December at the Cinema Arts Centre is full of unique events. Whether you are in to screenings of cult and horror classics or award winning foreign films, to a live events like a storytelling show, live music, and stand-up comedy there is something for everyone. Also, check out local works of art for purchase available this weekend. Details below.
Die Hard (Night Owl Cinema)
Friday, December 6th at 10 pm
Members $7 | Public $12
New York City policeman John McClane (Bruce Willis) is visiting his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia) and two daughters on Christmas Eve. He joins her at a holiday party in the headquarters of the Japanese-owned business she works for. But the festivities are interrupted by a group of terrorists who take over the exclusive high-rise, and everyone in it. Very soon McClane realizes that there’s no one to save the hostages – but him. (USA, 1988, R, English, 132 min., Dir. John McTiernan)
Holidays of Horror Part 4 (Retro Picture Show – 35mm Double Feature)
Saturday, December 7th at 10pm
$18 Members | $22 Public
Retro Picture Show presents BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974) and SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984) – both shown from vintage 35mm film prints.
Digho Muse Market (An inspired collage of unique local art)
Saturday and Sunday, December 7th and 8th 12pm-5pm
Free Entry. Artwork available for purchase from local artists
A creative market space where local artists can showcase and sell their work. Artists will be selling pieces that include: jewelry, pottery, prints, hand carved toys, digital design, paintings, photography, boho mixed media, greeting cards, novelties, floral arrangements, wood and resin-epoxy pieces, and more. Admission is free.
Pushover (1954) on 35mm (Film Noir Classics)
Monday, December 9th at 7:30 pm
Members $11 | Public $16
In the wake of a bank heist, Paul Sheridan (Fred MacMurray) is part of a team of cops assigned to recover the stolen $200,000. They stake out the apartment of Lona McLane (Kim Novak), the girlfriend of one of the robbers, and before long Paul and Lona begin a steamy affair. Lona persuades Paul to kill her boyfriend so that the two of them can escape with the money, but, in order to pull it off, Paul first has to trick his boss and fellow detectives. (USA, 1954, 88 min., NR, English| Dir. Richard Quine)
Les Deux Timides on 35mm (Anything But Silent w/ live organ accompaniment)
Wednesday, December 11th at 7:30 pm
Members $11 | Public $16
René Clair’s last feature-length silent, Les Deux Timides follows a bumbling young lawyer (Pierre Batcheff in a wonderful Keatonesque performance by) who is defending a client accused of beating his wife. As he describes his version of what happened, it plays out on the screen in all its ridiculous, convoluted glory, with escalating hilarity. And the hilarity continues when after losing the case, the lawyer and his brutish client implausibly become rivals for the hand of a shy young lady. (France, 1928, 87 Mins, Silent, French intertitles with live English translation, 35mm | Dir. René Clair)
Ben Model is one of America’s leading silent film accompanists, and has been playing piano and organ for silent films at the New York MoMA since 1984, and the CAC since 2006.
ADAM (Out at the Movies – presented with Long Island Gay & Lesbian Film Festival)
Thursday, December 12th at 7:30 pm
Members $12 | Public $17 | with fabulous holiday reception
Awkward, self-conscious Adam Freeman has just finished his junior year of high school in 2006. When his cool older sister Casey suggests he visit her in New York for the summer, Adam has visions of meeting a girl and finally gaining some actual life experience. The fantasy doesn’t materialize exactly as expected. Casey has enthusiastically embraced life amidst Brooklyn’s young LGBTQ community and invites Adam to tag along with her to queer bars, marriage equality rallies and other happenings. When Adam falls at first sight for Gillian, a smart, beautiful young woman in this new crowd, she mistakenly assumes he is trans. Flummoxed and enamored, he haplessly goes along with her assumption, resulting in an increasingly complex comedy – and tragedy – of errors he’s ill-equipped to navigate. (USA, 2019, 88 min., NR, English| Dir. Rhys Ernst)
Home Alone (1990) (Cinema for Kids)
Saturday, December 14th at 11 am
Members $7 | Public $12 | Free for Kids under 12
Revisit the holiday hijinks and hilarity with the original blockbuster hit comedy starring Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, and Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister – an adorable eight year-old determined to defend his house against burglars using an outrageous array of ingenious booby traps. (USA, 1990, 103min., PG, English | Dir. Chris Columbus)
1941 (Cult Café/ 40th Anniversary Screening)
Saturday, December 14th at 10 pm
Members $5 / Public $7
Steven Spielberg’s often overlooked war comedy about a panic in the Los Angeles area after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, featuring an ensemble cast of SNL legends. (USA / 1979 / 118 Min. / PG / Dir. Steven Spielberg)
‘Tis The Season: True Holiday Stories – Now You’re Talking: A Storytelling Show
Sunday, December 15th at 8 pm
Members $20 | Public $25
“Now You’re Talking – a Storytelling Show” presents: “’Tis the Season- True Holiday Stories.” A man receives an unexpected Christmas gift from his brother, a mixed marriage comes to a head at a holiday gathering, and all a young Jew wants is something she’s not allowed to have. Join 6 storytellers as they share true holiday stories.
Host Tracey Segarra is an award-winning storytelling whose true stories have been featured on The Moth Radio Hour, and the Story Collider and Risk! Live shows and podcasts. Tracey is also the founder and host of Long Island’s popular live storytelling show, “Now You’re Talking!” which puts on live, curated shows featuring six storytellers at venues such as the Tilles Center, My Father’s Place Supper Club and the Cinema Arts Centre.
A Rod Serling Christmas (A Twilight Zone Sky Room Talk with Philip Harwood)
Monday, December 16th at 7:30 pm
Members $12 | Public $17
As we close out the year celebrating the 60th anniversary of The Twilight Zone, we turn to Serling and the merriest of holidays: Christmas. Although he was Jewish, Serling enjoyed “the wondrous magic of Christmas” (Arlen Schumer). In these television broadcasts Serling tears away the tinsel and beauty of Christmas, and goes deep into the inner soul of the human spirit.
THE FREQUENCY OF FEAR: The Power and the Glory of the Motion Picture Soundtrack (Lecture by Dean Hurley, Twin Peaks Sound Supervisor & long time David Lynch collaborator)
Wednesday, December 18th at 7:30 pm
Members $12 | Public $17
Join Dean Hurley, Twin Peaks Sound Supervisor & long time David Lynch collaborator, for a presentation on the Motion Picture Soundtrack. Understanding our physiological experience of sound and its relation to our physical world can illuminate and unlock a deeper understanding of the design of sound and music for the motion picture. Journeying through concepts of cymatics, standing wave levitation, musical tunings, as well as film examples, demonstrations and dissections of modern mix sessions, The Frequency of Fear guides its participants through an awakening in understanding the spiritual power of sound both onscreen and beyond.
A longtime David Lynch collaborator, Dean Hurley operated and managed Lynch’s Asymmetrical Studio from 2005-2018 where he worked closely with Lynch on the sound and music for his feature films, commercial work, music albums and most recently the third season of Twin Peaks.
Annie Mark, James O’Malley & Andrea Randa – (Hard Luck Café/ Folk Music Society of Huntington)
Thursday, December 19th at 7:30 PM
$10 Members | $15 Public
The Folk Music Society of Huntington presents Hard Luck Café, a monthly folk music concert at the Cinema Arts Centre. This month will feature Annie Mark, James O’Malley & Andrea Randa live in concert
Mixed Nuts (1994) (Cult Café)
Saturday, December 21st at 10pm
$5 Members |$7 Public
In this screwball Christmas comedy Philip (Steve Martin), head of a suicide-prevention hotline receives an eviction notice from his landlord, Stanley (Garry Shandling), which he hides from his staff; Mrs. Munchnik & Catherine in attempts to convince his loan officer girlfriend, Susan to grant him a small loan which she refuses because she is breaking up with him. Also Starring Robert Klein, Anthony LaPaglia, Juliette Lewis, Rob Reiner, Adam Sandler & Liev Schreiber in his debut. (USA, 1994, 97 Min., PG-13 | Dir. Nora Ephron)
Give Me Liberty (Sunday Schmooze – bagels and a film)
Sunday, December 22nd Bagels at 10 am, Film at 11 am
Members $12 | Public $17
Kirill Mikhanovsky’s hilarious, heartbreaking debut feature draws from personal experience to create a raw, inventive “day in the life” story about marginalized characters encountering literal and figurative roadblocks. Vic, a hapless young Russian American, drives a handicapped transport in Milwaukee, where he shares an apartment with his grandfather. Already late – on a day when street protests break out, Vic reluctantly agrees to ferry his grandfather and a dozen elderly Russians to a funeral, but they’re distressed when he stops first in a predominantly African American neighborhood to pick up Tracy, a black woman with ALS. On the verge of being fired, Vic’s day goes from bad to worse. (USA, 2019, 110 Mins, English & Russian | Dir. Kirill Mikhanovsky)
Myq Kaplan (Stand-up Comedy in the Cafe!)
Friday, December 27th at 9:30 PM
$13 Members | $17 Public
Myq (Mike) Kaplan has been fixture of the stand-up comedy scene for 17 years. He has performed on the Tonight Show, Conan, the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Seth Meyers, the Late Late Show with James Corden, in his own half-hour Comedy Central Presents special, and in his own one-hour special on Netflix and now Amazon, “Small, Dork, and Handsome.”
Midnight Cowboy (Cult Café – 50th Anniversary Screening)
Saturday, December 28th at 10 PM
$5 Members | $7 Public
The only X-rated movie to ever win an Oscar for best picture, Mid-night Cowboy depicts the unlikely friendship between two hustlers: naive Texan prostitute (Jon Voight) and ailing con man (Dustin Hoffman). (USA, 1969, 113 Min, R | Dir. John Schlesingerback)
Karen Fortuna is a freelance writer who can be reached at [email protected]