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But for me, the best part about living there was the movie theater across the street—the 400—which played second-run features and cost only a couple bucks. The place didn’t serve beer, but it didn’t need to, because I could hang around at my place until 9:29 and be in my seat watching the opening credits at 9:30. I must have gone to the 400 at least once a week; when the theater ran Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, my roommate and I saw it three or four times.
Also this week, Facets Cinematheque presents a week-long engagement of Big Man Japan (2007), a hilarious take on the atomic-monster movie. We have new reviews of Cheri, an adapation of Colette starring Michelle Pfeiffer and directed by Stephen Frears; In a Dream, a documentary profile of Philadelphia mosaicist Isaiah Zagar by his son, Jeremiah; My Sister’s Keeper, the new weepie from screenwriter Jeremy Leven and director Nick Cassavetes, who last collaborated on The Notebook; The Stoning of Soraya N., a timely drama about the killing of an Iranian woman by her god-fearing neighbors; Whatever Works, the latest from Woody Allen; A Wink and a Smile, which looks at the neo-burlesque scene in Seattle; and Year One, a comedy with Jack Black and Michael Cera from Chicago’s own Harold Ramis.
