December 11th 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.
Okay, much as I love to fill out this column's header with some good ol' fashioned New Yorker weather bitchin', I must honestly confess the sight of this December's first snowflakes has put me in quite the Xmas mood. Which I'm sure will be absolutely ruined once the stuff starts blanketing the city and hindering my ever-decreasing ability to step from here to there, but for now, snowflakes!
Continuing series today includes MoMA's tribs to actress Joan Bennett and director Robert Altman, The Dark Side of the Sun: John Zorn on Japanese Cinema at the Japan Society, Screenwriters and the Blacklist: Before, During and After at Anthology Film Archives, Chelsea Classics at the BowTie Chelsea Cinemas, and The Deuce, Nitehawk Cinemas celebration of Times Square's glory grindhouse days. The repertory tomfoolery be thus;
Film Forum
THE PASSIONATE THIEF (1960) Dir; Mario Monicelli
MoMA
THE TRIAL OF VIVIENNE WARE (1932) Dir; William K. Howard
BREWSTER MCCLOUD (1970) Dir; Robert Altman
IMAGES (1972) Dir; Robert Altman
Japan Society
The Dark Side of the Sun: John Zorn on Japanese Cinema
TOP STRIPPER (1982) Dir; Yoshimistu Morita
Anthology Film Archives
Screenwriters and the Blacklist: Before, During and After
SALT OF THE EARTH (1954) Dir; Herman J. Biberman
THE CASE AGAINST BROOKLYN (1958) Dir; Paul Wendkos
BowTie Chelsea Cinemas
THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER (1942) Dir; William Keighley
Nitehawk Cinema
MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING (1979) Dir; Joseph Kuo
Today's Pick? Like I'm taking sides against the Wu-Tang? Especially the Clan from Gilligan's borough, the quaint Richmond County, that jewel set in the Hudson oh fuck it I'm talkin' Staten Island.
The groundbreaking hip-hop group whose number includes the RZA and the GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, and Masta Killa, to name but a few, were the first to fully incorporate the martial arts film influence so popular in black culture into their muisc, not just aesthetically, but philosophically. Indeed, group member Ghostface Killah took his name from tonight's selection, a landmark Kung Fu beatdown that takes the intellectual competition of chess as its inspiration, combining the board game's strategical prowess with the fist and foot battery of Chop Socky cinema. Many people first became aware of Joseph Kuo's thrilling action epic because of the Wu-Tang, themselves of mighty cultural impact in both the music and film worlds, and the proud authors of the highly influential Da Mystery of Chess Boxin. So out of solidarity for my fellow NY'ers, and because, full disclosure, I've never seen the film in its entirety, I'm making it my top choice on a day loaded with enticing repertory goodies.
Joseph Kuo's MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING screens tonight as part of the Nitehawk Cinema's gloriously garish series The Deuce. Nitehawk takes Kings County. Checkmate.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in December '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!
P. S. We're fully entwined in winter's embrace, 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!
