Agenda Newsletter - August 3-5, 2007

Catch up with a festival favorite
Pedro Costa

Untitled Document

Various films; Anthology Film Archives; Through August 12;
More info
Believe it or not, Hollywood and its gay-marriage spoofs have recently disappointed us. This retrospective of Portuguese director Pedro Costa’s work is delightfully free of Adam Sandler (and crypto-homophobia). Mostly shot in the slums of Lisbon, and often with a static video camera, the minimalism and misery of his films made him an international film-festival celebrity. See his 1989 debut, The Blood (tonight at 7 p.m.) or the New York theatrical premiere of his newest work, Colossal Youth (pictured; tonight at 6 and 9 p.m.).

Hello, messed-up American violence
Bourne Ultimatum He’s not animated, he doesn’t wear a cape, he’s not a resuscitated cliché like Bond, and he doesn’t have a frat-boy tagline like “yippe kay ay”: In the hands of Paul Greengrass (who delivers an insane 3,500 to 4,000 fast-edit cuts in the new film), Jason Bourne has emerged as the amnesiac, conflicted conscience of all our messed-up ideas about American violence—while kicking more ass than Batman. And this time out, he’s kicking that ass on Manhattan streets. Opening tonight
Best Part Threes » Julia Stiles profile » More info » More weekend picks

Marilyn Manson and Slayer bedevil New Jersey.

Beyoncé takes a fall, er, bow.

Brats make inspiring mess
CSS If Cansei de Ser Sexy’s dance punk seems an odd match for the label that made Nirvana and the Shins stars, just think of it this way: Sub Pop has struck gold again. With their brashly clumsy synth-guitar interplay, songs like “Art Bitch” and “Meeting Paris Hilton” are every bit as bratty as their titles. The super-catchy “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” even argues for CSS as a potentially mainstream pop force. Studio B
Tonight
9 p.m.
More info » More weekend picks

Coheed and Cambria flatten the Warped crowd.

Last chance: dizzying optical illusions!

Great actors get wasted
Husbands What better way to spend two and a half hours on a Sunday afternoon than watching Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, and John Cassavetes get blackout drunk? Perhaps the greatest midlife-crisis movie ever made, Cassavetes’s 1970 milestone gets a rare screening this weekend. Never available on DVD, and long out of print on VHS, it’s well worth taking the trip to Astoria to see three of the era’s finest actors behave like unruly men-children. Museum of the Moving Image
August 5
3:30 p.m.
More info » More weekend picks

Cellist, violinist throw “Big Bash.”

New! Ancient Buddhist and Hindu art.

Extraordinary choreographer steps outside
Paul Taylor Dance Company We also love this season for the biblical heat and sunburns, but summertime’s Out of Doors festival, when great modern-dance troupes storm Lincoln Center, holds a special place in our hearts. Paul Taylor Dance Company’s cameo is a special treat: His dancers match ballet’s technicality with the exuberance of top modern choreography (much of which Taylor created). These short programs cherry-pick Taylor’s best, from the cheerful, all-American Esplanade to his timely meditation on war, Lines of Loss. Damrosch Park Bandshell, Lincoln Center Tonight and August 4
8 p.m.
More info » More weekend picks

Last meal for Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party.

Long Island City artists heading back inside.

Spoiled adults amuse children
15th Annual Ship & Boat
Model Festival Strangely, some adults spend their free time making intricately detailed toy boats. Not so strangely, some children enjoy watching these things sail. The adults redeem themselves this weekend, when 200 of them are gather to show off their work, including an ancient Roman warship and various remote-control vessels. Kids get to build basic boats and float them alongside the others in the pool; you might enjoy the relative peace and quiet. Pier 16, South Street Seaport August 4
and 5
1 p.m.
More info » More weekend picks

Find Little Monkey Lost author here.

Pint-size producers toiled on Mixed-Up Fairy Tales.

August 3-5, 2007

Advertise with us
To advertise on the Agenda,
please contact
Jock_Agorastos@newyorkmag.com No Reservations
Now Playing.

Life isn’t always made to order.