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Baby in the corner, the Beatles, and the life and death of Mr. Spock
The BSR August 2024 repertory movie roundup
Stephen Silver
We're in the hot, sweaty middle of summer, and it's not over before we get quite a few older movies coming to Philadelphia-area screens this August. This month, there are three Star Trek movies, four Matrix films, a Dirty Dancing seminar, and a new name for the Philadelphia Film Center (it’s now called Film Society Center.)
The highlights
Dirty Dancing (Cinema Classics Seminar)
Wednesday, August 7, 7:15pm
Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr
The 1987 classic featured a dancing-filled romance at a Catskills resort in the summer of 1963 between doctor’s daughter Baby (Jennifer Grey) and dance instructor Johnny (Patrick Swayze), all of it scored with classic 1960s songs, and the occasional 80s banger like “Hungry Eyes” or “I’ve Had the Time of My Life.”
The film is the subject of a Cinema Classics Seminar from Elizabeth Nathanson, PhD. “We will take seriously this deeply fun film,” the description says, “exploring its depiction of gender, class, youth, and the possibilities of liberation through dance.”
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (4K)
Friday, August 9, 7pm
Saturday, August 10, 4pm
Saturday, August 24, 1pm
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (4K)
Saturday, August 10, 7pm
Saturday, August 24, 4:30pm
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Saturday, August 10, 7pm
Saturday, August 24, 4:30pm
Film Society Center, 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
Over the course of three movies in four years in the 1980s, Leonard Nimoy’s Mr. Spock had a heroic death, was brought back to life, and then traveled back in time to 1984 San Francisco to save the world (and the whales). As part of the Summer of Trilogies, the Philadelphia Film Society is presenting three Star Trek movies, two of which (The Search For Spock and The Voyage Home) Nimoy directed himself.
A Hard Day’s Night
Sunday, August 11, 6:30pm
Colonial Theater, 223 Bridge Street, Phoenixville
The Beatles’s popular 1964 movie is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, and you can see the adventures of John, Paul, George, and Ringo on the big screen.
Caligula (The Ultimate Cut)
August 16-22, 2024
Colonial Theatre, 223 Bridge Street, Phoenixville
Caligula, released in 1979, was one of the most notorious movies of the 1970s. It’s a historical epic about the titular Roman emperor that starred Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren. Bob Guccione, the film's producer and publisher of Penthouse magazine, extensively recut the film to insert lots of hardcore pornography, but now, a new edition, approved by McDowell and minus most of the porn, is finally reaching theaters.
More cinema showings
La Strada
Thursday, August 1, 3:30pm
Film Society Center
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Friday, August 2, 7pm
Film Society Center
The Matrix
Saturday, August 3, 11am
Film Society Center
The Matrix Reloaded
Saturday, August 3, 2:30pm
Film Society Center
The Matrix Revolutions
Saturday, August 3, 6pm
Film Society Center
The Matrix Resurrections
Saturday, August 3, 9pm
Film Society Center
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Sunday, August 4, 3pm
Film Society Center
Ran (Cinema Classics Seminar)
Monday, August 5, 12:30pm
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Dave
Thursday, August 8, 8:15pm
Grays Ferry Crescent Esplanade (outdoors)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Saturday, August 10, 7:30pm
PhilaMOCA
Friday, August 16, 10pm
Ritz Five
The Three Amigos
Sunday, August 11, 1:30pm
Colonial Theatre
The Big Lebowski
Thursday, August 15, 7:30pm
Ambler Theater (Hollywood Summer Nights)
Wish
Thursday, August 15, at sunset
Williams Moore Reed Memorial Park (Fairmount Park Conservancy movie nights)
Little Shop of Horrors
Friday, August 16, 11:30pm
Saturday, August 17, 11:30pm
Ritz Five
42
Saturday, August 17, 6pm
FDR Park (Movies on the Block)
Back to the Future
Wednesday, August 21, 7pm
Sunset Social
Sense and Sensibility
Thursday, August 22, 7:15pm
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
The Slumber Party Massacre
Friday, August 23, 7:30pm
Film Society Center
Casablanca (seminar)
Wednesday, August 28, 6:30pm
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
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