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  Cool Hand Luke (1967)

  It’s funny how a line from a film enters the popular consciousness. Take Strother Martin’s speech from Cool Hand Luke about how what we’ve got here is a failure to communicate. For a generation, his sneering delivery was best known for being sampled in Guns N’ Roses’ “Civil War” and not for how perfectly it encapsulates the self-justification of oppressive, crushing power. If people did know it from the film, then maybe it would be overshadowed by another moment. No, not Paul Newman as the titular Luke: too cool for school (or, rather, the chain gang), eating eggs and standing up in a boxing match when he should be laying down. It would be when, on the run from the law one last time, he hides out in a church. Rather than railing at God, he calls the Almighty out for knowing he was dealing men like Luke a crappy hand. When Newman one-eye-peeks at Heaven as he prays, knowing the man upstairs don’t care, it’s not with anger or acceptance but the same valiant defiance that makes this one of his greatest performances. – Richard Whittaker

  Sun., Jan. 26

  Violet Crown Cinema

• Film

  Special Screenings

  

  Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition (2001)

  “The world has changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost…” If those sentences sent an electric jolt through your entire soul, well, let’s be friends. And let’s also go to the Alamo Drafthouse this weekend to remember that good can vanquish evil. With this extended edition, spend three and a half hours reveling in a land of magic, where the noble fellowship (and Boromir) quest to keep darkness out of Middle-earth. Peter Jackson’s stunning visuals and Howard Shore’s stirring soundtrack deserve to be seen on the big screen. I can’t think of any better self-care than escapism with LotR. – Cat McCarrey

  Jan. 24-28

  Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline, Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane, Alamo Drafthouse Village, Alamo Drafthouse Mueller

• Film

  Special Screenings

  

  Mulholland Drive (2001)

  The Chronicle staff is absurdly packed with film buffs – then there’s me. My favorite movies are Friday the 13th, Midnight in Paris, The Secret Life of Pets, and Mulholland Drive. It makes no sense. But please allow this non-expert to convince you Mulholland Drive is one of the best movies ever made – right up there with Secret Life of Pets! This film is not for your conscious mind. It’s like dipping into our collective dreamscape. You could say it sticks with you, but more accurately it existed within you before you watched it: reached into you, and pulled out memories you didn’t know you had. Plus, it’s got one of the best lesbian makeouts of all film history, and that’s something I actually am an expert on because I grew up queer with access to YouTube. – Maggie Quinlan Read a full review of Mulholland Drive.

  Jan. 23-26

  AFS Cinema

• Film

  Special Screenings

  

  To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

  There are select seminal texts we may want to keep close to hand over the next four years. Dario Fo’s chillingly comic Accidental Death of an Anarchist; Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, which follows a petty little gangster’s ascent to terrible power; Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts, a text on the normalization of fascism. And To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s drama about racism in the Deep South, and how much moral resilience it takes to stand up to ubiquitous evil in your own community. As portrayed by Gregory Peck in Robert Mulligan’s 1962 film version, lawyer Atticus Finch is not a hero because he’s perfect, but because he fights for the right reasons, even when it seems the battle is inevitably hopeless. But hope – as another author you should keep on hand, Studs Terkel, once wrote – dies last. – Richard Whittaker

  Jan. 25-27

  Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline, Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane, Alamo Drafthouse Village, Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar

• Film

  Special Screenings

  

  Black Sabbath (1963)

  Horror is international but also affected by borders. Take 1963’s horror anthology Black Sabbath. Italian studio Galatea wanted to make a gory, taboo-busting art horror. Their American International Pictures co-producers wanted a teen-friendly drive-in flick. Galatea wanted visionary director Mario Bava as their selling point. AIP needed a recognizable name and had a good working relationship with Boris Karloff. Galatea needed the film in Italian even as AIP sold it in English markets. They couldn’t even agree on what order to run the three stories of death, ghosts, vampires, and slashers in. Yet their compromise resulted in a grotesque and eerie masterpiece that made Bava an international name and gave Karloff his last great role – or rather, roles, as he turns up as both narrator and in the segments. – Richard Whittaker

  Jan. 17, 19 & 26

  AFS Cinema