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Santa Claus Conquers the Cardboard Planet. | Courtesy of Niceness via Flickr
Weekend plans still up in the air? If 20,000 feet isn't enough elevation for you, boldly go to the Aero for screenings of JJ Abrams' Star Trek, fanboy tribute Free Enterprise, and a Trek triple: Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock & The Voyage Home. TrekMovie.com has organized panels reuniting the cast & crew of Free Enterprise, and welcomes writer/director Nicholas Meyer in-between Khan & Search for Spock. For a different warped drive, the Warner Grand has cracked-out Christmas flick Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, paired with surrealist seasonal import Santa Claus. If you'd rather stick to this planet, the Nuart has celluloid space-cases Werner Herzog & Nicolas Cage unspooling all week in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.
Or, take a Heavenly flight with one of LA's more fascinating historical figures. Continuing a much-appreciated trend in recent weeks towards localist programs, the Echo Park Film Center and Downtown Independent present Sister Aimee: The Musical! For those unfamiliar, Aimee Semple McPherson founded Echo Park's Angelus Temple & pioneering Christian radio station KFSG. She also embodied classic showbiz, from her rags-to-riches origin, to her theatrical sermons & gossip-plagued personal life. While it's unclear how much of her checkered history is featured in Sister Aimee: The Musical (I hope lots), the production follows McPherson's DIY footsteps. With guidance from the EPFC, students aged 12-19 wrote, produced & choreographed the numbers, built the sets, stitched the costumes, and probably did their own stunts. And if that sell wasn't hard enough - it's FREE.
Full list appears below. See you at the movies!
The Angelus Temple in non-handmade-set form. | Courtesy of Kansas Sebastian via Flickr
All Week
Across the Hall (2009) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3)
Art of the Steal (2009) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) (Nuart Theatre)
Breaking Point (2009) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Bright Star (2009) (Laemmle's Royal Theatre)
Brothers (2009) (The Landmark)
Everybody's Fine (2009) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
Fifty Dead Men Walking (2009) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3)
The Last Station (2009) (The Landmark)
Serious Moonlight (2009) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
The Strip (2009) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Up In The Air (2009) (The Landmark)
Thursday 12/3
6th Annual International Artivist Film Festival (Egyptian Theatre)
Benny's Video (1992) / Funny Games (1997) (Aero Theatre)
Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts! (w/ Bob Zmuda) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre)
Pirate Radio (2009) (Arclight Hollywood) (21+ screening)
Police, Adjective (2009) (free event) (Melnitz Movies)
Rethink Afghanistan (2009) (Echo Park Film Center) (Zero Film Festival 2009)
Sound of Zero (Space15 Twenty) (Zero Film Festival 2009)
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) (Arclight Sherman Oaks) (21+ screening)
Women's International Film and TV Showcase (New Beverly Cinema)
Zero Film Festival 2009 (Downtown Independent)
Friday 12/4
6th Annual International Artivist Film Festival (Egyptian Theatre)
After All (1990) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Beyond the Iron Curtain: Hungarian Cinema Observes the Fall of Communism)
Christmas Show: Silent and Sound Gems (Old Town Music Hall)
Phantom of the Opera (1925) (w/ live score by The Creative Arts Collective) (Art Theatre of Long Beach) (Mondo Fridays)
Repo Man (1984) (Nuart Theatre) (Cine-Insomnia Midnight Movie)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (midnight screening) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) / Santa Claus (1959) (Warner Grand Theatre)
Spirited Away (2001) (Regency Fairfax) (Insomniac Cinema Midnight Movie)
Star Trek (2009) / Free Enterprise (1999) (w/ cast & crew of Free Enterprise) (Aero Theatre)
Stunt Rock (1978) (midnight screening) (New Beverly Cinema) (Grindhouse Film Festival)
Women's International Film and TV Showcase (New Beverly Cinema)
Zero Film Festival 2009 (Downtown Independent)
Saturday 12/5
6th Annual International Artivist Film Festival (Egyptian Theatre)
"Beautiful Losers" Short Film Group Show (w/ special guests) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre)
Bright Star (2009) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
Camelot (1967) (free event) (Getty Center) (Swashbuckling Days and Daring Knights)
Christmas Show: Silent and Sound Gems (Old Town Music Hall)
Hermie & Friends: A Fruitcake Christmas (2005) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
It's A Wonderful Life (1946) (The Bay Theatre)
Joyeux Noel (2005) (Warner Grand Theatre)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Sins O' The Flesh Midnight Show) (Nuart Theatre)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Midnight Insanity Midnight Show) (Warner Grand Theatre)
Sister Aimee: The Musical! (2009) (free event w/ filmmakers and reception) (Echo Park Film Center) (Downtown Independent)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) / Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) / Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) (w/ director Nicholas Meyer) (Aero Theatre)
There's Always Vanilla (1971) / The Crazies (1973) / Day of the Dead (1985) (New Beverly Cinema)
Visual Acoustics (2008) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
Voila La LibertÈ (1991) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Beyond the Iron Curtain: Hungarian Cinema Observes the Fall of Communism)
Zero Film Festival 2009 (Downtown Independent)
Sunday 12/6
Christmas Show: Silent and Sound Gems (Old Town Music Hall)
Encounters With Sciarrino (2005) (Goethe-Institut)
The Films of 1909 (w/ musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla) (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences)
Hermie & Friends: A Fruitcake Christmas (2005) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
Idiot's Delight (1939) / Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (1939 Redux: Digging Deeper into "Hollywood's Greatest Year")
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) (sneak preview) (Egyptian Theatre)
It's A Wonderful Life (1946) (The Bay Theatre)
Ivanhoe (1952) (free event) (Getty Center) (Swashbuckling Days and Daring Knights)
London River (2009) / The Door (2009) (Aero Theatre)
The Man Who Envied Women (1985) (w/ Yvonne Rainer) (Los Angeles Filmforum) (Egyptian Theatre)
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) / 10 (1979) (New Beverly Cinema)
SoCo to SoCal: Benefits and Challenges of Regional to 'Resource Access' Filmmaking (Echo Park Film Center)
Visual Acoustics (2008) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
Zero Film Festival 2009 (Downtown Independent)
That's all for this week. This is the first and probably last time I advocate evangelism in this column. Happy December.
Compiled, as always, by the amazing and diligent Edward Yerke-Robins
