TheWashCycle

The bikiest Oscar Nominees this year (that I've seen)

There's no Breaking Away or Bicycle Thieves or even a Me and My Moulton this year, but there are some Oscar-nominated films this year with at least some bike or bikeness to them. Below I have listed them in order from least to most bikey, at least for the ones I've seen (I have not seen them all. Maybe Dick Cheney does a lot of bike riding in Vice. Seems unlikely).

6. Endgame - This documentary short about end-of-life care features an exterior shot of a hospice in San Francisco in which a cyclist flies down the hill in a green painted bike lane. 

5. Blackkklansman - Ron Stallworth, the main character, goes on a date on some path that appears to be a multi-use trail, but no one on a bike is seen, so maybe it's not. I only know the trail is in New York. [The pickings are slim here people. Good movie though.]

4. Bohemian Rhapsody - The movie doesn't include the song "Bicycle Race", but there is a party scene in which scantily-clad girls ride stationary bikes which is supposed to be a nod to the video in which the girls are nude and on real bikes. 

3. A Quiet Place - A key scene near the beginning takes place on the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail in New York. No biking though. 

2. First Reformed - This movie actually features people riding bikes! For several seconds! The two main characters go on a bike ride for fun. Which is what everyone should do - rather than most of the other stuff the characters do or contemplate. 

1. Mary Poppins Returns - So much biking. Jack, played by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is a lamplighter who rides his bike everywhere and is frequently transporting characters around on his bike, even using it for some wooing. There's a dance scene on bikes (which might also be something you'd see in Vice). The titular character rides one during the climactic scene. It's biketastic and should win all of the Oscars. 

Icarus

One of the movies up for an Oscar on Sunday is the documentary Icarus. While it starts out as a biking movie, after the first act that story peters out for the larger, accidental, story that it becomes.

In the film, filmaker Bryan Fogel decides to do an experiment on himself - similar to Supersize me - by competing in the Haute Route, an annual event in that Alps that he described as “the single hardest amateur bike race in the world." It's sort of an every man's Tour de France, and like the Tour, PED's are illegal and supposedly tested for (he said they actually were not). He would do it one year "clean" and the next all roided up. 

His experiment is a bit of a flop. The first year he does pretty well, but feels like the top few athletes are on a whole other level, and implies that they are doping. The next year he dopes under a program designed by a Russian doctor, Grigory Rodchenkov, who runs that country's anti-doping program. He has regular check ups to make sure he's healthy and he does all the things a doping athlete will do. Despite feeling much stronger and like he has more stamina, he actually does worse in the race the next time (in part due to mechanical issues, but also the doping didn't seem to help him as much as he'd hoped). He was pretty disappointed. 

But he stumbled onto a great story. Rodchenkov, who is hysterical and utterly likeable, turns out to be the man at the center of the whole Russian doping scandal. Fogel and the Rodchenkov become friends and when Rodchenkov decides to escape Russia it's to Fogel's home that he comes, and this is what the story is really about. 

I liked it, but it will make you wonder if any of the sports you've ever watched have been free of cheaters. I mean, even a curler tested positive for doping this year.

Movie Nights on the Met Branch Trail

Too late for the first movie, but still three more...

 

WHO:  EVERYONE is invited! Bring your blanket or chairs. Co-sponsored by Friends of Edgewood and Met Branch Trail 5K
WHERE:  On the Met Branch Trail by the Rhode Island Ave NE Pedestrian-Bicycle Bridge
WHEN:  At dusk (8:30ish) every Thursday in July
WHAT:
Thursday, July 7:                 Back to the Future 
Thursday, July 14:               Lean On Me 
Thursday, July 21:               Inside Out 
Thursday, July 28:               Cool Runnings 

(Rain dates: August 4 and 11)

Just like last year, short films about other DC nonprofits' good work will precede each family-friendly feature presentation. Movies will be shown with closed-captioning so no one misses anything. We're excited!

===============

 

Friends of Edgewood Recreation Center, Inc., 501(c)(3) 

Doing Good in the Neighborhood

DC DPR Community Garden Park Partners, and Office of the Clean City Adopt-a-Block Partners

www.friendsofedgewoodrec.org

Bikish Movie: The Judge

As part of my annual quest to watch every Oscar nominated film, I recently watched the Robert Downey, Jr./Robert Duvall movie "The Judge". It was an OK movie that was brilliantly acted by an all-star cast with beautiful visuals but something of a disjointed, cliched plot. Relevant to this blog is that it centers on a trial surrounding a fatal bicycle crash. Also, in one scene Downey takes his childhood bike out for a ride and then crashes it. 

Spoiler's below the break

Bikes vs Cars Documentary opens today. One showing in DC area.

The documentary Bikes vs. Cars is opening in theaters today and there is at least one local showing scheduled in the area. The Old Greenbelt Theater is going to show it, one day only, at 1pm on Sunday.

BIKES vs CARS, a new documentary film by Fredrik Gertten (BANANAS, Big Boys Gone Bananas) that advocates for bike-friendly cities in the 21st century, will be released in theaters nationwide this week. The film, and a related app, has been inspiring a new approach to urban planning that could lead to better designs, smarter political decisions and reduced CO2 emissions.

The film is expected to have a strong theatrical release by connecting the bicyclist community and people who are interested in progressive urban planning, as well as general audiences.

Bikes vs Cars is a documentary about the bicycle and what an amazing tool for change it can be. It highlights a growing conflict in city planning between the bicycle, which supports a diverse city with a human scale, and the car, which engenders urban sprawl and reliance on fossil fuels.

From Copenhagen to Los Angeles via Sao Paulo, director Fredrik Gertten explores the ongoing efforts of bicycle activists, who are fighting for their right to ride on city streets against the combined forces of multi-billion dollar auto, oil, and construction lobbies, who are determined to keep our cities car dependent. BIKES vs CARS is a crie de coeur that will have audiences reaching for their bikes instead of theircar keys. A companion app will help cyclists track how much they reduce their CO2 imprint and oil consumption for every mile they ride instead of drive. The app is a campaign tool to support activists and cities to work towards bike-friendlier cities. 

BIKES vs CARS is being released theatrically on Kino Lorber’s Alive Mind Cinema label. The theatrical campaign will be supported by a full-fledged community outreach campaign with an emphasis on engaging environmental and bike groups to see the film and support legislation that endorses bicycling.

“For those who already embrace bike culture, the film will confirm their convictions,” says Elizabeth Sheldon, SVP Kino Lorber. “And for those who prefer to drive, the documentary shows how more bike-friendly cities benefit everybody, not only cyclists.”

“Bikes vs Cars depicts a global crisis and how every person can contribute to the solution by riding their bike," said Fredrik Gertten, the film's director.

 

 

Bikes vs Cars Official Trailer from Zach Alexander on Vimeo.

For the record, my kids love to ride the bus (my dog, on the other hand, is scared of the sound the air brakes make).

New Belgium Brewing’s Clips Beer & Film Tour

New Belgium Brewing is taking its 2015 Clips Beer & Film Tour to twenty cities coast-to-coast. The beer-toting, film-traveling, nonprofit-benefitting show will run from May to October, during its sixth season. Clips is a free event, with all proceeds from beer sales going to local nonprofits. Since its inception in 2010, Clips Beer & Film Tour has raised more than $520,000 for nonprofits nationwide and brought more than 35,000 people out to their local parks for a fun and philanthropic night of movie watching and beer tasting.

Clips offers a venue where guests can try New Belgium’s more esoteric beer offerings, pairing them with inspiring short films created by New Belgium fans. Up to 16 beer varieties will be on tap, including some of the more hard-to-come-by beers from the Lips of Faith sereis, as well as brewery classics.

New Belgium beers will be available in 3-ounce samples, 12 ounce pours, or cans. Served up by local beneficiary volunteers, there's plenty of fun to be had once the sun sets and the films start rolling. Food from local vendors will also be available.

“We have another exciting season lined up with a couple new stops, new toys, new beers and new films,” said Christie Catania, Clips national special events manager. “We’re excited to tour around the country and work with amazing local groups doing great work in their communities. The funds raised will help each of them continue their mission long after the show wraps up.”

New Belgium also teams up with a local sustainability partner at each stop and has diverted at least 85 percent of event waste from landfills over the past five years.

The tour is not coming to DC, but is coming to the DC-area - depending on how loose your definition of "DC area" is.

Reston, VA                           September 10             Reston Town Center
Charlottesville, VA                 September 17             Washington Park: Lower Field

Bikes vs. Cars: The Movie!

The 23rd Environmental Film Festival kicks off on March 17th, and this year's opening night feature is Bikes vs. Cars. 

Traffic gridlock around the world is frustrating people, wasting their time, polluting the air and contributing to climate change. Director Fredrik Gertten (BANANAS! and Big Boys Gone Bananas!) investigates the daily global spectacle of traffic and looks for solutions. Following bicycle activists’ crusades to foster meaningful change, the film documents the struggle for bicyclists in a society dominated by cars. From bike activists in Sao Paulo and Los Angeles, fighting for safe bike lanes, to the city of Copenhagen, where forty percent commute daily by bike, BIKES vs CARS considers the revolutionary changes that could take place if more cities made room for bicyclists.

The other bicycle relevant movie is a short,  For All the Marbles

Faced with the most urgent issue of our generation — climate change — a Salt Lake City carpenter decides to run for Congress. This film documents Bill’s unconventional political campaign as he rides his bike over 650 miles through the state of Utah to raise awareness of climate change.

2015 Oscar Nominated Bicycle movie - Me and My Moulton

There's always some debate over what is and is not a bicycle movie, but this oscar nominated animated short about (among other things) a family of girls who long for a bicycle, surely counts. This is the titular Moulton. 

Are you ready for your closeup?

BikeArlington is looking for people to star in its documentary.

BikeArlington is excited to announce that we are working with Modacity, the awesome team behind theCycle Chic film series, to create some films about folks who live, work and play in Arlington. This promotional campaign will consist of six short documentary films (2-3 minutes in length) featuring everyday Arlington citizens who use a bicycle as means of commuting and/or recreation.

And we think YOU should answer the open casting call by heading over to their site.

We also want you to share this casting call with everyone you know—your neighbor with the awesome fenders, the friend who bikes with her dog, that guy who bikes in a suit on your commute, the couple who bikes together like the stars of their own romantic comedy, your coworker who’s a nervous and excited new rider, the family that bikes to the park, heck, your whole social network— so that we can share some awesome bike stories with you later this summer.

Frozen's Anachronistic Bicycle

I'm in the middle of my 53rd viewing of Frozen (this one, not this one) and it occured to me that the bicycle that makes a cameo during "Do you want to build a snowman" is by far the most modern piece of technology in the movie. While a time is never established for when the film is occuring, but the boats used by royalty are all sailing vessels, even though steam ships predated the modern bike by at least 50 years. Anyway, these are the things you think about when you want the movie repeatedly.*

I tried to find a screenshot of the bike, but I couldn't, but it looks like a standard, modern design. 

*Also how much money Arendelle will save in military spending since their queen is now the ultimate military weapon. 

Also, I'm on vacation this week.