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The Wing Commander movie club has made it through RoboCop 3 which, while not a good film by any means, ended nicely. But after two weeks of objectively lower quality films, we asked everyone to vote from a selection of six Oscar winners. And the victor was psychological horror classic Rosemary's Baby (1968), which won Best Actress in a Supporting Role. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
Why Rosemary's Baby? We previously talked about directors honored with references in the Wing Commander universe, specifically George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Akira Kurosawa and their associated star systems. We've since picked out two more for the movie pool: Michael Cimino (the TCS Cimino appears in the Prophecy simulator) and Roman Polanski, tuckerized as the Wing Commander movie's "Bishop" Polanski. As with the others, we've selected an additional classic to represent each. We'll be back in the After Action Report to discuss Bishop's character history and where he, the lone pilot in the movie other than Forbes not seen in the original game, came from.
As for the director: if you are familiar with movie history you will know that Roman Polanski is a difficult topic to broach. He is recognized as an extremely talented artist and director responsible for a number of classic films in the 1960s and 70s, including Knife in the Water, Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown. But in 1977, he was arrested for raping an underage girl. Facing conviction, he fled the country and has lived in quasi-exile in France ever since. In spite of this, his films have stayed in the canon and he has continued to work extensively abroad. He won an Academy Award in 2002 for directing The Pianist. The situation has spawned endless debates over the relationship between art and creator… a topic we almost certainly won't be able to resolve on Friday. In spite of that, I trust our group to have a mature conversation and to ultimately address why, decades after committing a horrible crime, he might still have been honored so prominently in the Wing Commander movie!
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
Rosemary's Baby is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on Blu-ray as part of the Criterion Collection in 2012 and remains in print around the world. A copy is available on the Internet Archive. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.
How do we watch the movie together?
It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!
How can I help pick future movie club movies?
The movie club movies are voted on each week by the Wing Commander Discord. The poll is typically posted 24 hours before each week's screening and the next movie is announced at the end. The choices for the poll come from a master pool of Wing Commander-related movies. If you would like to suggest a film for inclusion in that pool you can post it to this thread.
