Lots of classic screenings for the next two weeks. If I omit any or have suggestions, please leave a comment!
The Texas Theater
231 West Jefferson Blvd, Dallas TX 75208. For all showtimes, events, and tickets, visit https://thetexastheatre.com/calendar/
Desperado (1996) – Presented by Cinema Con Nosotros, Robert Rodriguez’s remake of his own ultra-low budget hit El Mariachi (1992), stars Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek. The film is a fuselage of operatic violence and the type of thing that exists best in the mid-90’s when independent auteurs were given large reign in Hollywood.
Screens on Friday July 26th
Pink Flamingos (1972) – One of the early, taboo-smashing experiences of John Waters, anyone who sees Pink Flamingos will never forget it. This should be incredible fun with a game audience.
Screens on Friday July 26th
The Shining (1980) – Showing as part of a cinematic tribute to recently departed Shelley Duvall, Stanley Kubrick’s atmospheric horror film with a chilly Colorado setting will be just what one needs to cool off during a hot Texas summer night.
Screens on Saturday July 27th
Tokyo Story (1953) – The word humanist is often used to describe the films of Yasujiro Ozu, and though it’s redundant, it’s right because it’s true. Before Netflix ended its DVD rental service (which I was a proud subscriber of for 19 years), I tried to see all the Ozu I could, and knocked off about 15. The Criterion Channel also has a good selection, so I urge everyone to do the same (he has over 50 films by the way). Subtly moving and often so quietly attuned to the small perfections of human interaction, his films are wonderful observations of grace, love, and the generational divide. And Tokyo Story is as good a place as any to begin one’s cinematic journey with the master.
Screens on Saturday July 27th
Dementia 13 (1963) – The Roger Corman celebration continues with this early psychological horror film by Francis Ford Coppola. Yes, who didn’t Corman give a start to???
Screens on Tuesday July 30th
3 Women (1977) – Another chance to see Shelley Duvall on the big screen in this Robert Altman film about the strange fascination that exists between Duvall and her young roommate (played by Sissy Spacek). I watched this years ago trying to complete an Altman retrospective on my own and it may be due for a revisit.
Screens on Thursday August 1st
Burden of Dreams (1979) – Like Ozu, there are a ton of Les Blank documentaries streaming on the Criterion Channel, and I’m devouring them all. Far from his usual repartee with the bastions of the American South or the corners of unique food cuisine, Burden of Dreams sees Blank train his inquisitive eye on the rocky behind-the-scenes malfunctions of Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo (1982) for a documentary that is astounding, humorous, and nerve-racking. Some have called this the best “making of” documentary ever.
Screens on Friday August 2nd, Saturday August 3rd, and Sunday August 4th with Fitzcarraldo also screening on Saturday August 3rd and Sunday August 4th
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (1984) – Screens as part of the “Class of 1984” presentations running all summer.
Screens on Sunday August 4th
Spacy
1300 S Polk St #160a, Dallas, TX 75224 (located inside Tyler Station).
Raw Session (2022) – From Spacy’s website description: “A Brazilian collective of cross-dresser, transgender and non-binary friends filmed themselves in 2018 with a Mini DV camera, spontaneously and with little preparation. Four years later, the collective, As Talavistas & ela.ltda, edited the raw material to create a succession of prologues to a film that, as they say themselves, is continually in progress. Shot with a Mini-DV camera, in 2018, without major preparations but with a lot of sweat and beer, Sessão Bruta presents itself as a succession of prologues of a film that is always to be made, a raw material always to be worked on.”
Screens on Friday July 26th
Magnolia at the Modern, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
3200 Darnell St, Fort Worth, TX 76107. For all showtimes, events, and tickets, visit https://www.themodern.org/films
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024) – Technically a current film, but this documentary directed by Martin Scorsese shines a light on the filmmakers he’s often cited as being the biggest influence on him as a young man. This is a wonderful opportunity to sample the magic of Powell and Pressburger on the big screen.
Showtimes begin on Friday July 26th.
Touki Bouki (1973) – Senegalese filmmaker Dijibril Diop Mambety only made a handful of films, and this early 70’s look at hopeful African youth hoping to flee for Paris has been the subject of retrospectives around the country in the past year and championed by Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project. This one-day only screening is a must.
Screens on Saturday July 27th
Space is the Place (1974) – The Modern is pulling out all the obscure stops with John Coney’s free-form jazz, singular-sci-fi ‘Afrofuturist’ starring musician Sun Ra. I’ve never seen this, but the description sounds mind melting: Sun Ra and his Solar Myth Arkestra return to Earth from space and attempt to relocate the Black community for colonies in space. The film is called “wild” and “kaleidoscopic”, while breaking all the rules of the standard concert film on the album it’s based upon. Another must see.
Screens on Saturday July 27th
The Tall Blond Man With One Black Show (1974) – I must admit to never having heard of this French comedy before, so forgive me. Directed by Yves Robert, the film follows a hapless musician who’s been incorrectly targeted as a spy. It apparently even spawned a sequel. Part of the “My Favorite Films” series at the Modern this summer.
Screens on Wednesday July 31st
Historic Palace Theater in Grapevine
300 S. Main St. Grapevine, TX 76051. For all showtimes and events, visit https://www.grapevinetexasusa.com/palace-arts-center/ And by the way, most tickets are $6.00!
Films screening in their summer series:
The Seven Year Itch (1955) – Screens on Friday July 26th
Grease (sing along) and Grease 2 (1982) – both screen on Saturday July 27th
The Little Mermaid (1989) – Screens on Tuesday July 30th
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) – Screens on Wednesday July 31st
The 39 Steps (1935) – Any screening of an early Alfred Hitchcock film like this is cause for celebration.
Screens on Friday August 2nd
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) – Screens on Saturday August 3rd
Dallas Angelika
5321 E. Mockingbird Ln, Dallas, TX 75206. For all showtimes, events, and tickets visit https://www.angelikafilmcenter.com/dallas
Seven Samurai (1954) – Akira Kurosawa’s cinema defining masterpiece begins a weeklong run in celebration of its 70th anniversary.
Begins screening on Friday July 26th
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) – Plays as part of the Harry Potter Film series this summer.
Screens on Saturday July 27th
Castle in the Sky (1986) – The summer of Studio Ghibli continues with another Hiyao Miyazaki anime classic that is one of his earlier efforts and begin to put the studio’s work on the international map.
Screens on Wednesday July 31st with subtitles and on Thursday August 1st in the English dubbed version
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) – Screens on Saturday August 3rd
Rooftop Cinema Club in Downtown Fort Worth
235 Throckmorton St. Fort Worth, TX 76102. For all showtimes and details about this unique, open-air venue visit https://rooftopcinemaclub.com/fort-worth/venue/rooftop-cinema-club-downtown-ft-worth/
Almost Famous (2000) – One of my favorite films of the early aughts, Cameron Crowe’s unabashed love letter to rock and roll and the roiling emotions contained within (both in human and audial form), Almost Famous only grows more lovely by the year.
Screens on Friday July 26th
Poetic Justice (1993) – Oh, the life and career Tupac Shakur could have had. Lighting up the screen in the few movie roles he took, John Singleton’s 1993 film is probably the best with the luminous pairing of Shakur and Janet Jackson.
Screens on Saturday July 27th
Twilight (2008) – The teen vampire film that made stars out of EVERYONE who graced the screen in this thing.
Screens on Sunday July 28th
Jurassic Park (1993) – Screens on Tuesday July 30th
The Wood – Screens on Wednesday July 31st
The Mask (1994) – Screens on Thursday August 1st
10 Things I Hate About You (1999) – Another film that made big stars out of its young cast, including Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger
Screens on Friday August 2nd
The Dark Knight (2008) – Keep the Ledger vibes going here.
Screens on Friday August 2nd
Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) – The 1999 film year was pretty incredible, even when it wanted to be funny and pseudo-documentary. Check this one out if you’ve never seen it.
Screens on Saturday August 3rd
Goodfellas (1990) – And if comedy isn’t your bag, well….
Screens on Saturday August 3rd
The Notebook (2004) – Nick Cassavetes (son of the great indie auteur John) crafted one of the more perfect romantic films of the 2000’s with The Notebook that, like other films showing here, made huge stars of Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling.
Screens on Sunday August 4th
A Low Down Dirty Shame (1994) – Directed by Kennen Ivory Wayans.
Screens on Sunday August 4th
Pretty Woman (1990) – Screens on Tuesday August 6th
Dallas Film Now. 