Movie Night In the Back Yard starts this Friday

Here's the line up for Season 9:

The Good, the Bad and the Weird - July 22
Beat the Devil - July 29
Ponyo - August 12
Rubber - August 19

MNITBY: The First 8 Seasons

MNITBY 2003: Zero Effect, Ghost Dog, Run Lola Run, Bottle Rocket, Princess Mononoke, XistenZ, Dead Man, Lost Highway, Donnie Darko, The Big Lebowski

MNITBY 2004: Spirited Away, Iron Monkey, Blue Velvet, The Station Agent, Tampopo, Porco Rosso, Hero, Triplettes of Belleville, City of God

MNITBY 2005: Shaolin Soccer, Delicatessen, Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman, Blade Runner, Heaven, Nausicaa, Pi, Ong-Bak, Kikujirô, Amores Perros

MNITBY 2006: Me and You and Everyone We Know, B13, Howl's Moving Castle, 2046, Swordsman II, I Heart Huckabees, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Ed Wood, Friends with Money

MNITBY 2007: Akira, Brick, Children of Men, Curse of the Golden Flower, The Host, A Fistful of Dollars, Pan's Labyrinth

MNITBY 2008: Rushmore, Persepolis, A Bothersome Man, The King of Kong, Eagle vs. Shark

MNITBY 2009: In Bruges, Helvetica, The Big Sleep, Let the Right One In, Watchmen

MNITBY 2010: Amelie, Breathless, A Town Called Panic, North by Northwest, Volver

Volver

This Friday, Movie Night In The Back Yard presents Volver (2006). Since this season's film selections were inspired by a recent trip to Spain and France, I knew that I had to include something from the current king of Spanish cinema, Pedro Almodovar. I could have chosen any number of worthy films from Mr. Almodovar, but because this will be his first showing at MNITBY, I felt the need to chose my favorite. Like most Almodovar films, Volver features a gorgeous Penelopy Cruz with some serious family issues, but in this case her mother has returned from the dead to take care of unfinished business. Don't miss the last film of the 2010 season!

North by Northwest

This Friday, Movie Night In The Back Yard presents North by Northwest (1959). For this film, Ernest Lehman was tasked with writing a script to fit the images Alfred Hitchcock had in his mind. (One of those images is a race across the faces of Mt. Rushmore.) Lehman responded with a film noir thriller that was so unique no one could predict the ending. The resulting picture is one of Hitchcock's best.

A Town Called Panic

This Friday, Movie Night In The Back Yard presents the Belgian stop-motion animated film A Town Called Panic (2009). Directors Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar have created quite a buzz with this story about plastic toys Cowboy, Indian and Horse. This was one of the better reviewed films at the Portland International Film Festival this past year, and it received critic's picks in the Oregonian each week for almost its entire run at the Hollywood Theater. Don't miss this chance to see it on the big screen.

Breathless

This Friday, Movie Night In The Back Yard presents the Jean-Luc Godard masterpiece Breathless (1960). Don't miss this classic piece of French cinema. While the unique style of the film is what made it and Godard so famous, it also contains many references to American films of the 1950s. Jean-Paul Belmondo stars as a thief being chased by police while renewing his relationship with an American journalism student played by Jean Seberg.

MNITBY 2010

Amelie - July 23
Breathless - July 30
A Town Called Panic - Aug 13
North by Northwest - Aug 20
Volver - Aug 27

Amelie

The 8th season of MNITBY starts this Friday July 23rd! The entire schedule hasn't been sorted out yet because Ellen and I are just returning from vacation, but our recent visit to Paris will definitely be a theme this year. This first film is one that has been on the short list the last couple of years, but for whatever reason never made it into the MNITBY line up until now.

This Friday, Movie Night In The Back Yards Presents Amelie (2001). This instant classic was directed by my favorite director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Jeunet, who also cowrote and directed City of Lost Children (1995) and Delicatessen (1991), creates films of unmatched beauty and humor. Don't miss the chance to see this one on the big screen. We will also be breaking in our new humongous starwars era projector.