The Optimistic Pessimist

The Optimistic Pessimist is a weekly blog by Jim Brunzell III about film in the Twin Cities and beyond.

Panos Cosmatos's "Beyond the Black Rainbow": A sci-fi mystery that's one of the strangest films of the year

By Jim Brunzell III, The Optimistic Pessimist

Next Monday and Tuesday, July 2 and 3, the Trylon Microcinema will be opening writer/director Panos Cosmatos's debut feature, Beyond the Black Rainbow, and one thing is for certain: there will not be another film screening in town like it. (In fact, there might not be another like it for the rest of 2012.) The film screens as part of the “Trylon Premieres” series, every Monday and Tuesday, of new releases, restored classics, and all the other films in between that otherwise do not open at your local AMC, a Landmark Theater, St. Anthony Main, or the Riverview Theater.

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The Optimistic Pessimist

Walker Art Center cinema gets a state-of-the-art refit

By Jim Brunzell III, The Optimistic Pessimist

This Friday, June 22, the Walker Art Center will unveil its newly renovated, state-of-the-art cinema with the Minnesota premiere of the highly original drama Beasts of the Southern Wild, a winner at this year’s Sundance and Cannes film festivals, a film that deserves to be seen on the big screen and one that may end up in some Oscar discussions toward the end of 2012. Tickets for the free screening are already gone, but the film's Twin Cities theatrical release will start on Friday, July 13 at a Landmark theater. The Walker cinema first opened in 1971 and has had upgrades since then, but none like this: cinephiles will rejoice when they walk in.

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The Optimistic Pessimist

"Safety Not Guaranteed" screenwriter Derek Connolly: "It's best to live in the present"

By Jim Brunzell III, The Optimistic Pessimist

One of the best films of 2012 so far is the sci-fi romantic comedy Safety Not Guaranteed, a surprise hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It opens Friday, June 15, exclusively at AMC’s Southdale 16 theater. The movie features an intriguing premise based on a real classified ad that was placed in the mid-1990s. When the ad became an Internet fascination and spawned many to wonder whether the ad was a joke or not, it became apparent to screenwriter Derek Connolly (a name you will be hearing more from in the future, perhaps in late 2012), that there was a film idea within this posting, true or not.

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The Optimistic Pessimist

"Moonrise Kingdom," "Prometheus," "Brave," and more: Hopes and fears for the summer movie season

By Jim Brunzell III, The Optimistic Pessimist

So looking at the films opening in June around the Twin Cities, what have I seen, what would I recommend, what am I looking forward to, and what would I avoid at all costs?

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The Optimistic Pessimist

"Hysteria" director Tanya Wexler talks about the Victorian origins of the vibrator

By Jim Brunzell III, The Optimistic Pessimist

After seeing hundreds of films each year—narratives, documentaries, and short films alike, and everything from remakes and/or sequels to original stories—every now and again, you come across a storyline that you never figured you would ever write about. The new romantic comedy from director Tanya Wexner (Ball in the House and Finding North), Hysteria, opening Friday, June 1 at the Edina Cinema, concerns a subject with an interesting history: the female vibrator. Yes, the vibrator—in, no less, a story that takes place in the very peak of Victorian times in London around 1880.

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The Optimistic Pessimist
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