Classics, revivals, and more hit the screens of our area. Below are the screenings by theater, for the next two weeks.
The Texas Theater
231 West Jefferson Blvd, Dallas TX 75208. For all showtimes, events, and tickets, visit https://thetexastheatre.com/calendar/
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – Henry Selick’s beloved classic gets a screening with a pre-show performance by the Bishop Street Ballet.
Screens on Saturday December 6th
What is It? (2005) – Crispin Glover returns to The Texas Theater for a two night spoken word/film presentation. I saw this many years ago (in what seems like a Texas Theater tradition now) and Glover is back with this wild, esoteric film.
Event is on Friday December 12th and Saturday December 13th
Tokyo Godfathers (2003) – This film by visionary Satoshi Kon is the perfect holiday-adjacent film with an anime bent on the wise kings tales.
Screens on Monday December 15th
Desperate Living (1977) – One of the few John Waters films I haven’t seen for some reason. Its availability has always been tough, so catch this one on its screening here.
Screens on Wednesday December 17th
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) – Who would’ve thought a film like Gremlins would spawn a franchise? Joe Dante again helms a tale about those cute (but deadly and gory) things that turn violent.
Screens on Friday December 19th
Black Christmas (1974) – Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder in a 70’s slasher film that stands as a purveyor of just how insidious the genre can be? Yes, please.
Screens on Friday December 19th and Saturday December 20th
Crash (1996) – I remember the uproar when this film came out in the mid 1990’s. It’s heavy and boundary-pushing, but only in the cerebral, clinical mannerisms of most of David Cronenberg’s films. It’s been years since I’ve seen it and definitely due for another viewing.
Screens on Saturday December 20th
Breathless (1960) – I saw this last year at the Texas Theater and still one of my favorite films of all time. Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague”, which also receives a 35MM screening this same weekend, is one of my favorite films of the year. It’s a perfect combination of the real thing (Godard’s film) swabbed against the meteoric affections of Linklater’s fiction. And Zoey Deutch is just sublime as Jean Seberg.
Screens on Saturday December 20th
Spacy
1300 S Polk St #160a, Dallas, TX 75224 (located inside Tyler Station). Information about the venue can be found here.
88:88 (2015) – From Spacey’s website: “When one is unable to pay the bills, the electricity is cut. Once one can pay again, the digital appliances flash 88:88. While philosophical systems begin with the concept of nothing as a starting point for thinking, Isiah Medina’s feature debut uses “88:88” as a marker of the nothing (no thing) of poverty and the possibility of counting life anew. Medina’s film cuts together instances in the lives of friends and their experiences in love, science, art, and politics in order to see those lives outside of narrative, and to show that thinking is always both possible and necessary. Praised by philosophers, filmmakers, artists, mathematicians, and audiences around the world, 88:88 celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.”
Screens on Thursday December 4th
Cookbook Lookbook Event: Two short films about food, one Les Blank’s Yum Yu, Yum (1990) and the other Ruben Gamez’s Magueyes (1962).
Screens on Sunday December 7th
Select Films by Robert Fulton – From the Spacey website: “Spacy is proud to present “Universe Synergy: Select Films by Robert Fulton” which includes four recently restored high definition digital master shorts from aerial cinematographer & experimental filmmaker Robert Fulton. Fulton approached filmmaking as an act of perception rather than representation. His works translate the precision of physical practice, the rhythms of sound, and the immateriality of light into a cinema of heightened awareness.”
Screens on Thursday December 11th
Sirens (2022) – “Sirens intimately chronicles the lives and music of Slave to Sirens, a young all-female metal band whose burgeoning fame is set against the backdrop of the Lebanese revolution. Its members wrestle with friendship, sexuality, and destruction as their music serves as a refuge to Beirut’s youth culture. The complicated relationship and subsequent tense fallout of founders Lilas Mayassi and Shery Bechara threatens the very fabric of the band, but an even greater looming threat is Lebanon’s criminalization of homosexuality, and the devastating effects of the country’s political corruption. Yet despite their obvious challenges, the members of Slave to Sirens persist in trying to create a revolution of their own: living their truth.
This is a free screening on Friday December 12th
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
New York, New York (1977) – This is probably the Scorsese film I’ve seen the least, and it’s time to rectify that.
Screens on Wednesday December 10th
The Unknown (1927) – Silent film starring Lon Chaney about a circus knife thrower seeking a killer. Directed by Tod Browning and featuring a live score by Paul Slavens.
Screens on Wednesday December 10th
The Secret of Kells (2009) – Screens on Saturday December 13th
Blast of Silence (1961) – Resurrected a few years back from the dustbin of DIY New York filmmaking, Allen Baron’s black and white film follows a hitman in Christmas time in New York. Curious for its low budget, phenomenal for its location shooting.
Screens on Tuesday December 16th
Chicago (2002) – Rob Marshall’s musical screens as part of the My Favorite Films.
Screens on Wednesday December 17th
Dallas Angelika
5321 E. Mockingbird Ln, Dallas, TX 75206. For all showtimes, events, and tickets visit https://www.angelikafilmcenter.com/dallas
A series of Christmas films will be showing at the Angelika over the next couple of weeks including the following:
The Polar Express (2000) – Screens on Saturday December 6th
It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) – Screens on Wednesday December 10th
Elf (2003) – Screens on Saturday December 13th
Dr. Seuss The Grinch (2018) – Screens on Saturday December 20th
The Ten Commandments (1956) – I went through a phase a couple years back of seeing as many of the sanitized, Hollywood-ized technicolor classics of the 50’s I could. Strangely, I’ve never seen Cecil B. Demille’s exploration of this bible tale.
Screens on Sunday December 14th
Some Like It Hot (1959) – Part of the black and white classics series regularly hosted by the theater.
Screens on Saturday December 20th
DFW Alamo Drafthouse Locations
Schedule for all the locations in our area can be located here so check the site for theater availability
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) – Shane Black’s long underappreciated film starring Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr. is sharp and thrilling. I don’t want to toot my own horn, but it was one of my favorites of the year upon initial release.
Screens on Saturday December 6th
Desperado (1995) – The big budget update to Robert Rodriguez’s career. On his first film, he used a shopping cart for the dolly shots. Much bigger budget, action, and Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek this time around.
Screens on Sunday December 7th
National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (1989) – Screens on Tuesday December 9th
Carol (2015) – Todd Haynes’ unrequited love story between Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett mirrors the silent lust in the films of Douglas Sirk (that Haynes so admires). This film looks and feels so good, with stellar performances and a fine-tuned observation of beating hearts under lots of 1950’s wardrobe.
Screens on Saturday December 13th
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/
The venue hosts a rotating weekly line up of recent favorites. Check out their website for titles and showtimes
Dallas Film Now. 
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