Mission: Impossible

press release:

FRI., 9/23, 7 p.m. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: USA | 1996 | 35mm | 110 min.

Director: Brian De Palma; Cast: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart

Cruise, De Palma, and a murderer’s row of screenwriters (David Koepp, Steven Zaillian, Robert Towne and others) set about turning the long-running television spy series’ formula on its ear. Filled to the brim with spectacular set pieces (including an homage to the heist sequence in Rififi) De Palma’s Mission established a new baseline standard of thrills and twists for a franchise that has since yielded four sequels, although arguably none have bested or even matched this first go-round. (BR)

FRI., 9/23, 9 p.m. THE UNTOUCHABLES: USA | 1987 | 35mm | 119 min.

Director: Brian De Palma; Cast: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro

In this update of the classic TV series, US Treasury agent Elliot Ness (Costner), with the help of Chicago cop Jimmy Malone (Connery) assembles a small, elite squad of law-enforcers in order to take down mobster Al Capone (De Niro, appearing in his fourth De Palma movie). Working from a script by David Mamet, De Palma adds innumerable visual grace notes to this gangland saga, including a now legendary slow-motion sequence filmed at Chicago’s Union Station.

Brian De Palma Thrills Us! series: Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow’s new documentary De Palma combines interviews and film clips to take us deep into the life and work of Brian De Palma, master of the contemporary thriller and one of American cinema’s most expressive, eclectic, and personal filmmakers. In his New York Times review De Palma, critic A.O. Scott writes “It’s almost hard to believe that he could have made so many wild, haunting and provocative movies, but by the end of the documentary, you may want nothing more than to see them all.” While not a complete retrospective, this series provides you the opportunity to see the first theatrical screening of De Palma in Madison, plus 10 of Brian De Palma’s very best features, several of which will be shown on original 35mm prints.