- For what I’m going to guess is the first time in its prestigious history, The Joslyn Art Museum will prominently feature a human’s exploding torso and Yaphet Kotto’s beautiful bandana. I was going to say that the upcoming screening of Alien would mark the first time the Joslyn hosted a spectacularly phallic monster, but then I remembered all the rest of art history. At any rate, Omaha’s own film historian, Bruce Crawford, has picked a humdinger of a flick for his 42nd event, even if you can’t humding in space. On Friday, May 25 at 7 pm, the Joslyn will host a screening of Ridley Scott’s sure-to-burst-your-chest classic. Tickets are $24 and are now on sale at all Omaha-area Hy-Vee stores. So just walk up to their customer service counter and declare “One ticket to extraterrestrial terror please!” And when the employee looks at you confused, lean in close and whisper “They mostly come at night. Mostly…” even though that’s from the second movie. Proceeds go to the Nebraska Kidney Association, and Veronica Cartwright will be in attendance. The last time she was at a party this exciting, she got Ian Holm’s insides on her face.
- In a naked attempt to woo Bill Nye’s affections, Film Streams is continuing their Science on Screen series. Fittingly for a state who once proudly declared ourselves Bugeaters, on Tuesday, May 8 at 7 pm, you can watch Bugs at the Ruth Sokolof Theater. I’m not sure that bugs will be served as a snack, but please do ask. Loudly. The film is screening in collaboration with University of Nebraska Medical Center and will be followed by a post-show discussion about eating bugs for protein. If you’ve seen Snowpiercer, you’ll know that bugs are more delicious than the alternative: human babies. At any rate, the next screening is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on June 5, which I’m sure Neil deGrasse Tyson will point out isn’t scientifically accurate because no one would want to forget Kate Winslet.
- If you’re like me, currently listening to a car alarm that goes off for 2-3 hours every single day, you may be desperately in need of some Zen. Film Streams and Mindfulness Outreach Initiative are providing a glimpse of that peace, with a screening of Walk With Me at the Dundee Theater on Tuesday, May 22 at 7 pm. The film explores a world-famous monastery, which sounds like a really fancy name for a bank or what Tony Danza called the house on Who’s the Boss? Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, the film will be followed by a post-show discussion on mindfulness meditation practices. I’m guessing my yelling “I’ll kill everything you love if you don’t shut off this car alarm” is not a mindful meditation practice. But I’ll have to go to the screening/discussion to find out for sure.
- Also our busy, busy friends at Film Streams will be hosting a special event titled Prime Time: A Conversation With Women in Television at the Dundee Theater on Saturday, May 19 at 2 pm. Funded in part by Humanities Omaha and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, the event will feature three women from the news and entertainment industry in a panel discussion. Yolanda Ross, Symone Sanders and Rachel Shukert will be on the panel, moderated by Diana Martinez. Given the #MeToo movement, I’m guessing the first question for discussion will be “Remember when this was all going on for decades upon decades and nobody paid attention?” Seriously, with recent agitation by certified idiots claiming the movement has “gone too far” or by dudebros with attention spans set to zero for things that don’t benefit them, discussions like these intended to further the ever-expanding conversation about what’s next for women in the industry are more important than ever. Plus, Shukert worked on GLOW and Ross worked on The Get Down. So, I’m good just hearing them tell stories about that.
Cutting Room provides breaking local and national movie news … complete with added sarcasm. Send any relevant information to film@thereader.com. Check out Ryan on Movieha!, a weekly podcast, catch him on the radio on CD 105.9 on Fridays at around 7:40 a.m. and on KVNO 90.7 on Wednesdays and follow him on Twitter.