IFC Holiday Movie Guides

Although the holiday season means time off work for most other industries in the U.S., it means it's awards season for the film business, which in turn necessitates plenty of tributes and accolades to be presented on the East and West Coasts at your local repertory theater in advance of the Oscars where movie stars can be seen and Q & As are conducted. Yet in New York and Los Angeles, there will be a wealth of other options as neighborhood theaters flood their screens with contemporary cinema from other parts of the world, classic movies in their full bigscreen glory, and certain-to-be-fun nods to the holidays, whether it's Halloween or Christmas. If you live in one of these areas or see fit to travel, these are the events worth the trouble over the next few months.

Alamo Drafthouse

There are so many celebrity guests stopping by the Alamo Drafthouse during this holiday season, they've made it a signature series in Austin, even if the guests couldn't appeal to more different audiences. On November 13th, the Alamo Ritz will host a screening of the now-infamous "The Human Centipede" with the three actors who form the centipede - Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie and Akihiro Kitamura, followed by a November 18th screening of "Steel Magnolias" across town at the Alamo South Lamar with special guest Olympia Dukakis in person. In addition to his duties co-hosting Master Pancake Theater, which by the way will be sullying "Twilight"on October 29th and 30th, local celeb Owen Egerton will be pushing his new novel "The Book of Harold" while showing off amusing Christian and Kosher clips during "Best of God" (Dec. 8). Hours later, Seattle's David Schmader will be presenting one of his world famous screenings of "Showgirls," also at the Alamo Ritz. Finally, iconic '70s "Saturday Night Live" director Tom Schiller will bring his directorial debut "Nothing Lasts Forever,"boasting a rare Bill Murray performance, to the Alamo Ritz on December 22nd. Other special events include Halloween screenings of "The Shining" (Oct. 30-31), a collection of Roman Polanski shorts (Nov. 7), Buster Keaton's "The Cameraman" (Nov. 22, with a live score by Bee Vs. Moth), a screening of John Huston's "Beat the Devil" presented by Andrew Bujalski (Nov. 21), a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" pizza party (Nov. 30), and a rare screening of Allan Arkush's "Get Crazy" (Dec. 19).

However, for those who like routine -- and if you live near the Alamo Ritz, why wouldn't you -- the ongoing series during this holiday season will definitely keep you coming back. Besides presenting a "Tough Guy Cinema" screening of "Die Hard" on December 5th, the Action Pack will be presenting quote-alongs of "Shaun of the Dead" (Oct. 21, 28),"Labyrinth" (Nob. 11, 18, with optional sing-along), "Zoolander" (Dec. 2, 9), "Elf" (Dec. 16, 23), "Super Troopers" (Dec. 30), as well as sing-alongs to Michael Jackson (Oct. 21, 29), Beyonce-Jay Z(Nov. 4, 11, 18), Indie Darlings featuring acts like MGMT and Chromeo (Dec. 2, 9), and the Xmas Pops (Dec. 12, 16, 19, 23).

Keeping things musical, this winter's Music Mondays include the black metal doc "Until the Light Takes Us"(Oct. 25), "Indie Music Video Fest 2010" (Nov. 1), the Kinks quest doc "Do It Again" (Nov. 8), "Who is Harry Nilsson?" (Nov. 15), "Tom Ze: Atronauta Libertado" (Nov. 22), "Purple Rain" (Nov. 29, with David Schmader),"Punk Rock" (Dec. 6), "Deconstructing Dad" (Dec. 13), and "The Monkeys' HEAD" (Dec. 20, 27). Terror Tuesdays will be comprised of "Halloween 4" (Oct. 26, with Owen Egerton), "Evils of the Night" (Nov. 2),"Critters" (Nov. 9), "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage" (Nov. 16), "Parents" (Nov. 23), "Return of the Living Dead" (Nov. 30), "Mausoleum" (Dec. 7), "The Best of Sex and Violence" (Dec. 14, comprised of exploitation trailers), "Silent Night, Deadly Night" (Dec. 21), and "Creepshow" (Dec. 28). And Weird Wednesdays will follow with screenings of "Thrill of the Vampires" (Oct. 27), "Bummer" (Nov. 3), "Confessions of a Young American Housewife" (Nov. 10), "Impulse" (Nov. 17, with director William Grefe in person), "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" (Nov. 24), "Big Guns" (Dec. 1), "Invincible Armor" (Dec. 8), "Carnival Magic" (Dec. 15), "The Magic Christmas Tree" (Dec. 22), "The Dean's Wife" (Dec. 29). Meanwhile, for locals who missed them in March, there is the series "SXSW Presents," which will present festival favorite "Marwencol" (Nov. 10, 17, 24) and the Justin Kirk thriller "Four Boxes" (Dec. 6).

And last but not least, it just wouldn't be the holidays without the Drafthouse's annual High for the Holidayswhere once again the Alamo Ritz will be presenting an all-you-can-eat slider edition of "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" (Dec. 20), "Holy Mountain" (Dec. 22, 29) and "Dark Side of the Rainbow" (Dec. 26-27). Plus, the Alamo's Henri Mazza will cap off 2010 with Henri's Rockin' New Year's Eve Sing-Along on December 31st, complete with champagne and queso.

Good things come to those who wait and for those who feel as though they've suffered through a year of largely uninspired films up to now will likely breathe a sigh of relief at the sound of names like Darren Aronofsky, Sofia Coppola and Peter Weir. 'Tis the season for Jim Carrey to take a pay cut to star in a gay romance like "I Love You Phillip Morris" or Javier Bardem is whispering sweet nothings to spirits in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu's "Biutiful" rather than Julia Roberts.

There is the naughty -- Kristen Stewart stripping in "Welcome to the Rileys," the would-be terrorists of the Brit comedy "Four Lions," or the evil Santa in "Rare Exports" -- and the nice -- the tap-dancing lovers in "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench," the glory of James Franco's daredevil surviving "127 Hours" and Colin Firth's verbally-challenged royal conquering his stutter in "The King's Speech." Needless to say, there's a little bit of something for everyone this holiday season and we've got the complete guide to the gifts waiting to be unwrapped at your local theater after the wrapping paper at home has hit the floor.

"Welcome to the Rileys"

 (IMDb, trailer, Facebook, Twitter)

THE CAST: Kristen Stewart, James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo
DIRECTOR: Jake Scott
FEST CRED: Sundance, Berlin, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Deauville, San Diego
THE GIST: Initially controversial for casting "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart as a prostitute in the Big Easy, the real brouhaha surrounding the sophomore feature from "Plunkett & Macleane" director Jake Scott resulted well after the "Welcome to the Rileys" premiere in Sundance when it was acquired by Apparition, the same company that distributed Stewart's "The Runaways." Months later, Apparition dissolved and Samuel Goldwyn is now handling the release of this unusual drama about a plumbing supply salesman (Gandolfini), stuck in a mundane marriage to a career homemaker (Leo), whose business trip to a convention in New Orleans turns into a trip down memory lane when he meets a young woman (Stewart) in a brothel who reminds him of the daughter he lost in a car accident. While at the L.A. Film Festival in June, Stewart confirmed it's one of her favorite roles to date, saying "Maybe it just affected me the most...Sometimes you can leave shit at work or you can't."

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xoxo
Carrie