Miss going to the movies? Southtown's The Good Kind and Slab Cinema have teamed up to give you a film fix, safely and with social distancing in mind.
They're hosting a weekly outdoor summer movie series called "Noir Monday" in The Good Kind's garden lounge, complete with popcorn and craft cocktails available from the bar. You can also order from the full kitchen menu, which includes bar food, salads, sandwiches, and fresh market bowls.
All seating is ticketed to respect social distancing while still allowing for adequate viewing of the giant blow-up screen, provided by Slab Cinema and Blue Star Arts Complex. One seat costs $6, two are $12, or you can reserve a 4-top table for $22.
This week's feature film will be Rudolph Maté’s 1950 thriller D.O.A., showing Monday, June 22. All films starts at dusk, and the upcoming film screenings are announced weekly on The Good Kind's Facebook event page.
Expect all safety regulations and sanitary procedures to be observed. The Good Kind's temporary hours are Monday-Friday from 4-9 pm, Saturday 11 am-9 pm, and Sunday 11 am-4 pm. The eatery is located at 1127 S. St. Mary's St.
You can also order from the restaurant's full menu.
Photo courtesy of The Good Kind
You can also order from the restaurant's full menu.
White supremacy has long been a stand-in for evil in movies, with the correlation easy to make with through well-known archetypes like those of Nazi Germany. Whether a film puts forth white supremacists as its main characters or supporting ones, their usefulness in a story is as people who are easy to hate and that deserve to be held to some sort of justice.
While that idea holds true in the new film, The Order, the nature of the group featured is somewhat muddled. The central figure is FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude Law), who essentially sets up a one-man task force in the Pacific Northwest to track a group known as The Order. Husk is convinced that the group, which is an offshoot of a larger white supremacist organization, is behind a series of bank robberies to fund anti-government schemes.
Husk recruits local police officer Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan) to help follow the group, which is led by Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult). The two, joined occasionally by FBI agent Joanne Carney (Jurnee Smollett), do their best to keep up with The Order’s increasingly bold crimes, which morphs from “just” bank robbery to murder.
Directed by Justin Kurzel and written by Zach Baylin, the film is at its best when it delves into the personalities of its characters. Husk’s monomaniacal nature is great for his job, but not so much for his family life. Bowen has a solid bond with his wife and kids, but his greenness in law enforcement leads to some questionable decision-making. Mathews, like many cult leaders, is a charismatic person with very misguided tendencies.
The filmmakers set up the plot (which is based on a real-life story) well, but the details get a little loose as the film goes along. While The Order has a hatred of Jews, a plot against radio personality Alan Berg (Marc Maron) doesn’t make much sense in the context of the film. The geography of the group’s operations is also confusing; they’re located in Washington, but they range out as far as Colorado and California to commit their crimes.
Still, the inherent appeal of good-vs-evil keeps the plot mechanics going, and the side stories of the main characters give them a depth that makes up for other faults. The filmmakers also make sure to demonstrate how the scourge of white supremacy has never been limited to one particular era, and continues to infect American society to this day.
Law commits fully to the lead role, giving a performance with a convincing American accent that is far from the suave British parts which have dominated his filmography. Hoult proves equally believable, giving his character a nuance that somehow makes him more detestable. Sheridan adds another interesting role to a career that would be enviable for any other young actor.
While The Order doesn’t rise to the level of an awards contender, its story is still relatively compelling with antagonists that, unfortunately, never go out of style. A great cast playing characters with engaging lives keeps the film watchable even when it goes into some odd detours.