Far from Heaven by David Lee/Focus Films
Monday, Feb. 11, at 8 pm/ET
It Happened One Night | TCM
Take two minutes — any two minutes — of Frank Capra's riotous 1934 classic and you'll find everything that goes into a classic screwball comedy: a dashing, slightly boorish newspaper man (Clark Gable at his most charming), a madcap heiress (the devastatingly adorable Claudette Colbert) on the run, and a road trip fraught with sexual tension and sparkling dialogue. Along with a handful of other films, Capra's perfect comedy defined the genre that would include some of the best comedies to come out of Hollywood.
Tuesday, Feb. 12, 10:30 pm
The Red Shoes | TCM
It's been called the ultimate ballet film, but you don't have to be a tutu-wearing balletomane or know a thing about dance to enjoy Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's feverish, magical masterpiece. Moira Shearer stars as a gifted young ballerina who dances her way to stardom — and her own doom.
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 9 pm
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me | IFC
I love it, everyone else seems to hate it — and I mean hate it — especially the French, who nearly booed David Lynch out of town when this feature-length prequel to the groundbreaking series played at Cannes. I don't get it: This dreamy, deeply disturbing chronicle of Laura Palmer's final days in the mythic northwest town of Twin Peaks is entirely faithful to the series and guaranteed to give you at least one nightmare.
Thursday, Feb. 14, 8 pm
Romancing the Stone | FOXM
Sometimes it takes a truly terrible movie like Fool's Gold to help you realize just how much we tend to take other movies for granted. Take this romantic adventure starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner as a pair of treasure hunters. They make it look so easy: Both are at the very peak of their sex appeal, and they share something Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey do not — old-fashioned chemistry.
Friday, Feb. 15, 8 pm
Little Big Man | TCM
Arthur Penn's 1970 revisionist Western is one of the great movies of the era, but for some reason it's fallen by the wayside while its contemporaries — Five Easy Pieces, M*A*S*H — have become part of the early-'70s American canon. Perhaps it's the genre, or maybe it's the film's message: Dustin Hoffman tells the story of the Battle of Little Big Horn from the victims' perspective.
Saturday, Feb. 16, 7 pm
Far from Heaven | IFC
The most buzzed-about film among serious moviegoers this fall was Todd Haynes' multi-character portrait of Bob Dylan, I'm Not There. It's good, but for my money, Haynes' 2002 exercise in Douglas Sirk-style melodrama is better. Here, Haynes does what he does so well that you forget he's even doing it and simply fall headlong into the rich, soapy suds. Julianne Moore is simply exquisite as a housewife who figures out her husband is gay.
Sunday, Feb. 17, 10 pm
Calvaire | SUND
This odd shocker owes a lot to American horror movies of the '70s (think Texas Chain Saw Massacre or The Hills Have Eyes), but it took a Belgian to put a fresh spin on an old formula. A guy's car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, he gets some help from a seemingly kindly farmer and soon finds himself trapped inside a psychotic nightmare. It's grim, bloody and oddly funny. Check it out, if you dare.
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