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Nolan and Lynch re-releases and the 20th anniversary of Eternal Sunshine
The BSR February 2024 repertory movie roundup
Kyle V. Hiller
This month, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet gets another chance in theaters after opening in 2020, as does Dune, which also saw an early pandemic release before moviegoers were ready to return to the cinemas. Love is on the screen, too, with a handful of romcoms, including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Silver Linings Playbook. Then, Water Tower Cinema celebrates Black History Month with films honoring the lives and legacies of legendary Black Americans.
Tenet
February 24-28, 2024, various times
Regal UA King of Prussia, 300 Goddard Blvd, King of Prussia
Christopher Nolan’s movie immediately before Oppenheimer, 2020’s mind-bending sci-fi action picture Tenet received an early pandemic theatrical release mostly because Nolan insisted on it. But that doesn’t mean everyone was willing to see it on the big screen back then. Now, they’ll have another chance to see it at a variety of theaters, although KOP is the only place locally to see it in 70mm IMAX.
Dune … and Dune
Dune (1984)
February 18-19, 2024
Various theaters
Dune (2021)
Thursday, February 22, 7pm
Philadelphia Film Center, 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
Frank Herbert’s complex novel Dune has been one of the most fraught properties in cinema history. Alejandro Jodorowsky tried to make an adaptation in the 1970s and failed (although it resulted in a pretty great documentary). David Lynch successfully completed a version in 1984, but it was a flop and didn’t look or feel like a Lynch movie. Denis Villeneuve finally adapted (part of) the book in 2021 to general acclaim, although it hit theaters a year late due to the pandemic.
This month, the Lynch version—which has been reclaimed by some as a misunderstood masterpiece—is getting a Fathom Events re-release for its 40th anniversary, while the Villeneuve version with Timothee Chalamet is showing at the Philadelphia Film Center as part of a Villeneuve retrospective, ahead of the Friday, March 1, arrival of Dune: Part Two.
Valentine’s Day selections
When Harry Met Sally...
Wednesday, February 14, 7:30pm
Ambler Theater, 108 East Butler Avenue, Ambler
Silver Linings Playbook
Wednesday, February 14, 7:15pm
Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Wednesday, February 28, 6:30pm
Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr
Those looking for a date night for Valentine’s Day will have a chance to see plenty of classic romantic comedies this month, including the Nora Ephron-written, Rob Reiner-directed, Billy Crystal-and-Meg Ryan-starring 1989 romcom treatise on whether men and women can really be friends. The same night, BMFI presents David O. Russell’s Philly-set 2012 film with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence falling in love against the backdrop of a forgettable Eagles season. Silver Linings Playbook is part of BMFI’s “Date Night” series, which finishes up two weeks after Valentine’s Day with a movie about erasing the memory of your lost love, having second thoughts, and finding her again.
Michel Gondry’s 2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which marks its 20th anniversary next month, was on top of a lot of best-movie-of-the-aughts lists, and it’s also the subject of a Cinema Classics Seminar, taught by Amy Corbin, PhD, because, as Beck said, everybody’s gotta learn sometime.
Black History Month at Water Tower Cinema
Water Tower Cinema, 750 Montgomery Glen Drive, Lansdale
For Black History Month, Water Tower Cinema is presenting three recent films about famous Black Americans: Ava DuVernay’s 2014 Selma, Kasi Lemmons’s 2019 Harriet, and Reinaldo Marcus Green’s 2021 King Richard—along with Edward Zwick’s 1989 Civil War film Glory.
Selma
Sunday, February 4, 4pm
Wednesday, February 7, 7pm
Harriet
Sunday, February 11, 4pm
Wednesday, February 14, 7pm
Glory
Sunday, February 18, 4pm
King Richard
Sunday, February 25, 4pm
Wednesday, February 28, 7pm
More screenings
The French Connection
Thursday, February 1
Saturday, February 17
Philadelphia Film Center
Pillow Talk
Thursday, February 1
Ambler Theater
The Strangler
Friday, February 2
Lightbox Film Center
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Saturday, February 3
Media Arts Council
The Last Picture Show
Saturday, February 3
Saturday, February 17
Philadelphia Film Center
Natural Born Killers
Saturday, February 3
Philadelphia Film Center
Brian’s Song
Sunday, February 4
Colonial Theater
My Fair Lady
Sunday, February 4
Monday, February 5
Various theaters
Watermelon Man
Wednesday, February 7
Philadelphia Film Center
Return to Seoul
Wednesday, February 7
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Bringing Up Baby
Thursday, February 8
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
The Gods of Times Square
Friday, February 9
Lightbox Film Center
Arrival
Saturday, February 10
Philadelphia Film Center
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Thursday, February 15
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Sicario
Thursday, February 15
Philadelphia Film Center
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Friday, February 16
Ritz Five
Napoleon Dynamite
Friday, February 16
Saturday, February 17
Ritz Five
Slap Shot
Sunday, February 18
Colonial Theater
Black Panthers and Nationtime: Gary double-feature
Wednesday, February 21
Philadelphia Film Center
American Hustle
Thursday, February 22
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Wednesday, February 28
Philadelphia Film Center
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