancient Greece that pits a captured prince and his crew against the Minotaur, the half-human half-bull monster. It’s got to be better than The Legend of Hercules. Screening Room

DEEP END (1970)—Seldom seen cult classic (unavailable on DVD in the US) about a London teenager (John Moulder-Brown) who gets an unlikely education in love when he lands a job at a public swimming pool, where an older girl (Jane Asher) shows him how to string along the older women for tips. It was the first international success for writer-director Jerzy Skolimowski, showing the influence of his mentor Roman Polanski. With Diana Dors. Squeaky Wheel

THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)—John Huston graduated from scriptwriting for this, one of the most assured directorial debuts in Hollywood history. Dashiell Hammett’s tale of Sam Spade and his search for the killer of his partner makes a movie that, if not perfect, could hardly be improved upon. With Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, and Elisha Cook Jr. Fri 7:30 pm. The Old Chestnut Film Society, Philip Sheridan School, 3200 Elmwood (836-4757)

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)—Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller starring Cary Grant as an innocent man on the run from he’s not sure who. Eva Marie Sainte is on hand to help, with James Mason and Martin Landau hovering about. Mount Rushmore, crop duster—you know all this already. Thurs 7 pm. City Honors Auditorium, 186 E. North St. (www.chsfilm.org)

PIG DEATH MACHINE—Underground horror from Jon Morgitsu that the Wall Street Journal (!) describes as “overflowing with eye-popping production design, eardrum-destroying rock ‘ n’ roll, gross-outs aplenty and deadpan one-liners you’ll be quoting for weeks.” Hallwalls

SABRINA (1954)—Romantic comedy with the unlikely pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn as a staid businessman an dthe girl he’s trying to keep from marrying his ne’er-do-well brother (William Holden). Directed by Billy Wilder. Screening Room