Midnight Microplex
From the margins of the movies comes MIDNIGHT MICROPLEX - a cornucopia of cult classics and cinematic treasures to brighten and frighten the corners of your movie memories.
Running every Friday day night during the university term, the microplex will take you to the other side of midnight in on the wings of the world’s wildest and weirdest films.
From 11:30pm we will present you with a dizzying assortment of classic shorts, filmic oddities and trashy trailers to whet your appetite. And then at the stroke of midnight, we will proudly present one of eight classic cult masterpieces to carry you through the witching hours and beyond.
May 9th
THE HOLY MOUNTAIN
(Alejandro Jodorowsky / 1973 / Mexico / 114 mins / Cert 18)
Jodorowsky’s follow up to the psych-western ‘El Topo’ is an attempt to recreate the alchemists hourney through the process of film narrative. The bizzare and violent imagery draws heavily on religious symbolism, and the laugh-out-loud hilarity of its satire is part-python, part-caballah. A truly life-changing experience!
May 16th
FANTASTIC PLANET
(Rene Laloux / 1973 / France / 72 mins / Cert PG)
Adapted from Roland Topor’s sci-fi fable, this beautifully animated film takes the viewer on a sublime trip to the world of the Draags and the Oms. The class struggle metaphor of the story remains intact, but Laloux’s vision of an extra-terrestrial world – accompanied by Alain Gorageur’s influential score – makes for a dreamy viewing.
May 23rd
FREAKS
(Tod Browning / 1932 / USA / 62 Mins / Cert PG)
Brownings legendary story of circus folk was banned for over 40 years, due to what was seen as his exploitative use of real perfomers from US freak shows. Critical re-appraisal has revealed a great humanity in Browning’s work, however, demonstrating that the real freaks are the apparently ‘normal’ humans.
May 30th
ALICE
(Jan Svankmajer / 1988 / Czechoslovakia / 90 mins / Cert PG)
Like Carroll’s original, Svankmajer’s version of Alice in Wonderland is only maybe a story for adults. Exploring the dark psychology of Alice’s journey, Svankmajer’s trademark animation of everyday objects makes for nightmarish viewing, htough nt without humour.
June 6th
TWO-LANE BLACKTOP
(Monte Hellman / 1971 / USA / 102 mins / Cert 18)
Detecting the inherent existential aspects of the road movie genre, Hellman presents us a story of petrol-heads travelling cross-country and making money from illegal racing. With more concern for the soul of the engine than the speed of the race, this is a road movie like none other.
June 13th
GRINDHOUSE
(Rodriguez & Tarantino / 2007 / USA / 191 mins / Cert 18)
The original double-bill as it was meant to be seen, complete with fake trailers by Eli Roth and Edgar Wright, Grindhouse finds its true home at the MIDNIGHT MICROPLEX!
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A TRIBUTE TO CHARLTON HESTON (1923-2008)
Some younger cinema-goers are only able to identify Charlton Heston from the Michael Moore documentary Bowling For Columbine, unaware that he was one of the greatest American actors of all time. Heston was classically trained in speech and drama and took his craft seriously, developing a tremendous affinity for Shakespeare. He once said, "I have never missed a day's shooting or a day's rehearsal, or a performance on stage, a fact which I happen to be very proud of." At the height of a distinguished career, major Hollywood studios came to recognise that a film project with extras numbering in the thousands and a budget soaring into tens of millions would be safe with Heston's chiseled screen presence in the lead. His roles have included Moses, John the Baptist, Michelangelo, Henry VIII and Mark Antony.
Highly principled off the screen, it was Heston who persuaded the studio to let Orson Welles direct Touch of Evil, a flop at the time but now a renowned classic. When director Sam Peckinpah went over-budget on Major Dundee, Heston gave up his salary to allow completion, and when agreeing to do Beneath the Planet of the Apes he asked that his fee be paid directly to charity. His influence again led to the studio casting the now virtually deaf Edward G. Robinson for Soylent Green in a magnificent final role. Frank Sinatra once joked, "If he's not careful, he'll give actors a good name."
In person, it might seem difficult for some to perceive Heston other than a "right-winger," given in later years he campaigned for Republicans, was president of the US National Rifle Association and apparently said, "Yep, today I am about as right-wing as a man can be." It should be equally remembered that he picketed a "whites only" restaurant at a time when it was unfashionable and dangerous to do so, marched for Martin Luther King whom he described as a "20th Century Moses," and opposed the Vietnam war. The actor fought his own backlash against the advent of political correctness which he described as "tyranny with manners." He considered his right to bear arms as another civil right to be defended. He declined a lucrative politcal career, saying that he would rather play a senator than be one.
The actor's last years were marked by beating cancer, but announcing symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease. Upon his passing, Michael Levine, who represented the star for two decades said, "If Hollywood had a Mount Rushmore, Heston's face would be on it. He was a heroic figure that I don't think exists to the same degree in Hollywood today."
The UPP is very honoured to present a taste of old-school, pre-CGI cinema with one of the silver screen's finest icons.
May 18th/19th
KHARTOUM
In 1883, British Prime Minister Gladstone (Ralph Richardson) dispatches General Charles Gordon (Charlton Heston) to Khartoum, Sudan, which is under threat by a Muslim army, led by the Mahdi (Laurence Olivier). Gordon gains the Mahdi's respect, but is unable to prevent the coming siege, finding himself caught in a clash of empires.
An interesting drama of true events and personalities, which carries an unsettling resonance today.
May 26th
GRAY LADY DOWN
An American nuclear submarine, the Neptune, suffers a collision with a Norwegian tanker and becomes stranded underwater. Captain Paul Blanchard (Heston) finds his leadership tested as the misfortunes pile up.
Made near the close of the disaster genre of the 70s, the film features no modern-style superhuman stunts or advanced computer effects, instead relying on such dated techniques as a plot, some decent acting and the build-up of tension.
June 2nd
PLANET OF THE APES
The seminal sci-fi masterpiece still retains the intelligence and satire which rendered the Tim Burton remake stillborn.
June 8th/9th
SOYLENT GREEN
What begins as a routine murder investigation uncovers far-reaching conspiracy in this all-time classic science fiction protest film. It is set in 2022, yet we do indeed seem to be on schedule for it's dystopian world of overpopulated cities, extreme global warming and a culture of radically differentiated social classes.
Beyond these familiar warnings, the film makes an extremely memorable prediction of it's own.
June 14th/15th
TREASURE ISLAND
Heston's son directs a very good version of the classic novel, with dad as Long John Silver. A decent family film.
June 16th
TWO-MINUTE WARNING <
When a sniper is detected in a football stadium, the security forces are desperate to apprehend the situation without causing a panic among the crowd of 91,000.
A tough 70s cop thriller with Heston and Cassavetes in top form.
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