Oriental Theatre MKE

Here is your chance to test drive Milwaukee Film Membership on Mondays.
Get tickets to all films playing on Monday at either of our historic cinemas for only $10 (the usual members only pricing) and get the member discount on concessions as well! Already a member? No problem! Get an even deeper discount on Mondays with tickets at only $7!
Start your week the right way, saving money at the movies: mkefilm.org/mondays

"RAD was and is a family affair. It was produced by Jack Schwartzman, who passed away in the mid-’90s and whose son Robert Schwartzman, the former Rooney frontman turned movie director, helmed the rerelease through his distribution company, Utopia Films. The younger Schwartzman had been on the set of RAD (“I loved that Cru is such a badass,” he recalls. “He blows away all these pros. And then he exposes the world of corruption within the sport”), as was his brother, the actor Jason Schwartzman. His half-brother, the Oscar-winning cinematographer John Schwartzman, shot the intro’s mesmeric BMX footage. Robert and Jason’s mother, Talia Shire, helped her husband produce the movie and had a small onscreen role." - Variety
Get RAD with us tomorrow night at 9:30 PM only: mkefilm.org/rad

Two British track athletes, one a determined Jew and the other a devout Christian, are driven to win in the 1924 Olympics as they wrestle with issues of pride and conscience.
Olympic Training Camp calls Chariots of Fire to the starting line7/23 at 7 PM: mkefilm.org/chariotsoffire

A bicycle-motocrosser (Bill Allen) tries to enter a corrupt promoter's nationally televised cash-prize race in Hal Needham's cult-BMX-classic.
7/19 at 9:30 only come out for RAD. You think we have room for one more on the Rad team? mkefilm.org/rad

Can someone tell Adam Sandler to stop swinging the iron around in the lobby??Those chandeliers are antique!!!
After his grandmothers house is repossessed by the IRS, bad tempered hockey player takes his talents to golf to earn the big bucks and get his grandmothers house back.
7/20 at 9:30 PM only. Just tap it in: mkefilm.org/happygilmore ⛳️

Come out this Saturday💋: film.org/rockyhorror

We want YOU to come with us on a strange journey this Saturday!

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

On July 2, 1927, the Oriental Theatre MKE opened in Milwaukee. Designed by local architecture firm Dick & Bauer, this grand theater incorporated Indian, Moorish, Islamic, and Byzantine styles to be a “temple of Oriental art”. Some of the extravagant design elements included 8-foot chandeliers, porcelain lions, hand-painted murals of the Taj Mahal, and huge Buddha statues with brilliant green eyes. The theater also boasted modern features, such as a $175,000 ventilation system. For just 40 cent admission for adults or 10 cent admission for children, patrons could relax in one of the 1,900 seats and enjoy a variety of offerings during the opening weekend, including an organ performance, a short film titled “Flying Feet”, a Felix the Cat cartoon, a live stage show called “Mystic Araby”, and the feature photoplay (AKA silent film) Naughty But Nice, starring Colleen Moore. The theater was an instant hit and continued to entertain Milwaukeeans throughout the rest of the 20th century and into the 2000s.

Although times have changed and most other similar theaters in the city closed decades ago, the Oriental remains an iconic movie palace almost one hundred years later. Since July 2018, the theater has been operated by Milwaukee Film, the non-profit that has run the Milwaukee Film Festival for the past 15 years. The new management renovated the theater and updated its technology, while preserving the integrity of its original architecture. The theater now shows a mix of first-run blockbuster and indie movies, as well as older films. It is a contended title, but some consider the Oriental to hold the record for continual midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and you can still see the cult classic with a live “shadowcast” the second Saturday of every month. With its ornate interior and lavish atmosphere, the Oriental Theatre is a local and national landmark, having been added to the State Register of Historic Places in 2022 and the National Register in 2023.

What is the best movie you’ve seen at the Oriental?

📸 July 2, 1927 | Milwaukee Journal (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

The new owner of the Cleveland Indians puts together a purposely horrible team so they'll lose and she can move the team. But when the plot is uncovered, they start winning just to spite her. July 19th at 7 PM in our main Abele Cinema.
Forget about the curve ball Ricky, give him the heater: mkefilm.org/majorleague

Come out Friday June 28th at 6:30 PM in our main Abele Cinema for Malik’s Ted Talk on the Jurassic Period!! aka his screening of Jurassic Park🦖
“At the time, films like Jurassic Park weren’t made. The scope was simply too big, and technology was “decades away” from being helpful. However, Spielberg had heard of Michael Crichton’s new novel before it was released and became instantly fascinated. Some bid wars later, and Universal bought the rights and gave Spielberg creative control over the film. This was in May of 1990, more than two years before shooting would start. Such preparation meant Spielberg would prepare himself to deliver a legacy-changing spectacle that, 30 years later, still looks great in just about every aspect.” MovieWeb
Life finds a way: mkefilm.org/jurassicpark

An American doctor and his wife, a former singing star, witness a murder while vacationing in Morocco, and are drawn into a twisting plot of international intrigue when their young son is kidnapped.
Tuesday June 25th at 7 PM only as a part of our Hitchcock Retrospective sponsored by out friends at Wisconsin Public Radio: mkefilm.org/themanwhoknewtoomuch

Catch Cinebuds episode on Problemista screening today at 4 PM and 6 PM.
"Every week, Kristopher Pollard from Milwaukee Film and Radio Milwaukee’s Dori Zori talk about movies — because that’s what you do when you’re Cinebuds.
All creative people see the world in a unique way. Then there are creative people like actor-director Julio Torres — the individual behind HBO shows Los Espookys and Fastasmas, as well as the film sitting at the center of this episode: Problemista." Radio Milwaukee

Catch the full episode here: https://radiomilwaukee.org/podcast/cinebuds/2024-06-19/problemista-review-julio-torres-tilda-swinton

Catch Problemista today: mkefilm.org/problemista

‘Problemista’ review: A seriously grounded comedic fantasy It takes a minute to get your bearings in the world of "Problemista," but the film handsomely rewards those who stick around.

After a semester chock full of workshops, filmmaker visits, and learning the ins and outs of the filmmaking process, our very own student filmmakers of Take 1: Teen Filmmaking Lab are ready to share the short films they've spent the last 20 weeks working on. From a documentary about a father's journey to learn kendo martial arts, to a hectic day as a teenager from the point of view of their car's backseat, to an doc/fiction hybrid exploration of black girlhood at a sleepover, to a dubious Sigmund Freud sneaking around town to make people slip up, these students' imaginations have overflowed into this hilarious, emotional, and impressive showcase of the different perspectives within the teen psyche.
Sunday June 30th at 3 PM: mkefilm.org/takeone2024

Tomorrow 6:30 PM only, There Will Be Blood joins the ranks of Hot Dads on film... because even horrific oil tycoons can be father figures.
“There Will Be Blood,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic American nightmare, arrives belching fire and brimstone and damnation to Hell. Set against the backdrop of the Southern California oil boom of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, it tells a story of greed and envy of biblical proportions, reverberating with Old Testament sound and fury and New Testament evangelicalism, which Mr. Anderson has mined from Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel “Oil!” There is no God but money in this oil-rich desert and his messenger is Daniel Plainview, a petroleum speculator played by a monstrous and shattering Daniel Day-Lewis. -The New York Times
I'm finished: mkefilm.org/therewillbeblood

The Bikeriders captures a rebellious time in America when the culture and people were changing. After a chance encounter at a local bar, strong-willed Kathy (Jodie Comer) is inextricably drawn to Benny (Austin Butler), the newest member of Midwestern motorcycle club, the Vandals led by the enigmatic Johnny (Tom Hardy). Much like the country around it, the club begins to evolve, transforming from a gathering place for local outsiders into a dangerous underworld of violence, forcing Benny to choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.
Starting this Thursday: mkefilm.org/bikeriders

If we screen it… they will come🎥 ⚾️
Tomorrow at 1 pm only: mkefilm.org/fieldofdreams

A mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in a profoundly moving performance) and her teenage daughter (Lola Petticrew) must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird. From debut filmmaker Daina O. Pusić, Tuesday is a heart-rending fairy tale about the echoes of loss and finding resilience in the unexpected.
Now showing: mkefilm.org/tuesday

Looking for something special to do with your old man this Fathers Day? Or maybe you want to create a tradition at the movies your kids will never forget. Field of Dreams screening this Father's Day at 1 PM could be the perfect paternal plan 👨💕 to celebrate the day.
Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella is inspired by a voice he can't ignore to pursue a dream he can hardly believe. Supported by his wife, Ray begins the quest by turning his ordinary cornfield into a place where dreams can come true: mkefilm.org/fieldofdreams