NOVEMBER 2012! END OF MONTH UPDATE!

Well these here interwebs continue to flummox a geezer such as meself, and the calendar updates may not be possible for the time being. So I'm thankful I have this blog to at least provide the new info in column form. It may not provide the ease of the interactive calendar but it allows me to, in Talking Points' terminology, give you stuff. And things. So let's get to all the late announcements from the various venues that grace our city, shall we?

The IFC Center has awoken from its usual classic film slumber to book a couple of absolute knee-slappers for the long holiday weekend! Both JAWS and DR. STRANGELOVE screen at midnight from tonight the 21st to Saturday night the 24th! Both screen in their brand new DCP verisons, so you can weigh in on whether they betray the original celluloid grain or they're what the fuck is DCP? My only question is how do you pick between these two, unless you go on separate nights, and then how do you pick between these two?

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has deemed us worthy of a peek at their sked, and we humble Morlock thank you master, thank you thank you...

FCLC has booked an anniversary retrospective of Luis Bunuel's masterpiece THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE. which I admit I just copy/pasted because the word bourgeoisie is so difficult to rememeber how to spell. And that's kinda the whole point of Tha Boonz's excersise in class war, might I add. Should look stunning, and how can you say no to a Bunuel screened large I ask? Just make sure you disturb no one with the sound of your blinking at the Walter Reade and Francesca Beale theaters...

BAM kicks off perhaps the most intriguing actor's retrospective to close out the year, unless you argue Anthology Film Archives has chosen a better one. You'll have to wait for December to begin properly for me to reveal that matchup. But it seems there are scant more appropriate actors to lead us from an unseasonably Wintry Autumn into an even more unseasonably Wintry Winter than the stoic Swede who played everybody from Christ to Ming, Father Merrin to Ernst Stavro Blofeld. I speak of none other than Max Von Sydow, and BAM celebrates the not only still-living but still-WORKING hunk of spruce.

There is simply no other way to kick this retrospective off than with the film that not only broke his career open to the world stage (and perhaps more importantly HOLLYWOOD stage) but did the same for his director/collaborator, Ingmar Bergman. THE SEVENTH SEAL is really just about chess, and that's what its characters ultimately learn at film's end. I've spoiled nothing because it's how the film's protagonists ARRIVE at their ends that marks the film as an important statement from a singular voice that towers over its peers to this day. Never seen this screened? Go and never return to this site until you do, philistino!

The remaining Von Sydow smoochery to close out this month includes THE VIRGIN SPRING, PELLE THE CONQUEROR, SHAME and HOUR OF THE WOLF. Or you may just choose to drink battery acid with your parmesean-crusted hot coals.

Kiddin'. No one will ever confuse Big Maxie's CV with the light hearted shenanigans of our beloved Rob Schneider, but I believe that's the whole point. This is gonna be a great series. There are reasons certain actors attain not merely success but status indelible, and BAM provides ample explanation. I'm hoping they fly his Futurama head avatar over from Sweden to give a few guest Q&A's. Could happen.

And finally my fave Manhattan art house, the Landmark Sunshine Cinema on Houston, is devoting the last Friday midnight screening to a classic exhausted among repertory screens, perhaps since its premiere. But a new Oscar hopeful opens this month that concerns the making of said masterpiece, so there's potentially renewed interest in seeing this flick unspool from what we lovingly once referred to as a 35mm projector. At least I think they still use them. Damn these kids.

I digress. If you need to bone up on the topic of the new film HITCHCOCK, starring Anthony Hopkins as the Mahstah, or if you need to see it for the first time which I would find almost impossible to believe, then catch the midnight screenings of PSYCHO on the weekend of November 30th-Decenber 1st. If you have seen this before, which is probably all of you, I'll see you there. If you've never seen this before WHAT??? WHAT??? Were you just born??? And by "just born" I mean more than 2 hours ago??? Because technically you could've gotten a screening in???

Hey, not a war crime, just unfathomable, and the great thing about the revival circuit in our fair metropolis is our continual access to these gems in the venue we were meant to experience them. Hope this month has found you and yours safe and sound, and mindful still of those who can't say the same. Please keep Sandy's victims in mind even and especially as the Holidays approach. Give and donate to the best of your abilities Knucks, and catch as many movies as you can! See you in December!

-Joe Walsh