February 2016! Michael Mann, Pioneers of African American Cinema, and The St. Valentine's Massacre 2016!

STOCKAHZ! A hale and hearty m'wah to all of you who've survived the first head of the calendar's annual iteration of the Orthrus, that cold, dark, insidious beast known as January. It's twin set of fangs, the equally mean and miserable February, growls still, but once quelled no longer blocks us from exhibition baseball, St. Patrick's Day and the absolute catastrophe bearing the monicker BATMAN V SUPERMAN. Regardless of all other doings in the world outside the rep film circuit, us Cinegeeks have much to look forward to over this coming Leap Month. Yes! In case you were unaware this year affords and extra day at the cinema in this lunar cycle! So let's get to the pomp, primp and perspicacity coming from our fave venues and programmers this February '16!

Those of you familiar with this site know that I routinely award what I like to refer to as Big Dawg status to the series or screening I deem the month's most unmissable. Last month that honor went to the still unfolding trib to the great Sir Christopher Lee, screening weekends at midnight at the IFC Center thru March. Upcoming titles in the series include his unfortunate misuse in Guy Hamilton's THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (he should'a played Bond!), his lurking High Priest Kharis in Hammer's take on THE MUMMY, and his completely on-the-money mad doctor send-up in Joe Dante's woefully underrated GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH. The films are presented in high quality 35mm and DCP projections. Miss these? Risk pissing off Sir Lee at your individual peril.

This month's Daily Growl must go to one of my fave modern auteurs, a director of singular vision who managed to borrow oft-utilized cinematic tropes, tweak them ever so slightly to yield significantly unique results, and become a voice in the industry who others desperately seek to emulate. He is the offspring of both Hawks and Buñuel, Sturges and Godard, Friedkin and Pasolini. He maintains a status as one of the few remaining big-budget filmmakers who choose to unfold their narrative as largely visual, the spoken word in his film spare and carefully chosen. He has created some of the world's most cherished cinema, and promises to continue to do exactly that. The wealth of his CV will be on display this month, as will the man himself, and one can only hope he'll offer some hint as to his upcoming plans. If any filmmaker knows about planning schemes in advance it's Michael Mann.

Heat And Vice: The Films Of Michael Mann covers the director's entire career, sans his initial effort, the TV film THE JERICHO MILE. It kicks off with the amazingly assured exercise in style and character THIEF, released in 1980 and featuring one of star James Caan's most iconic perfs. It continues on through the 16th with such classic titles as 1983's cult horror curio THE KEEP, 1985's MANHUNTER, perhaps the greatest of the Hannibal Lecter adaps, and 1992's THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. The remainder of the series falls outside the parameters of my classic film cut-off, so for the full sked be sure to check BAM Cinématek's site. In the words of the man, or the Mann, himself, you gotta be able to drop everything and run in 30 seconds if the heat's around the corner. Waste no time getting yourself to this series.

Also at the Cinématek this month is a celebration of cinematic witchcraft, entitled Witches' Brew, timed to coincide with director Robert Eggers' upcoming THE WITCH. Titles in the series include such unmissable classics as Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY, Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA, Robin Hardy's THE WICKER MAN, René Clair's I MARRIED A WITCH, and Richard Quine's BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE. Rarities and arthouse faves include John Moxey's THE CITY OF THE DEAD, Benjamin Christensen's HAXAN, and Carl Theodore Dreyer's DAY OF WRATH. The series runs from the 16th through the 29th.

And last but not least, BAM celebrates Valentine's Day with a screening of Billy Wilder's May-September romance SABRINA, starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. Not a classic, but GODDAM is it romantic!

BAM Cinématek is located at the Peter Jay Sharp building, 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn NY.

Waverunning back to the bipedal side of the East River the Cinegeek's fave temple of nitrate unspool, West Houston street's glorious Film Forum, boasts its usual jam-packed slate of rep rambunctiousness. The month begins with the already in-progress trib to the beloved and essential filmmaking siblings known as The Coen Brothers. Remaining films in the series include RAISING ARIZONA, BARTON FINK, and what I still esteem their masterpiece, 1990's MILLER'S CROSSING, which boasts a perf from the great Gabriel Byrne I STILL maintain is the closest thing in the modern era we've had to Bogart at his best. The series ends today, the 4th, so hie on you sons-of-bitches!

Following that series is a weeklong booking of Antonio Pietrangelli's I KNEW HER WELL, presented in a brand-spankin' new 4K DCP spitshine, in what will undoubtedly be a successful attempt to revitalize the Italian New Wave director's rep. Immediately after comes a newly-stricken 35mm print of what many regard to be the greatest fairy tale film of all time, Jean Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The Forum returns to the European Boot's New Wave with a week of Fellini's CITY OF WOMEN, in a new DCP resto. And closing out the month is what nearly stole my Pick from the great Mann, a new and brilliant 4K iteration of Akira Kurosawa's last masterpiece, 1985's RAN. Way to go leaving me ANY time to catch Marvel's AGENT CARTER this month, Bruce Goldstein et al!

The Forum also honors Black History month with screenings of some of the choicest examples from the era of the so-called "Race Studios". Pioneers of African-American Cinema offers up Spencer Williams' THE BLOOD OF JESUS , and Oscar Micheaux's WITHIN OUR GATES. The series runs Valentine's Day weekend, and resumes in March.

Lastly this month the Forum contimues its wonderful, hook-'em-while-they're-young series Film Forum Jr. The February '16 entries include Clarence Brown's NATIONAL VELVET, Arthur Penn's THE MIRACLE WORKER, and the aforementioned BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Film Forum is located at 209 West Houston Street in Manhattan.

Tiptoeing across town toward the NY film fanatic's fave haunted house, otherwise monickered Anthology Film Archives, an impressive roster comes into focus. Their already in-progress third lap of their trib to American International Pictures, inarguably the most important independent production house of the postawr era, delivers some thrills 'n spills. Which is great becasue the original posters promised them some 50-60 years ago, and they usually were printed before a screenplay was begun! Titles include Robert Fuest's THE ABONIMABLE DR. PHIBES and DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN, Ralph Bakshi's influential animated classic HEAVY TRAFFIC, Roger Corman's BLOODY MAMA, and Vernon Zimmerman's chick-derby classic UNHOLY ROLLERS. The series continues into next month, concludng on the 21st of March.

Also at AFA this month is their annual ode to all things Cupid-driven. Valentine's Day Massacre 2016 includes old saws like Maurice Piliat's WE WON'T GROW OLD TOGETHER, Albert Brooks' MODERN ROMANCE, and Andrzej Zulaski's POSSESSION, and is joined this year by a very special newbie entry indeed, Elaine May's THE HEARTBREAK KID. They all screen on 35mm, and they'll all own ventricle space in your hearts once seen, be it left or right. The series runs from the 11th to the 14th.

Finally at AFA comes screnings of Kon Ichikawa's THE BURMESE HARP and Andrezej Wadja's KANAL, part of the trib to Japanese choreographer Eiko, and two special 35mm unspoolings of Erich Von Stroheim's legendary masterpiece GREED on the 12th, 15th and 18th. Anthology Film Archives is located at 32 2nd Avenue in Manhattan.

Scurrying uptown for fear for our lives we find ourselves at MoMA, which has quite the rep roster to brag of. The soonly-ending All That Jack (Cole) still boasts screenings of George Cukor's LET'S MAKE LOVE & LES GIRLS, Vincente Minnelli's DESIGNING WOMAN, and Lloyd Bacon's THE I DON'T CARE GIRL. The series ends this Saturday the 6th.

The real cherry on MoMA's sundae this month is their excellent exploration of South America's darkest shadows, Death is My Dance Partner: Film Noir in Postwar Argentina. Titles in the series, of which I am completely unintroduced, include Hugo Fregonese's HARDLY A CRIMINAL, Carlos Hugo Christensen's IF I SHOULD DIE BEFORE I WAKE, and Pierre Chenal's NATIVE SON. It's all a new and exciting maze to me, but the presence of noir-master/curator Eddie Muller, founder of the Film Noir Foundation. Which sounds pretty official based solely on the title. The series runs from the 10th through the 16th.

The Modern Matinees series this month continues to be split between new old and old old; the reprise series entitled "Fashionably Late", and the ongoing trib to one of the men most responsible for the creation of the Western genre, one William S. Hart. The latter, A Pioneer Cowboy, features upcoming gems like THE TIGER MAN, THE TOLL GATE and WILD BILL HICKOK, while the former rolls out vintage beauts like Ernst Lubitsch's TROUBLE IN PARADISE, D. W. Griffith's BROKEN BLOSSOMS, and René Clair's MAN ABOUT TOWN. The former runs til the 9th, the latter through the 26th. MoMA is located at 11 W 53rd street in Manhattan.

Hoverflaming just slightly north and west to the Film Society of Lincoln Center we get to enjoy the closing days of their cheeky Mom & Daughter trib to Jane Birkin and Charlotte Gainsbourg, wittily titled Jane & Charlotte Forever. Remaining titles include Jacques Doillon's THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER, Bertrand Tavernier's DADDY NOSTALGIA, and the sadly, recently departed Jacques Rivette's LOVE ON THE GROUND.

As part of the FSLC's exploration of Dance on Camera Vincente Minnelli's THE BAND WAGON unspools in glorious 35mm, two lesser-known Charles Bronson flicks, Tom Gries' BREAKOUT and Réné Clément's RIDER ON THE RAIN, unspool as part of the Film Comment Selects series, and a quartet of heartbreak arrives, appropriately enough perhaps, in Valentine's Day wake; Manoel De Oliveira's Tetralogy of Frustrated Love, which numbers the director's 1972 PAST AND PRESENT, 1975 BENILDE, OR THE VIRGIN MOTHER, 1979's DOOMED LOVE, and 1981's FRANCISCA within its rank. The Walter Reade Theater is located at 165 W. 65th street at Lincoln Center Plaza.

Subway-surfing the A train back downtown we land at the IFC Center, aforementioned home, or should I say current representative tomb, of the ongoing wonderful trib to the recently, unneccessarily departed Christopher Lee. Other shenanigans include the ongoing series paying trib to the legendary and currently Oscar-nommed Charlotte Rampling, this month's titles including Liliana Cavani's THE NIGHT PORTER and Dick Richard's FAREWELL MY LOVELY. And midnight shenanigans include two by John Hughes; 1984's SIXTEEN CANDLES and 1985's THE BREAKFAST CLUB, as well as Paul Verhoeven's TOTAL RECALL. IFC Center is located at 323 6th avenue at W. 3rd st. in Manhattan.

Skedaddlin' slightly west towards the Rubin Museum, the eternally swank Cabaret Cinema series presents Fellini's AMARCORD, Chaplin's LIMELIGHT, and Welles' TOUCH OF EVIL. The policy has changed, so the price of a drink no longer snags a fre tik, but the added expense pales in comparison to the cocktail service and legroom. If you've never been, don't miss this. The museum is located at 150 W. 17th street in Manhattan.

The French Institute/Alliance Française offers up their usually magnificent CinéSalon series with the continuing trib to legendary French DP Pierre Lhomme. Upcoming titles such as Alain Cavalier's LE COMBAT DAND LILS, Chris Marker's LE JOLI MAI, and Jean-Paul Rappeneau's CYRANO DE BERGERAC. This current series runs through the 23rd.

The rest looks thus;

The Landmark Sunshine Cinema screens Blake Edwards' BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S on the weekend of Valentine's Day, the 13th, 14th and 15th.

The Mid-Manhattan Library presents 4 of the 5 films in the popular Dashiell Hammett-inspired Nick & Nora series: W. S. Van Dyke's THE THIN MAN, AFTER THE THIN MAN, ANOTHER THIN MAN & SHADOW OF THE THIN MAN. Nice to see a sinlge director got to oversee an entire series in the way back when. Screenings scheduled for Sundays at 2pm.

Screenings this month at the New York Historical Society include John Cassavetes' GLORIA, Ed Zwick's GLORY.

And finally, the Tarrytown Music Hall pumps some breath into its still mostly cinematically inactive cavity, one still as full of promise as a set of human lungs, with a screening of Billy Wilder's SOME LIKE IT HOT. This remains one of my most beloved venues, filmic or otherwise, and I heartily encourage your attendance.

And that's that, Stockahz, your NYC rep film sked for Feb '16! I should mention that schedules are subject to change, and god knows they do, so be sure to check back with the site's interactive calendar to keep current. And also please follow yours truly via the Facebook page, the Twitter acc't, the Instagram doings, the Tumblr & Vine doohickery oh hell just hide under my bed whydontch'ya?!? As always, thanks for choosing Nitrate Stock for your rep film lowdown, and I look forward not only to keeping you informed of its doings but joining you for its screenings. Excelsior, Knuckleheads!

-Joe Walsh

JoeW@NitrateStock.net