April 21st - 27th: Dawn, Darkness, and the Difference Twixt. Let Us Explore Our Collective Humanity On Film.
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.
So...this whole time thing. It ain't gonna slow down? Didn't I read a Hawking theorem that said sometime around one's late forties the fabric of the universe realigned to gently stoke the brakes and that whole coffee smelling thing was written into the eqaution as well? Or am I confusing that with one of his grocery lists? Can't remeber, the man's beyond me, April's nearly over before it's begun. Let's go to the videotape.
New and ongoing screenings this day include Border Crossings and Road Rage at IFC Center; Welcome to Metrograph: A to Z at, y'know, Metrograph; Modern Matinees: Mr. Cary Grant, Ecstasy and Irony: Czech Cinema, 1927-43, and Making Faces on Film: A Collaboration with BFI Black Star at MoMA; Lina Wertmüller: Female Trouble and Four Play at the Quad Cinema; Wim Wenders: The Road Trilogy at BAM Cinématek; and The Cinema of Gender Transgression: Trans Film at Anthology Film Archives. Because yeah. The flim flam flickery be thus;
Friday April 21st
IFC Center
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) Dir; John Sturges
BULLITT (1968)
Metrograph
SUNRISE (1927) Dir; F. W. Murnau
MoMA
Modern Matinees: Mr. Cary Grant
HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) Dir; Howard Hawks
Ecstasy and Irony: Czech Cinema, 1927-43
SUCH IS LIFE (1929) Dir; Carl Junghans
SKELETON ON HORSEBACK (1937) Dir; Hugo Haas
Making Faces on Film: A Collaboration with BFI Black Star
HALLELLUJAH (1929) Dir; King Vidor
BUSH MAMA (1975) Dir; Haile Gerima
Quad Cinema
Lina Wertmüller: Female Trouble
LOVE & ANARCHY (1973) Dir; Lina Wertmüller
QUADROPHENIA (1979) Dir; Franc Roddam
BAM Cinématek
ALICE IN THE CITIES (1974) Dir; Wim Wenders
WRONG MOVE (1975) Dir; Wim Wenders
Syndicated
BREATHLESS (1959) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
BAND OF OUTSIDERS (1964) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
Landmark Jersey Loews
MURDER, MY SWEET (1944) Dir; Edward Dmytryk
Anthology Film Archives
The Cinema of Gender Transgression: Trans Film
IN A YEAR OF THIRTEEN MOONS (1978) Dir; Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Today's Pick? IFC Center tempts mightily at both dawn and dusk with two Steve McQueen classics, Sturges' MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and Yates' BULLITT, while my fave Hawks unspools in 35mm at MoMA, featuring the great Roz Russell in all her Hildy magnificence. But really, how can I take sides against one of the form's celestial beauts, an argument for its beginnings and continuance, a moment when the sheer and rapturous poetry of the cinema came fully formed and served and serves as example to the dreamers who wish to further it for generations to come? Nah, it's no contest. F. W. Murnau's SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS screens at the Metrograph in glorious 35mm as part of their wonderful inaugural series, thankfully extended past its initial year-long expiration date, Welcome to Metrograph: A to Z. Ah, to have the forgiveness of Janet Gaynor. Goerge O'Brien was a lucky bum indeed.
Saturday April 22nd
IFC Center
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) Dir; John Sturges
BULLITT (1968)
Quad Cinema
THE FOUR FEATHERS (1939) Dir; Zoltan Korda
THE MERCHANT OF FOUR SEASONS (1971) Dir; Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Nitehawk Cinema
THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN (1984) Dir; Frank Oz
Syndicated
BREATHLESS (1959) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
BAND OF OUTSIDERS (1964) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
Metrograph
THE SOFT SKIN (1961) Dir; François Truffaut
SUNRISE (1927) Dir; F. W. Murnau
STREET OF SHAME (1956) Dir; Kenji Mizoguchi
MoMA
Ecstasy and Irony: Czech Cinema, 1927-43
EROTIKON (1929) Dir; Gustav Machaty
FROM SATURDAY TO SUNDAY (1931) Dir; Dir; Gustav Machaty
TONKA OF THE GALLOWS (1930) Dir; Karl Anton
Making Faces on Film: A Collaboration with BFI Black Star
NO WAY OUT (1950) Dir; Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Mid-Manhattan Library
CROCODILE DUNDEE (1986) Dir; Peter Faiman
Landmark Jersey Loews
THE BLUE DAHLIA (1946) Dir; George Marshall
BODY HEAT (1981) Dir; Lawrence Kasdan
BAM Cinématek
WRONG MOVE (1975) Dir; Wim Wenders
ALICE IN THE CITIES (1974) Dir; Wim Wenders
Today's Pick? I always want to support my favorite still-functioning movie palaces from the late 20's, and they're in such short supply! Who'dathunk?!? Thankfuly the Landmark Jersey Loews is not only still making ya fork over two bits for popped corn and JuJuBees, they're thriving, and their weekend series this month focuses on everybody's fave film genre: noir! George Marshall's skippering of Raymond Chandler's THE BLUE DAHLIA is paired today with Lawrence Kasdan's James M. Cain trib BODY HEAT. I guaranTEE, you will not have a more transformative experience at the movies this eve. Drop a sawbuck and test yer fate, whydonch'ya?
Sunday April 23rd
IFC Center
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) Dir; John Sturges
Nitehawk Cinema
THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN (1984) Dir; Frank Oz
Metrograph
SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS (1941) Dir; Preston Sturges
SUNRISE (1927) Dir; F. W. Murnau
Film Forum
TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1942) Dir; Ernst Lubitsch
MoMA
Ecstasy and Irony: Czech Cinema, 1927-43
YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE (1932) Dir; Jindrich Honzl
THE WORLD BELONGS TO US (1937) Dir; Martin Fric
Making Faces on Film: A Collaboration with BFI Black Star
CARMEN JONES (1954) Dir; Otto Preminger
STORMY WEATHER (1943) Dir; Andrew L. Stone
Mid-Manhattan Library
THE LUSTY MEN (1952) Dir; Nicholas Ray
BAM Cinématek
KINGS OF THE ROAD (1976) Dir; Wim Wenders
ALICE IN THE CITIES (1974) Dir; Wim Wenders
Quad Cinema
Lina Wertmüller: Female Trouble
ALL SCREWED UP (1974) Dir; Lina Wertmüller
Today's Pick? It would probably snag top honors regardless of our curent climate both politically and socially, but given the always reliable and goddamned cycle of history feeding on repetition I can think of no better, or savvier plea for tolerance than Ernst Lubitsch's TO BE OR NOT TO BE, screening at Film Forum. For if ever a time there was when we needed humor not as salve but ammo against the fucking Nazis of the world, it's now. Plus, Joan Benny, daughter of star Jack, who is still, by all accounts, 39 yrs old, will be in attendance to discuss the film, her father, and backbone.
Other notable Picks this coming week include Spencer Williams' DIRTY GERTIE FROM HARLEM USA, screening this Monday the 24th at MoMA as part of their important examination of race depiction over the decades, Making Faces on Film: A Collaboration with BFI Black Star; Franc Roddam's ace adap of The Who's QUADROPHENIA, a expert blend of early-60's Kitchen Sink Brit cinema and 70's Rock Opera, unspooling in 35mm at the Quad Cinema this Tuesday the 25th as part of the series Four Play; George Stevens' THE TALK OF THE TOWN, unspooling this Wednesday as part of MoMA's Modern Matinees series, this month focusing on one Mr. Cary Grant; and THE SEDUCTION OF MIMI, an early masterwork from director Lina Wertmüller, whose name has graced the initial fest at our newly re-opened Quad Cinema!
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. 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 Syrian 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.
