August 20th 2016. 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.
New and continuing series this waning August day include the irresistable bargain Return of the Double Feature at Film Forum, the closure of Joe Dante at the Movies at BAM Cinématek, and Voyeurism, Surveillance and Identity in the Cinema at the brevity-obssessed haunted house Anthology Film Archives. The where and the what be thus;
Film Forum
CONTEMPT (1963) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
BREATHLESS (1959) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
Syndicated
MEATBALLS (1979) Dir; Ivan Reitman
BAM Cinématek
GREMLINS (1984) Dir; Joe Dante
GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH (1990) Dir; Joe Dante
THE HOWLING (1981) Dir; Joe Dante
PIRANHA (1978) Dir; Joe Dante
Mid-Manhattan Library
PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES (1987) Dir; John Hughes
St. Mary's Park, Bronx
CABIN IN THE SKY (1963) Dir; Vincente Minnelli
Anthology Film Archives
Voyeurism, Surveillance and Identity in the Cinema
THE MODEL COUPLE (1977) Dir; William Klein
THE CONVERSATION (1974) Dir; Francis Ford Coppola
IFC Center
PREDATOR (1987) Dir; John McTiernan
Nitehawk Cinema
ZOMBIE (1979) Dir; Lucio Fulci
Today's Pick? Once more I am VERY tempted to choose Film Forum's exceedingly generous two-fer tomfoolery. But I can never bring myself to recommend Godard, let alone TWO of his flicks. I feel like if they really wanted to screw ya they'd give ya THREE Godards for the price of one! Okay, I'll back up from the cliff a little. One of the titles on offer today is his debut, the spright, buoyant, irreverent BREATHLESS, the only film of his I love. The only one I even like, actually. So while I can't plant my stamp on it per se, I won't wholly denounce it either. But fuck JLG. And Truffaut would have my back on that sentiment.
So I'm going with another multi-film program from a single director, not offered at a discounted price, a policy which I hope will change in the future, but informed slightly by the recklessness not only of the French Nouvelle Vague, but of the earlier works of Avery and Iwerks and Freling from the Warner Brothers cartoon division, and therefore partially by the Surrealists, the Absurdists, the Dadaists, and the Brothers Marx. Not to mention one Jerry HELLOLAYDEETYPEPOYHSONOHIDIDAHEYDEAN!!!! At one point his voice, his vision, his influences and how he bundled them and redirected them to form a unique voice, elevated his status to that of Spielberg, of Lucas, of the onetime Landis, who also took a spill but a somewhat nastier one to be sure. He was the future of Hollywood filmmaking, an artist whose instincts were formed in the cauldron of afternoon TV B-Movie reruns and Roger Corman's Drive-In amuse-bouche. His best film might be his biggest box office failure, but history tends to elevate such work once the masses have found interest in more useless fare. That film I refer to, 1985's EXPLORERS, is now readily available to view on Netflix, but you really should've caught it on the big screen whence released or during this trib. In any event, 4 of the man's most perfect works unspool today, all in their native 35mm format. All equally goddam worthy of your attendance. Yeah, Godard might've helped start a film movement, but I'll argue any day of the week he never loved pure cinema as much as Joe Dante.
Dante's PIRANHA, THE HOWLING, GREMLINS and GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH all unspool in glorious 35mm today, yes for seperate admissions but still under the same roof, as closing weekend sked of BAM Cinématek's excellent program Joe Dante at the Movies! I love this guy and his work very much. Glad he's getting his due, lookinf forward to the exploitationpalooza!
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in August '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's canine dusk-til-dawn's have soundly parked themselves over our fair metropolis like the giant saucers from INDEPENDENCE DAY, but warmer weather notwithstanding 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!
