A blockbuster weekend at Basie Center Cinemas: Bourdain doc, ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ and Rocky Horror

 

Summer’s in full swing, movies are back — and Basie Center Cinemas on White Street has a doozy of a weekend for film lovers.

Space Jam: A New Legacy, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain and The Rocky Horror Picture Show all screen at the twin cinema this weekend, with advance tickets already available at www.basiecentercinemas.org.

Space Jam: A New Legacy
LeBron James stars alongside Bugs Bunny and others in Space Jam: A New Legacy. Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

Space Jam: A New Legacy

Welcome to the jam! NBA champion and global icon LeBron James goes on an epic adventure alongside timeless Tune Bugs Bunny with the animated/live-action event Space Jam: A New Legacy, from director Malcolm D. Lee and an innovative filmmaking team including Ryan Coogler and Maverick Carter. This transformational journey is a manic mashup of two worlds that reveals just how far some parents will go to connect with their kids. When LeBron and his young son Dom are trapped in a digital space by a rogue A.I., LeBron must get them home safe by leading Bugs, Lola Bunny and the whole gang of notoriously undisciplined Looney Tunes to victory over the A.I.’s digitized champions on the court: a powered-up roster of professional basketball stars as you’ve never seen them before. It’s Tunes versus Goons in the highest-stakes challenge of his life, that will redefine LeBron’s bond with his son and shine a light on the power of being yourself. The ready-for-action Tunes destroy convention, supercharge their unique talents and surprise even “King” James by playing the game their own way.

Stuff magazine calls the new Space Jam “a magical, charming love-letter to the movies, while Australian animation and pop culture personality Dave Lee raves, “(Space Jam: A New Legacy) is an absolute SLAM DUNK! Loaded with Easter eggs, classic Tune gags and a punch of nostalgia, fans of the original will have a blast – while new audiences will be blown away by the modern spectacle (as it moves) in bigger and bolder directions.”

Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain stars in Morgan Neville’s documentary, ROADRUNNER, a Focus Features release. Courtesy of CNN / Focus Features

Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain

It’s not where you go. It’s what you leave behind . . . Chef, writer, adventurer, provocateur Anthony Bourdain lived his life unabashedly. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain is an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef became a world-renowned cultural icon. From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?), this unflinching look at Bourdain reverberates with his presence, in his own voice and in the way he indelibly impacted the world around him.

In an interview with director Morgan Neville, Alex Biese of the Asbury Park Press recognizes Bourdain’s Garden State roots (“At heart, Anthony Bourdain was a Jersey guy — even if the rest of the world didn’t always know it”) and notes,”fittingly, Neville’s film discusses Bourdain’s life and death, and the impact left by his absence, with a clear-eyed candor reminiscent of Bourdain’s own writing. As a result, it’s a movie that’s at times emotionally devastating, but ultimately cathartic as it seeks to process still-lingering grief.” Variety notes that Roadrunner “picks up where (Bourdain’s bestseller) Kitchen Confidential left off,” and focuses on the haunting feelings left by Bourdain’s tragic suicide. “How could a man so beloved, who gave so much pleasure, whose life was so much about pleasure not find his way out of the darkness,” the critic wonders. The answer, of course, is elusive, but Roadrunner looks to be one of the year’s most celebrated documentary films.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Friday Nite Specials cast returns to Basie Center Cinemas for the most interactive, inappropriate, cult-classic film experience around. Tickets for this month’s edition are on sale now.