July 13th 2016. Pick of the Day.
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Well, I'm not sure where you, my faithful readers, stand on an issue of hefty gravitas that currently divides our great nation in ways simultaneously benign and absolutely hair-raising, but I can safely say I'm pleased with where the current results stand: AL 4, NL 2. Suck it League that makes your pitchers take at-bats still! I love making controversial statements!
New and ongoing series this day include Modern Matinees: Summer with Judy Holliday at MoMA, Mobsters on Main Street at the Tarrytown Music Hall, and De Palma & His Influences: Double Features at the newly-minted Metrograph. The emulsified ebullience be thus;
Film Forum
BLOOD SIMPLE (1984) Dir; Joel Coen
MoMA
Modern Matinees: Summer with Judy Holliday
BORN YESTERDAY (1950) Dir; George Cukor
Tarrytown Music Hall
ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (1939) Dir; Michael Curtiz
Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens
L'ATALANTE (1934) Dir; Jean Vigo
Lawrence Virgilio Playground, Queens
BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) Dir; Robert Zemeckis
ARROW Field House, Queens
JAWS (1975) Dir; Steven Spielberg
Metrograph
De Palma & His Influences: Double Features
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
Today's Pick? Let's cut to the chase. I'm SORELY tempted to choose Jean Vigo's sole feature, the poetic, lyrical, highly influential L'ATALANTE, which boasts the bonus swag of screening outdoors tonight. In light of the fact that I have and will select numerous movies under the starlit sky these next few weeks, I defer to a different venue, one bounded by 4 walls, yet just as wholly magical. It's reachable within 30 minutes by MetroNorth express, and it belongs to a different century, one which you will instantly find yourself within should you attend. Tonight they offer a classic from the gangster cycle of the 1930's, which premiered a full 54 years after the venue's establishment, yet the marriage of theater and film will feel absolutely appropriate, complimentary, even equally enhancing. Jimmy Cagney essays one of his signature roles. Director Michael Curtiz added the gangster film to his portfolio of genres conquered. And Humphrey Bogart continued his ascendancy to the lead noir icon he remains to this day. It's essential viewing. And tonight you get the opportunity to take a short trip outta the town it's set in to witness its greatness. Take it.
Michael Curtiz's ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES screens tonight at the antiquated, miraculous Tarrytown Music Hall as part of their July series Mobsters on Main Street! Don't go all yellow over attending this screening. It's your moment.
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in July '16 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. Summer has finally set over our fair metropolis like the alien discs from INDEPENDENCE DAY, but milder weather aside 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!
