October 12th 2014. Pick of the Day.
New York City's premiere resource for classic film screenings in the metropolitan area. Offering reviews, recommendations, venues and a host of links keeping classic film and the silver screens alive.
Ongoing series today include Film Forum Jr. and CAPRA! at Film Forum (where else?), 1939 - Hollywood's Golden Year at IFC Center, Joseph L. Mankiewicz - The Essential Iconoclast at the Film Society, and Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien at Astoria's Moving Image. The pixilated peculiarity be thus;
Film Forum
HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN (1941) Dir; Max Fleischer
MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936) Dir; Frank Capra
AMERICAN MADNESS (1932) Dir; Frank Capra
IFC Center
1939 - Hollywood's Golden Year
MIDNIGHT (1939) Dir; Mitchell Leisen
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Joseph L. Mankiewicz - The Essential Iconoclast
A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (1949) Dir; Joseph L. Mankieiwcz
Nitehawk Cinema
SPIDER-BABY (1968) Dir; Jack Hill
Mid-Manhattan Library
THE OLD MAID (1939) Dir; Edmund Goulding
Museum of the Moving Image
Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien
A CITY OF SADNESS (1939) Dir; Hou Hsiao-hsien
LABYRINTH (1986) Dir; Jim Henson
Today's Pick? I'm man enough to come clean about this; I'm whipped. The New York Film Fest coverage, on top of my usual diligence regarding the city's repertory tomfoolery, has left me a might dazed, and looking forward to a day without film (gasp! shudder!). Like a very good smartphone, however, my batteries recharge quickly, and maintain said for a good long spell. So I'm just going to take this day, this one day, to phone in my choice for what I believe should be the object of your unpestered focus. And I don't care if unpestered isn't a word. It is now.
So here goes: Jim Henson's LABYRINTH, which has recently been the subject of a debunked internet rumor regarding its impending sequel, which will probably do more to greenlight that sequel than all the cult worship its been lavished with lo these near-three decades, unspools today at Astoria's glorious Museum of the Moving Image. On hand will be the film's production/costume designers Brian and Wendy Froud, who will be on hand to introduce the movie and sign copies of the new book, Brian Froud's Faeries' Tales. The Goblin King hams it up as David Bowie.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in October '14 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. For the monthly overview and other audio tomfoolery check out the podcast, and follow me on SoundCloud! For reviews of contemporary cinema and my streaming habits (keep it clean!) check out my Letterboxd page. And be sure to follow me on both Facebook, where I provide further info and esoterica on the rep film circuit and star birthdays, and Twitter, where I provide a daily feed for the day's screenings and other blathery. Back tomorrow with a brand new Pick, til then safe, sound, make sure the next knucklehead is too.
-Joe Walsh
P. S. We're swiftly returning to the winter climate, and believe it or not some of our fellow NY'ers have still yet to be made whole in the wake of the 2012 storm. Should you be feeling charitable please visit the folks at OccupySandy.net, follow their hammer-in-hand efforts to restore people's lives, and donate/volunteer if you have the inclination and availability. Be a collective mensch, Stockahz!
