February 19th 2015. 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.
Forgive the brevity, but I'm still dealing with the looming deadline to get my year-end reviews in on Letterboxd, my Top Ten of '14, and a healthy partaking of spicy chili cheese fries all in the books before Oscar night 2015 races past us. So let's get to it. Ongoing series today include te Charles Laughton huggery at Film Forum, the Ginger Rogers pas de deux at MoMA, and the important and formidable Tell It Like It Is: Black Independents in New York, 1968-86 at Lincoln Center. You're coming to the site's first ever live meet-up, the First Annual Nitrate Stock Oscar Bash, this Sunday? Yes? Where we ballot off the complete 007 BluRay box as Grand Prize? Well, good luck to ye should you choose to pass it up, it promises to be a spectacular evening. In any event, this day's doings be thus;
Film Forum
HOBSON'S CHOICE (1954) Dir; David Lean
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (1957) Dir; Billy Wilder
MoMA
STAGE DOOR (1937) Dir; Gregory La Cava
BowTie Chelsea Cinema
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1935) Dir; Frank Capra
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Tell It Like It Is: Black Independents in New York, 1968-86
SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT (1986) Dir; Spike Lee
Today's Pick? I've dug into the Laughton series already, and just yesterday chose Miss Rogers, so today I'm going with a film that firmly and properly announced the arrival of a brash and important new talent. He may have only remained such for the first quarter of his career, but none too many CV's may boast of such longevity, and far too few may brag of similar quality. He irritates, he aggravates, he polarizes, and perhaps that's his ultimate goal, and always has been. At one point, however, he wielded swag that placed him in the company of Jim Jarmusch, the Coen Brothers and, yes, even David Lynch. Perhaps we'll be reaquanted with this brillaint and burning artist once more. Til then, we'll always have Bed-Stuy.
Spike Lee's SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT unspools this eve at the Francesca Beale Theater, uptown at the Film Society's Lincoln Center complex, as part of the series Tell It Like It Is: Black Independents in New York, 1968-86! Spike was right the first time.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in February '15 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 soon with new Picks 'n perks, 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!
