If you're a young man—say, between 18 and 23, and with a good bit of disposable income—this column is likely not for you. Besides, you're already being bombarded with advertisements and tie-ins for all the movies you want to see, and probably a few you didn't know you wanted to see until you bought that giant-size Dr. Pepper with the peel-off holographic promo on the side of the cup. You don't need me.
But while Hollywood buries your demographic in ad money, young and old are busy trying to find something to watch that doesn't feature zombies, vampires, or zombie vampires, and it's getting difficult. So for them, this week we feature those films.
The Academy of Music in Northampton plays host to the younger crowd this week with the continuing KidsBestFest. On Thursday afternoon, the classic dog story Benji lights up the screen in a special showing for the Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society, who will be collecting canned food for cats and dogs. If you've somehow made it this far without knowing about Benji's tale, now's the time to bone up. Friday brings the German film Stella and the Star of the Orient, in which the 10-year-old heroine travels back in time to befriend her great-grandmother and save the family treasure. Shot in German, the film includes English subtitles, which will be read aloud by local actress Cate Damon.
Not content with filling the weekday afternoons, on Saturday the theater brings in YouthFilm 2010, a day-long festival presented by the Northampton Arts Council. With a total running time of over three hours, the festival is able to present over two dozen short works shot by and starring local youths aged 10 to 18. Included are a Star Wars story told with LEGO blocks, an instructional film on assassination, and a travelogue of Japan. The doors open at noon, with free admission for everyone 18 and under.
If, on the other hand, you just want to feel like a kid again, you might enjoy the Silver Screen Classics series at West Springfield's Showcase Cinemas. Offered every Monday at 1 p.m., the series revisits an iconic film every week, providing a big-screen flashback at the equally old-fashioned price of two dollars. This week they screen 1953's Never Wave At a WAC, in which Rosalind Russell plays a divorced socialite and senator's daughter who enlists to keep tabs on her Army lieutenant boyfriend when he's deployed to France. Also deployed? Comedy hijinks.
Jack Brown can be reached at cinemadope@gmail.com.
