Hey folks, welcome back to Little Big Screen: On the Big, Big Screen, where film columnist Benjamin McElroy recommends five screenings happening at Iowa’s independent movie theaters. Keep scrolling for the full list of this month’s big screenings.
The Holiday (2006)
Directed by Nancy Myers
Kate Winslet is approached by more mothers and more daughters in more grocery stores about The Holiday, a film she has to share with Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Jack Black, than anything else she’s been in, including Titanic. I believe this to be true, because as I was reminded while talking to a co-worker who ran into Denise Richards at BravoCon 2025, you can’t allow yourself to become a firehose of fandom, lest you come across as a perv (Wild Things), or worse, a rube (Titanic).
The Fleur Cinema, Des Moines, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 6:30 p.m.
A Christmas Story (1983) and Black Christmas (1974)
Directed by Bob Clark
A Christmas Story and Black Christmas are different kinds of terrible — the mirthy former with edgy yet family friendly hardy-har-hars (boo!), the murdery latter with sorority girls snuffed out by plastic bags (woo!) — but the two holiday standards in this double feature were directed by one Bob Clark (Porky’s).
Rozz-Tox, Rock Island, Friday, Dec. 12, 7 p.m.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Directed by Frank Capra
All I’ve seen of It’s a Wonderful Life is that one still, too warm and too fuzzy, of Jimmy Stewart being embraced by his family. I’ve been assured that the whole film is not a hug, and in fact, that hug is hard-earned by dark and heavy things. So, after The Holiday and Black Christmas, I will be seeing all of It’s a Wonderful Life.
Rozz-Tox, Rock Island, Friday, Dec. 19, 7 p.m.
FilmScene, Iowa City, Sunday, Dec. 21, 3:30 p.m.
The Housemaid (2025)
Directed by Paul Feig
This adaptation of a Hudson News novel from Paul Feig (Freaks and Geeks, four different Melissa McCarthy movies), somehow, didn’t make the Refocus Film Festival lineup. So, yes, I will first see Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid — shades of Julianne Moore and Seyfried in Chloe (2009)? — along with the rest of the young, heavy-female skew for Lionsgate’s counterprogramming to Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Opens Thursday, Dec. 18, The Fleur Cinema, Des Moines
Marty Supreme (2025)
Directed by Josh Safdie
Nobody — not Gwyneth Paltrow, not me — needs to sell you on the Timothée Chalamet Ping-Pong Movie because, as Leonardo DiCaprio said, Chalamet is “doing radical things in campaigning and promotion.” And that was before Chalamet cranked that Soulja Boy in São Paulo! I find myself a believer in the doing of these radical things after witnessing an otherwise normal-looking man at my showing of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair lift his fist in solidarity with the trailer’s Tears for Fears needle-drop.
Opens Wednesday, Dec. 24, The Last Picture House, Davenport, and The Varsity Cinema, Des Moines
Opens Thursday, Dec. 25, FilmScene, Iowa City
