IT'S WELL AND truly winter, and short of free cupcakes, nothing will get you to venture outside. These days, rather than tromping from bar to bar seeking a clientele not composed of Republican staffers crying into their $2 beers, you want to go somewhere warm and stay there for a few hours. There are reasons Oscar-winning movies tend to come out at the end of the year, and one of them is that people want to curl up in a dark theater and forget that the weather outside is frightful.
But sometimes popcorn isn't enough. There are few D.C. theaters where you can get a stiff drink before your friend drags you to "Twilight," but here are some nearby watering holes where you can snag a cheap drink and maybe a snack before embarking on your cinematic adventure.
If you're catching a show at Gallery Place, take a tiny stroll down H Street to Matchbox, the claustrophobic upscale pizza joint. On weekdays between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., sit at the bar for $4 martinis, $2.75 pints of Yuengling and $2 off small pizzas. Yes, it's dark and cramped, but it'll get you in the mood for a movie theater.
Continue Reading "Cheap Drink and a Movie: Pre-Movie Happy Hours" »
THERE ARE many great film romances, but nobody can handle love like the French, so it should be no surprise that Jean Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast" endures. It's an ethereal, iconic film, full of slightly sinister magic and oh-so-sureal, oh-so-beautiful love scenes.
This is NOT the Walt Disney version you're used to — and if you've only seen the animated musical, you're missing something magical.
» AFI Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; Wed., Nov. 19, 6:30 p.m., $6-$10; 301-495-6720. (Silver Spring)
Photo courtesy AFI
DINNER AND A MOVIE seems like more of a luxury in these trying financial times, so consider starving yourself in November. That's because giving up grub and risking your health and getting scurvy is way better than missing out on the "AFI European Union Film Showcase."
The AFI Silver will host 35 films from 27 countries between Nov. 6 and Nov. 25, with 11 of the selections being official Oscar selections for 2009.
Continue Reading "Films Without Borders: AFI European Union Film Showcase" »
FORGET DRACULA. No, seriously. Forget him or another, older vampire will suck your blood and turn you into an evil creature of the night. There was an iconic film vampire long before that Transylvanian impostor, and his name was NOSFERATU!
Tremble, meek humans, before his mighty, silent strength! And then that weak poseur Count Whatever-His-Name-Is- Nobody-Cares-Anyway came and snatched the public's imagination from Nosferatu's grasp. Oh, fate, you are cruel. But the legend of Nosferatu lives on this Halloween at the AFI Silver Theatre, accompanied by the original score performed by a live orchestra.
» AFI Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; Fri., Oct. 31, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., $15-$20; 301-495-6720. (Silver Spring)
Photo courtesy Kino International
QUICK -- name 10 overrated athletes who played in D.C. Now separate them by hair color!
If you have a compulsion to explore the sporting history of our city, then head over to Borders to hear Andy Pollin and The Post's Leonard Shapiro talk about "The Great Book of Washington, D.C., Sports Lists."
» Borders, 8518 Fenton St., Silver Spring; Thu., 7:30 p.m., free; 301-585-0550. (Silver Spring)
Written by Express' Nathan Martin
WE COULD ARGUE forever about which movie is Alfred Hitchcock's best. "North by Northwest" might be my personal favorite (and I have a soft spot for "Rebecca"), but "Strangers on a Train" deserves a place on my top three list as well.
If you've managed to escape a late-night showing on TCM, "Strangers" is about the terrible things that can happen when you reveal too much of yourself to, well, strangers. It's thrilling and suspenseful and dark, and it'll probably put you off Internet dating for a while.
» AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; Sat., Oct. 25, 7 p.m., $10-$12; 301-495-6720. (Silver Spring)
Photo courtesy the Everett Collection
WHILE WASHINGTON gleams with white buildings and aspirations to be a city on a hill, there is a glamour to its innate grittiness as well. That's glorified in the D.C. Noir Festival, wherein we celebrate these dark and violent movies of the 1940s.
Don't miss the showing of "Sunset Boulevard," a classic noir tragedy about an aging movie star who's lost more than her career.
» AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; through Nov. 5; 301-495-6720. (Silver Spring)
Photo courtesy AFI
LABOR DAY WAS a few weeks ago, but the Eighth annual D.C. Labor FilmFest still seems timely. The AFI Silver is now billing the fest as "Real Films for Hard Times" to appeal to those moviegoers who aren't expecting a check from Secretary Paulson.
Assuming you've still got a bank and some money left in it, you've got lots of options. If your sense of humor needs a bailout, "Kabluey" features a schlub who's forced to support his in-laws by dressing as the pathetic foam-rubber mascot of a failing Internet company while his brother fights in Iraq. (No, it's not a documentary.)
For even purer physical humor, check out a restored print of 1936's silent classic "Modern Times" and watch Charlie Chaplin literally become a cog in the machine, as well as mistake cocaine for salt and accidentally lead a communist demonstration. (If anyone had the clout to flout the Production Code, it was Chaplin.)
FOR THE PAST 19 years, the films of Latin America (and now, Spain and Portugal, too) have been bundled together and screened — that's right folks, we're in the midst of the Latin American Film Festival!
Running through Oct. 7, the festival features over 30 films, all showing at AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring. Tonight's elections are "60 Miles East" and "Cochochi." The former is a heart-wrenching tale of Dominicans that set out in search of a better life on small, fragile boats. The latter is a Mexican coming-of-age tale about two brothers and, it would seem, a horse? Whatever the plot details, it won awards at both the Toronto and Miami International Film Festivals.
For a complete list of films, click here.
» AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring; through Oct. 7, various times, various prices; 301-495-6720. (Silver Spring)
Photo courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
SINCE YOU'VE NO DOUBT noticed the days are getting shorter and the nights longer, it might be wise to beat the rush and embrace the darkness now. You could start by skimming through the just-released "D.C. Noir 2," a new collection of stories about crimes and mayhem that for once don't take place on Capitol Hill. (Like its predecessor, it's edited by the ubiquitous George Pelecanos.)
To further prep you for the upcoming shadows of next month's Noir City DC filmfest at AFI Silver, we asked a few of the "D.C. Noir 2" contributors about their favorite films and characters, as well as what the heck noir is, anyway.
» EXPRESS: Favorite films?
» GEORGE PELECANOS: I have many, so I'll just list some of them: "The Big Heat," "Lady From Shanghai," "Touch of Evil," "Double Indemnity," "Pickup on South Street." All of these films use the language of cinema to convey a feeling of fatalism, claustrophobia and psychological distress.
» ELIZABETH HAND: "The Third Man" is one of the greatest films ever. "Odd Man Out," with James Mason as an IRA operative trying to escape after a botched robbery. Then probably "Kiss Me Deadly" and "Blade Runner," which is a science-fiction noir.
» JAMES GRADY: Without one wasted frame, "The Maltese Falcon" proves [writer Dashiell] Hammett, [director John] Huston and [star Humphrey] Bogart are geniuses, and has asides about American corruption that most people miss.
» MARITA GOLDEN: "The Grifters" is essentially a morality tale, a commentary on the fact that chickens do come home to roost, and no matter how we try to engineer it, we get snared in webs of our own construction.
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