Sketch Tiger

Mannequin dance montage!

CAMPY, QUIRKY, RARE, BELOVED, Movies, NYC

Molly Cameron

It’s finally here: Oscar weekend!  If you haven’t packed in all your nominee viewing already, now is probably the worst time - you don’t want to be in packed theater that smells of desperation, do you?  Of course not!  You’d much rather be watching some old-school film - that may or may not have won an Oscar - in a theater that smells of fresh popcorn and dreams!  Yeah!

Start your weekend off right with some ninjas, guns, and mild Chinese stereotyping in Big Trouble in Little China, IFC Center’s John Carpenter pick of the week.  This is another powerhouse Carpenter-Kurt Russell collaboration, with Russell doing his best John Wayne impression as trucker Jack Burton.  Jack is on a simple journey to help his friend Wang pick up his fiancee at the airport when she is instead kidnapped by an evil underground sorcerer, forcing the buds on a ridiculous rescue mission involving big guns, monsters, and Kim Cattrall (doing her best live-mannequin impression).  I don’t know about you, but I was born ready.

2/24 & 2/25, IFC Center, midnight, $13

If you need even more butt-kicking inspiration - but of a more tangible variety - spend your Saturday afternoon at Anthology Film Archives for their screening of Norma Rae.  Sally Field plays the title role - based on real-woman activist Crystal Lee Sutton - a frustrated southern mill worker who is inspired to unionize her fellow workers after meeting spitfire organizer Reuben.  Of course, the owners don’t take kindly to her notions of better pay and longer breaks and Field has to put away her cute face to help win the fight.  (Although, let’s be real: Sally Field’s angry face is still adorable.)

2/25, Anthology Film Archives, 4:45pm, $9

I can think of no better way to spend the hours leading up to Oscar time than with the Muppets.  That’s right friends, the Museum of the Moving Image has brought back our furry friends for a triple feature of three Muppet classics: The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan.  The overflow of cameo appearances (Elliott Gould! John Cleese! Joan Rivers!) will have you all pumped for red carpet time and the musical numbers are just as good as - if not better than - all of the Best Song nomination performances.  The best part?  You can see all three movies for the price of one museum admission ticket - which means you can also check out the Henson exhibit in betwen films!  Just try not to cry when Kermit sings “Rainbow Connection” - it’s hard.

2/26, The Muppet Movie at 12pm, The Great Muppet Caper at 2:30pm, The Muppets Take Manhattan at 5pm, Museum of the Moving Image, $12

What’s that?  You still don’t have a place to watch the Oscars live broadcast?  Come to my apartment and watch it on my tiny TV with me while I inevitably drink too much Andre and demand that people shut up during the death montage! Oh, you want somewhere COOL to go?  Well lucky for you, fancy pants, 92Y Tribeca is hosting a live viewing party with help from Eliot Glazer and Giulia Rozzi.  Doors open at 7:30 and the $10 ticket also gets you a glass of champagne - not the mention the company of other well-dressed film nerds.