May 2017! The Caan Film Fest, Universal Jr. Pt. 2, and Nice Guy Eddie's Mystery Turns 25! Let's Get To It!

Hallo Stockahz. It's been quite a long time, quite a journey, quite the series of travails that finds us back here, site runner to site supporter, engaging once more in the wealth of offerings on the now exploding repertory film circuit in our grand and glorious and beloved NYC. February saw us the victim of Russian hackers (I kid not!), March the receiving end of some tactical mismanagement in my apartment (a ceiling collapsed on me), April the unfortunate stand-in for Sissyphus, as hurdle upon hurdle presented itself not merely without shame, but with absolute aplomb. So it is that I've been late to the gate and lost in the race this last trimester, and I have nothing but apologies for such. However, although the NYC rep film circuit has completely exploded not just since this site began, but in the last 12 months and considerably, I give you my bond that I will do my damndest to provide the most accurate & concentrated source for these screenings, even though I may falter from time to time. There ain't no horse I can't tame once I get used to its buck and kick, so stick with me and I promise I'll resume my spot as emcee of this here rodeo. When did I morph into Kris Kristofferson?

Those of you who peruse ths here mess of html know I like to confer a thing I call Big Dawg Status on that screening or series I deem most worthy of your time this lunar cycle. It's been, admittedly, some months since I've gotten the opportunity to bestow said acknowledgement upon royalty filmic. So It's with great glee and great burden that I do so after a few months' layoff. Many a great series looms this month, and I'm feelin like James Dean taffy trying to choose, but for only the 2nd time in the site's near 5-year history, I'm choosing a screening over a series, if only because I consider it of estimable weight in the modern era. Indeed, I believe it to be perhaps the most crucial debut of the last 25 years, an aniversary it celebrates with great aplomb at NYC's fave temple to all things cinematic.

Quentin Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS is spruced like the proverbial goose in a brand spankin' new 35mm print in celebration of its silver anno. Screens for 2 weeks at Film Forum, and I'd be shocked if Mr. Brown hisself didn't surprise with an unannounced or late notice appearance to intro/Q&A. Honestly can you think of a more important laying of the cinematic welcome mat these last two decades and a half? I'd like to have that convo with you at some point. Runs from the 19th to June 1st.

Also at Film Forum this month thier exceptional Jean-Pierre Melville retro, imaginatively entitled Melville, continues for one more week, and boasts titles like the Alain Delon headliners LE SAMOURAI and LE CERCLE ROUGE, debut feature LE SILENCE DE LA MER, Cocteau collab LES ENFANTS TERRIBLE, and late-masterpiece WW2 resistance procedural ARMY OF SHADOWS. Series runs til Thursday the 11th. Melville's LEON MORIN, PRIEST is given a full week in a glorious new 4K resto that runs from the 12th thru the 18th. Getch'yo Melville on at tha Forum.

Individual screenings at Film Forum this month include Robert Aldrich's WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, Alain Resnais' HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR, Alison Anders' GAS FOOD LODGING, and my Dad's all-time fave, Michael Curtiz's THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. And the always reliable hook-'em-while-they're-young Film Forum Jr. brings us Harold Lloyd in Fred C. Newmeyer's GRANDMA'S BOY, George Cukor's LITTLE WOMEN, and David Swift's HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING. Film Forum is located at 209 W Houston st. in Manahattan's West Village.

Sliding in at a close CLOSE 2nd is MoMA and their upcoming sequel series Son of Universal: More Rediscovered Gems from the Laemmle Years! Exploring the era that saw founder's son Carl Jr.'s short but fascinating and influential reign as head of Universal Studios, upcoming titles of interest include Tod Browning's OUTSIDE THE LAW, E.A. DuPont's LADIES MUST LOVE, Tay Garnett's DESTINATION UNKNOWN, and the great Lois Weber's SENSATION SEEKERS, the latter screening in a new DCP iteration and accompanied by Dick Giordano and the Nighthawks Orchestra. Series runs through May 16th.

The still unfolding Modern Matinees: Mr. Cary Grant has plenty of ammo left in the mag, with titles like Howard Hawks' I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE, Alfred Hitchcock's NOTORIOUS, Leo McCarey's AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER, Frank Capra's ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, and the gem of the lot I argue; George Stevens' GUNGA DIN. MoMA is located at 11 W 53rd st. in midtown Manhattan.

Across the pond at that most exlusive zip code of Astoria, Queens, our beloved Museum of the Moving Image, we get a celebration of one of America's most feted and adapted genre writers. Crime Scenes: Donald Westlake on Film features such gems inspired by the scribe as Stephen Frears' THE GRIFTERS, Aram Avakian's criminally underrated (pun intended) COPS AND ROBBERS, the double bill of Peter Yates' THE HOT ROCK and John Flynn's extraordinary THE OUTFIT, and the masterpiece; John Boorman's POINT BLANK. The series screens on the weekend of the 12th thru the 14th. Following shortly on the 19th MoMI presents The Caan Film Festival, a celebration of the Playboy manse's fave son, with indelible titles like Hawks' EL DORADO, Francis Ford Coppola's THE RAIN PEOPLE, Norman Jewison's ROLLERBALL, Michael Mann's THIEF, and Rob Reiner's MISERY. The I-Caan-ic perfs unspool okay I'm sorry I'm not gonna let that stand. I-Caan-ic. What's come over me. Mister James Caan's body of work unfolds over the period of the 19th til the 28th. Forgive me Jimmy, I took the cheesy bait. Museum of the Moving Image is located at 36-01 35th avenue in Astoria, Queens.

Over in our brother borough BAM Cinématek preps the Lynchian amongst us for the upcoming, wholly unexpected and deemed-an-impossible-prospect-for-two-decades return of TWIN PEAKS to television. Peak Perfs gathers together a wild group of cinematic entries of varying quality and coherence to celebrate the new season with individual outings from its featured actors; Piper Laurie's indelible bad mom in De Palma's CARRIE; Sheryl Lee's magnetic glow in Ian Softley's BACKBEAT; Richard Beymer and Russ Tamblyn in Wise & Robbins' WEST SIDE STORY; enigmatic Joan Chen in Stanley Kwan's RED ROSE, WHITE ROSE; Michael Ontkean in the greatest sports movie ever made, George Roy Hill's SLAP SHOT; and the movie that really started Lynch in proper, 1986's seismic cinematic charge BLUE VELVET, the one that not only changed the course of American film but sealed Kyle MacLachlan's fate as the director's onscreen alter-ego. The shenanigans run from the 12th thru the 24th. BAM Cinématek is located at the Peter Jay Sharp buildng at 30 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn.

Skedaddlin' back to the civilzed side of the East River we land at NYC's majestic Lincoln Center, who this month celebrate the grand career of one of Italy's most cherished and famous sons. Il Bello Marcello examines this living example of a type of quizzical masculinity with such unimpeachable masterworks as Fellini's LA DOLCE VITA and 8 1/2, Pietro Germi's DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE , Vittorio de Sica's MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE and YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW, and Luchino Visconti's WHITE NIGHTS and THE STRANGER, as well as larks like Jacques Demy's A SLIGHTLY PREGNANT MAN, Mario Monicelli's BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET, and Ettore Scola's THAT NIGHT IN VARENNES, which finally found our lothario essaying the role of Casanova proper. The bella flicker runs from the 17th thru the 31st. The Film Society of Lincoln Center is located at the Walter Reade Theater, 165 W 65th st., and the Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center at 144 W 65th st.

If you'll be patient with me, I'm going to return tomorrow with even more coverage of the NYC rep film scene. I'll go into detail about more Welcome to Metrograph at, well, Metrograph, great series like Quadrophilia, Golden Goldies and Larry Cohen's NYC at the Quad Cinema, as well as the usual sterling programming at the Nitehawk Cinema, the IFC Center, and the Tarrytown Music Hall. Check back, I'll have more details, and as always, stick wit me Stockahz!

- JW