December 30th-January 5th: Fellini and Marcello, Rick and Ilsa and Champagne, and Goodbye 2016! No, Really, Goodbye. What Part of Goodbye Don't You Understand??? HEY GET THE @!#% OUTTA MY HOUSE!!! Ahem. Read On.

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Once again we approacheth that satisfying, positively liberating moment where we collectively down champagne, make some bad decisions, and bid a not-so-fond farewell to the previous 365 days. I am of course referring to January 8th, what would've been David Bowie's 70th birthday, which marks the exact calendar page a year past where all things went completely to Hell in 2016, if ya ask me. Others might feel this pivotal date to be January 1st. Midnight of the 1st to be exact. I myself am starting with the departure of the Starman, but I will not begrudge those worldwide who wish to see 2016 get its well-deserved punt in the cheeks on the way out the door. It was merciless. It was rampaging. It stole people we loved regardless of youth or not-quite-youth. It saw the rise of fascism once more, which we look to its yet-unborn sibling, 2017, to go a long ways in undoing. Worst of all, it wasn't limited to the otherwise expected number of dated squares to be checked off: it was a fekkin' LEAP YEAR to BOOT! That's right, 2016 managed to include an extra day of misery and penalty and screw you. There's been some backlash to the sobriquet "Worst YEar Ever", some voices begging calm and perspective and ptimism. to these intelligent, forward-looking souls I offer the following: bite me. I'm gonna be pissed and bitter and absolutely fuming over 2016 until the goddam thing comes to its wel-deserved demise a day from now! It's earned at least our enmity, you can't argue! So here's to a new year, to Bowie's platinum huzzah, to new voices, new possibilities, new risks and rewards. In honor of the great Carrie Fisher, here's to a new hope.

 

New and ongoing series this year's end include Modern Matinees: Le Grandi Donne and Dino Risi at MoMA; Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers for New Years at Metrograph; Goin' Steadi: 40 Years of Steadicam at the Film Society of Lincoln Center; Film Forum Jr. at Jaysus ya know where luv; and the eternally swank Cabaret Cinema at the Rubin Museum. The final filmic foofaraw of 2016 be thus;

 

Friday December 30th

 

Film Forum

CASABLANCA (1942) Dir; Michael Curtiz

 

MoMA

Modern Matinees: Le Grandi Donne

8 1/2 (1963) Dir; Federico Fellini

 

Dino Risi

THE TREASURE OF SAN GENARRO (1966) Dir; Dino Risi

THE THURSDAY (1964) Dir; Dino Risi

 

Metrograph

Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers for New Years

THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN (1973) Dir; Blake Edwards

 

Film Society of Lincoln Center

Goin' Steadi: 40 Years of Steadicam

COUP DE TORCHON (1984) Dir; Bertrand Tavernier

XANADU (1980) Dir; Robert Greenwald

 

TAMPOPO (1985) Dir; Juzo Itami

 

Rubin Museum

Cabaret Cinema

ANIMAL FARM (1954) Dirs; Joy Batchelor & John Halas

 

IFC Center

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973) Dir; Alejandro Jodorowsky

 

Today's Pick? SO tempted to choose the mixture of glitter and cocaine and ELO that is the wonderfully wrongheaded XANADU, especially 'cause I'd like to include a dose of Gene Kelly into the mix in the wake of this week's bad news, but if I'm going for a magical cinematic fantasia I cannot help but side with Federico Fellini's 1963 masterpiece 8 1/2, still studied, still copied, still magic. Screens in 35mm at MoMA as part of their not-to-be-ignorato series Le Grandi Donne, which lasts but a coupl'a weeks more. Don't be a jabbernowel. Don't be a mooncalf. Ply yerself off that couch and catch this film and series while ya can. To miss this would be grande scandalo.

 

 

Saturday December 31st

 

Film Forum

CASABLANCA (1942) Dir; Michael Curtiz

 

Syndicated

PURPLE RAIN (1984) Dir; Albert Magnoli

 

MoMA

Modern Matinees: Le Grandi Donne

8 1/2 (1963) Dir; Federico Fellini

 

Dino Risi

THE GAUCHO (1965) Dir; Dino Risi

THE TREASURE OF SAN GENNARO (1966) Dir; Dino Risi

 

Metrograph

Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers for New Years

THE PARTY (1968) Dir; Blake Edwards

 

Film Society of Lincoln Center

Goin' Steadi: 40 Years of Steadicam

THE SHINING (1980) Dir; Stanley Kubrick

 

TAMPOPO (1985) Dir; Juzo Itami

 

IFC Center

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973) Dir; Alejandro Jodorowsky

 

Today's Pick? no contest. You can't pass up a champagne toast with Rick and Ilsa. And Louis. And Victor. And Major Strasser. And Ugarte and Ferrari and Yvonne okay look this has already become quite the crowded affair. But honestly, how do you disinvite any of these indelible characters when celebrating New Year's Eve? Especially when Film Forum stands in for Rick's Café

Américain? Michael Curtiz's seminal, essential, veritable shorthand for movie magic, the revered CASABLANCA, screens in 35mm at that aforementioned stand-in, of note the 7pm and 9:10pm attendees gifted with a glass of the bubbly. A wonderful new traditon. And a great way to toast the demise of Nazism. What better way for a film fan to ring out the old? It's the beginning of a beautiful hangover.

 

Sunday January 1st

 

Film Forum

Film Forum Jr.

STEAMBOAT BILL JR. (1928) Dir; Buster Keaton

 

CASABLANCA (1942) Dir; Michael Curtiz

 

MoMA

Dino Risi

I SEE NAKED (1969) Dir; Dino Risi

IN THE NAME OF THE ITALIAN PEOPLE (1971) Dir; Dino Risi

 

Film Society of Lincoln Center

Goin' Steadi: 40 Years of Steadicam

GOODFELLAS (1990) Dir; Martin Scorsese

 

TAMPOPO (1985) Dir; Juzo Itami

 

IFC Center

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973) Dir; Alejandro Jodorowsky

 

Today's Pick? I can't think of a better way to welcome in the new year than with Buster Keaton. But I'm a realist, and he'd've appreciated that. No one's waking up after December 31st at 10am to do anything. Unless you did no celebrating on December 31st. Which I advise strongly against. So instead I'm going to shill for a movie where Ray Liotta brags about buying the biggest Xmas tree he could find, if only because no one offscreen has thrown theirs to the curb yet. Martin Scorsese's masterpiece GOODFELLAS unspools in glorious 35mm at the Walter Reade Theater as part of its sadly winding down series Goin' Steadi: 40 Years of Steadicam. Swipe your Metrocard, hit the concession stand, just don't buy anything big. NO, you can't have the large popcorn and Pepsi combo, what'd I just tell you?!?!?! Take it BACK!!!

 

Other notable screenings this upcoming New Years' week include Martin Scorsese's 80's NYC snapshot AFTER HOURS, part of the Film Society's seamlessly careening Goin' Steadi: 40 Years of Steadicam on Monday the 2nd; John McTiernan's not-so-instant-holiday-classic DIE HARD, Tuesday the 2nd at Metrograph; the far, far, FAR superior original SCENT OF A WOMAN, Wednesday at MoMA, in celebration of filmmaker Dino Risi; and Juzo Itami's gangster ramen clasic TAMPOPO, screening in a new DCP resto at the Film Society Thursday the 4th.

 

Once again, there you have it, my picks and pontifications regarding your next 7 days' worth of rep filmgoing! We'll check in again a week from now, in the early days of a whole new spin 'round the sun, for the purposes of once more rummaging through the reels and making the tough yet wonderful choices regarding our chosen love. Til then be sure to follow me on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, and be SURE to catch my new YouTube channel, Nitrate Stock TV, where I'll be checking in at screenings all over the city and giving my 2 cents on the film, the venue, the audience, any damn thing that comes to my mind. Which, as some of ya know, can be quite entertaining. Goodbye you louse of a year, hello to what I hope is its complete opposite and tidal reverse. Til next time Stockahz, remember: be safe, be sound, and make sure the next guy and gal are too. Excelsior!

 

- Joe Walsh

 

P. S. As you know I like to beat the drum for what I consider worthwhile causes. Xenophobia has sadly always been present in our country, mostly dormant, but at times very awoken and tangible. Sadly, the latter is the present case, and the subject of Syrain refugees has become a veritable powderkeg. To those of you who believe we can aid these people, our fellow human beings who are desperate for our help, I suggest the heroic efforts of the good men and women at DoctorsWithoutBorders. They're providing boots-on-the-ground relief, everything from surgery and medicine to clean water. It's a small something to be sure in this maelstrom of madness, but it is just that: something.