Cary Guffey in the 1977 movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” playing at the Academy Museum on Nov 9.
(Michael Ochs Archives / Columbia Pictures via Getty Images)
The 10 best retro movies to see in L.A. in November
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Turkeys? Maybe at the end of November, sure. But not on this list. Los Angeles continues to offer up a cornucopia of screening riches, month after month, with local programmers outdoing themselves. This month brings classic blockbusters, Diane Keaton in a cozy turtleneck and what could be the greatest film of all time (if you believe a worldwide panel of film critics).
These screenings feature special guests, archival prints and other surprises. Consider our guide a handy catch-all of the best special screenings of the month, reserved for older films playing in unique circumstances.
Whatever your plans may be, change them for the following 10 events.
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'Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles' (Egyptian, Nov. 2)
Hollywood Movie Theater
(Criterion Collection)
Made when its filmmaker, Chantal Akerman, was only 25 years old, 1975’s “Jeanne Dielman” was named the greatest film of all time in the 2022 edition of the Sight and Sound critics’ poll, a rather stunning triumph for a movie that had at times over the years been difficult to see. Something like a screening at the Egyptian Theatre would have seemed almost inconceivable. Thanks to its recently increased visibility and availability, the film is now considered not just a brilliant piece of formalist filmmaking, but also as an angry voice of objection to the roles society uses to subjugate women, as a middle-aged widow (Delphine Seyrig) goes about the monotonous routines of her life until there is a crucial rupture. Akerman’s sister, Sylviane Akerman, will be there to introduce the screening.
“Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” is playing Nov. 2 at the Egyptian Theatre. Tickets here.
“Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” is playing Nov. 2 at the Egyptian Theatre. Tickets here.
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'Wanda' (Billy Wilder Theater, Nov. 2)
Westwood Movie Theater
(UCLA Film & Television Archive)
The only film directed by actor Barbara Loden, who died in 1980 at age 48, “Wanda” won a top prize when it premiered at the 1970 Venice Film Festival but then faded from view and was for many years a largely overlooked film. A 2011 restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive helped bring it back into broader circulation and the film found a wider audience at last. Deeply influential to a new generation of moviemakers, Loden’s powerful, enigmatic film is a scrappy, low-budget effort that makes the most of its resources, capturing a hardscrabble world in which a young woman (played by Loden herself in a captivating performance) drifts through Pennsylvania mining country, somehow passive and self-possessed at the same time. UCLA will screen the film in 35mm with Elena Gorfinkel, author of “BFI Classics: Wanda,” there for a book signing as well as a Q&A moderated by Maya Montañez Smukler.
“Wanda” is playing Nov. 2 at Billy Wilder Theater. Tickets here.
“Wanda” is playing Nov. 2 at Billy Wilder Theater. Tickets here.
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‘Nashville’ (Academy Museum, Nov. 3)
Mid-Wilshire Movie Theater
(Paramount Pictures)
It’s easy to recommend Robert Altman’s kaleidoscopic 1975 roundelay, a fictional five days in country music’s capital, where generational tensions collide with politics, sex, liberation and the pressures of making the grade onstage. This is a feast of a movie, doubly stunning when you learn that the actors wrote their own songs. But the real reason to attend this special 4K screening in the big David Geffen Theater is the night’s special guest, Jeff Goldblum, these days riding high with “Wicked” yet still coasting happily on his own frequency. The actor will discuss his wordless role in “Nashville” and will no doubt fill the room with laughs.
“Nashville” is playing Nov. 3 at the Academy Museum. Tickets here.
“Nashville” is playing Nov. 3 at the Academy Museum. Tickets here.
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'Nightcrawler' (Vidiots, Nov. 5)
Eagle Rock Movie Theater
(Chuck Zlotnick / Open Road Films)
The directing debut of veteran screenwriter Dan Gilroy, “Nightcrawler” was a real surprise when it came out in 2014 with an assured sense of style and a ferocious, unsettling sensibility. Jake Gyllenhaal has perhaps never been better than he is here, in a performance that evokes characters such as “Taxi Driver’s” Travis Bickle and “The King of Comedy’s” Rupert Pupkin, guys who don’t get how much they make other people uncomfortable. Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom, a small-time L.A. crook who falls into working as a freelance nighttime news cameraperson, cruising the city looking for accidents, crime scenes or anything he can film and sell. With a cast that also includes Rene Russo, Bill Paxton and Riz Ahmed, the film becomes a tightly wound thriller that also has a sharp perspective on the cutthroat environment of contemporary media culture. Gilroy will appear in-person for this screening.
“Nightcrawler” is playing Nov. 5 at Vidiots. Tickets here.
“Nightcrawler” is playing Nov. 5 at Vidiots. Tickets here.
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'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (Academy Museum, Nov. 9)
Mid-Wilshire Movie Theater
(Columbia Pictures)
With the ongoing celebrations of the 50th anniversary of “Jaws,” it makes sense to move along to Steven Spielberg’s follow-up, 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” The film will be screening in 4K as part of a series celebrating Italian special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi, who created the film’s unexpectedly adorable alien creatures (and moved onto “E.T.”). This film particularly captures Spielberg’s ability to combine a lived-in domestic story with wide-eyed spectacle and a sense of mischievous adventure provided by a fantastic cast, one that includes Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban, Teri Garr and François Truffaut. Hearing John Williams’ score — and that iconic five-note theme introducing the aliens — in the David Geffen Theater in particular should be transporting.
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” is playing Nov. 9 at the Academy Museum. Tickets here.
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” is playing Nov. 9 at the Academy Museum. Tickets here.
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‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ (Egyptian, Nov. 10)
Hollywood Movie Theater
(Sunset Boulevard / Corbis via Getty Images)
Sometimes a cultural moment shouts out for a remake of a classic, and that was never more the case than with this one, set in a late ’70s San Francisco of frustrated ex-hippies with boring day jobs, New Age self-help gurus and a sleek new species of businesspeople, the yuppies. Above it all loomed the city’s recently completed Transamerica Pyramid, maybe a beacon to another planet. The movie’s director, Philip Kaufman, recently won a career achievement award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. (a group Mark and I both belong to) and will be in attendance at this LAFCA-programmed evening to discuss his incredible career.
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is playing Nov. 10 at the Egyptian Theatre. Tickets here.
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is playing Nov. 10 at the Egyptian Theatre. Tickets here.
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‘Alien’ (Academy Museum, Nov. 15)
Mid-Wilshire Movie Theater
(20th Century Fox)
Science fiction survived its tunic-clad transitional phase — best represented by “Zardoz” and “Logan’s Run” — to arrive, by the end of the 1970s, at a fresh sense of revolution. Ridley Scott’s grungy landmark is the most lasting of these late-decade stunners, crystallizing everything that would come: body horror, anti-corporate cynicism and, above all, a new kind of action hero embodied by the magnificent Sigourney Weaver, who dominated the 1980s as an actor who could do anything. The creature itself remains astounding. If you ever wanted to see “Alien” exactly as people first did on May 25, 1979, no special editions, just a pristine 35mm print, then this is your evening.
“Alien” is playing Nov. 15 at the Academy Museum. Tickets here.
“Alien” is playing Nov. 15 at the Academy Museum. Tickets here.
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'Something’s Gotta Give' (Aero Theatre, Nov. 16)
Santa Monica Movie Theater
(Bob Marshak / Columbia Pictures)
When news broke of the recent death of Diane Keaton, fans anticipated the response of her frequent collaborator, writer-director-producer Nancy Meyers, who posted a tender tribute online a few days later. At this screening of “Something’s Gotta Give” at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre, Meyers will appear for a Q&A, moderated by critic Katie Walsh. The 2003 film is a high point for both Keaton and Meyers, a warm and wise dramedy about finding love at a certain age and more importantly feeling centered just being yourself. With Keaton as a divorced playwright who finds herself romantically caught between Jack Nicholson’s aging cad and Keanu Reeves’ earnest local doctor, the film features impeccable décor, sparkling dialogue and charged performances. This is sure to be a powerful and emotional evening.
“Something’s Gotta Give” is playing Nov. 16 at the Aero Theatre. Tickets here.
“Something’s Gotta Give” is playing Nov. 16 at the Aero Theatre. Tickets here.
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‘A View to a Kill’ (Culver Theater, Nov. 25)
Culver City Movie Theater
(Chip Hires / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Roger Moore was my James Bond, the one I grew up with, and I’ll always have a soft spot for his final outing, which is, to be sure, a ridiculous movie but a vastly entertaining one. Christopher Walken is a perfect villain and living cartoon Grace Jones brings her sculpted, perturbed vibe to every interaction she has. One element that, unironically, remains as excellent as the very best of the series is John Barry’s lush orchestral score, along with his collaboration with Duran Duran for “A View to a Kill,” still the only Bond song to go to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. At this special screening of a 4K restoration, soundtrack producer Neil S. Bulk will discuss his deluxe expanded editions for the major Bond movies.
“A View to a Kill” is playing Nov. 25 at the Culver Theater. Tickets here.
“A View to a Kill” is playing Nov. 25 at the Culver Theater. Tickets here.
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‘Goodfellas’ (New Beverly, Nov. 28-30)
Fairfax Movie Theater
(Ellen Jaskol / Warner Bros. Pictures)
It will be good to give thanks for many things this weekend — maybe it’s the family seated around you, the food and wine you’re lucky to consume, the football game and the sense of a continuing American experiment, no matter how improbable. But even in the absence of all those comforts, you can give thanks for Martin Scorsese’s 1990 masterpiece, always a delight from top to bottom, energized by a confidence he’d earned through his own peaks and valleys. Without this movie, there would be no Quentin Tarantino, no “Sopranos.” It’s a wellspring of so much red-sauce-specked delight and everything you want from a movie.
“Goodfellas” is playing Nov. 28-30 at the New Beverly Cinema. Tickets here.
“Goodfellas” is playing Nov. 28-30 at the New Beverly Cinema. Tickets here.
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