February 21st 2015. Pick of the Day.
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Everyone's complaining about the weather, let's talk about some other subject. I'm personally looking forward cold to this weekend's reunion of cold cold MLB's pitchers and cold catchers. This coming Sunday brings cold our most welcome annual celecoldbration of cinema's supposed best cold efforts cold, the 87th Academy Awards cerecold. Finally, the OKAY ALREADY WILL SOMEBODY TAKE FEBRUARY OUT INTO THE ALLEY AND BEAT IT TO DEATH ONCE AND FOR ALL?!?!? I GOT FIVE DOLLAHZ TO KICK IN!!!!
Ahem.
Ongoing series this day include Screwball Romance at the IFC Center, the Charles Laughton tux-measuring at Film Forum, the Gordon Willis light-dimming at Museum of he Moving Image, and the righteous and well-deserved John Carpenter exult at BAM. The halide hijinks be thus;
IFC Center
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) Dir; Frank Capra
ROBOCOP (1987) Dir; Paul Verhoeven
Film Forum
LES MISERABLES (1935) Dir; Richard Boleslawski
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1939) Dir; William Dietrle
Museum of the Moving Image
THE LANDLORD (1970) Dir; Hal Ashby
LOVING (1970) Dir; Irvin Kershner
LITTLE MURDERS (1971) Dir; Alan Arkin
BAM Cinématek
John Carpenter: Master of Fear
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981) Dir; John Carpenter
Nitehawk Cinema
POSSESSION (1980) Dr; Andrzej Zulawski
Today's Pick? Damn, there's so much on the menu pleasantly familiar and eagerly enticing. Capra's first Oscar-bagger seems the most apropos, but methinks I wait on that selection. The Laughton love offers quite the quality deal, a most prized two-fer, with most prized Forum popcorn as delectable accoutrement, but even this selection would be bested by Moving Image's three-fer, as part of their Gordon Willis salute. And while the Pride of Astoria offers no popcorn, they do present a pretty neat museum, conveniently attached structurally to the screening venue. So they got that going for them. Which is nice. Nah, today not only offers what I esteem a choice unmistakable, it does so during a series' wind-down, one that has been perhaps this lousy month's only saving grace. It's true that, because of our status as a major metropolis, we are routinely afforded the opportunity to experience this filmmaker's work on the big screen, and also very often in 35mm, but there has, to my memory, been rare instances when the entirety of his CV, both good and ill, has served as subject for a nearly month-long series. Any number of my film-centric generation will speak this man's name, actually The Man's name with reverence, for while he did not break any new ground in particular, at least not often, he served as connective tissue between our generation and our mentors', which in most cases was our fathers. As we were being schooled by the works of the masters, by Lang and Ford and Curtiz and Huston and Walsh and Wellman, we could cheerfully boast of our own iteration, a director of throwback venacular but contemporary mentality. He served as bridge between the studio era and the independent, forever desirous of the former but brutally defensive of the freedom granted by the latter. And he always signed his work, because he believed, as his hero and mine Howard Hawks did, that he was ultimately responsible for success' crowd-surf or failure's trip to the woodshed. I cannot overstate the importance this man had to my youth, to the development of my film appreciation, my love of it really, because I always felt, regardless of disparate age, there was a kid of equal enthusiasm on the other side of the screen. And that we were both having fun.
John Carpenter's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK unspools today as part of the series John Carpenter: Master of Fear, currently winding down at BAM. Both Snake and his creator are not dead. You were misinformed.
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!
