One of the highlights of a movie buffs year is the annual Cinecon film festival, this year taking place at the Writers Guild of America Theater in Beverly Hills. This festival is a four-day weekend (August 29-September 1) mostly made up of rare and obscure films (some of which you won't be able to watch anywhere else) as well as new restorations of classic films. Though there are some movies from the 1950's and 60's, the bread and butter of the festival are films from the 1910's, 20's, 30's and 40's with a passion for the type of B movies that greatly outnumbered the more prestigious films of that era. Some of the highlights for this year include special guests such as Ann-Margret, Juliet Mills, Mamie Von Doren, Pat Boone, Maxwell Caulfield and the family of silent film actress Myrtle Gonzalez, new restorations of two classic silent Laurel and Hardy shorts, restorations of Max Fleischer cartoon shorts, Modern Love (1929) a rare feature film featuring the great Charley Chase, the Marion Davies feature It's a Wise Child (1931), the great James Stewart western The Rare Breed (1966), a panel on the making Bride of Frankenstein (1935), some rare television appearances from Dick Van Dyke (there is always a brief portion dedicated to vintage TV in this festival) and one of Charlie Chaplin's best short films (Easy Street (1917)). If you don't have any plans this Labor Day weekend, there is no better way to spend it then going to Cinecon. To buy tickets or view the full schedule go to Cinecon's website by clicking on this link.
For any of those whose idea of a classic movie skewer more towards the 1990's, you are covered as well. Some truly delightful films from the 1990's are returning to regular movie theaters. First up is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990). This live action film starring our favorite shell wearing and pizza eating heroes is returning to theatres as a Fathom Event on August 17 and 20. A one-night event with the two Tim Burton directed Batman movies (Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992)) will be playing at 160 select AMC theaters in Dolby on August 25. Very exciting for me especially is that Casper (1995) will be returning to movie theaters for its 35th anniversary starting on October 3. Just in time for Halloween, this delightful family film will hopefully delight new audiences on its return to the screen. Though this movie has more than a few detractors and doesn't have the best critical reception, it holds a special place and my heart and is a Halloween tradition for me. I can't wait to see these delight 1990's films on the big screen and become a kid once again (I was born in the 1990's).
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