NOTE: admission to this show is half-price for all who come in drag!

A silent double bill full of delightful drag, animated androgeny and mirthful misunderstandings! Our short subject before the feature is Charlie Chaplin’s 1915 romp A Woman, “an irresistible drag tour de force that leaves us wishing Charlie had used the bit more often” (Bright Lights Film Journal) — and then it’s onto What Happened To Jones?, the uproarious farce starring Reginald Denny, one of the late-era silent screen’s most debonair leading men. Denny stars as a young man who, on the night before his wedding, plays a poker game with friends, only to have the party raided by the police. Escaping to a Turkish bath, Jones disguises himself as a woman — only to have the whole affair snowball into one big anarchic abashment of apparel. Full of giddy genderplay and witty chitchat, What Happened To Jones? is a welcome whiff of filmic froth!
What Happened To Jones? Dir. William A. Seiter, 1926, 35mm, 75 min. (Print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive)
A Woman (starring Charlie Chaplin) Dir. Charles Chaplin, 1915, 35mm, 27 min. (Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive and Film Preservation Associates)

The most wickedly vibrant genre film to emerge out of England in years, Kill List is a tour de excessive force that might be as close as a hitman story will ever come to total filmic transcendence.  Leading a cast full of breakout performances, Neil Maskell plays an increasingly bombastic and completely terrifying contract killer who comes out of an early retirement at the promise of a big payoff — handed to him by an organization more ominous than any such group of characters ever seen in the pantheon of gangster movies.  Throughout this constantly morphing cinematic melange, director Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace) injects scalding fresh blood by diving into a dizzyingly unpredictable succession of genres, from nuanced marriage drama to heart attack-inducing horror, all seamlessly stitched together with the visual and sonic flair of a true auteur.  Whether you worship at the altar of art house or the church of the midnight mass, Kill List will make you a convert.
Dir. Ben Wheatley, 2011, 35mm, 95 min.

7:30pm 

7:30pm show ONLY – Director Ben Wheatley will be here to intro the film, and for a Q&A afterwards. Plus, stick around after the film for a Kill List opening night party on our back patio!

The most wickedly vibrant genre film to emerge out of England in years, Kill List is a tour de excessive force that might be as close as a hitman story will ever come to total filmic transcendence.  Leading a cast full of breakout performances, Neil Maskell plays an increasingly bombastic and completely terrifying contract killer who comes out of an early retirement at the promise of a big payoff — handed to him by an organization more ominous than any such group of characters ever seen in the pantheon of gangster movies.  Throughout this constantly morphing cinematic melange, director Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace) injects scalding fresh blood by diving into a dizzyingly unpredictable succession of genres, from nuanced marriage drama to heart attack-inducing horror, all seamlessly stitched together with the visual and sonic flair of a true auteur.  Whether you worship at the altar of art house or the church of the midnight mass, Kill List will make you a convert.
Dir. Ben Wheatley, 2011, 35mm, 95 min.

7:30pm (director in person!), 10:15pm (director in person!)

7:30pm and 10:15pm show ONLY – Director Ben Wheatley will be here to intro the film, and for a Q&A afterwards. 

In the egalitarian cartoon world, marriage is not exclusively for one man and one woman. It can be between two mice, two wabbits — even a skunk and a pussycat! Animation historian Jerry Beck (CartoonBrew.com) opens the film vault and presents a collection of love-obsessed cartoon classics starring all your favorites, from the sex-starved Pepe LePew to Tex Avery’s luscious Red Riding Hood. As usual, the program features rare 35mm and 16mm Technicolor film prints, as well as cartoons suitable for cartoon lovers of all ages! Bring a date — and don’t be late!

Seymour Cassel will be at the Cinefamily in person for a Q&A after the film!
Dir. John Cassavetes, 1971, 35mm, 114 min.

1992 – Written, co-produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe

Singles centers on the lives of a group of young people, mostly in their 20s, living in an apartment block in Seattle, Washington, and is divided into chapters. It focuses on the course of two couples’ rocky romances, as well as the love lives of their friends and associates. The film stars Bridget Fonda as a coffee-bar waitress fawning over an aspiring musician (Matt Dillon) and Kyra Sedgwick and Campbell Scott as a couple wavering on whether to commit to each other. The events of the film are set against the backdrop of the early 1990s grunge movement in Seattle.

The Thin Man is a 1934 American comic detective film starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, a flirtatious married couple who banter wittily as they solve crimes with ease. Nick is a hard drinking retired detective and Nora a wealthy heiress. Their dog, the wire-haired fox terrier Asta, played by Skippy, was also a popular character.

Completed in 1934 and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, the film was directed by W. S. Van Dyke from a script by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich; the screenplay was based on the mystery novel The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett, supposedly based on his relationship with playwright Lillian Hellman. Also appearing in the film were Maureen O’Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell, Cesar Romero and Porter Hall.

Join the Cinefamily for an ultimate film date night, as they screen one of the most visually sumptuous and emotionally rewarding films from silent Hollywood. In F.W. Murnau’s classic melodrama, Anses (George O’Brien), a sensitive and easily-swayed farmer, falls under the spell of The Woman From The City (Margaret Livingston), a jezebel who convinces him to run off with her — but only after he murders his innocent wife Indre (Janet Gaynor). Murnau used his expert German Expressionist techniques to craft a fairytale ride through the tortured mental landscape of a man caught between devotion and seduction, makingSunrise (widely regarded as one of the best films ever made) the most vibrant of all his Hollywood productions. $14 gen./$60-90 couch/free for members.

The next installment of Doug Benson’s Movie Interruption, where Doug and his friends (who, in the past, have included everyone from Brian Posehn to Sarah Silverman and Zack Galifianakis) chill on the front row couches, mics in hand, and say whatever hilarious thing pops into their heads while a movie of their choosing unfolds on the screen. Since February is the “month of love”, Doug & Co. have chosen the latest entry in the “vampires + werewolves x humans = chaste romance” Twilight franchise!
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 Dir. Bill Condon, 2011, 35mm, 117 min.