February 27th 2015. Pick of the Day.

I feel like I'm dragging myself across February's finishing line. I could care less about breaking that tape. Just so long as March is on the other side. I never thought I'd pine for March, but it would seem T. S. Eliot was wrong about April, if ya catch my drift.

New and continuing series this day include the big screen valentines to Ginger Rogers and Gordon Willis, unspooling at MoMA and MoMI, repesctively, Black & White 'Scope: American Cinema at BAM Cinématek, and the eternally swank Cabaret Cinema at the Rubin Museum. Cinegeeks, shall we?

Film Forum

KES (1969) Dir; Ken Loach

MoMA

Acteurism: Ginger Rogers

VIVACIOUS LADY (1938) Dir; George Stevens

BAM Cinématek

Black & White 'Scope: American Cinema

THE APARTMENT (1960) Dir; Billy Wilder

ONE, TWO, THREE (1961) Dir; Billy Wilder

Museum of the Moving Image

See It Big! Gordon Willis

ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976) Dir; Alan J. Pakula

Landmark Jersey Loews

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938) Dir; Frank Capra

Rubin Museum of Art

Cabaret Cinema

THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (1964) Dir; Jacques Demy

Nitehawk Cinema

THE BLOOD-SPATTERED BRIDE (1974) Dir; Vicente Aranda

Today's Pick? There are so many venues this day that offer quality fare and have, I feel, been the subject of my neglect. I've focused a great deal on MoMA during their celebration of women in cinema, as well as their crackerjack fêting of the great Ginger Rogers. I've spent some attention on Film Forum for their dual tribs to filmmaker John Boorman and actor/scene-masticater Charles Laughton. And I've definitely shown my love and loyalty to master storyteller John Carpenter, who was given a just celebration at BAM this month. So, to which crowd surf do I apply the set of bare palms I am in possession of? Haven't banged the drum for a midnight screening at the Nitehawk in a spell. Of course, the Rubin hasn't been Pick since mid-month's screening of Wier's PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK. Tonight, however, I must go with a Pick not merely for it's value on the entertainment level, but because it supports a venue I hold most close to my heart.

I first heard about this renovated and mostly fully-functional movie palace 7 years ago, during the waning days of summer '08, mere weeks after my father passed from this plane. He was the single most instrumental figure in my film education, most influential toward what would become my taste for the genre. Mostly, though, he was my dad. Suffice to say I was bummed. Hard. Still am.

By chance, I happened to be knocking back a pint or ten at my local when I began leafing through a copy of the NY Post somebody'd left behind. I came across the weekend section, wherein they suggested a trip to a theater that first opened in 1929, and that, after a spell of neglect, had recently re-opened, and was showing classic film on 35mm. This particular weekend they were spotlighting the magnificent Marlene Dietrich, and I was still able to catch the Saturday screening: George Marshall's DESTRY RIDES AGAIN. A film I'd been introduced to by my dad and one we'd routinely watched together. We hissed at Brian Donlevy. We cheered on Jimmy Stewart. We swooned over Marlene. Well, one of us, anyway. My turn at the swoon would come much later.

I was intrigued as hell by the notion of this venue. I tried my damndest to gather a crew to go check this joint out. No takers, I said the hell with it. It was supposed to be a short jaunt on the PATH train. I'd investigate the place by my lonesome.

When I first beheld the palace, my jaw dropped. Once inside, it nearly hit the floor. Honestly, I was really afraid for my jaw after awhile. It was an honest-to-goodness movie palace from an era I'd never dreamed I'd experience. There was a grand entrance with a huge chandelier. There was a 50 ft. screen complete with a pipe organ that rose to and retreated from the stage. I scoured every inch of the joint to find the framed photo of myself with New Year's revellers from 1929, a la Nicholson from THE SHINING, such was my bond with the edifice upon first entry. To top the whole experience off, I got to watch DESTRY, and I firmly believe my dad was in attendance with me that night. It wasn't just novelty, or nostalgia. It was an opportunity to bond with my dad again, to revisit a past I'd never been to, his past. Film isn't merely an art form I study, it's an attempt to retain the connection between myself and my parents, and opportunity for common ground, in the event of the loss of either of us an avenue to revisit, to spend time, if only a couple of hours, with the departed once more. Film is fixed in a way our memories never will be, and therefore represents in some ways the most concrete manner in which to recall our fondest loved ones and most cherished memories. It may seem like a hipster opportunity, or a loner pastime, but going to the movies, especially in a palace spared the wrecking ball and returned to life, is one of the only resources we have at hand to return to us the moments, and the people, we love the most.

Frank Capra's YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU screens tonight at the Landmark Jersey Loews. Go spend some time with the people you miss the most.

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!

JoeW@NitrateStock.net

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!