New CAC movie lineup announced for next year
DAVID STONE | OUR TOWN TEMPLE
The Central Texas Film Society has announced its monthly lineup for 2023, and the list is full of classic films.
According to Jeff Swindoll, a Central Texas Film Society board member, all of the showings are free (so is the popcorn) and will be on Sunday afternoons at 2 p.m. at the Cultural Activities Center.
Each showing will include a discussion about the film led by Dr. Joseph Tabarlet, chairman of the Department of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Swindoll, a lifelong film buff, said the post-movie discussions can cover a wide range of topics.
“We might discuss the message in the film, or something less involved like special effects and what other movies the actors have starred in,” he said.
“These are movies everyone should see at least once,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for family and friends to see these great movies on a big screen, ask questions and participate in discussions.”
There are two movies left in the 2022 series. Rear Window is on Nov. 27 and An American in Paris will be shown Dec. 18.
Rear Window — The story of a wheelchair-bound photographer who spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window, and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend.
An American in Paris — The tale of three friends struggling to find work in Paris. Things become more complicated when two of them fall in love with the same woman.
Here are the 2023 movies:
Amélie — Jan. 29. Amélie is an innocent and naive girl in Paris with her own sense of justice. She decides to help those around her and, along the way, discovers love.
Casablanca — Feb. 19. Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), who owns a nightclub in Casablanca, discovers his old flame Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) is in town with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Laszlo is a famed rebel, and with Germans on his tail, Ilsa knows Rick can help them get out of the country.
The Manchurian Candidate — March 19. Years after his squad was ambushed during the Gulf War, Major Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) finds himself having terrible nightmares. He begins to doubt that his fellow squad-mate Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber), now a vice-presidential candidate, is the hero he remembers him being. As Marco’s doubts deepen, Shaw’s political power grows, and, when Marco finds a mysterious implant embedded in his back, the memory of what really happened begins to return.
The Big Lebowski — April 30. Jeff Bridges plays Jeff Lebowski who insists on being called “the Dude,” a laid-back, easygoing burnout who happens to have the same name as a millionaire whose wife owes a lot of dangerous people a whole bunch of money — resulting in the Dude having his rug soiled, sending him spiraling into the Los Angeles underworld.
Paper Moon — May 28. Real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O’Neal team up as slick con-artists Moses Pray and Addie Loggins in 1930s Kansas. When “Moze” is unexpectedly saddled with getting the 9-year-old Addie to relatives in Missouri after the death of her mother, his attempt to dupe her out of her money backfires, and he’s forced to take her on as a partner. Swindling their way through farm country, the pair is nearly done in by a burlesque dancer (Madeline Kahn) and an angry bootlegger.
This is Spinal Tap — June 25. “This Is Spinal Tap” shines a light on the self-contained universe of a metal band struggling to get back on the charts, including everything from its complicated history of ups and downs, gold albums, name changes and undersold concert dates, along with the full host of requisite groupies, promoters, hangers-on and historians, sessions, release events and those special behind-the-scenes moments that keep it all real.
Broadcast News — July 30. Intelligent satire of American television news. A highly strung news producer finds herself strangely attracted to a vapid anchorman even through she loathes everything he personifies. To make matters worse, her best friend, a talented but not particularly telegenic news reporter, is secretly in love with her.
The Heat of the Night — Aug. 27. Wealthy industrialist Phillip Colbert moves to Sparta, Mississippi, to build a factory. Late one night, police officer Sam Wood discovers Colbert’s murdered body lying in the street. Wood finds Virgil Tibbs, a black man with a fat wallet, at the train station and arrests him. Police chief Gillespie accuses him of murder and robbery but soon learns Tibbs is a top homicide detective from Philadelphia.
The Wizard of Oz — Sept. 17. When a tornado rips through Kansas, Dorothy (Judy Garland) and her dog, Toto, are whisked away in their house to the magical land of Oz. They follow the Yellow Brick Road toward the Emerald City to meet the Wizard, and en route they meet a Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) that needs a brain, a Tin Man (Jack Haley) missing a heart, and a Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) who wants courage. The wizard asks the group to bring him the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) to earn his help.
Ghostbusters — Oct. 29. After the members of a team of scientists (Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray) lose their cushy positions at a university in New York City, they decide to become “ghostbusters” to wage a high-tech battle with the supernatural for money. They stumble upon a gateway to another dimension, a doorway that will release evil upon the city. The Ghostbusters must now save New York from complete destruction.
The Freshman — Nov. 26 (2023). In hopes of making some friends, Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd) attends college at Tate University. But when the students notice his eccentric personality, he becomes the joke of the school. His fellow students convince Harold that he is popular but laugh at him behind his back, telling him that he is a player on the football team when he is actually the waterboy. Only his friend Peggy (Jobyna Ralston) knows that, to be happy, Harold must accept himself for who he really is.
Amadeus — Dec. 17 (2023). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) is a remarkably talented young Viennese composer who unwittingly finds a fierce rival in the disciplined and determined Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham). Resenting Mozart for both his hedonistic lifestyle and his undeniable talent, the highly religious Salieri is gradually consumed by his jealousy and becomes obsessed with Mozart’s downfall, leading to a devious scheme that has dire consequences for both men.
Movie summaries provided by rottentomatoes.com .
