December 13th 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.
You better watch out, cry, and shout for help today at the top of your lungs. SantaCon is coming to town. It'll most likely be sleepng on a barstool, but it'll definitely see you when it's awake. It'll be bad and no damn good. So head to a repertory film venue today. For goodness' sake.
That felt good to say.
Continuing series today include Screwball Romance, Rated Xmas: Holiday Classics, Naughty and Nice and Cronenberg at IFC Center, Chandler, Hammett, Woolrich and Cain at Film Forum, the Robert Altman trib at MoMA, Screenwriters and the Blacklist: Before, During and After at Anthology Film Archives, the Jean Grémillon baiser géant at Museum of the Moving Image, The Last Laugh: An Alternate History of Spanish Comedy at the Film Society, and the festively monickered Xmas Chopping at the Nitehawk Cinema. The lenticular lunacy be thus;
IFC Center
THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK (1944) Dir; Preston Sturges
Rated Xmas: Holiday Classics, Naughty and Nice
WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954) Dir; Michael Curtiz
DIE HARD (1988) Dir; John McTiernan
SCANNERS (1981) Dir; David Cronenberg
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) Dir; Frank Capra
Film Forum
Chandler, Hammett, Woolrich and Cain
THE BIG SLEEP: Pre-release Version (1945) Dir; Howard Hawks
THE BLUE DAHLIA (1946) Dir; George Marshall
THE BIG SLEEP (1946) Dir; Howard Hawks
THE PASSIONATE THIEF (1960) Dir; Mario Monicelli
MoMA
CHRISTMAS EVE (1947) Dir;Edward L. Marin
IMAGES (1972) Dir; Robert Altman
THIEVES LIKE US (1974) Dir; Robert Altman
Anthology Film Archives
Screenwriters and the Blacklist: Before, During and After
HE RAN ALL THE WAY (1951) Dir; John Berry
THE KEY (1958) Dir; Carol Reed
TERROR IN A TEXAS TOWN (1958) Dir; Joseph H. Lewis
TRIUMPH OF THE WILL (1935) Dir; Leni Riefenstahl
Museum of the Moving Image
LE CIEL EST A VOUS (1944) Dir; Jean Grémillon
WHITE PAWS (1949) Dir; Jean Grémillon
Landmark Jersey Loews
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) Dir; Frank Capra
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The Last Laugh: An Alternate History of Spanish Comedy
THE LITTLE COACH (1960) Dir; Marco Ferreri
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
GREMLINS (1984) Dir; Joe Dante
Nitehawk Cinema
SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT (1972) Dir; Theodore Gershuny
THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG (2007) Dir; Andrew Leavold
Today's Pick? Jeezus, man, where do I begin?
I gotta admit I feel nearly licked in the daunting face of such a rich and crowded field today. Naming something that you shouldn't see would be so much easier. I'm looking at you, Altman.
Christmas themes abound. Everything from newbies like McTiernan's skyscraper ho-ho-hostage flick and Dante's three-rule beasties screen alongside acknowledged old-schoolers like Curtiz's WHITE CHRISTMAS. Hell, Capra's very own Angel Second Class appears in venues on BOTH sides of the Hudson tonight. The Nitehawk even serves up one of the earliest yuletide horror flicks, predating both Bob Clark's BLACK CHRISTMAS in subject matter and 1984's SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT in title. That's just one hoop jumped through today.
Non-mistletoe flavored fare today tours territory darker by degrees. The Film Society focuses on the social commentary inherent in Spain's black comic cinema. Film Forum provides two well-poisoned slices of noir goodness in their hardboiled author series. AFA provides further and welcome reminder of McCarthyism's shameful legacy in La-La-Land.
So where to turn? Honestly, Stockahz, no matter what you decide today you can't go wrong. Almost everywhere you look (eyes front Altman!). So I resort to a go-to choice whenever I find myself in such indecisive turmoil.
Astoria's Museum of the Moving Image continues its wonderful career retrospective of French Old Wave auteur Jean Grémillon with screenings of two of his best; 1944's LE CIEL EST A VOUS and 1949's WHITE PAWS. The low admission price of 12 bucks grants you not merely entrance to the screenings, but to the museum entire, a heady experience for even the most well-rounded, even jaded, Cinegeek. Like I said, almost no choice is a bad one today (ALTMAN!!!), but given the brisk, even brusque temps today, and the dense throng of Xmas doings, this is my preferred option. Show the Frogteur a little American love today, whydonch'ya?
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!
