If your town is anything like mine, the Fourth of July weekend might have seemed surprisingly quiet—with municipalities across the country struggling to balance budgets, the stunning-but-expensive fireworks show has proven to be one of those short-lived luxuries that can be hard to justify. (Luckily, my neighbors never seem short of their own supply, and they treat us all to scaled-down display in nearby parking lots.) Of course, that doesn’t mean we didn’t miss it.
The quietude of the weekend, though, is also a reminder of those less pricey pleasures available in the Valley, and movies, while certainly not as inexpensive as they were just a few years ago, are still one of the cheapest nights out there. (And remember: though bringing your own stash of candy makes it even cheaper, it’s the concession stand that really pays the bills at most theaters. If everyone bypassed it, there might be no theater to sneak that candy into.) So if you missed out on fireworks this year, take a look around at some of these other lights in the dark.
Amherst Cinema and sister cinema Pleasant Street Theater offer up a mix of old and new this week, beginning with Solitary Man, a new Michael Douglas movie which opened at Pleasant Street on Friday. Douglas stars as Ben Kalmen, a once-successful car dealer whose business hit the skids some years back. Trying to make a name for himself again, Kalmen proves his own worst enemy, with the very persuasiveness and charisma that made him an icon turning spectacularly against him. Susan Sarandon appears as Ben’s ex-wife Nancy, with Jenna Fischer (The Office) as his aggrieved daughter Susan.
In Amherst, the Ozark mystery of Winter’s Bone continues, starring Jennifer Lawrence in a breakthrough role as Ree Dolly, the seventeen-year-old on the trail of her deadbeat father, who forfeited their home when he skipped out on a bail bond. Based on a novel by Daniel Woodrell, the story follows Ree as she tries to tunnel through her family’s heritage of lies. A more urban tale of deception follows when the dark comedy Cyrus opens on July 9. John C. Reilly stars as John, a perpetually single divorced man who falls into a surprising romance with Molly (Marisa Tomei). But despite a quick chemistry, Molly is evasive enough that John follows her home one night to discover the “other man” in her life: her twenty-something musician son Cyrus (Jonah Hill), who isn’t quite ready to share his mother with anyone.
But in terms of sheer explosive might, the clear winner for a fireworks replacement is the new attraction at the Northfield Drive-In: The A-Team. If you were missing the big bangs and sizzle this weekend, just pull up your car, tune in the radio and enjoy the show.
Jack Brown can be reached at cinemadope@gmail.com.
