Canon Fodder

The Kansas City Public Library's Off-the-Wall film series kicks off in May with John Carpenter's 1988 aliens-walk-among-us cult classic, They Live. How do we know it's a cult classic? Because The Onion says so, and that's good enough for us. Scott Tobias, movie editor for the satirical newspaper and the man behind its A.V. Club's New Cult Canon online essays, wears special sunglasses (just like Roddy Piper's in They Live) that let him see which flicks exhibit signs of that elusive awesomeness. The tricky part, as Piper can tell you, is convincing everyone else. "I have a fairly broad definition of what a cult movie is," Tobias explains. "To me, the common denominator of cult movies is that they're all offbeat, idiosyncratic, usually auteur-driven movies that inspire and reward obsession on the part of the viewer."They Live isn't a perfect movie," Tobias continues, "but it's Carpenter's last great one and a fine example of how well he smuggles subversive ideas into two-fisted genre fare.Tobias speaks at 6:30 tonight at the library's Central Branch (14 West 10th Street, 816-701-3407). See kclibrary.org for details. See the Plog at Pitch.com for the full interview with Tobias.
Wed., May 6, 6:30 p.m., 2009