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Baker Street
July 18, 2013

Baker Street Theatre: July Showings

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Here at Baker Street, in an effort to creatively expand our horizons, we’ve been screening different films from all around the world, old and new alike. Each day, a new film is selected and screened in our lobby, playing on a loop throughout the working day. Baker Streeters are invited to sit down and watch it during lunchtime. Here is a summary of the films we’ve shown during the first half of this month. This is to become a semi-monthly feature on the blog, so keep an eye out!

July 1

Hard Boiled (1992)

HardBoiled

John Woo’s police action classic of Hong Kong cinema. An Asian take on classic American dirty cop movies like “Dirty Harry” and “Bullitt,” Hardboiled also includes slow motion shootouts that would go on to inspire films like “The Matrix.”

July 2

Tootsie (1982)

Tootsie

Dustin Hoffmann plays an out-of-work actor who, out of desperation, pretends to be a woman and strikes it big in the world of soap operas. It’s a comedy that speaks to serious issues that affect American society to this day.

July 3

Stripes (1981)

Stripes

Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and John Candy star in this classic example of a “service comedy” – a type of story that has been told for centuries in one way or another, often portraying sloppy soldiers as protagonists among a serious and intimidating armed force. It’s both a celebration and satire of military life, defying authority and embracing it.

July 8

Caddyshack (1980)

Caddyshack

Continuing the theme left by the two previous lobby films, Tootsie and Stripes, I thought it would be fun to explore the world of comedy exclusively for the next 2 weeks, starting with one of the most iconic comedies in American history.

July 11

Annie Hall (1977)

AnnieHall

Woody Allen at his peak (at least for his acting career). I would argue this is the most adored romantic comedy of all time, perfectly mixing comedy with the sting of an ending love affair.

July 12

The Graduate (1967)

The Graduate1

Seductive filmmaking galore, from the cool shots of the pool ripples overlaid onto Dustin Hoffman’s head to the clever editing between scenes as one action seems to lead into another at a completely different time and place, The Graduate is nearly an art house comedy with its attention to detail and love of the art of film.

Baker Street Theatre

April 5, 2013

Baker Street Theatre Presents

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Each day we premier a unique film in our lobby with the purpose of stirring our imaginations, electrifying our visual sensibilities (there’s no sound until the lunch hour), and reminding ourselves how drawn we all are to story and character.  I’m sure there’s an efficiency expert that will chide us for the 5-10 minutes that people waste when they stop and stare, forgetting their task and losing themselves for a moment as they try to figure out the plot or they become transfixed by the epic visual presentation. But we think it’s time well wasted.

Current and prospective clients, employees, and pitch consultants are welcome to stop by for our noon viewing.

Our video editor, Harrison Chapman, curates the Baker Street Theatre and is tasked with blowing our minds daily.  I’m sure he could use some suggestions:

Send them to hchapman@bakerstreet1.wpenginepowered.com

And now with no further to do, may we proudly present our first film:

THE FOUNTAIN

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Summary by Harrison Chapman

What it’s about: Hugh Jackman and Rachael Weisz are in love, but life is strange and long and they never quite make it together, not even when Hugh Jackman finds the fountain of youth and waits 1000 years to see her again. The film takes place in three different settings, 16th century Spain/New World as Jackman looks for the “tree of life” at the behest of the Queen, 21st century as Jackman looks for a cure for his wife’s cancer, and in the distant future when Jackman is a kind of astronaut in a space bubble going deep, deep, deep into the edges of the universe.

Why you should care: This film by Darren Aronofsky contains almost no CGI, that’s right, all that crazy space imagery is real. Is it really space? No. Instead of looking to the stars, they looked through a microscope. All the surreal scenes of space are actually chemical reactions filmed in a petri dish. Aside from the technical neatness of the film, it’s conceptually very interesting, following three stories that don’t directly interact with each other using the same actors to show a kind of cyclical nature of death and rebirth. Each story deals with life, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence without hitting you over the head with any specific message. Aronofsky lets you draw your own conclusions. As I’m playing it now in the lobby, with sound off, it’s still pretty mesmerizing, what with crazy space images, mayan warriors, flying space trees, and all, so try not to get too entranced walking by the lobby TV today.

Baker Street Theatre