Fall Arts Preview: Film

Now that the summer blockbuster slog has passed, we can gladly welcome the pre-Oscar season-as well as the return of cheap movie nights, thanks to the Ojai Film Society, UCSB’s Associated Students, and Isla Vista’s Magic Lantern Films. The Lantern kicks things off Friday, September 25, with Star Trek, and follows it up with plenty of laughs, courtesy The Hangover (Oct. 2) and Br¼no (Oct. 9). On Sunday, October 4, the Ojai Film Society presents the S.B. premiere of In the Loop, the U.K. comedy about a war schemed up between the U.S. president and the British prime minister. And Thursday, October 15, UCSB’s Arts & Lectures brings back the always riveting annual Telluride Mountain Film Fest, which boasts shorts and features on everything from adventure sports to environmental issues.

In the land of major releases, Friday, October 16, marks one of the biggest deal opening weekends of the year, with Spike Jonze’s highly anticipated Where the Wild Things Are going head-to-head against New York, I Love You, the arty, vignette-filled follow-up to 2006’s Paris, Je t’aime. On Tuesday, October 20, Campbell Hall plays host to a double feature of eco-conscious docs, with Crude (7:30pm) and Flow: For Love of Water (9:30pm) presented in conjunction with UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center. Later in the month, catch Hilary Swank as lady aviator Amelia Earhart in the historical biopic Amelia. Rounding out October, Arts & Lectures brings the Ben Affleck-produced Reporter to Campbell Hall on Monday, October 26.

For those looking to get your Philippe Petit fix before the high-wire artist makes his UCSB stop on November 7, be sure to catch Arts & Lectures’ free screening of Man on Wire on Tuesday, November 3. On Tuesday, November 10, Associated Students presents the critically acclaimed comedic romp The Brothers Bloom at Isla Vista Theater, while A&L screens a tale about one family’s decision to go green, No Impact Man, at Campbell Hall.

Come mid month, Wes Anderson unveils his first animated feature, Fantastic Mr. Fox, featuring the voices of longtime collaborators Willem Dafoe and Owen Wilson, on Friday, November 13. And the tweens come out at midnight on Thursday, November 19, for Rob Patt’s return to the big screen, New Moon. The Ojai Film Society screens Afghan Star on Sunday, November 22, and Campbell Hall hosts The Horse Boy on Tuesday, November 24. But it’s the late-December release of It’s Complicated that will have most Santa Barbarans swooning. The romantic comedy starring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin was filmed on our own city streets back in April, and it hits theaters on Christmas Day.