Sunday Night Film Club – Boston

Bedridden heiress Leona Stevenson (Stanwyck) hears through crossed telephone wires a murder being planned. She tries to alert the police, to no avail, and grows frantic as she gradually realizes she is the intended victim. Stanwyck gives an Oscar-nominated performance in this engrossing and densely layered extension of the legendary 22-minute radio drama. Featuring Burt Lancaster in one of his earliest roles, mesmerizing direction by Anatole Litvak, and atmospheric camerawork by the great Sol Polito. Famous… yet still underrated.

Note: This screening is part of Noir City Boston, and so you may wish to purchase tickets in advance. There is also a double-feature option if you wish to double up.

Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), a popular writer, and her husband Don, a well-liked teacher, share the kind of relationship that truly, seriously, for the love of God cannot be real: that is, they’re actually in love. Even after decades of marriage, parenting, and their own successful careers, their physical spark has somehow not diminished; in fact, they seem to relish the opportunity to share a single ice cream cone and drive others — including their son, Charlie — mad. Should it come as a surprise then that his own marriage is in crisis? But when Beth discovers that Don has been untruthful to her about his opinion of her work for years — Beth’s world comes crashing down. Has their whole relationship been one Big Fat Lie?

Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle–essential to his work–gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.

Cmon, it’s the latest installment in the Family Cinematic Universe (FCU).

Over many missions and against impossible odds, Dom Toretto and his family have outsmarted, out-nerved and outdriven every foe in their path. Now, they confront the most lethal opponent they’ve ever faced: A terrifying threat emerging from the shadows of the past who’s fueled by blood revenge, and who is determined to shatter this family and destroy everything–and everyone–that Dom loves, forever.

Note: This is opening weekend and reserved seating. Your host, Sean, will be seated in Row E.

Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him to defend the universe along with protecting one of their own. A mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.

Note: This is a reserved-seating screening of a popular film, so you may wish to purchase tickets in advance. Your host, Sean, will be sitting in Row F.

Martial artist-in-training Ria Khan believes she must save her older sister Lena from her impending marriage. After enlisting the help of her friends, Ria attempts to pull off the most ambitious of all wedding heists in the name of independence and sisterhood.

The film weaves together three stories: colorful boxing coach and ex-drill sergeant Sal Bartolo Jr., son of a renowned 1940s East Boston boxing champ; Naomi Yang herself, learning boxing from trainer Bartolo and reexamining some of her own family’s disturbing history; and schoolteacher Mary Ellen Welch, who in the 1960s mobilized a group of neighborhood women against encroachment from Logan airport, fighting back against an indifferent city government. None of these protagonists are destined to win the Big Fight, but all offer inspiration to anyone determined to stand up for themselves and hold their ground.

Note: This screening is part of IFFBoston 2023, so you may wish to buy tickets in advance. Also, due to other screenings at IFFBoston, your host, Sean, may not be available for dinner after the show.

Renfield, Dracula’s henchman and inmate at the lunatic asylum for decades, longs for a life away from the Count, his various demands, and all of the bloodshed that comes with them.

Note: This is a reserved-seat screening, so you may wish to purchase tickets in advance. Sean, the host, will be sitting in Row J.

Some icons are meant to fly.

From award-winning director Ben Affleck, Air reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand.

This moving story follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.