Cinematic Titanic: Dr. Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks - Live Dec. 20th '08

Because I'm likely at work still I will be brief.
If you ever thought that MST3K was the greatest thing in the world to air on TV, then you would have been happy to be part of the audience at the Lakeshore Theatre.
Timely comedic references (read contemporary as well as "good timing") mixed with a horrible mutant of a plot made for a fun evening.
Mr. Boone Harris of Elk Grove Village nearly wet his pants and went blind with his giggling school-girl laughter,—it was just the warm up act of TV's/DVD's Frank Conniff performing his tune "Convoluted Man"— drawing the curious stares from neighboring theatre patrons.
Granted it was not an insightful look into the creative process of smart-assery that made MST3K sub-popular, but it was still fun. More cherished was when Boone conveyed my question to creator Joel Hodgson, who along with castmates stayed to sign and chat with anyone willing to wait in line.
And in response to the question about "TV Wheel," they own the rights but who knows if it will come out. At least you can catch a glimpse of it on youtube if you look hard and don't tell too many folks.
P.S. Later that night we watch the DVD of Cinematic Titanic's "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians," which some may remember as an MST3K episode, and still other may remember as one of Pia Zadora's first film roles. It's a no frills DVD that delivers funny. I highly recommend it for rainy days on the couch (read the darkness of my youth).

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Long-overdue viewing of this thanks to Netflix instant viewing (it's my new TV-on-DVD for killing weekends). (Mild spoiler alert although I remember TV Guide and such used this point in their one-line summary) Between this and Milk, I think I've satisfied my quota of the gay experience in the '70s. The crowd that gathers outside the bank is one of the most realistic I've ever seen - so many movies just have a bunch of innocent, speechless onlookers, that seeing a crowd cheering Sonny on (to the consternation of the police), and then making fun of him after his homosexuality is revealed, turns the crowd into an embodiment of the turmoil and confusion of the period.

Also, I've now seen the complete cinematic output of John Cazale, and can now call myself a '70s aficionado.

Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)

You're better off going in cold about this movie.  Mostly I'm saying that because I was.

Facts relevant to your viewing experience:

- it's French and subtitled

- it's good

Not that you *need* to be and a quick Google search will bring up any number of plot points (including the ubiquitous Wikispoiler) but for once all I'd heard about this was "it's good and you should watch it sometime," so I did, and it was very enlightening to come into a movie *not* knowing the first hour and a half from the trailer plotwise.  Actually discovering, "Oh, *that's* where they are and what they're doing" on my own, and deciding for myself how to feel about the events onscreen, instead of consuming all manner of ancillary reviews and forum opinions before going in so all I can think of is *their* attitude toward it.  Funk dat.

No affiliation here, but feel like plugging theauteurs.com because it's in beta and has free old foreign films (free until they take it out of beta, assumedly).  That's where I saw this.