Nitehawk’s July FILM FEAST features Memento with an inspired menu by Guest Chef Carla Hall (Co-host of ABC Television Network’s “The Chew,” competitor and Fan Favorite on Bravo’s “Top Chef,” and owner of Carla Hall Petit Cookies).

NITEHAWK CINEMA Presents: MEMENTO Film Feast
Featuring Guest Chef Carla Hall

The last thing that Leonard remembers is the death of his wife but, without the capability to remember or to create new memories, he is blindly searching for the truth and no amount of post-it notes, letters, or tattoos can satisfy his knowledge permanently. Christopher Nolan’s mind-twisting/who-can-you-trust Memento features the two lives of Leonard (pre and post memory loss) and the two intersect somewhere in the middle. Through this, the audience discoveries not only the truth but the painful awareness that it’s something unattainable for Leonard. Let’s just say personal history is doomed to repeat itself.

On selecting this film, Carla said, “I like movies that are clever and make you think. Memento definitely fits the bill. I chose a menu that is loosely based on the idea of the movie, but it also makes you think.”

“BACKWARDS MENU”  by Carla Hall*

Fact 1
Inside-out Sammy Jenkins
maple black-pepper glazed bacon, lettuce, tomato mayo, toast
Drink pairing: Doc’s Cider

Fact 2
Fruits and Cream
spicy tomato soup, basil cream
Drink pairing: 2012 Chateau Haut Rian Bordeaux Blanc

Fact 3
Squid Ink Linguine
julienned zucchini & cucumbers, feta, dill
Drink pairing: 2011 Tselepos Moschofilero, Arcadia, Greece

Fact 4
Hot Fried Chicken Salad
shredded cabbage, corn grits
Drink pairing: Brooklyn Radius Saison

Fact 5
Strawberry Shortcake Cocktail
strawberry compote, biscuit dippers, whipped cream
Drink pairing: Tullia Brut Rose 

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 *menu is subject to change

Back by popular demand…A BAND CALLED DEATH returns for another weekend midnite run!

Before Bad Brains, the Sex Pistols or even the Ramones, there was a band called Death.

Punk before punk existed, three teenage brothers in the early ’70s formed a band in their spare bedroom, began playing a few local gigs and even pressed a single in the hopes of getting signed. But this was the era of Motown and emerging disco. Record companies found Death’s music— and band name—too intimidating, and the group were never given a fair shot, disbanding before they even completed one album. Equal parts electrifying rockumentary and epic family love story, A Band Called Death chronicles the incredible fairy-tale journey of what happened almost three decades later, when a dusty 1974 demo tape made its way out of the attic and found an audience several generations younger. Playing music impossibly ahead of its time, Death is now being credited as the first black punk band (hell…the first punk band!), and are finally receiving their long overdue recognition as true rock pioneers.

Don’t miss the #5 film of 2012 according to Sight and Sound and 2012 British Independent Film Award Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Technical Achievement (Sound) winner at Nitehawk for two midnite screenings only!

A sound engineer’s work for an Italian horror studio becomes a terrifying case of life imitating art.

1976. A mild-mannered British sound engineer named Gilderoy (Toby Jones) arrives in Rome to work on the post-synchronized soundtrack to The Equestrian Vortex, a tale of witchcraft and murder set inside an all-girl riding academy. But as Gilderoy begins to work on this unexpectedly terrifying project, it’s his own mind that holds the real horrors. As the line between film and reality blurs, is Gilderoy working on a film – or in one?

Nitehawk presents a special one-night MUSIC DRIVEN screening of  “Wild Style” in celebration of its 30th anniversary. Director Charlie Ahearn will be in attendance!

The cultural vibrancy of 1980s New York explodes on-screen in Wild Style.

Regarded as the first hip-hop movie, Wild Style is a snapshot of creative subcultures like graffiti, hip-hop, and breakdancing in early 1980s New York. We take these pop-cultural contributions for granted now (who can image a world without rap?) but, back in the day, they were a ground breaking force that was wholly American. The story centers around Zoro (played by legendary New York graffiti artist Lee Quinones) who struggles between his passion for his art and his personal life. Including rare footage of Grandmaster Flash in action, animation by Zephyr, and freestyle MCing, this is a must see for anyone into underground music and culture.

Yes yes ya’ll.

After-party in the Downstairs Bar! We’ll be spinning some O.G. Hip Hop and offering ticket holders  free Heineken Light when you show your Wild Style ticket stub to the bartender (while supplies last).

Part of THE WORKS – BILL MURRAY. A snooty and exclusive golf club deals with all sorts of comedic insanity in this tale of the snobs versus the slobs!

In Caddyshack, the blue-blooded Bushwick Country Club desperately tries to maintain its dignity when an influx of “undesirables” invade the club: there’s the brazen Al Czervik (perfectly played by Rodney Dangerfield, farts, one-liners and all), the lecherous Ty Webb (“feels like ten bucks” Chevy Chase), and Carl Spackler (Bill Murray an groundsman with mental problems battling a gopher). At the center is poor Judge Elihu Smails who really loves golf and wants to maintain an, ahem, certain decorum.

Bill Murray’s portrayal of the military-stylings of Carl Spackler is one of comedic cinema history. More than offbeat, he’s downright dumb in his epic battle with a much smarter gopher. It’s a small storyline but certainly one of the most memorable.

Part of THE WORKS – BILL MURRAY. In a sea of derivative zombie films, Zombieland offers something truly original to the living dead genre!

The zombie apocalypse has broken out once again but, this time, a group of unlikely fellows band together across the United States in search of something…the last twinkie, family members, and an amusement park. While the new family takes some adjustment, instead of being the real problem to look out for, they become each others saviors. Hilarious, fresh, and full of tension, Zombieland could be considered the perfect U.S. follow up to England’s Shaun of the Dead.

The movie also includes one of the best cameos in cinematic history. We won’t give it away but its involvement in our summer The Works series may just be a spoiler.

On the occasion of The Keep’s  30th anniversary, Nitehawk has teamed up with Alamo Drafthouse (Texas) and Cinefamily (California) to bring over the British Film Institute’s 35mm archival print to the United States. Out of print for years on VHS and never released digitally, The Keep has become a difficult film to see so for a very special one-night screening, experience The Keep the way it was meant to be seen – on the big screen!

Before his mainstream success with Miami Vice, Heat, The Insider, and Ali, director Michael Mann explored the horror genre in the early 80’s with his film adaptation of F. Paul Wilson’s vampire fantasy novel set in the latter days of WWII called The Keep. The story depicts the German army’s unfortunate intersection with an epic battle between supernatural beings in a remote mountain castle in Romania. A group of Nazis led by Jürgen Prochnow is forced to join forces with an ailing Jewish historian (Ian McKellen) to prevent an ancient demon from returning to the mortal realm all taking place in a wonderfully creepy atmosphere. Mann in adapting the book created one of the best horror films of the decade, a piece almost entirely reliant on mood vs. conventional storytelling. With a cast featuring Scott Glenn, Gabriel Byrne, and a mesmerizing score from Tangerine Dream, The Keep stands as a significant achievement for its era and, with its hallucinatory imagery, it maintains a timeless quality.

Starring: Fairuza Balk, Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie

Made over 40 years after the beloved The Wizard of Oz, the sole directing credit of picture & sound editor Walter Murch (The Godfather Trilogy) was nightmare fuel for a generation that grew up watching it on cable and/or VHS. The story of Dorothy picks up six months after the tornado that whisked her away, finding her sleepless and useless on the farm. Auntie Em sees electrotherapy as the only solution for what she thinks are hallucinations, but the sanitarium proves to be the gateway back to Oz for Dorothy, where she collects a new assemblage of Island of Misfit Toy friends and finds new foes in the Nome King and the head-swapping Princess Mombi.

Whether or not the asylum screams and the frenzied laughter of the Wheelers have haunted you for decades, we invite you to quiver like a child for this most dark fairy tale full of imaginative practical effects and puppetry.

Night Owl Video is proud to present the next in our Video Store Gems series: Walter Murch’s 1985 fever dream Return to Oz. A flop upon first release, the film has gained a dedicated cult following for its production design, talking chicken and unending weirdness. Fairuza Balk (in her debut performance) stars as a damaged Dorothy Gale, who escapes the harsh realities of Kansan shock treatment to the land of Oz, now a twisted and deformed version of what she once knew. With the help of her friends Jack Pumpkinhead, Tik-Tok, Belinda and The Gump, she embarks on a quest to restore Oz to the wonderful land she once knew. Presented on glorious 35mm film and featuring a pre-show giveaway of Return to Oz merchandise! Death to Streamers, Physical Media Forever!!!

Starring: Michael Keaton, Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder, Annie McEnroe

After being killed in a car crash, Adam and Barbara continue on their ‘normal’ lives in their former home. That is until an annoying family from New York called the Deetzes moves in! Try as they might, Adam and Barbara simply can’t frighten this new family away so they call upon a freelance ghost, the shape-shifting and unpredictable ‘bio-exorcist’ Beetlejuice; a decision they immediately regret. A wild ride through the afterlife begins and even includes a young goth Winona Ryder (just how we like her). Beetlejuice is Tim Burton’s perfect mix of weird and wonderful (just how we like him).

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

Nitehawk and Mass Appeal present A Nite With 80 BLOCKS FROM TIFFANY’S. Q&A with Robert R. Werner (The New York City police officer featured in the film).

Centering around rival gangs in the South Bronx (Savage Nomads and Savage Skulls), 80 Blocks from Tiffanys is a snapshot of an era, highlighting the severe social decay during this time period in an area that is indeed far away from the posh section of Manhattan. Focusing on high unemployment, prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse, the documentary shows the complex structure surrounding gang life from the police angle to community involvement. These kids steal, fight, and kill but they are also protective of their neighborhoods and immensely watchable. If you want to see a snapshot of the end of a decade in New York (complete with knee-high socks, disco street parties, and kung-fu movies), then this is one gang film you won’t want to miss.