July 17th 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.
New and continuing series this day include the Yasujiro Ozu trib at IFC Center, True Crime! at Film Forum, Glorious Technicolor: From George Eastman House and Beyond at MoMA, Indie 80's at BAM Cinématek, The Essential John Ford at Museum of the Moving Image, the inspired One-Film Wonders at Anthology Film Archives, and the eternally swank Cabaret Cinema at the Rubin Museum of art. The 4-perf foofaraw be thus;
IFC Center
BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE TODA FAMILY (1941) Dir; Yasujiro Ozu
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) Dir; Stanley Kubrick
SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE (1978) Dir; Richard Donner
THE THING (1982) Dir; John Carpenter
Film Forum
BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967) Dir; Arthur Penn
THE THIRD MAN (1949) Dir; Carol Reed
MoMA
Glorious Technicolor: From George Eastman House and Beyond
A STAR IS BORN (1954) Dir; George Cukor
THE RAID (1954) Dir; Hugo Fregonese
THE FLAME AND THE ARROW (1950) Dir; Jacques Tourneur
BAM Cinématek
HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE (1987) Dir; Robert Townshend
Museum of the Moving Image
THE SEARCHERS (1956) Dir; John Ford
Anthology Film Archives
BRAND X (1970) Dir; Wynn Chamberlain
VENOM AND ETERNITY (1951) Dir; Isidore Isou
LILITH (1964) Dir; Robert Rossen
Lost Battalion Hall Recreation Center
GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) Dir; Ivan Reitman
Rubin Museum of Art
LABYRINTH (1986) Dir; Jim Henson
Landmark Sunshine Cinemas
MANHATTAN (1979) Dir; Woody Allen
Nitehawk Cinema
PHASE IV (1974) Dir; Saul Bass
Today's Pick? Where do I begin? Let's start with the easy trims; recently chose the greatest film ever made just last week, even though I may select it a second time during it's extended stay at Film Forum. Dig Ozu, but no way am I waking up at 10 a.m. for a screening, let alone a dry meditation on the repression inherent in Japanese culure. Reitman's masterpiece screens a few more times this summer, outdoors in each instance, even. So no rush there. Love the Rubin, love the booze and the legroom, but Bowie's Goblin King tempts not. I have always thought BONNIE AND CLYDE overrated, Ford's masterful and elegiac western is by no means a rare event in our movie-mad burg, and I think I need to rest my affections for MoMA's Technicolor series, it's got another month to go. So my final two choices both concern my fave city, my hometown, my beloved NYC. However, as dearly I may desire to hoist Woody's ode to the joint on my shoulders, a minor masterpeice monickered MANHATTAN, I'm going with a slightly askew vision of this same city, yet one no less lovingly rendered. Indeed, perhaps moreso, and this is no knock on the Woodman's devotion to the town nor his talents in repping it cinematically, but hey, there's only one Man of Steel. Now and forever.
Richard Donner's SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE unspools at midnight tonight at IFC Center as part of their superb series Superheroes 1.0. Truth. Justice. The American way. Believing in these notions used to be as tough as believing a man could fly. At the moment, for what is probably only a moment, I feel they are both equally plausible. So, Kal-El, up up and away!
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in July '15 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. 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. The warm cuddle of the sun's friendlier disposition seems finally to have arrived, but 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!
