Film Appreciation Series: Dystopia, Now!

Film Lovers!

Our new series Dystopia, Now! will feature Hollywood's vision of the future from the 70's to the 2000's. In this series we will watch scenes from other dystopian films to show the trends over the decades. We will be watching the movies in order of the fictional time within the story.

There's a lot going on at The Appell Center during this series, so please pay close attention to the schedule! We will be meeting the first four classes in our home, The East Classroom. There is no class on May 27th and June 3rd. We will meet at The Capitol Theatre for our last two movies!!

Dystopia, Now!
6 Saturdays, 3 - 6pm
April 29th - June 17th
Series price - $75
65+ Price - $60

April 29th - Brazil
(Released 12/18/1985) directed by Terry Giliam, 142 minutes. Fictional Date - Sometime in the Late 20th Century. We will be watching the director's cut of this seminal dystopian film from the only American member of Monty Python. Jonathan Pryce plays a daydreaming everyman who finds himself caught in the soul-crushing gears of a nightmarish bureaucracy. Gilliam was not happy when the studio cut the ending, changing the entire meaning of the movie.

May 6th - Rollerball
(Released 6/25/1975) directed by Norman Jewison, 125 minutes. Fictional Date - 2018. Bread and circuses keep the masses occupied in this engaging dystopian film from Norman Jewision who has a proven track record for his craftsmanship in directing comedies, musicals, as well as dramas. Why does John Houseman of the Corporation want James Caan to retire at the top of his popularity?

May 13th - Soylent Green
(Released 5/9/1973) directed by Richard Fleischer, 97 minutes. Fictional Date - 2022. This movie is adapted from a book entitled Make Room, Make Room. This is a movie worth seeing even if the people in your life have spoiled the ending for you! It's a detective story set in an overcrowded NYC with a toned down Charlton Heston and it also features the last role for beloved Hollywood movie star Edward G. Robinson.

May 20th - Minority Report
(Released 6/17/2002) directed by Steven Spielberg, 145 minutes. Fictional Date - 2054. Self-driving cars, unwanted, personal advertising and Pre-Crime are just some of the interesting themes of this entertaining thriller starring Tom Cruise, who has been the star of many a futuristic, visionary movie. Philip K. Dick wrote the source material and Spielberg, with his longtime cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, brings the powerful vision to fruition.

*June 10th at the Capitol Theatre* - The Fifth Element
(Released 5/9/1997) directed by Luc Besson, 113 minutes. Fictional Date - 2263. I’m sneaking this movie into the mix because it has such an optimistic vision. There is intrusive technology and bureaucracy in this story, but the characters never stop being human and refuse to submit their will to the overwhelming evil they face. Luc Besson had begun developing the story at age 16 and finally produced it when he was 38 years old. It is unique among big budget blockbusters with well known Hollywood stars, because it was the biggest budgeted French film at the time.

*June 17th at the Capitol Theatre*- Idiocracy
(Released 9/1/2006) directed by Mike Judge, 84 minutes. Fictional Date - 2505. An average guy in the present takes part in a botched hibernation experiment conducted by the government and wakes up hundreds of years later to realize he's the most intelligent man on the planet. Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph star in this comedy that hits a little too close to home.

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