WHO YOU GONNA CALL?

Following the world premiere of the Ghostbusters (1984) new 2K digital presentation held at The Astor Theatre Monday December 10th 2011, by popular demand, we are proud to announce another three off-calendar screenings: Friday October 21 9.30pm, Saturday October 22 9pm and Sunday October 23 9.20pm, in addition to our already scheduled December repeat screening, Monday 12th, 8pm. So when we asked our regular E-news contributor Mark Vanselow the aforementioned question, he said “Astor Theatre”…  

 

One of my most vivid childhood recollections is attending the cinema in the hopes of seeing Ghostbusters (1984), the Ivan Reitman science-fiction comedy horror about four intrepid men who must save New York City – and indeed, the entire world – from destruction at the hands of paranormal beings from another dimension. Note that I didn’t actually see Ghostbusters at the cinema when I was a child: the particular session that we (the family) had planned to enter had sold out. All these years later, it remains the only time that I have attended a multiplex only to learn that the session has reached capacity. Indeed, those were the last dying days of a now bygone era, when it was commonplace for cinema audiences to line up around the block for movie tickets (okay, so it still happens at the Astor on occasion). Fortunately, another 1984 blockbuster, Joe Dante’s Gremlins (1984) was playing at the same cinema. Ah yes, that’s another thing you don’t see at the multiplex these days: the presence of more than one film that you are really desperate to experience. Ghostbusters was our first preference that day but my brother and I were equally enthusiastic about seeing Gremlins (which we did, and believe me, it scared the living daylights out of me—hey, I was six!)
My first glimpse of Ghostbusters came in the form of a sneak peak on The Mike Walsh Show back in 1984. Those were the days before the internet and illegal online downloads pretty much ruined the prolonged building of suspense that television shows could achieve with cleverly cut excerpts from a feature film. Back in those days, you actually had to leave your house and buy a ticket to be the first on your block to discover what happened next. Ghostbusters premiered on television a number of years later and it was no small event, accompanied by a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of the film. Of course I watched Ghostbusters on the small screen and it was indeed wonderful. It was not until many years later that I experienced Ghostbusters presented on the big screen in its original 35mm format, courtesy of the Astor Theatre, no less. (You shall be happy to know that when its sequel Ghostbusters II hit the big screen in 1989, my brother and I were successful in gaining admission to the cinema).

 

Flash forward to 2011 and the cinematic world is abuzz with news that Ghostbusters III is scheduled for release in the year 2012. Ivan Reitman, director of the first two chapters of the saga, has been confirmed to helm this latest installment. Rumours abound as to who else is on board for this exciting new project, but to speculate any further about this would be pointless. What I can tell you is that the Astor Theatre, Melbourne’s sole-surviving cinema palace, is to screen the original Ghostbusters in 2K Digital format this month. The re-release of this classic 1980s treasure is a global event that shall undoubtedly fuel interest in Ghostbusters III, not to mention introducing a new generation of film-goers to the whole Ghostbusters phenomenon.
Without divulging too much to readers who might not have seen Ghostbusters (where have you been?), the story concerns a trio of university professors, unemployed and desperate, who decide to set up their own ghost-catching business in New York City. At first business is non-existent, but after a spate of paranormal activity across the Big Apple and success in trapping ghosts, Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) and Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) find themselves as not only successful businessmen, they have become genuine celebrities. Three becomes four when Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson) wanders into the Ghostbusters office, and after what might be the greatest job interview in history, picks up a positron glider and joins Egon, Peter and Raymond in clearing otherworldly beings from the metropolis.

 

Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis wrote Ghostbusters, and the film benefits from one of the most inventive and quotable scripts committed to film. References to Ghostbusters have worked themselves into everyday vernacular, with many of the best one-liners in the film being delivered by Bill Murray. Apart from the actors who portray the eponymous superheroes, Ghostbusters features Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver, plus a host of fantastic phantoms and other assorted creatures that have become pop culture icons in their own right. Speaking of all things iconic, Ghostbusters features one of the most familiar pop music numbers of the 1980s, courtesy of Ray Parker, Jr., as its title song. The tune itself proved to be controversial, as there was some similarity between Ray’s ditty and the earlier song “I Want a New Drug” by Huey Lewis and the News. Accusing the Ghostbusters singer of plagiarism, Huey attempted to sue Ray Parker, Jr., the issue settled ultimately out of court. Numerous other pop songs are featured in the film, such as Magic by Mick Smiley, with the movie’s original score provided by Elmer Bernstein.
Quite simply, Ghostbusters is strong in every major department, from the quality of the screenplay to the cinematography by Laszlo Kovacs. From typewriter to celluloid, this is a film that was seemingly blessed every step of the way. The special effects in this movie (including liberal use of stop-motion animation) really have stood the test of time, and it is a credit to the actual human beings featured in this movie that their performances and charm are not overshadowed by the visual trickery on display. Just remember, no matter how many times you have experienced Ghostbusters on the small screen, the film is much better enjoyed at the cinema on the largest screen possible, augmented by superior sound and the whole cinematic atmosphere that only a place such as the Astor Theatre can provide. Please do make certain that you bring yourself and as many people as possible to the Astor this coming weekend for the theatre’s follow up screenings of Ghsotbusters in 2K Digital Format. Given the quality of programming at the Astor, it is no small statement to say that this shall be a continuation of one of the biggest events of the year for the venue, not to mention one of the biggest events on Melbourne’s cinematic calendar for 2011.

Written by Mark Vanselow for The Astor Theatre.

For more information and session details, visit our new website: www.astortheatre.net.au

TURN OFF YOUR MOBILE PHONE – PLEASE?

So Astor supporters, once again the topic of mobile phones in cinemas comes up and the good folk at the Alamo Drafthouse have a pretty strong zero tolerance stance on the issue. Recently, they kicked a customer out for texting in the theatre and she was so angry about it that she left a rather ranty voicemail on their answering service. Course, clever and funny as those folks at the Drafthouse are, they went ahead and made the following youtube video **PLEASE NOTE THIS VIDEO IS UNCENSORED AND FEATURES STRONG LANGUAGE**:

The video has since found its way all around the internet and even onto the Austin news. 

Watching these videos and reading through some of the user comments, and of course following our recent Astor Film Tweet event, we thought it might be a good idea to open up a discussion on our blog about the use of mobile phones in cinemas and of course the repercussions involved. There are many interesting issues that come out of the Drafthouse event, so here’s a few to start the discussion:

1. Customer awareness and familiarity with the venue and its standards of conduct – or perhaps “rules” in this instance.

From the YouTube video in question, it seems to be that the customer who was asked to leave had not attended a screening at the Drafthouse before and was not at all familiar with the expected and enforced codes of conduct for their patronage. It also seems to be the case that the customer in question had difficulty finding a seat in the auditorium – perhaps again because she was unfamiliar with the theatre, or perhaps there was not an usher on duty to torch her in (we make no assumption that this was not the case, but raise the question based purely on the content of the YouTube clip). This of course is not us endorsing the subsequent use of a mobile phone in an auditorium and we are in no way suggesting the Drafthouse are to blame, but it does raise a strong case for clear signage and easily accessible information publicly displayed for newcomers unfamiliar with the individual rules of a theatre. Whilst many of our own customers are regulars and they know the venue by heart there are always newcomers and it is not surprising or unfair to consider that they might be confused by a cinema that operates independently and therefore differently to the multiplex theatres they likely most often attend. Which brings me to point 2.

2. Multiplex “standards” and the impact of home viewing on contemporary cinema-going conduct.

As Melbourne’s only truly independent film house we are more than aware that many newcomers to the theatre will also be newcomers to the unique experience we offer and, of course, that the experience we do offer is therefore very “different” to what people might experience in a multiplex. Our staff are well versed in these differences and it is not the case that we don’t ever attend multiplexes ourselves, so we do know exactly what many of these differences are. Personally, on a recent visit to another Melbourne cinema I was struck by the difference in “cinema checks” carried out by FOH staff. We don’t wish to vilify other cinemas but certainly it is true that torching standards (the way in which the usher shows a latecomer to their seat) or even attitudes towards disruptive patrons (including the usage of mobile phones), and of course presentation standards including details such as when house lights are turned on at the film’s conclusion (often during the closing credits at a multiplex but never until the film in its entirety has finished at The Astor), are certainly specific to each cinema and its own established code of conduct or FOH procedures. As a result, there are of course a number of differences in appropriate and expected audience behaviour between multiplexes and independent cinemas, and as the venue presenting a specific experience it is ultimately our responsibility to ensure that all of our customers are aware of and understand and respect the specific codes of conduct we have put in place.

It is also true that due to the nature of home viewing – and it ought to be noted that this is a result of many factors but stems for the most part from the increasing immediacy with which films are now “available” for home viewing – approaches and attitudes towards viewing conduct have become largely fragmented. Certainly it is true that in the comfort of one’s own home you can cook, eat, talk, tweet, status update, etc to your heart’s content and the only people affected by these actions are you and the people you no doubt have chosen to share that specific viewing experience and environment with. This is of course at a great remove from what happens when you leave your home to watch a film in a cinematic environment. Like any event that occurs in a public place, you have then the responsibility of taking into account how your behaviour will impact upon others around you. And speaking of public events, this brings me to point 3.

3. Cinema-going as an event.

One of the other major changes concerns attitudes towards cinema-going – and indeed cinema – as something worthy of undivided attention. It is surely less likely that you would see audience members at the opera texting, talking, tweeting and so on. The reason it is more likely to occur in a cinema is because cinema is still considered in many ways to be a commercial activity and so too a commercial product, and is often relegated as such to the sad lonely corner of ephemera. Of course, film is also an art form and outside of the multiplex, in an environment such as the one provided at the Astor, we celebrate that art form by paying it due respect in every possible way including everything from carefully selected foyer music, atmospheric lighting, theatrical presentation standards and yes, not permitting the use of mobile phones inside the auditorium.

So then, I now find myself back to the beginning of the argument which begs the question, what of enforcing these strict codes of conduct? Well, here at the Astor we feel that much like the experience, both parties – customer and theatre – are responsible for ensuring a safe, comfortable and enjoyable environment is established and maintained for everyone. With  part of the onus on us to ensure patrons are aware of what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate ways in which to behave during a theatrical screening, we realise that awareness and mutual understanding is the first step towards an enjoyable experience for everyone. We also don’t want anyone to feel “policed” at the Astor – although that’s far from an invitation to start status updating during your next visit; please remember Marzipan sees all and she’s an absolutely no nonsense kitty.

Finally, there are also some “rules” that will apply to specific screenings but not to others. For example, whilst we expect people to throw a little rice during screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, if you were to do so during The Bicycle Thieves one of our FOH staff would most certainly ask you to stop. Also, recently at the Astor Theatre we held an event called Astor Film Tweet where customers could live tweet about the movie during the screening. To ensure this wouldn’t in any way disrupt customers who wished to watch the film without mobile phones on around them we divided our audience into two separate viewing areas (very easy for us due to the already existing nature of our auditorium which has both a dress circle and a stalls area – which historically was quite literally used to separate the upper and lower classes so you can imagine even if you’ve not been to the theatre just how successful and clear the separation is!) But again, if you were tweeting during a screening of Taxi Driver you can guarantee one of our FOH staff would indeed ask you to stop.

Every environment has its own standards to maintain and asking patrons to be respectful of others seems to us a very basic request, but like the experience itself, the responsibility for establishing and maintaining those standards really is something we ought to share.

Written by Tara Judah for The Astor Theatre.

THIS FILTHY WORLD IS FULL OF DIVINE TRASH

“I believe life is nothing if you’re not obsessed. I only think terrible thoughts, I do not live them. Thank God I am not my films. If audiences can laugh at my twisted ideas, what’s the great harm? I had a goal in life — I wanted to make the trashiest motion pictures in cinema history. Thanks so much for allowing me to get away with it.”
John Waters

As many of you devoted juvenile deliquents might be aware, the proverbial Pope of Trash (so-coined by one William S Burroughs) is leaving Baltimore for the next best saturation of suburbanality, yep, here in our very own land of Oz. The Pope’s visit is a much anticipated one as attendees can expect to hear about his influences, fascination with true crime, his own films and much more to do with THIS FILTHY WORLD in which we live.

The Tour:

Drawing on some of the content from his most recent book, Role Models, Waters will be touring the country, bringing his vaudevillian content to Perth, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney and of course, Melbourne. His Melbourne tour takes place on Saturday October 29 at the Melbourne Recital Centre.

The Retrospective Line-up:

Here at the Astor, we thought such an incredible opportunity to see the Pope in person warranted a pre-tour theatrical return of at least some of his impressive, exploitative, and hilarious oeuvre. So, we’ve put together, for your viewing pleasure, an entire weekend of the most tasteful cinematic trash we could find! If however you don’t so happen to live in Melbourne, fret not, there are similar opportunities in Adelaide and Sydney thanks to Adele Hann (Adelaide Film Festival) and Maggie Gerrand (MG Presents). If you’re in Adelaide, head to the Mercury Cinema and if you’re in Sydney, head to the Opera House to catch their Double Features From Hell film festival. But back to what’s here in Melbourne at Australia’s iconic, last standing, single screen, repertory cinema, THE ASTOR THEATRE.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 14, 7.30pm: FEMALE TROUBLE & POLYESTER double feature.

Female Trouble (1974), 35mm print, rated R, 95 mins: One of the things we should all be worried about is juvenile delinquency. When Dawn Davenport (Divine) doesn’t get the cha-cha heels she wanted for Christmas, she assaults her mother, runs away from home, becomes a single mother to a child born of rape, and flits between go-go dancer, model, petty criminal and murderer as she becomes a beauty experiment at the Lipstick Beauty Salon. Here, owners Donald and Donna Dasher (David Lochary and Mary Vivian Pearce) test Jean Genet’s theory that crime equals beauty. Then there are humans kept in bird cages, fatal facial peels, the injecting of liquid eyeliner… Undoubtedly one of the most hilarious examinations of reactionary social politics ever made, this early Waters work is riotous good fun and quite sincerely questions the perils of a celebrity culture before it was even really considered a thing.

Polyester (1981), 35mm print, rated M, 86 mins: The first film to bring Odorama (or Smell-o-vision) to the big screen, Polyester marks Waters’ move from the underground into the mainstream – well, the subversive underground mainstream anyway. Divine dons her finest in suburban housewife get-up in her too wonderful for words performance as the picture of middle American moms. Making fun of all-American, heteronormative family values, Waters exposes the artifice of such stifling societal constructs with unmatched hilarity and sass. As synthetic as the title suggests, Polyester unearths everything that is ugly about being “normal” and “average” in the most stupendously kitsch, camp and endearing way.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 15, 7.30pm: PINK FLAMINGOS & A DIRTY SHAME double feature.

Pink Flamingos (1972), 35mm print, rated R, 110 mins: This is the film with that famous scene that still has people looking up the term “coprophagia”. If you don’t know what that means then don’t blame us when you find out! Divine stars alongside or perhaps against Raymond and Connie Marble (David Lochary and Mink Stole) in an incredible underground tabloid like pageant for the trashy sought after title of “The Filthiest Person Alive”. This is one of THE defining films of American Underground cinema and the most iconic of Waters’ work that helped him win the title “Pope of Trash”.

A Dirty Shame (2004), 35mm print, rated R, 89 mins: You’re either a neuter or a pervert in this much later release in Waters’ filmography. Neuters are residents in Harford Road who can’t stand carnal knowledge and consider anyone who can a pervert. But when a series of concussions befall some of Harford Road’s neuters, a fully-fledged sex crazed soft-core public parade of shame ensues. There is also a rather ambitious search to discover the ultimate sex act. Possibly the most ludicrous story included in our mini fest, your response to A Dirty Shame will undoubtedly indicate to which of the two camps you belong!

SUNDAY OCTOBER 16, 2pm: HAIRSPRAY single feature, 5pm: CRY-BABY single feature, and 8pm: DIVINE TRASH single feature.

Hairspray (1988), digital presentation, rated PG, 90 mins: Now a major Broadway musical and remade for the masses, the most mainstream of all of Waters’ films, and the only one that is truly “family friendly”, Hairspray is all about counter culture in the ’60s and the increasing efforts of the most unlikely souls to out the upper classes for their negative views towards progressive issues such as racial integration, as well, of course, as being all about youths enjoying themselves and wearing their hair however they darn well please.

Cry-Baby (1990), digital presentation, rated M, 85 mins: Wade “Cry Baby” Walker is a sworn Drape (Greaser) and Allison Vernon-Williams a model Square. So when the unlikely two fall in love the entire town of Baltimore is thrown into an immediate state of uproar. Sound familiar? That’s because Cry-Baby is a parody that focuses its attentions on hit teen musical Grease. Another of Waters’ films to find its adapted way to Broadway, Cry-Baby is commercial counter-culture at its best. Only Waters could have so fantastic a flirtation with wholesome family fun whilst blatantly stating that there’s nothing more disgusting than wholesome family fun.

Divine Trash (1998), digital presentation, rated R, 97 mins: Could there be a more perfect title for a documentary about John Waters? Quite simply, no. Yeager’s documentary intercuts interviews and stock footage to celebrate and examine his incredible and controversial work. Divine Trash will be introduced by comedy film duo Lee Zachariah and Shannon Marinko, hosts of The Bazura Project, ABC 2′s newest six-part comedy, entertainment series about Australia’s number one, non sports-related past time: the movies. (Coming to ABC 2 Thursday September 29, 9pm. Watch their opening title sequence here.)

* NB: each session will also feature a welcome video recording by John Waters!

The Giveaways:

Friday October 14: Check under your seat to see if you’ve won a copy of John Waters’ latest book Role Models. 

Saturday October 15: DIVINE look-a-like contest. The best Divine in the house will win a double pass to see John Waters live at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Saturday October 29. Special prizes for second and third place.

Sunday October 16: During our special intro to Steven Yeager’s documentary Divine Trash, with The Bazura Project hosts Lee Zachariah and Shannon Marinko, we’ll be giving away ANOTHER double pass to see John Waters live at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Saturday October 29. So brush up on your Waters’ trivia!

The result:

A wicked Waters weekend. Be there or be square. Ewwwww.

Written by Tara Judah for The Astor Theatre. The Astor Theatre would like to thank Maggie Gerrand, The Adelaide Film Festival, The Mercury Cinema, The Arc Cinema, Roadshow Entertainment, Hollywood Classics, Yaman Films, ABC 2 and The Bazura Project.

Two-Lane Blacktop & Zabriskie Point

Tonight’s double bill is an existential journey through the screen – our regular E-news reviewer and passionate film aficionado Mark Vanselow gives us the low-down:
TWO-LANE BLACKTOP
Forty years ago, audiences might not have known what to make of Two-Lane Blacktop (1971). It is an altogether different type of road movie, an automobile film for the arthouse set. Two-Lane Blacktop has a mesmerising slow burn quality, little action and little story. Automobile buff, The Driver (James Taylor) accompanied by The Mechanic (Dennis Wilson) races against GTO (Warren Oates) across the United Sates as they compete for the ultimate prize: pink slips (legal ownership of the other’s vehicle). For those of you who have seen it once, Monte Hellman’s cult favourite improves the second time you see it. Two-Lane Blacktop is presented in a Brand New 35mm Print, on the big screen—experience it the way it was intended for audiences!
ZABRISKIE POINT
Another film ahead of its time was Zabriskie Point (1970) directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. An outsider’s view of America (Antonioni was an Italian native), Zabriskie Point is an effective critique of crass commercialism and unchallenged bourgeois values. Anyone who questions mindless consumerism will probably relate to this film—it has its share of cryptic symbolism, but its social commentary still shines through. Those who don’t question the excesses of capitalism probably need to see this film more desperately than those who already “get it”. It is also an amazing film to see on the big screen: Antonioni really has created some memorable visuals here.

FIRST EVER ‘ASTOR FILM-TWEET’ EVENT!

MONDAY AUGUST 22ND 7:30PM – AN INTERACTIVE EVENT – IN THE DARK!

The Astor Theatre is pleased to welcome twitter addicts into our downstairs stalls – into a world of twitter seclusion where you can watch and live-tweet cult favourite double feature:WITHNAIL & I plus FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS. Astor FIlm Tweet is an event where lovers of film and Twitter can come together to make moviegoing a more communal experience by providing a running tweet-commentary of films at the legendary and iconic Astor Theatre.

Film appreciation, jokes and outright snark all welcome. Astor Film Tweet was spawned by Ben Pobjie, Age TV columnist, who made his name live-tweeting TV and is looking to expand to the big screen. It is run in association with The Astor Theatre.

We are pleased to present both movies in 35mm Print Format (Fear and Loathing is SPECTACULAR in super wide Panavision – see it to believe it!!).

**As this is still a public screening and so as not to interrupt the viewing experience of non-tweeters, tweeting will ONLY be permitted in the downstairs stalls section of our auditorium. Phones and all devices must be switched to silent. USE OF CELL PHONES AND ELECTRONIC DEVICES IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED AT ALL TIMES IN OUR UPSTAIRS AUDITORIUM.

Turn up and live-tweet or join in online with the official #hashtag #AstorTweet. And make sure you’re following @astor_theatre, @benpobjie, @PopcorncinemaAU & @tweet_film on twitter too.

Apocalypse Now: Redux

Arguably no other film in history (with exception of John Huston’s The African Queen, 1951) has had a more infamous production than Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979). The film suffered enormous set-backs, disasters, financial woes and scheduling issues that plagued the film’s production; the lead star was replaced three weeks into production, then the replacement suffered an almost-fatal heart attack, another star showed up on set unorganised and not prepared to take the director’s orders, sets were hit and practically destroyed by a mass hurricane, crew members got sick and began to go mad, the director went over budget due to elaborate, larger than life sequences, and had to dig into his own pocket and even mortgage his own house and belongings to complete the film. One by one, disaster after disaster, the film  higher and higher into debt and further and further over schedule. With an original shooting schedule of six weeks that turned into a grueling sixteen month shoot – amounting to an un-matched six million feet of footage that made editing near impossible- it’s no wonder that the media labelled the film ‘Apocalypse When?’ “We had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane” is how Coppola put it. But what it amounted to was one of the greatest milestones, and arguably the greatest war film in cinema history.

This epic Vietnam war film tells the story of US Captain Benjamin Willard who is sent on a mission to assassinate renegade Green Beret Colonel Walter E. Kurtz who has formed a sadistic cult of local tribes people on a remote island in Cambodia and declared himself a God. Willard sets out down a dangerous river on a journey that will leave him and his short-lived comrades never the same again. As Willard’s passage unravels he learns the true meaning of war, and finds out who he truly is. A young and fit Martin Sheen stars as Willard while an aging and over-weight Marlon Brando plays Colonel Kurtz. The film features an array of brilliant big-name talents in supporting roles including Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper with Laurence Fishburne and Harrison Ford in one of their earliest film roles.

Three years after production had begun, Apocalypse Now opened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1979 to a standing ovation and prolonged applause, before becoming the winner of the festival’s coveted Palme d’Or award. When the film opened in theatres later that year, it earned approximately US $150 million at the box-office worldwide, and became the US’s third highest grossing film of the year. The film was nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium and Best Picture. Out of the 8 nominations the film walked away with 2 Oscars one for legendary Vittoria Storaro’s brilliant Cinematography and one for Best Sound.

However, it was in 2001 that Coppola released Apocalypse Now: Redux, an all new re-cut and extended (by approximately 50 minutes) version of the movie. As legend goes, Coppola was watching television late at night sometime in the late 1990s when Apocalypse Now came on. He, for the first time in years, watched the film and came to the conclusion that it was “tame” in comparison to the day’s standards – A thought that eventually lead to this re-imagining of his original masterpiece, which was placed at #28 on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 greatest films of all time and which now sits at #31 on IMDB’s list of Top 250 best films.

Running at just under 3 and a half hours (but don’t worry you’ll get an intermission,) Apocalypse Now: Redux is considered the definitive version of the film and we are proud to present this masterpiece of filmmaking on an amazing, original 35mm Technicolor dye-transfer print – the way it was meant to be seen. If you are a fan of the film, but have never seen it on the big screen, take it from me, you have never fully experienced the film. From the opening sequence of whirring helicopters and exploding napalm, to the spooky carnivalesque battle camp scene, right to the powerful and sadistic Kurtz Compound sequence at the end of the film, your eyes will be glued to the screen. You will be absolutely blown away by the film’s pristine image, a clarity brought through in what amounts to a highly stylised, surrealistic and saturated Technicolor experience. The film has a large screen space in its 2.35:1 aspect ratio and an amazing DTS digital soundtrack, which both amount to a film experience like no other, putting you right in the centre of the action. Coppola once said, “My film is not about Vietnam, it is Vietnam,” and after you walk out of the theatre you will feel like you were there. This is definitely one film you will want to see from the very front row, and one film experience you do not want to miss. And the only place you can see it is at the Astor Theatre.
Written by our E-news reviewer Dave Lee for The Astor Theatre.

Apocalypse Now: Redux screens at The Astor Theatre on Thursday August 25th 2011, 7.30pm.

For more information, visit our website.

The Great TAXI DRIVER Scavenger Hunt Update

So folks, here are the final and all inclusive clues:

Awesome Astor Supporter #1: NOW SHOWING, TICKETS CLAIMED

Clue 1: What’s On

Clue 2: Opposite to Coming Soon

Clue 3: We’re on a High (Street. near Chapel St)

Now Showing on Facebook and Twitter.

Awesome Astor Supporter #2: DISCURIO, TICKETS CLAIMED

Clue 1: This store has been an independent music retailer for almost 50 years

Clue 2: Technically located in a “street”, though you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in a “Melbourne laneway”

Clue 3: Known as a classical music specialist, you’ll also find jazz, world, soundtracks, blues…CDs, DVDs and vinyl in their DISCography.

Discurio on Facebook

Awesome Astor Supporter #3: POLYESTER BOOKS, TICKETS CLAIMED

Clue 1: Notorious retail outlet, watch out for the cops.

Clue 2: Totally Weird Shit.

Clue 3: see image right

Polyester Books on Facebook and Twitter.

Awesome Astor Supporter #4: GREVILLE RECORDS, TICKETS CLAIMED

Clue 1: Looks & smells like a teenager’s bedroom?

Clue 2: You don’t have to grovel for good music here?

Clue 3: There are 2 record stores on greville street, we’re one of them!

Greville Records on Facebook

Awesome Astor Supporter #5: ALL STAR COMICS, TICKETS CLAIMED

Clue 1: Living in New York, Travis Bickle doesn’t need to drive his cab to this City location to see super heroes.

Clue 2: If you wear Converse, you can find us underfoot or in the evening sky, with many a varied fable inside.

Clue 3: On August 30th, where would you find the Jets and the Sharks about to rumble?

All Star Comics on Facebook and Twitter

Awesome Astor Supporter #6: CLASSIC COMICS, TICKETS CLAIMED

Clue 1: A small side street that shares the name of the town The Beatles call home will point you in the right direction.

Clue 2: Some say comics Golden and Silver Age’s are between the 1930′s-1960′s but to find these tickets you’ll find them between Bourke and Little Bourke Streets

Clue 3: Superman & Spider-man love the CLASSICs (like Taxi Driver) find them in the COMIC shop at the Parliament end of Bourke St

Classic Comics on Facebook and Twitter

Awesome Astor Supporter #7 & #8: READINGS CARLTON & READINGS ST KILDA, BOTH SETS OF TICKETS CLAIMED.

Clue 1: Books, Music, Film.

Clue 2: Tickets at two locations though there are stores in six.

Clue 3: At the corner of the Astor Calendar, locations 1 & 3 are key.

Readings on Facebook and Twitter

The Great TAXI DRIVER Scavenger Hunt continues…

It’s a little before noon and we want you to be able to find these tickets before our kind friends who’ve agreed to participate close their doors tonight. So, to make it a little easier for you, we’re releasing each location’s Clue number 2 – listed after Clue 1 for context. Think literally but and also a little outside the box and you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding these awesome locations….

**Please note that one set of tickets has already been claimed from READINGS CARLTON**

Awesome Astor Supporter #1:

Clue 1: What’s On

Clue 2: Opposite to Coming Soon

Awesome Astor Supporter #2:

Clue 1: This store has been an independent music retailer for almost 50 years

Clue 2: Technically located in a “street”, though you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in a “Melbourne laneway”

Awesome Astor Supporter #3:

Clue 1: Notorious retail outlet, watch out for the cops.

Clue 2: Totally Weird Shit.

Awesome Astor Supporter #4:

Clue 1: Looks & smells like a teenager’s bedroom?

Clue 2: You don’t have to grovel for good music here?

Awesome Astor Supporter #5:

Clue 1: Living in New York, Travis Bickle doesn’t need to drive his cab to this City location to see super heroes.

Clue 2: If you wear Converse, you can find us underfoot or in the evening sky, with many a varied fable inside.

Awesome Astor Supporter #6:

Clue 1: A small side street that shares the name of the town The Beatles call home will point you in the right direction.

Clue 2: Some say comics Golden and Silver Age’s are between the 1930′s-1960′s but to find these tickets you’ll find them between Bourke and Little Bourke Streets

Awesome Astor Supporter #7 & #8:

Clue 1: Books, Music, Film.

Clue 2: Tickets at two locations though there are stores in six.

We’ll announce the final clues in a just couple of hours, so get hunting!!

The Great TAXI DRIVER Scavenger Hunt

Just as Travis Bickle roams the streets of NYC, we’re giving you the opportunity to roam the streets of Melbourne – only instead of experiencing the dark, isolated world he drifts through, we want to invite you into a warm, friendly environment; where you can sit down in silence and experience in mindblowing 4K Bickle’s proverbial dark, isolated world as it was meant to be seen.

So,  Saturday August 13th, we’ve got a Super Scavenger Hunt for you. Hidden in eight unique, awesome locations around Melbourne are in-season double passes. That’s right, there are Astor envelopes behind the counters in eight of the greatest independent stores around town that will give you the chance to see Martin Scorsese’s TAXI DRIVER, restored and recently rebuilt in 4K for the 35th Anniversary, shown on Victoria’s very first Barco 32B 4K digital projector, in 5.1 uncompressed digital stereo surround sound on the unbelievably awesome Astor Theatre Superscreen.

All you have to do is find them! And it couldn’t be easier – here are the first round of clues to get you started:

Awesome Astor Supporter #1:

Clue 1: What’s On

Awesome Astor Supporter #2:

Clue 1: This store has been an independent music retailer for almost 50 years

Awesome Astor Supporter #3:

Clue 1: Notorious retail outlet, watch out for the cops.

Awesome Astor Supporter #4:

Clue 1: Looks & smells like a teenager’s bedroom?

Awesome Astor Supporter #5:

Clue 1: Living in New York, Travis Bickle doesn’t need to drive his cab to this City location to see super heroes.

Awesome Astor Supporter #6:

Clue 1: A small side street that shares the name of the town The Beatles call home will point you in the right direction.

Awesome Astor Supporter #7 & #8:

Clue 1: Books, Music, Film.

If you want to win, make sure you “like” us on Facebook and “follow” us on Twitter. More clues will be revealed throughout the day and the first person to enter each location and ask the friendly folk behind the counter if they’ve won the Astor Theatre Taxi Driver tickets wins! All tickets are valid in-season: SUNDAY AUGUST 14th – SUNDAY AUGUST 21st (no screening Tuesday 16th) and it’s actually that easy to win.

For session times and further details, visit our website: astor-theatre.com

Happy Hunting!

From the team at The Astor Theatre.

Taxi Driver – Australian 4K presentation premiere

Thirty-five years after it claimed the Palme d’Or for best feature film at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver remains a landmark work of cinema. An iconic depiction of loneliness, violence and urban alienation, Scorsese’s film stands out within that period of American cinema during the late 1960s and 1970s often referred to as its last Golden Age. With its provocative subject matter, European cinema-inspired style and distinct directorial vision, Taxi Driver is characteristic of the daring and artistic brand of filmmaking that defined the era.

But Taxi Driver also reflects the social context of the 1970s in other ways. Through its representation of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), a twenty-something year old Vietnam veteran who takes a job driving taxis in New York City to break the monotony of his aimless existence, the film evokes the uncertainty and trauma of America’s post-war years. In many regards, the character of Travis symbolises the loss of national confidence following the failure in Vietnam, the collapse of the counter-cultural revolution, and the rapid decline of America’s post-WWII economic prosperity.

Like the nation for which he’d gone to war, Travis Bickle seems caught at a crossroads in history. When we first meet him he appears as a kind of moralising observer, railing against the perceived filth of the city streets. However, as his personal frustrations intensify, Travis begins to envisage himself in a series of different roles – as lover to Cybill Shepherd’s Betsy, then as liberator to Iris, a twelve year old prostitute played by Jodie Foster – culminating in his emergence as a self-appointed avenging angel. Insisting upon the need for decisive action, Travis resolves to commit an act of bloodshed in order to bring about his salvation. Yet as Taxi Driver’s oft-discussed ending implies, the traditional resort to violence may no longer serve as an effective means of achieving personal or social redemption.

Beyond Taxi Driver’s cultural significance, the film is also important in the context of Scorsese’s career through the creative relationships that it helped forge, and which would shape the director’s work in the years that followed. Taxi Driver’s screenwriter Paul Schrader would go on to collaborate with the director on three subsequent films (Raging Bull 1980, The Last Temptation of Christ 1988, and Bringing Out The Dead 1999) while actor Robert De Niro (who had previously appeared in Scorsese’s Mean Streets 1973) has worked with the director on eight occasions.

Through these associations Scorsese had found the perfect collaborators for the exploration of male violence, existential ennui, and religious burdens that define the male subjects of his films. And in these regards Travis Bickle is the archetypal Scorsesean protagonist, particularly when it comes to the issue of sex. Fixed in a dichotomous understanding of women as virgin/whore (a perception he imposes upon both Betsy and Iris), Travis’ sexuality is characterised by a stark ambivalence. Even as he habitually frequents porno theatres, Travis displays disgust at the presence of sex workers on the streets of New York. He is, as Betsy refers to him in one scene when she likens him to the lyrics of a Kris Kristofferson song, ‘a walking contradiction’.

Travis’ inability to reconcile these contradictory aspects of his personality may be one explanation for the violence that erupts in the film’s latter stages. And increasingly, the violence in Taxi Driver is coded with sexual connotations. Through Travis’ pistol-like gestures to pornographic imagery, to the scene of the disturbed passenger (performed by Scorsese) and his description of what he plans to do to his adulterous wife, the fetishistic close-up imagery of the .44 Magnum and the climactic shoot-out that takes place in a brothel, Taxi Driver repeatedly collapses the boundaries between sex and violence. In doing so, the film appears to locate and explore the impetus to violent action as emanating from a male paranoia and anxiety regarding sexuality.

But the violence in Taxi Driver (for which it is renowned) has another aspect to it that distinguishes it from the standard vigilante or psychotic Vietnam vet narrative. Rather than simply enact violent imagery, Taxi Driver repeatedly links Travis’ actions to the violence of earlier cinematic representations. From its overt references to numerous films and genres (particularly John Ford’s The Searchers 1956), to Travis’ transformation from insomniac flâneur to urban cowboy and Mohawk warrior, together with the guns that he purchases, each one associated with characters such as Dirty Harry and James Bond, or in his self-seeking performances before the mirror (“Are you talking to me?”), Taxi Driver draws attention to the role representations play in constructing individual and cultural identity. In this context, Taxi Driver’s coda can be seen to offer a critique on the way cinema (and the wider media) shape cultural perceptions of violence and heroism.

It is in this final regard that Taxi Driver, far from being merely a product of its time, remains entirely relevant to the contemporary era, and continues to exert a profound influence on filmgoers more than three decades after its initial release.

Written for the Astor Theatre by Josh Nelson.

Josh Nelson is a Melbourne-based film critic and academic who writes for a number of publications including the website Philmology (www.philmology.com), and is a member of the Plato’s Cave team, a weekly film criticism podcast hosted by 3RRR (www.rrr.org.au/programs/podcasts).

Our TAXI DRIVER season, the Australian premiere presentation in 4K on our brand new Barco 32B 4K digital projector starts Sunday 14th and runs till Sunday 21st (no screening Tuesday 16th). This is the first time the film will be presented in uncompressed 5.1 digital sound, having always previously been in mono. We can guarantee, no matter how many times you’ve seen this film, you’ve never seen or heard it like this before! For more info, visit our website: www.astor-theatre.com