LAist Film Calendar 03/17-03/20: Cinefamily's 'Leprethon' & Battleship Potemkin Charms

History teaches that St. Patrick went to Las Vegas, on a spaceship, with Ice T. Or something like that. The Cinefamily celebrates St. Patrick's Day with a run of short statured slasher series Leprechaun!

For those unfamiliar with the Leprechaun films, Warwick Davis (in a complete 180 from fantasy favorite Willow) embodies the imp with malevolent glee, and disembodies anyone who touches his pot o' gold! The "Leprethon" features the three most bizarre films of an already freaky franchise: Leprechaun 3 (set in Sin City), Leprechaun in Space & Leprechaun in Da Hood. Director Brian Trenchard-Smith will appear for a Q&A and the green beer will flow like blood in the streets. It's a seasonal Cinefamily fundraiser, so bring extra money for the cash bar.

Of course, every modern film - even the Leprechaun films - owes a debt to Battleship Potemkin. Sergei Eisenstein's Soviet war epic pioneered film editing, particularly the idea of "montage" - cutting one image after another to produce an independent, third meaning. Potemkin's "Odessa Steps" sequence is still shocking, and maintains its power after nearly 90 years of references and spoofs from such films as Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent, Terry Gilliam's Brazil & Brian De Palma's The Untouchables. Even birthday boy Quentin Tarantino took a stab at it in Inglourious Basterds. Kino International follows last year's Metropolis restoration roadshow with a fully uncut, newly remastered print of Battleship Potemkin playing exclusively at the Nuart.

Speaking of QT, his March Madness line-up continues at the New Beverly. This weekend, the line-up features blaxploitation classics Man Friday & Cooley High (Thursday), nostalgic slices of life Drive-In & Dazed and Confused (Friday/Saturday), high school sex comedy cum murder mystery Pretty Maids All In A Row (midnights; check out this preview courtesy of Trailers From Hell!) and offbeat Westerns Charley One-Eye & Kid Blue (Sunday). Back to Russian rebels, The Desert of Forbidden Art opens at Laemmle's Music Hall. The film documents the extraordinary efforts to shelter avant-garde art from the Kremlin's iron grip. Keep your eyes peeled for a full review in these very (web)pages.

Full list appears below. See you at the movies!

All Week

• Barney's Version (2010) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
  
• Battleship Potemkin (1925) (Nuart Theatre)
  
• Cracks (2009) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
  
• Desert Flower (2009) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
  
• The Desert of Forbidden Art (2010) (w/ filmmakers at all screenings except 9:30pm shows on Friday & Saturday) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3)
  
• HappyThankYouMorePlease (2010) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
  
• I Am (2010) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
  
• Jane Eyre (2011) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
  
• The King's Speech (2010) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3)
  
• Limitless (2011) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
  
• The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) (The Landmark) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
  
• Monogamy (2010) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
  
• The Music Never Stopped (2011) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
  
• Of Gods and Men (2010) (Art Theatre of Long Beach) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
  
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
  
• Win Win (2010) (The Landmark)
  
• Winter in Wartime (2008) (Laemmle's Royal Theatre)

Thursday 3/17

• Battle: Los Angeles (2011) (Arclight Beach Cities) (21+ screening)
  
• Hurricane Motions (w/ filmmakers) (Echo Park Film Center)
  
• Leprethon! (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre)
  
• Little Fugitive (1953) / Spirit of the Beehive (1973) (Aero Theatre)
  
• Man Friday (1975) / Cooley High (1975) (New Beverly Cinema)
  
• The Man With the Golden Gun (1974) / Octopussy (1983) (Egyptian Theatre) (Scorekeeper: A Tribute to Composer John Barry)
  
• National Theatre Live: FRANKENSTEIN (Downtown Independent)
  
• Rango (2011) (Arclight Sherman Oaks) (21+ screening)
  
• A Sudden Shower (Korean Cultural Center)
  
• Take Me Home Tonight (2011) (Arclight Hollywood) (21+ screening)

Friday 3/18

• Casino (1995) (w/ Sharon Stone) (Aero Theatre) (Actor's Instinct: Sharon Stone)
  
• Cry Danger (1951) / Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (UCLA Festival of Preservation)
  
• Drive-In (1976) / Dazed and Confused (1993) (New Beverly Cinema)
  
• The Evil Dead (1981) (Nuart Theatre) (Cine-Insomnia Midnight Movie)
  
• Faces (1968) / A Child is Waiting (1963) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (John Cassavetes)
  
• From Russia With Love (1963) / Diamonds Are Forever (1971) (Egyptian Theatre) (Scorekeeper: A Tribute to Composer John Barry)
  
• Lost Highway (1997) (Art Theatre of Long Beach) (Mondo Fridays) (Long Beach Cinematheque)
  
• The Neverending Story (1984) / Labyrinth (1986) Drinkalong & Beer Pong (Downtown Independent)
  
• Plan 9 From Outer Space (1958) (Regency Academy) (Insomniac Cinema Midnight Movie)
  
• Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) (midnight show) (New Beverly Cinema)
  
• Regarde les hommes tomber (1994) / Pitfall (1962) (LACMA) (Classics from La Semaine de la critique)
  
• Society (1989) (w/ director Brian Yuzna) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (Friday Night Frights)
  
• Win Win (2010) (w/ director Thomas McCarthy & writer Actor Alex Shaffer at 8:10pm show) (The Landmark)

Saturday 3/19

• Baby Peggy: Hollywood's Tiny Titan (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (UCLA Festival of Preservation)
  
• Basic Instinct (1991) / The Quick and the Dead (1995) (Aero Theatre) (Actor's Instinct: Sharon Stone)
  
• Drive-In (1976) / Dazed and Confused (1993) (New Beverly Cinema)
  
• Even the Rain (2010) (Egyptian Theatre)
  
• Hey There, It's Yogi Bear (1961) (Aero Theatre) (Joseph Barbera Centennial)
  
• The Human Resources Manager (2010) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
  
• I Stand Alone (1998) / Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968) (LACMA) (Classics from La Semaine de la critique)
  
• Manhunter (1986) (w/ director Michael Mann) (Egyptian Theatre)
  
• Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) (midnight show) (New Beverly Cinema)
  
• Queen of the Lot (2010) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
  
• Raising Arizona (1987) (Downtown Independent) (Dinner & a Movie)
  
• Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Sins O' The Flesh Midnight Show) (Nuart Theatre)
  
• Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Midnight Insanity Midnight Show) (South Coast Village Regency Theaters)
  
• Wanda (1970) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (UCLA Festival of Preservation)
  
• A Woman Under the Influence (1974) / Gloria (1980) (w/ Gena Rowlands) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (John Cassavetes) (An Evening with Gena Rowlands)

Sunday 3/20

• Charley One-Eye (1973) / Kid Blue (1973) (New Beverly Cinema)
  
• Composite Histories: The Films of Cathy Lee Crane (w/ Cathy Lee Crane) (Echo Park Film Center) (Los Angeles Filmforum)
  
• Even the Rain (2010) (Egyptian Theatre)
  
• Films of Charles and Ray Eames (free event) (Hammer Museum) (Family Flicks)
  
• Goldfinger (1964) / You Only Live Twice (1967) (Egyptian Theatre) (Scorekeeper: A Tribute to Composer John Barry)
  
• The Human Resources Manager (2010) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
  
• The Maltese Falcon (1941) (The Bay Theatre)
  
• Medium Cool (1969) / Reflections in a Golden Eye (1976) (w/ actor Robert Forster & director Haskell Wexler) (Aero Theatre)
  
• Mikey & Nicky (1976) / Machine Gun McCain (1969) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (John Cassavetes) (Cassavetes-As-Actor Sunday)
  
• On the Vitaphone: Program Two (1928-1930) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (UCLA Festival of Preservation)
  
• Pot O' Gold (1941) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (UCLA Festival of Preservation)
  
• Queen of the Lot (2010) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)

That's all for this week. Ahh, potatoes...