I decided to arrange things a little differently this time around; giving more of a paragraph overview of the available repertory screenings in LA this month instead of the full schedules. Links to the full schedules for each cinema can be found at the bottom of each section. I’ve also included some trailers this time; went a little crazy for the crime/noirish side of things, but I can’t help it if that’s what the theatres play, now can I? But also, yes, I plead guilty to loving noirish crime films.

Cinefamily @ The Silent Movie Theatre

This month Cinefamily is running a set of series loosely themed around kids movies. Some of them actually are kid-friendly films, but knowing Cinefamily, most of them are…not. But they’re all pretty off-beat and wacky. Thursday nights are Fairy Tales for Grown-Ups, with dark fantasy films from Neil Jordan (The Company of Wolves), Louis Malle (Black Moon), John Waters (Desperate Living), David Lynch (Wild at Heart), Roman Polanski (What?), and others. One of the films, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, is a holdover from the Czech film series they did a couple of months ago; I saw it then, and if you like whacked out, nonsense-making, but somehow very beautiful and mesmerizing vampire films, it’s definitely worth a look. I might actually go see it again. And Wild at Heart is, I think, the only David Lynch film (aside from Fire Walk With Me) that I haven’t seen, so I’ll try to make it to that.

Friday nights, Lance Robertson and Kevin Lee of Yo Gabba Gabba are hosting a series of Fun and Funky Kid’s Films, some full films like The Wiz and Pufnstuf, and some compilations of clips and short films, including one of European Stop-Motion Animation that you know I’m dying to see. And for those who really like their kids movies messed up, this month’s late Saturday Holyfuckingshit! series is focused on Fucked-Up Kids Movies.

The silent film series is centered on mothers rather than kids, what with May having Mothers Day and all. The silent versions of Humoresque and Stella Dallas are on tap, plus Clara Bow vehicle Dancing Mothers. Also in honor of Mothers Day, though not at all silent, is a Psycho triple feature on Mothers Day itself. You gotta love a cinema that thinks about Psycho as a great Mothers Day movie – and then offers free tickets to any male cinemagoers who come dressed up as their mothers. That’s Cinefamily for you, right there.

Speaking of special events, there are two Comedy Death Ray screenings upcoming: Jon Hamm presenting Tootsie and Doug Benson presenting (and providing live commentary for) Friday the 13th Part 3. And of course, Jerry Beck’s Animation Tuesdays continue the first Tuesday of the month – this month’s theme is Toons in Drag, copresented by Outfest.

Full schedule at Cinefamily.org

Trailer for Valerie and Her Week of Wonders:

New Beverly Cinema

The New Bev doesn’t have their full schedule up yet, I don’t think, but they do have some interesting and eclectic stuff ready go. First off, a Terry Gilliam double feature of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus and Brazil, bringing together his most recent film and arguably his best one. Then catch up with this year’s Oscar winner The Hurt Locker if you haven’t already, in a Kathryn Bigelow double feature along with Near Dark. Not to leave out international cinema, a couple of nights are devoted to the French arthouse – brand new prints of Truffaut’s Small Change and Mississippi Mermaid, then a double feature of Eric Rohmer’s Pauline at the Beach and A Tale of Springtime. I’m woefully uneducated on Rohmer, so I’m going to try to get to that set for sure. Then a 2009 stop-motion double feature of The Fantastic Mr. Fox and A Town Called Panic, both of which I’ve seen, but they were so awesome I’m probably going to try to go see them again. And seriously, if you didn’t see A Town Called Panic and you like crazy shit, do yourself a favor and see it.

They’re also running midnight screenings every week, including The Multinauts, Raw Meat, Firestorm, Night of the Living Dead, and 99 and 44/100% Dead. Not a single Tarantino movie in the bunch, which is unusual.

Full schedule at NewBevCinema.com

Trailer for Small Change:

American Cinematheque

Grauman’s Egyptian, Hollywood

I had the pleasure of going to the Egyptian for the first time last week, and it is definitely someplace I want to go back to more. The inside isn’t nearly as decked out and opulent as the Chinese, but in terms of a great screen, great seats and everything, it’s really really nice. And this month, they’ve got some programming that’s hard to skip.

The major series this month is an Akira Kurosawa Retrospective running from May 14th-23rd, and including Ran, The Seven Samurai, Stray Dog & High and Low in double feature, Dodes’Ka-Den & I Live in Fear in double feature, Kagemusha, Rashomon & The Hidden Fortress in double feature, and Yojimbo & Sanjuro in double feature. After our own Kurosawa Centenary last month, I’m excited to check some more of these out; right now I’m leaning toward Stray Dog/High and Low and maybe Yojimbo/Sanjuro.

In addition to Kurosawa, you can check out retro sci-fi with the 1960 versions of The Time Machine and Beyond the Time Barrier, musical biopic Funny Girl, a tribute to Jim Henson, the pre-Code von Sternberg/Dietrich film Blonde Venus, a Robert Aldrich double feature of The Dirty Dozen and Attack, a Sam Fuller double feature of The Big Red One (reconstructed/restored version) and The Steel Helmet, and the classic The Wizard of Oz. Plus, for those interested in new media and webseries, Tubefilter is putting on a special presentation of The Best of the Internet, featuring winners and nominees from the 2010 Streamy Awards.

Full Egyptian schedule at AmericanCinematheque.com

Trailer for High and Low:

Aero Cinema, Santa Monica

This month the Aero is doing kind of a short Hitchcock thing, looks like, showing double features of The 39 Steps & The Lady Vanishes, Psycho & Spellbound, Shadow of a Doubt & Stage Fright, Strangers on a Train & Lifeboat, and Saboteur & Rebecca. This is a nice little series, actually, because it’s got a nice mix of older and newer Hitchcock (1935-1960) as well as really well-known (Psycho) and lesser-known but really solid (Stage Fright).

They’ve also got a bunch of other notable stuff, including a matinee of Popeye & Betty Boop cartoons that I’d love to see, but then I love me some old-school cartoons. Also, a double-feature of two of the best-regarded music documentaries of all time, Stop Making Sense and The Last Waltz. Throw in Chinatown, early Woody double-feature Sleeper & Bananas, the whole Indiana Jones trilogy in triple-feature, and a 70mm presentation of Lawrence of Arabia, plus several other things, and there’s plenty to keep you busy.

Full Aero schedule at AmericanCinematheque.com

Trailer for Shadow of a Doubt:

Other Repertory or Reiussues

LACMA SERIES

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is doing two major things this month, first a presentation Fritz Lang‘s epic version of Die Nibelungen (Siegfried playing May 7th, followed by Kriemhild’s Revenge on the 8th), then a series devoted to 1940s cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, who worked with producer Val Lewton many times, as well as Nicholas Ray, Robert Siodmak, Jacques Tourneur, and Fritz Lang on creating the atmospheric, noirish look their films are so well known for. Highlights of this series include Out of the Past, Cat People & The Ghost Ship in double feature, The Spiral Staircase, Clash by Night, and The Blue Gardenia, among others that I haven’t heard of but now want to check out. I have to admit I was not aware of Musuraca’s name, but looking through his filmography, he worked on a lot of my favorite ’40s films.

Full schedule at lacma.org

Trailer for Cat People: