Friday August 6, 2010

Birdemic:  Shock & Terror (2008), perhaps the most discussed and anticipated avian-based disaster film since The Birds, Birdemic is equal parts both epochal tale and cinematic warning shot. It tells the story of a couple unexpectedly and unforgettably caught in the eye of a feather-based storm…an apocalyptic attack winging down from the skies in a twisted morass of feathers, talons and blood-soaked claws.  Officially Rejected from Sundance 2009, it has to be seen to be believed!

Friday August 6 & Saturday August 7 – Gone with the Pope (8pm) & Pieces (10pm)

$8 Double feature - 35mm

Gone with the Pope (2010) A renowned nightclub entertainer, singer and movie actor known as "Mr. Palm Springs," Mitchell directs and stars in GONE WITH THE POPE as an ex-con who hatches a plan to kidnap the Pope in exchange for the ransom of "a dollar from every Catholic in the world." Gone with the Pope was shot in 1975 but remained unfinished at the time of Duke Mitchell's death in 1981. The film reels sat until Bob Murawski offered to take a shot at piecing the movie together. Murawski took charge of the restoration and spent 15 years giving Mitchell's low-budget movie an A-list treatment in between editing Sam Raimi's Spider Man 1, 2 & 3, Drag me to Hell, and The Hurt Locker. Pieces (1982) A psychopathic killer stalks a Boston campus, brutally slaughtering nubile young college co-eds, collecting body parts from each victim to create the likeness of his mother who he savagely murdered with an axe when he was ten years old! Pieces is a wild, unrated gorefest, with enough splatter and sleaze to shock the most jaded horror fan! "Not only is this the ultimate chainsaw movie, it's the ultimate slasher film. It has everything you could possibly want, by the bucketful. Full on chainsaw violence, absurd amounts of nudity, and the greatest ending in horror history. “(Eli Roth)

A decade after their last hilarious short, the Oscar-winning A Close Shave, Claymation wonders Wallace and Gromit return for a full-length adventure. Daffy scientist Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and his heroic dog Gromit are doing well with their business, Anti-Pesto, a varmint-hunting outfit designed to keep their English town safe from rabbits chomping on prized vegetables. Wallace meets Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter), who appreciates Wallace's humane way of dealing with rabbits (courtesy of the Bun-Vac 6000), and sets up a rivalry with the gun-toting Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes, enjoying himself more than ever). Creator Nick Park, with co-director/writer Steve Box, delivers a story worthy of the 85-minute running time, although it stretches the act a bit; the formula plays better shorter, but the literally hand-crafted film is a joy to watch. Taking a chapter from classic horror films, a giant were-rabbit is soon on the prowl, and the town is up in arms, what with the annual vegetable contest close at hand. (Anyone who's seen the previous three shorts knows who saves the day.) Never content to do something simply when the extravagant will do, W&G's lives are filled with whimsical Rude Goldberg-style devices, and the opening number showcasing their alarm system is pure Aardman Animation at its finest. Even though there's a new twist here--a few mild sight gags aimed at adults--this G-rated film will delight young and old alike as Park, like team Pixar, seems incapable of making anything but an outstanding film.

Friday July 2 - The Room (8pm)

$10 Double feature or $7 per Film

The Room (2003) back by popular demand! The unintentionally hilarious steaming pile of relationship drama that been hailed as Floor Plan 9 from Outer Space and without a doubt, the worst film ever made, including movies made on Betamax cameras in special education high school classes. Gag me with a plastic spoon!

This screening involves Audience Participation.