August 25th 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.
Today's continuing series include Scorsese Screens at MoMA, American International Pictures at the brevity-obsessed Anthology Film Archives, and the rapidly concluding Indie 80's at BAM Cinématek. The kino kookery be thus;
MoMA
I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943) Dir; Jacques Tourneur
GUN CRAZY (1949) Dir; Joseph H. Lewis
Anthology Film Archives
American International Pictures
THE TOMB OF LIGEIA* (1964) Dir; Roger Corman
*Star Elizabeth Sheperd in Person.
BURN, WITCH, BURN (1962) Dir; Sidney Hayers
Swindler Cove
E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) Dir; Steven Spielberg
BAM Cinématek
PATTI ROCKS (1988) Dir; David Burton Morris
Today's Pick? First things first; Spielberg's cloying, empty-calorie suck-up to the safe, corporate 80's response to the dangerous and invaluable New Hollywood of the 70's will never get my vote. Not only did it derail the knucklehead in worthless saccharine dalliance for a decade, it pretty much helped quash whatever was left of brave ingenuity's corpse at the major studio level. Bring it.
Already chose the AIP hot stone massage on the weekend, and I can't say honestly that the 80's trib clears the field today, not when a pair of genre clasics from the 40's are unspooling as part of a larger and equally essential series this day. One involves a pair of lovers sexually drawn to each other through violence, and the other may actually remain the best film adap of JANE EYRE. Normally you'd think these films had nothing to unite them, except perhaps their inventiveness on budgets miniscule and their influence through the decades on their respective genres. One more thing ties them together, though; their biggest fan.
Joseph H. Lewis' GUN CRAZY and Jacques Tourneur's I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE unspool in glorious 35mm at MoMA today as part of the unmissable series Scorsese Screens. The two-fer will cost ya a total of $24, but a museum membership totalling $85 gets you not only free admission to all screenings, but to the museum attached to the screening space. I hear it's a cool joint, I'll have to check it out sometime.
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in August '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 warmer, fiercer cuddle of the sun's sunnier disposition has reached its zenith, 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!
