In the years leading up to his 2022 retirement (and tragic, too-young diagnoses of aphasia and dementia), it was easy to take Bruce Willis for granted; even when roles were beneath his talents, he could always be relied on to provide his affable, working-class charm to any number of Hollywood beat-em-ups. But while he was best known as an action hero, the secret to Willis’ success lay in his ability to imbue characters with humor and humanity for a filmography consisting of far more than simple shoot-outs. To this end, The Brattle Theatre presents a series titled “Bruce Willis: Beyond the Bombastic,” shining a light on the actor’s underrated dramatic and comedic chops.
The series begins Thursday with a double feature of Willis’ collaborations with M. Night Shyamalan, “The Sixth Sense” (1999) and “Unbreakable” (2000). On paper, either of these genre films might scan as of a piece with Willis’ action work – the former a downbeat ghost story, the latter a deconstruction of the superhero film – but both are deceptively complex and tragic, anchored on soulful, lived-in performances from Willis.
Friday brings Brian De Palma’s adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s “The Bonfire of the Vanities” (1990) and Michael Lehmann’s delirious heist comedy “Hudson Hawk” (1991), two notorious box office bombs that have since attracted followings.
I probably don’t need to waste time explaining “Pulp Fiction” (1994), arguably the best film in which Willis ever appeared; it screens Saturday in a double feature with the underseen gem “Nobody’s Fool” (1994). Willis’ sense of humor, always an integral part of his appeal, takes center stage in Robert Zemeckis’ phantasmagorical camp-comedy “Death Becomes Her” (1992), which screens Saturday and Sunday, and the Kurt Vonnegut adaptation “Breakfast of Champions” (1999), which screens in a new restoration Sunday.
The series rounds out Tuesday with “12 Monkeys” (1995), Terry Gilliam’s cyberpunk adaptation of Chris Marker’s classic new wave sci-fi short “La Jetée” (1962). In all, it’s an overdue tribute proving it was always the man, not the muscles, that carved out Willis’ place in film history.
The celebration of hometown hero Carson Lund continues Saturday as the Emerson alum and onetime Harvard Film Archive usher brings his acclaimed baseball hangout comedy “Eephus” (2024) to the Somerville Theatre. Lund takes the stage before the film for a quick introduction, returning afterward for a Q&A hosted by film critic Sean Burns. (If you’ve still got an itch for baseball hijinks after all that, you can stick around for a midnight screening of the raucous ’80s staple “Major League” [1989]). The Somerville continues its celebration of local filmmaking Monday with a special screening of “Any Day Now” (2024), a Boston-shot indie that reimagines the infamous Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery as a buddy caper picture, with a postfilm Q&A with director Eric Aronson and lead actors Paul Guilfoyle and Taylor Gray.
Readers under a certain age will need no introduction to “Adventure Time” (2010-2018). Created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network, the animated TV show was one of the funniest and most inventive of its era, adored as much by hipper-than-thou 20-somethings as by its young target audience. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the show inspired creators across multiple media. Its comic book adaptation, created by writer Ryan North and illustrators Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb, was nearly as acclaimed as its small-screen inspiration, winning an Eisner Award (the comic book equivalent of the Oscars) and four Harveys. In celebration of the release of “The Adventure Time Compendium, Volume One,” which collects the entirety of North’s run, Harvard Square’s Million Year Picnic comics shop reunites the three creators for an “Adventure Time Afternoon” this Sunday at The Brattle, signing books and presenting some of their favorite episodes on the big screen. The event promises to be the most fun you’re likely to have this side of the Land of Ooo.
Speaking of comics beloved by millennials, the Landmark Kendall Square Cinema’s tribute to the films of Edgar Wright continues Tuesday with the cult classic “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” (2010). For his first film made without frequent collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Wright turned to the hit graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, condensing all six volumes into a breakneck single feature. Michael Cera plays the title character, the slacker bassist of a struggling indie rock band who meets the girl of his dreams (Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Ramona Flowers), only to find that, to win her hand, he must defeat her seven evil exes in a series of increasingly outlandish battles. A flop at the box office, “Scott Pilgrim” has become something of a touchstone among younger viewers; its influence is unmistakable in the hyperactively blippy aesthetic of current social media, and its cast includes such future superstars as Brie Larsen, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza and Kieran Culkin. You’ll walk out wanting to either pick a fight, start a band or fall in love – or, ideally, all three at once.
Oscar Goff is a writer and film critic based in Somerville. He is film editor and senior critic for the Boston Hassle and his work has appeared in the monthly Boston Compass newspaper and publications such as WBUR’s The ARTery and iHeartNoise. He is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, and the Online Film Critics Society.
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