November 9th 2012. Pick Of the Day.

A ROUGH field from which to choose on this hypothermic week's finale. Foremost amongst the films that just miss my top spot is Michael Roemer's NOTHING BUT A MAN, screening at the Film Forum for a week in a brand new 35mm print courtesy of the Library of Congress. A gripping portrait of a declining Jim Crow culture and one black man's place in the social scheme, it also features the first Motown soundtrack and the film debut of jazz singer Abbey Lincoln. Essential.

Anthology Film Archives allows underground fauxteur Willima Lustig free reign for his Tribute to the Warner Archives series, kicking off tonight with Mike Hodges' seminal GET CARTER, one of the best of the stalk-up-the-ladder revenge flicks, and its blaxploitation remake HIT MAN, starring Bernie Casey and Pam Grier! Yet I choose these not.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center continues its Keisuke Kinoshita love today with four count 'em FOUR selections from their retrospective, FAREWELL TO SPRING, WEDDING RING, WOMAN, and A JAPANESE TRAGEDY. I doubt not the quality of this man who came second at the box office in his native Japan only to one Akira Kurosawa. But I nudge them from the troth all the same.

Bergman's CRIES AND WHISPERS? Take a guess.

And it takes a mighty hunk of celluloid to edge out the great Robert Aldrich's late innings classic thriller TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING, which for various rights issues has long gone unseen but now resurfaces as part of MOMA's To Save and Project series' final days. Every bit the nail-biter and social comment as the director's SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, but with perhaps consequences even more dire, TWILIGHT succeeds due to standout perfs from Burt Lancaster, Charles Durning, Richard Widmark and Yaphet Kotto, an ace script from Ronald M. Cohen and Edward Huebsch, and the usual taut and cynical party tricks from Aldrich. This should be a real treat. And were it's maker still with us and making an appearance I would've easily crowned this the winner today. But the real champ screens further uptown, farther west and 4 hours later.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center, who loves to let you know about their screenings mere days after they have occurred, holds the true incredible treat of the day for the Cinegeek. A classic time capsule of 70's NYC, an iconic cinematic representation of the Chrysler building as surely as Kong reps the ESB, a perf for the ages from method nut Michael Moriarty, and perhaps the trophy-di-tutti-trophy anmongst fringe auteur Larry Cohen's thrift store accolades, Q: THE WINGED SERPENT is every bit iconic to the film legacy of NYC as KING KONG, as CAT PEOPLE, as DOG DAY AFTENOON and TAXI DRIVER and THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123. It's a quintessential Noo Yawk 70's flick that just happens to feature a thousands year old winged demon that nests in the Chrysler building and does the bidding of Michael Moriarty's unhinged scientist guy. It's practically a documentary of the city in that era. It also stars David Carradine, Candy Clark and Richard Roundtree as each other. Only Larry Cohen could have cooked up batshit stew to levels this egregious, and we are all grateful for it. The tipping point that makes this my Pick Of The Day? The director himself will be on hand to introduce the flick, field some questions, and then morph into his hideous walrus demon form and ass rape everyone in attendance. For only thirteen bucks! It's a mitzvah!

Enjoy the movie experience both classic and current this city provides, but also stay mindful of the help you can give to those still suffering hurricane Sandy's aftermath. Donate! Volunteer! Then hit the movies, knucklehedz! Excelsior!