Hey folks, welcome back to Little Big Screen: Big, Big Screen edition. From courtside seats to seaside heists, film columnist Benjamin McElroy recommends five screenings happening this month at Iowa’s independent movie theaters. Scroll to the bottom for a round-up of other special screenings, events and movies of note.
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Directed by Steve James
To talk about Hoop Dreams, a documentary that follows five years in the lives of two inner-city Chicago kids working their way to the NBA, is to talk in the same all-caps superlatives that flash across ESPN chyrons these days. On the film’s poster, the pull quotes from Roger Ebert (“One of the best films … I have ever seen.”) and Peter Travers (“One of the best movies of the year!”) may as well be Stephen A. Smith hollering about who’s the GOAT on First Take. And yeah, whether we’re talking documentaries or sports movies, Hoop Dreams is in the conversation for greatest of all time.
Hoop Dreams, FilmScene, Iowa City, Sunday, April 13, 6:30 p.m.
Presented by Bread Garden Market and Little Village as part of the Vino Vérité series. Hors d’oeuvres and wine tasting to precede the screening at 6 p.m. Q&A and reception with director Steve James to follow at 9:20 p.m.
Labyrinth (1986)
Directed by Jim Henson
David Bowie’s bulge has been billed by fans as the lead in Labyrinth. (I found the bulge to be appropriately pronounced, like a community theater production of a grey sweatpants outline.) Though, with this being an “In Concert” screening of the movie, the handful of legit-good Bowie songs probably matter more than any codpiece particulars. “As The World Falls Down” takes the cake as a totally credible first dance song for an unclassified subspecies of Disney Adult, but it’s “Chilly Down,” a dum-dum dance number written by Bowie and performed by Hayley Williams-hued Muppets, that’s my favorite.
Labryinth: In Concert, Adler Theater, Davenport, Monday, April 21, 6:30 p.m.
The Shrouds (2024)
Directed by David Cronenberg
I counted to be safe, and sure enough, Cronenberg has coughed up a classic in every decade since the ’70s: The Brood, Videodrome, Crash, Eastern Promises, Maps to the Stars and Crimes of the Future. Such a long, bloody trail of work means the legendary director is getting old, so any little freaks out there who care about “cinema” better be seated for The Shrouds. Partly inspired by the death of Cronenberg’s wife, Carolyn — and not bland enough for Netflix to turn into a series — the film seems to be about a founder-type (Vincent Cassel, looking an awful lot like Cronenberg himself) who invents a Ring doorbell for decomposing bodies.
The Shrouds, FilmScene, Iowa City and The Varsity Cinema, Des Moines, opens April 25, various times
King of New York (1990)
Directed by Abel Ferrara
On the night Biggie Smalls was shot and killed at a red light in Los Angeles, he was checked into his hotel under the name “Frank White.” The alias, generally reserved for Biggie’s more menacing records, was lifted from the titular titan of the drug trade in King of New York. Released the same month as another gangster great, this artsy, dirty exploitation film — good-taste style, bad-taste substance — was slept on hard, despite a career-best Christopher Walken as the “White Frank White,” and a nutso ensemble of Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Wesley Snipes and Steve Buscemi.
King of New York, FilmScene, Iowa City, Saturday, April 26, 10 p.m.
Point Break, 2024 4K restoration
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
So much is on the surface of Point Break, I can’t blame anyone for looking no deeper than the iconic (as far as haircuts in cinema history go, Patrick Swayze’s mullet is right up there with Mia Farrow’s pixie cut; the bank robbers’ rubber Halloween masks of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon are just the best) and the ridiculous (the considerable number of could-be sex noises grunted throughout the bromantic parts). But beneath the big and dumb and fun of it all, this hang-ten heist movie is thrill-seeking enlightenment, and as the credits roll in, finds something like it.
Point Break, The Varsity Cinema, Des Moines, Tuesday, April 29, 7 p.m.
Other special screenings and movies of note playing in local cinemas this month:
IOWA CITY
Cannes-celed
FilmScene and the Bijou Film Board take a look back at the films that audiences and critics wrongfully raked over the coals at the Cannes Film Festival. Check these films and decide if the hate was justified.
Sunday, Apr 6, The Paperboy
Friday & Wednesday, Apr 11 & 16, Dancer in the Dark
Saturday & Tuesday, Apr 19 & 22, Happiness
Tuesday, Apr 29, The Mother and the Whore
Other screenings:
Monday, Apr 7, 7 p.m., Animation in Bloom: The Films of Ezra Wube, FilmScene
Tuesday, Apr 15, 7 p.m., Pride at FilmScene: Seconds, FilmScene
Monday, Apr 21, 6:30 p.m., Minority Report on 35 MM, FilmScene
Wednesday, Apr 23, 10 p.m., Late Shift at the Grindhouse: Rabid, FilmScene
DES MOINES
2025 Des Moines Latino Film Festival, Varsity Cinema
The Latino Center of Iowa celebrates four days of Latino culture and cinema. The festival sees the opening of select movie runs and special one-off events in a wide variety of genres, from horror to documentaries to screenings with community conversations.
Tuesday, Apr 15, Párvulos
Wednesday, Apr 16, Lengua + Sujo
Thursday, Apr 16,The Ballad of Tita and the Machines + Rita
Friday, Apr 18, La Cocina
Other screenings:
Tuesday, Apr 8, 7 p.m., Lifers, A Local H Movie with Filmmaker Conversation, Varsity Cinema
Saturday, Apr 12, 9:30 p.m., Field of Screams, Fleur Cinema
Sunday, Apr 13, 7 p.m., Lost Boys, Stolen Trucks with Filmmaker Intro and Q&A, Varsity Cinema
Friday, Apr 18, 10 p.m., Jailbait, Fleur Cinema
Friday, Apr 25, various times, On Swift Horses, Fleur Cinema
