Shared Darkness

Minimalist character study Francine opens tomorrow, October 24, in Los Angeles at the Laemmle NoHo 7, and star Melissa Leo will appear for a special Q&A after Wednesday evening’s screening. For my earlier review, click here.

Star Patton Oswalt will appear in person, along with Wonder Showzen creator/director Vernon Chatman, at a special screening of the twisted new satire The Heart, She Holler, at Cinefamily on Thursday, November 3 at 9 p.m. To view the trailer, and for more information, click here.

In celebration of its September 6 Blu-ray debut, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and NCM Fathom will present a special screening of Scarface at more than 475 movie theaters nationwide, for one night only, on Wednesday, August 31, at 7:30 p.m. local time. Audiences will get the opportunity to experience one of the most influential gangster films ever made like never before — with all-new restored high-definition picture and enhanced audio — and also get an exclusive peek at one of the Blu-ray’s bonus features: a 20-minute featurette that showcases interviews with popular filmmakers and talent expressing how this sprawling, bloody epic redefined the gangster genre and left an enduring influence on cinema. For more information on this event and ticketing, click here.

Ry Russo-Young’s intriguing You Won’t Miss Me, starring Stella Schnabel, re-opens in Los Angeles at the Downtown Independent this week, on Tuesday, March 1. Click here for tickets and more information, here for my earlier review.

Over at Debra Levine’s Arts●Meme, Doug Cummings engagingly previews LACMA’s October weekend series, which includes Leave Her to Heaven, Beggars of Life, Shadow of a Doubt and Cloak and Dagger, as part of a 20th anniversary tribute to the Film Foundation.

Over the past 15 years, Sam Rockwell has steadily proven himself to be one of the most versatile and dynamic actors working in American independent and studio cinema. He gets a nice spotlight this weekend in the form of a mini-retrospective: George Clooney’s underrated directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, screens paired with Moon at the Aero Theatre on Friday, October 8, and on Saturday, October 9, at the Egyptian Theatre, Box of Moonlight precedes a special 8 p.m. sneak preview of Tony Goldwyn’s Conviction (Fox Searchlight, October 15), in which Rockwell plays a man imprisoned for murder whose sister (Hilary Swank) puts herself through law school in order to try to free him. A special in-person discussion with Rockwell will follow after the second film. For tickets, click here; for more information, click here.

Cinefamily hosts an excellent event Monday, October 18 when it features in person Lucy Walker, a rising star of documentary filmmaking whose recent films Waste Land and Countdown to Zero have dominated some of 2010’s major festivals. International Documentary Association Board President Eddie Schmidt will lead viewers through a behind-the-scenes look at Walker’’s body of work: Waste Land, which follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys to the world’s largest garbage dump to photograph self-designated pickers of recyclable materials; Blindsight, about the emotional journey of six blind Tibetan teenagers who climb up the north side of Mount Everest; Devil’’s Playground, an examination of the struggles of Amish teenagers during their Mennonite-sanctioned period of experimentation; and Countdown to Zero, a wake-up call regarding the intensifying nuclear arms race. The evening’’s on-stage conversation and film clips will be followed by an audience Q&A, and an open reception on the Cinefamily’s backyard Spanish patio. Tickets are $20, and $15 for IDA members; for information, click here.

Walt Disney Studios announced plans yesterday for a special advance screening of director Randall Wallace and screenwriter Mike Rich’s upcoming film Secretariat, to benefit the Secretariat Foundation. The October 3 event, which takes place five days before the film’s mainstream October 8 theatrical release, will be held at the Kentucky Theater in Lexington, Kentucky, with a cocktail reception following the screening at Portofino Restaurant. For those in the area with means, tickets start at $125 per person, which includes general admission to the
screening and cocktail reception. A $250 ticket also
includes reserved seating at the screening and reception. Tickets are available at Secretariat.com, or by calling 502-893-7997. No word on if John Calipari will be attending.

Austin’s legendary Alamo Drafthouse comes to Los Angeles this year, and as part of their touring “Rolling Roadshow” extravaganza, the L.A. leg features an outdoor screening of Jackie Brown at its original shooting location of the Del Amo Fashion Mall in Torrance. Quentin Tarantino and stars (schedules permitting) will be in attendance this Friday, August 6. The screening begins at sunset 8 p.m. Please bring your own chair or blanket. Restroom facilities will be available. Ages 18 and up is the recommended admittance policy, but children 6 and up will be allowed only with a parent or guardian. No children under the age of 6 will be allowed. (Sucks for you, denim diaper wearers!) For directions to Del Amo Fashion Mall click here, or, you know, consult Mapquest and get frustrated.

UPDATE, August 5: There’s been a location switch for the “Rolling Roadshow” screening of Jackie Brown on Friday, August 6 at 8 p.m. Due to noise ordinance restrictions, the City of Torrance would not allow the screening to take place at the Del Amo Fashion Mall. The show will go on, however, on the grounds of the Proud Bird, overlooking the Los Angeles Airport. Winners will also be drawn at random from the crowd to enjoy a VIP after-party in the Proud Bird’s Doolittle Room. For directions to the Proud Bird, click here.

Exercising his inner film programmer, Zach Galifianakis has tabbed Withnail & I as one of his favorite movies, and slated it for a special screening as part of the Cinefamily’s Comedy Death-Ray series at the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles, on Monday, August 2, at 8 p.m. Richard Grant gives a great, underrated comedic turn — also one of the best on-screen drunk performances ever — in Bruce Robinson’s criminally underseen film, which comes to the Cinefamily in a rare 35mm print. Tickets are $14; for more information, including a clip from the movie, click here.

If your name is Cyrus (or you know someone same-named) and you’re in Los Angeles, there’s a special free screening of the film Cyrus just for you, on the 20th Century Fox lot, on Saturday, July 24. RSVPs are first-come, first-served, but yes, Jonah Hill will be in attendance, so make your plans quickly for procuring a fake ID. The big question: what do Miley and BIlly Ray do?

Batsuit nipple enthusiasts take note! Later this month, the American Cinematheque will present a three-day retrospective of Joel Schumacher’s films, including a special 25th anniversary presentation of 1985’s St. Elmo’s Fire and an advanced screening of the July 30 Hannover Films release Twelve, starring Chace Crawford, Emma Roberts and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

Actually, that lead is a bit of bait-and-switch, since neither Schumacher’s derided 1997 Batman entry nor say, his almost equally lambasted 1999 return to multi-hyphenatedom, Flawless, will be screening as part of the series. Instead, beginning on Friday, June 25, the Egyptian Theatre will screen Falling Down and Flatliners. The former stars Michael Douglas as William Foster, a divorcee and unemployed former defense engineer who goes on a violent rampage across the city of Los Angeles as he tries to get home in time for his daughter’s birthday party. Flatliners (1990) centers on a group of medical students who use physical science in an attempt to find out if there’s anything out there beyond death. Schumacher will be on hand to introduce both screenings.

On Saturday, June 26, the Egyptian will host an advanced screening of Schumacher’s latest film. Based on the Nick McDonell novel of the same name, Twelve follows a high school dropout-turned-drug-dealer (Crawford) through New York’s Upper East Side. His lucrative life sours when his cousin is brutally murdered on an East Harlem playground and his best friend is arrested for the crime. Schumacher and other special guests will be on hand for a post-screening Q&A. The weekend-long retrospective will culminate on Sunday, June 27, with a special presentation at the Aero Theatre of Schumacher’s 1985 cult-classic St. Elmo’s Fire, which chronicles post-graduation life for a group of friends as they adjust to the responsibilities of encroaching adulthood.

Tickets for Falling Down, Flatliners and Twelve can be purchased at the Egyptian Theatre’s box office, located at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard. Tickets for St. Elmo’s Fire can be purchased at the Aero Theatre’s box office, located at 1328 Montana Avenue. Tickets for all events can also be purchased online via Fandango.

For those in the Southern California area, screenwriters Steven de Souza, Peter Hyams, Adam Rifkin, Bruce Joel Rubin and Kriss Turner are all slated to appear in person at a special screening of Tales From the Script at the Aero Theatre tomorrow night, Wednesday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. An engaging documentary look at the screenwriting trade, the movie gives wide berth to its many fascinating subjects, and ergo delivers good (and alternately thoughtful and heartbreaking) anecdotes, for those that are able to make it. Director Peter Hanson will moderate a special panel after the screening, and copies of both the film on DVD and its tie-in companion book will be available for purchase at the event. The Aero Theatre is located at 1328
Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.
Tickets for this and other events at the Aero are
available through
Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded information on directions and the
Aero’s upcoming schedule, phone (323) 466-FILM.

Exercising his inner film programmer, Youth in Revolt‘s Michael Cera has tabbed Freebie and the Bean as one of his favorite movies, and slated it for a special screening as part of the Comedy Death-Ray series at the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles, on Sunday, March 14 at 8 p.m. Directed by Richard Rush (The Stunt Man, Getting Straight), the movie is a veritable “who’s who” of ’70s film awesomeness, starring James Caan and Alan Arkin as a pair of racist, homophobic and misogynist San Francisco supercops. But here, let Cera explain: “Filled with car crash sequences, guns, yelling, transvestites and Alan Arkin, Freebie and the Bean has got to be the best buddy-cop film of 1974,” he raves. Tickets are $14; for more information, including the movie’s trailer, click here.

For those in the Southern California area, director Arthur Hiller will appear at two separate double-dips of his films at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica — this Thursday’s double feature of The In-Laws and Silver Streak, and this Friday’s double feature of The Out of Towners and Plaza Suite. Both programs start at 7:30 p.m., and tickets range from $9 to $11. The Aero Theatre is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for these movies, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule, phone (323) 466-FILM.

He incorrectly swore I gave a negative review to 2001’s Conspiracy (on which he was an executive producer) when I met him, but I can’t be mad at 84-year-old, Oscar-winning screenwriter Frank Pierson, who will appear in person for a Q&A conversation at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica following a special screening of Dog Day Afternoon on the evening of Thursday, January 28. The Aero Theatre is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for this, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule, phone (323) 466-FILM.

For those in the SoCal area, as part of the Jack H. Skirball Series at Redcat, The Village Voice critic J. Hoberman will be hosting a special screening of Jack Smith’s 45-minute 1963 film Flaming Creatures, which he asserts is the single most influential underground movie ever released in the United States, on Monday, November 9 at 8:30 p.m. at Redcat in downtown Los Angeles. Tickets range from $5 to $9.

For those in the SoCal area, actress Mimi Kennedy will appear in person at a special advance screening of the crackling new war satire In the Loop on Wednesday, July 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Aero Theatre. The Aero Theatre is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for this movie, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded information on directions and the Aero’s upcoming schedule, phone (323) 466-FILM.