(4.2) One night only, “In Your Dreams,” a look inside the creative process. From New York Magazine,

In 2010 Nicks embarked on the recording of a new solo album, In Your Dreams, produced by former Eurythmics mastermind Dave Stewart. With cameras in tow, documentarian Stewart and diva Nicks set up shop in her home studio and reveal their collaborative creative process. Shifting dynamically among video formats, painstaking recording sessions and revealing interviews, this magic-tinged musical journey is a loving and tuneful portrait of the eternally bewitching Gold Dust Woman.

And congratulations to the Cable Car Cinema who have passed their Kickstarter goal and can now go digital and stay in the game. Also on the schedule this week Werner Herzog’s “Happy People,” and “Lore” has been held over.

“In Your Dreams,” 7pm, Tuesday, April 2, Cable Car Cinema, 204 South Main Street, 272.3970

(12.23) Santa lives in a Moorish powder-room that may or may not be heaven (so, he’s . . . dead?) where third world moppets manufacture toys of dubious value. But there is a snake in the garden, Pitch, a demon who swans about annoying anxious, hollow-eyed children.

Head downtown Sunday night for a screening of the 1959 classic “Santa Claus” directed by René Cardona and starring Jose Luis Aguirre as El Diablo. Poorly received when first released, this cinematic tour de force is finding a new audience among disaffected Millennials who find the Manichean themes of good and evil resonating in their own lives. Film historians now regard it as a masterpiece of thwarted blocking and sallow lighting.

11:45pm, Sunday, December 23, 95 Empire Box, 95 Empire Street

Need to get away from your loved ones for roughly 115 minutes? Try “Holy Motors” at the Cable Car Cinema; it looks quite strange. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wants you to see it.

. . . a man reunited with a former amour (Aussie pop star Kylie Minogue) in a deserted department store that becomes the setting for a musical interlude of surpassing loveliness . . . Don’t be afraid to leap into the wild blue of Carax’s untamable imagination. “Holy Motors,” fueled by pure feeling is a dream of a movie you want to get lost in. It’s a thing of beauty.

Kylie Minogue? Running time 115 minutes. More about director Leos Carax at the New York Times. Through November 29.

Shows tonight 6:45pm, 9pm, Wednesday, November 21, Cable Car Cinema, 204 South Main Street

(10.14) Join host Carlos Gonzalez in the concert hall at AS220 for an evening of MACABRE, FR3AK, H0RR0R, and W3IRD0 short films. Filmmakers include: Alee Peoples, AT, Caitlin Doughty, Cordey Lopez, Cybele Collins, Jaime Mohr, Matt Underwood, Mike Stoltz, Xander Morro, and more.

(Poster by Emily Salvatierra)

Free, 9pm to 11:45pm, movies start 9:30pm, Sunday, October 14, AS220, 115 Empire Street

(9.13) Most people have seen “The Dark Knight” at least once by now, which makes this a perfect choice for outdoor viewing with food and drinks; you won’t get shushed by people trying to follow the story line. But kind of shut up anyway. According to the New York Times, director Christopher Nolan,

. . . quickly sets a tense, coiled mood that he sustains for two fast-moving hours of freakish mischief, vigilante justice, philosophical asides and the usual trinkets and toys, before a final half-hour pileup of gunfire and explosions. This big-bang finish — which includes a topsy-turvy image that poignantly suggests the world has been turned on its axis for good — is sloppy, at times visually incoherent, yet touching. Mr. Nolan, you learn, likes to linger in the dark, but he doesn’t want to live there.

Excellent cast includes Morgan Freeman (Ryan’s Hope, Another World). Rated PG-13. Running time: 2 hours 32 minutes.

Free, Dusk, Thursday, September 13, Movies on the Block, Grant’s Block, Westminster at Union Street, (directions)

(9.6) This week’s installment of ‘Movies on the Block’ is the 1975 Jack Nicholson vehicle One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest directed by Milos Forman (Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Valmont). From Roger Ebert’s review;

We meet a classic outsider — R.P. McMurphy, a quintessentially sane convict sent to the institution as a punishment for troublemaking — whose charisma and gall allow him to break through to a group of patients who’ve mostly fallen into a drugged lethargy. Their passive existence is reinforced by the unsmiling, domineering Nurse Ratched, who lines them up for compulsory tranquilizers and then leads them through group therapy in a stupor.

Ebert had mixed feelings about the film and the early audiences who were responding to it as “a simple-minded anti-establishment parable.” Apparently you’re not supposed to cheer when McMurphy finally loses his patience with Nurse Ratched.

Look for Danny DeVito.

Free, Dusk, Thursday, September 6, Movies on the Block, Grant’s Block, Westminster at Union Street, (directions)

(8.30) A back-to-school special of sorts. This week’s installment of Movies on the Block features the 2003 Will Farrell vehicle “Old School.” Elvis Mitchell had this to say in the New York Times,

This sloppy, dumb, though occasionally funny comedy is so derivative of ”Animal House” (and, more specifically, its children) that it’s like one of those by-the-numbers imitative movies Homer Simpson is so obsessed with.

Look for Snoop Lion (née Dogg) and James Carville.

Running time 91 minutes. Rated R.

Free, Dusk, Thursday, August 30, Movies on the Block, Grant’s Block, Westminster at Union Street, (directions)

Meet David Siegel and his wife Jackie, the subjects of “The Queen of Versailles.” In this new character-driven documentary by Lauren Greenfield we step into the lives of a billionaire family and their financial challenges in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis. The film follows two unique characters, whose rags-to-riches success stories reveal the innate virtues and flaws of the America Dream.

The movie has been well-received, but I need to take issue with one sentiment expressed in the New York Times review by A.O. Scott (with whom I usually agree),

David and Jackie Siegel are no better than any of the rest of us. That may go without saying. But the reverse is also true, [Italics mine. BC] and Ms. Greenfield’s real achievement is to disarm the reflex of superiority that the spectacle of her subjects’ way of life may provoke in some viewers.

Okay, yes, it’s better if a documentary is nuanced and thought-provoking, but to suggest that the rest of us are no better than the Siegels?!!! Mr. Scott, I am happy to inform you that every single person I know is intrinsically and by all objective criteria “better” than the Siegels.* And maybe you need new friends.

Having said that, I want to see this movie. Rated PG. Running time 1 hour 40 minutes.

*I even have a better David Segal.

Starts Friday, August 10, Queen of Versailles, Cable Car Cinema, 204 South Main Street

One of the best from this much beloved comedy gang — even if the actual Westminster Dog show is pretty much satire-proof. “Best in Show” was directed by Christopher Guest who, with Eugene Levy, also wrote the script. Roger Ebert liked it a lot.

Dogs were not put on earth to pose, prance, sit, point and have their coats shampooed. They were created to chew shoes, bark at cars, have accidents on the rug and get their tummies scratched.

That’s why I approve of “Best in Show,” a wickedly funny mocumentary by Christopher Guest that makes fun of a Philadelphia dog show with every instrument in the satirist’s arsenal, from the skewer to the mallet.

One of the most spot-on performances comes from Fred Willard as the genial but dim color commentator à la Joe Garagiola. Also starring Catherine O’Hara, Michael McKean, Bob Balaban, Jane Lynch and Jennifer Coolidge (seen here), and Eugene Levy who shares screenwriting honors.

Running time 90 minutes. Rated PG-13.

Free, Dusk, Thursday, August 9, Movies on the Block, Grant’s Block, Westminster at Union Street,(directions)

(8.3) Another music documentary on tap at the Cable Car; this time it’s Neil Young Journeys directed by Jonathan Demme.

In May of 2011, Neil Young drove a 1956 Crown Victoria from his idyllic hometown of Omemee, Ontario to downtown Toronto’s iconic Massey Hall where he performed the last two nights of his solo world tour. Along the drive, Young recounted insightful and introspective stories from his youth. Filmmaker Jonathan Demme, a long-time fan and collaborator, captured these tales of Young’s childhood and masterfully wove them together with his mesmerizing music.

Music includes “Ohio,” “Love and War,” “Hitchhiker,” and “I Believe in You.” Young’s intense performances are presented in full, along with passages from the funny and sometimes wistful ride into town. Running time 87 minutes. (NYT Critics’ Pick)

Starts Friday, August 3, Cable Car Cinema, 204 South Main Street, 401.272.3970

(7.26) This week’s installment of Movies on the Block is the 1993 Spielberg action adventure movie “Jurassic Park.” The New York Times noted,

Anybody can stage a fight, but it takes Mr. Spielberg to show just how the pots and pans might go flying at the stroke of a velociraptor’s tail, or how the children might trick their wily attackers. In assessing such an episode, it also helps to look at the big picture. Who but Mr. Spielberg could convince an audience that there are dinosaurs loose in a kitchen at all?

Plus, a lawyer gets it.

With Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and . . . Newman. Rated PG-13, running time 123minutes.

Free, starts at dusk, Thursday, July 26, Grant’s Block, Westminster at Union Streets, (directions)

(7.5) Aah, this is the life. The salt wind in your hair, a cold can of Narragansett beer . . . what could possibly go wrong? Find out this Thursday in the next installment of Movies on the Block. New York Times movie critic Vincent Canby gave “Jaws” a fairly short review.

It’s a noisy, busy movie that has less on its mind than any child on a beach might have. It has been cleverly directed by Steven Spielberg (“Sugarland Express”) for maximum shock impact and short-term suspense, and the special effects are so good that even the mechanical sharks are as convincing as the people.

So, if you enjoyed “Sugarland Express,” check this out. Bring blanket, beach chairs, and a beverage in a can. (And save the date: July 12, “Caddyshack.”)

[Additional note in response to commenter's query: According to the Narragansett Beer website, starting at 7pm "Tazza will have the outdoor grill going and serving some cold cans of Narragansett lager beer. A certain limited edition can might even make an appearance."  Soooo . . .]

Jaws, free, starts at dusk, Thursday, July 5, Grant’s Block, Westminster at Union Street, (directions)

Pretty much the opposite of the summer blockbuster, “Your Sister’s Sister” received a mostly favorable review from A. O. Scott in The New York Times.

The three main characters in “Your Sister’s Sister,” Lynn Shelton’s new comedy of romantic confusion, are remarkably charming and pleasant company. Not always for one another, of course — hence the confusion — but certainly for all but the grouchiest moviegoer. They are articulate and funny, each one a bundle of tics, insecurities and surprising insights. The paradox is that they accomplish all of this without being especially interesting. . .

Mr. Duplass . . . is good at playing funny and sensitive without overdoing either quality. When Jack and Hannah, both of whom were expecting to have the house to themselves, meet by surprise there, the resulting encounter — cautious, flirtatious and increasingly drunken — is at once entirely believable and wildly, uncomfortably funny.

Rated R, running time 90 minutes. Seen here from left, Mark Duplass, Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt.

Through July 12, Cable Car Cinema, 204 South Main Street, 272.3970

(2.15) Two things from the Brown University Literary Arts Program, both free and open to the public, Wednesday, February 15th.

3pm — Filmmaker and writer Neil LaBute will be reading from his fiction at the McCormack Family Theater, 70 Brown Street.

7pm — A screening of the 1998 film “Your Friends and Neighbors” in the Martinos Auditorium, Granoff Center, 154 Angell Street. This event is free and open to the public, but it requires a ticket. Visit ‘Literary Arts’ at 68½ Brown Street between 10:30am and noon (you may stop by at other regular business hours, but we cannot guarantee that the office will be open). Limit of two tickets per person. (NYT review)

Neil Labute is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, playwright and short story writer. Combining intriguing moral and ethical metaphors with dark portraits of the underside of American life, Labute became one of the most controversial new filmmakers to emerge in the 1990s.

Another gem from the vaults. This invitation comes from Dave Dvorchak over at the Providence Community Library.

Yes, we’ve all seen it. Numerous times! Remember when “It’s A Wonderful Life” ran incessantly on TV as Christmas approached? Well, ever since the film left the public domain in 1993, it’s airings have become quite infrequent, NBC will show it twice in December.

However, the fine folks at Providence Community Library encourage you to shut the TV off, put down the remote. get off the couch, and come see this wonderful movie in a larger than life format, with booming sound and amongst other friends you’ve never met before! Indeed, our copy of “It’s A Wonderful Life” on 16mm film is one of the best we’ve seen out of the collection of classic film prints that we acquired a few months ago.

And let’s not forget the message at the heart of this movie — as we all join together to celebrate this most magical time of year — never let Uncle Billy handle the deposits.

Free, 7:30pm, Thursday, December 15, Knight Memorial Library, 275 Elmwood Avenue

If you can stand to even think about these guys and what they’ve done to the world “Margin Call”, written and directed by J.C. Chandor, is supposed to be a pretty great movie. A.O. Scott describes it in the New York Times as,

. . . an extraordinary feat of filmmaking. It is hard to believe that “Margin Call” is Mr. Chandor’s first feature. His formal command — his ability to imply far more than he shows or says and to orchestrate a large, complex drama out of whispers, glances and snippets of jargon — is downright awe inspiring. The movie rarely leaves the Manhattan offices of the fictional investment bank (loosely modeled on Lehman Brothers) in which it takes place and limits its action, which consists mainly of phone calls and hurried meetings, to a frenzied 24-hour period. Within that narrow frame the gears of a complex narrative mesh with ravishing clockwork precision.

Starring everybody! Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore, Paul Bettany . . . and these guys here. Run time 106 minutes, rated R for language.

Starts Friday, December 10, Cable Car Cinema, 204 South Main Street, 272.3970