Balcony
1003 Arch St.
215.922.LIVE.
http://www.thetroc.com/
Free.
MONSTER'S BALL (2001) (Shown on video):
I have to confess: I feel somewhat guilty about thinking Halle Berry was only kinda good in her Oscar performance. Remember her emotional harangue at the Oscars? That scared the piss out of me, maybe accidentally coming across like an FU to all of us who thought she barely deserved it. I'll probably get over it. In the meantime, I can say without hesitation that the movie's not too hot, though it's at least fascinating in the way it practically kills itself to avoid being a trite comment on racial intolerance wherein all a racist needs to do is bonk Halle to realize the errors of his ways.
B-
Mon., June 17, 8pm.

Colonial Theater
227 Bridge St.,
Phoenixville.
610.917.0223.
http://www.thecolonialtheatre.com/.
$4-$6
M*A*S*H (1970) (Shown on film):
Not that the M*A*S*H franchise needs anyone else to kiss its ass, but it's still nice to go back to the roots and remember that when it started out it was merely a Robert Altman movie. (Sorry, but Hawkeye will always be Donald Sutherland, Trapper John is Elliott Gould and whatever happened to Tom Skerrit's Duke?) More important, there's Altman, who has one of the more unique styles in film. Though everyone loves to cram dozens of characters into their films nowadays, no one has ever been able to match the way Altman sends us into a community and lets us live there. M*A*S*H is best seen on the big screen, with those murky shots and stoned camera movements. The best thing that can be said about M*A*S*H is that it's antiwar without being antiwar, comments on sanity-within-horror portrayed abstractly through the (admittedly) asshole-ish hijinks of its heroes. Remember: Altman is God.
A-
Sun., June 16, 2pm.

County Theater
20 E. State St., Doylestown.
215.345.6789.
http://www.countytheater.com/
$4-$7.50.
FILMS THAT TIME FORGOT (Shown on film):
Lou DiCrescenzo, film preservationist extraordinaire, stops by for his quarterly presentation of odd, old and bizarro films he's dredged up. Running around two hours and spanning the first half of last century, the evening's roundup includes shorts, cartoons, musical subjects and trailers.
Mon., June 17, 7pm. THE HUSTLER (1961) (Shown on film):
In which Paul Newman's pool shark--the self-proclaimed "best you've ever seen"--plays Jackie Gleason for some 30 hours, loses everything he has in the world, and then sets off on one of cinema's oddest missions of redemption. Robert Rossen's film represents one of the tightest balancing acts you've ever seen: The first act is all about cool, with a jazzy tone, insane bets only a cocky compulsive gambler would make and guys with names like Minnesota Fats.
A-
Wed., June 19, 4:15 and 9:15pm.

Exhumed Films
Hoyt's Theatre,
Intersection of Rtes. 70 and 38,
Pennsauken, N.J.
856.910.2340.
http://www.exhumedfilms.com/
$10.
LARRY FESSENDEN DOUBLE FEATURE: NO TELLING (1991) (Shown on film):
Fessenden will be present and accounted for at this double feature of his films, and if you've never heard of this independent horror maven, maybe it's time. Starting off with a couple moving to the country so the husband can pull some scientific research, the direction it's going isn't automatically clear, though the sense of dread and photography lifted from early Sam Raimi tip us off that even if you don't know where that is, you know it'll at least be somewhere. And so it builds. And builds. And builds and builds and builds. By the time it's revealed what all this building is about, it appears that there's all of five minutes left. What it turns out to be isn't all that hair-raising, exactly--in essence, this has to be the most stylish animal rights activism movie I've ever seen--but the time hasn't been necessarily wasted. His actors are at ease with the camera, so much that it's a pleasant, if somewhat frustrating, experience all around.
C+
With co-feature:
WENDIGO (2001) (Shown on film):
Fessenden's latest actually received a fairly strong theatrical release, even winding up all the way in the boondocks that are Philadelphia, most likely because it's been compared to The Shining and that Blair Witch thing. Sure enough: A family travels to the woods for a winter retreat and awaken a Native American spirit. Jake Weber, Patricia Clarkson and that irritatingly adorable tyke from Malcolm in the Middle star.
(Not reviewed.)
Fri., June 14, 9:30pm.

Features at the Five II
Downstairs at the Five Spot,
5 S. Bank St.
215.901.3771.
$5.
LETHAL FORCE (2001) (Shown on video):
There's something inherently frightening about a low-budget, DV-shot parody of action films, a feeling of immense, right-in-your-stomach dread that this will be amateur night that quickly hikes off once the first sequence occurs. These guys clearly know their stuff. Eschewing the belief that a parody must be a giant campfest, director Alvin Ecarma directs his actors as though this were a straight-up action film, and the extent to which Ecarma has planted his tongue into his cheek is quite a relief indeed. Sweeping up the last four decades of bad-ass movies into one 70-minute project, he's made a film for film geeks. There's the heated male comraderie from John Woo, the operatic duels from Sergio Leone, a Pam Grier stand-in, '70s cop show fight scenes and, just to throw the '60s in there somewhere, henchmen wearing identical white masks. When it occasionally does go for obvious laughs, it falls flat, but these are spaced out far enough from each other that you can forgive and move right along.
B
Mon., June 17, 7pm.

Marathon on the Square
1839 Spruce St.
215.731.0800.
Free.
PULP FICTION (1994) (Shown on video):
Sorry, but I swore to myself back in 1995 that I wouldn't watch this again for at least a decade (though I may break down when it arrives on double disc DVD in August), so my thoughts are probably erroneous. I'm sure it's still pretty good.
A
Wed., June 12, 9pm.
TOOTSIE (1982) (Shown on video):
It ain't Some Like It Hot, but it still proves that all you have to do to make a great transvestite movie is make sure it's a great actor you're putting make-up and fake boobs on. Got that, Sorority Boys?
B+
Wed., June 19, 9pm.

Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th St. and the Pkwy.
215.763.8100.
http://www.philamuseum.org/
$7-$10.
DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS (1995) (Shown on film):
A sturdy noir and not one inch more, this run-of-the-mill murder mystery will most likely land in The Great Film-Geek Handbook for three reasons: 1) it was made by Carl Franklin, who showed us how someone could make both One False Move and High Crimes; 2) it was the first time any of us realized that there was this actor named Don Cheadle who was quite good; and 3) it signaled the beginning of a comeback for Jennifer Beals that, as far as I can tell, is still gearing up and ready to go. Oh yes, and Denzel's in it, too.
B
Wed., June 12, 7:10pm.

Prince Music Theater
1412 Chestnut St.
215.569.9700.
http://www.princemusictheater.org/
$4-7.
SCRIBE NEW WORKS: THE BRICK SCHOOL LEGACY:
Celebrating its 20^th anniversary, the nonprofit Scribe Video Center continues what it's been doing all along: providing instruction to emerging artists (everyone from lawyers to children) about making films on their own with sociological and political bents. Over the course of three evenings the best and most recent of these works will be screened, including Willa Cofield's The Brick School and Sam Zolten's Sam and Squirrel, a personal documentary about his friendship with the man who gave him conga lessons.
(Not reviewed.)
Thurs., June 13, 7pm.

SCRIBE'S SPORTS NIGHT:
Just what the title says. Explore the history of stickball and the ways a West Chester High School athlete formed a tradition that's now 24 years old in sports documentarian David Block's Brian Run.
(Not reviewed.)
Fri., June 14, 7pm.
1199-25
The numbers of the title refer to the National Union of Health Care Employees local and the years of its existence. Maida Cassandra Odom and Heshimu Jaramogi's doc revolves around leader Henry Nicholas, who took his employees from being unable to afford care in their place of work to becoming a force to be reckoned with.
(Not reviewed.)
Sat., June 15, 6pm.

LO-FI LANDSCAPES:
LO-FI LANDSCAPES (Shown on film):
Displaying their belief in exploring the numerous ways we're affected by our surroundings, experimental indielords Bill Brown and Thomas Comerford--who travel from town to town in their pick-up truck packed with reels and a projector--make their way to the Prince for one of the more odd evenings of film in the area. Comerford will present his ongoing film series, Illa Camera Obscura, which uses pinhole photography to capture uber-grainy images inside claustrophobic rooms and at train yards, with Lynchian ambiance running in the background. Brown's Confederation Park, meanwhile, presents a fractured film diary of his journeys through Canada, told with a variety of styles.
(Not reviewed.)
Sun., June 16, 7pm.

Secret Cinema
Various locations and prices.
www.voicenet.com/~jschwart
IT'S A SUNSHINE DAY!:
A second burst of the program, after last year's show with the Snow Fairies, isn't necessarily a "film-related event," though it will include random 16mm films and even some surprise clips. Otherwise it's an excuse to indulge in sunshine and bubblegum pop--e.g., the Beach Boys, Sagittarius, the Association, Tommy James and the Archies. For live entertainment, the Last Wave will be present, made up of members from such Philly bands as the Saturday People, the aforementioned Snow Fairies, the Ropers and Touch Me Zoo.
Sat., June 15, 10pm.
Tritone,
1508 South St.
215.545.0475.
$5.
RAILROADED! (1947) (Shown on film):
If there's a series of obscurities being shown in the great outdoors, there'd better be a noir in there somewhere. Anthony Mann, one of the kings of noirs, churned out this one right before he hit his most celebrated streak, and the results are pure unadulterated pulp. It would be cruel to reveal all the details--and impossible, really, with such little space--but it involves a botched hold-up, a framed man, Cat People's Jane Randolph displaying noir sass, a policeman slapping a girl and then saying, "Sorry, doll, I'm the impulsive type" and Hugh Beaumont, a.k.a. Ward Cleaver, as the obsessive detective.
B+
Thurs., June 13, 9pm. (Rain date: Sun., June 16.)
University of Pennsylvania,
40th Street Field between Walnut and Locust sts.
Free.