It will make you feel VERY funny!
Our 4/20 Weekend celebrating continues as our friends at See It On 16mm present the Cheech and Chong comedy classic Up In Smoke on glorious celluloid!
An unemployed pot-smoking slacker and amateur drummer, Anthony Stoner ditches his strict parents and hits the road, eventually meeting kindred spirit Pedro de Pacas. While the drug-ingesting duo is soon arrested for possession of marijuana, Anthony and Pedro get released on a technicality, allowing them to continue their many misadventures and ultimately compete in a rock band contest, where they perform the raucous tune “Earache My Eye.”
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They call themselves “The Goonies.” The secret caves. The old lighthouse. The lost map. The treacherous traps. Join the adventure!
April’s Staff Pick comes from our beloved Eddie, who has chose Richard Donner’s 1985 classic The Goonies!
Young teen Mikey Walsh and his friends set off on a quest to find Pirate One-Eyed Willie’s treasure in hopes of saving their homes from demolition. However, on their quest to find the treasure, they run into a family of recently escaped criminals, determined to capture the kids and reach the treasure first.
A key touchstone of 1980s cinema, The Goonies has a legacy rooted in pure nostalgia and youthful imagination. Its simple premise has now turned into a defining blueprint for kid-led adventure stories for the rest of time!
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Just beyond your dreams lives a secret world. Where every tree is a home. Every sound is a song. And humans only exist in fairy tales. Until now…
Join us on Earth Day, April 22nd, as we present special screenings of FernGully: The Last Rainforest on a beautiful big screen for everyone to enjoy!
When a sprite named Crysta shrinks a human boy, Zak, down to her size, he vows to help the magical fairy folk stop a greedy logging company from destroying their home: the pristine rainforest known as FernGully. Zak and his new friends fight to defend FernGully from lumberjacks and the vengeful spirit they accidentally unleash after chopping down a magic tree.
Way before Avatar, this Don Bluth-esque animated rainforest romp warmed the hearts of kids everywhere with the voices of Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Tim Curry, Robin Williams, Cheech & Chong, Harry Shearer, Tone-Loc, Pamela Adlon, and even David Lynch favorite Grace Zabriskie. We’re delightfully buzzed to be playing a brand new DCP of this psychedelic ‘90s staple from our buds at Shout! Studios and American Genre Film Archive!
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Our second Volunteer Of The Month pick for April is courtesy of Brett, as he has chosen the 1963 classic The Great Escape!
The story follows a group of captured Allied soldiers are held in a high-security German POW camp designed to be escape-proof. Instead of waiting out the war, they band together to plan a meticulously coordinated breakout. As they dig tunnels, forge documents, and risk everything for a chance at freedom, one small mistake could lead to their ultimate demise.
Led by an all-star cast including Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough, this WWII classic is remembered for its unforgettable set pieces, making it one of the most thrilling escape adventures ever put on screen.
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Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to.
The Hunt For Ben Solo is coming to The Frida Cinema to present a very special screening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi!
As the Resistance struggles to survive the relentless advance of the First Order, Rey seeks out the reclusive Luke Skywalker in hopes that the legendary Jedi will help turn the tide. But as old myths are challenged and loyalties are tested, heroes and villains alike must confront the weight of the past.
Written and directed by Frida Cinema Favorite Rian Johnson, The Last Jedi pushes the Star Wars saga into bold new territory, a rare feat for blockbuster filmmaking on this scale.
Doors are at 6:00PM and the fun all starts at 6:30PM!
This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff.
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The final film in our Starring Natalie Wood retrospective is the oft-requested The Great Race, the movie that paired her with the iconic duo of Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis for an affectionate throwback to silent-era spectacle and early Hollywood farce!
Professional daredevil and white-suited hero, The Great Leslie, convinces turn-of-the-century auto makers that a race from New York to Paris (westward across America, the Bering Straight and Russia) will help to promote automobile sales. Leslie’s arch-rival, the mustached and black-attired Professor Fate vows to beat Leslie to the finish line in a car of Fate’s own invention.
Ms. Wood leans fully into broad comedy here, delivering rapid-fire dialogue and playful physical humor, a fun contrast to some of the her more intense performances covered in this series.
This Summer, we are celebrating the unforgettable star power of Natalie Wood with a quartet of films that showcase the unique blend of charisma and emotional intensity that made her one of Hollywood’s most beloved screen icons. This series is co-presented by the amazing folks over at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton as part of their exhibit More Than Love: The Life & Art of Natalie Wood!
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He whips out his sword and relieves his victims of their heads!
The legendary midnight movie sensation, Shogun Assassin, is coming to The Frida Cinema thanks to our good friends over at that See It On 16mm!
Following the murder of his wife at the hands of an evil shogun, an avenging ronin (Tomisaburo Wakayama) roams the countryside with his young son, and the boy’s sword-shooting baby carriage, in tow, dispatching ninja assassins with steely resolve in operatically stylized flurries of hallucinatory violence.
With its pulsing synth soundtrack (co-written by Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & the Raiders) and delirious action set pieces (kinetically edited whirlwinds of flashing blades, spurting blood, and severed limbs) Shogun Assassin proved an instant cult favorite that has bubbled its way up from the underground to the mainstream thanks to its influence on artists ranging from the Wu-Tang Clan to Quentin Tarantino.
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Hey dude, this is no cartoon! We’re rolling out some encores of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from 1990!
Before superheroes ruled the multiplex, four brothers from the New York sewers saved the world with martial arts and heart. Director Steve Barron’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a box-office surprise and a practical-effects marvel. Produced on the edge of indie ingenuity, the film blended Jim Henson’s Creature Shop wizardry with street-level grit, creating a tone that felt mythic. Beneath the pizza jokes and wisecracks was something sincere…growing up in a hard (shelled?) city.
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Each holds a secret power…together they face the ultimate evil!
We’re harnessing the supernova star power of cinema icons Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, and Anita Mui in a gloriously unrestrained action extravaganza double feature of The Heroic Trio + Executioners!
From genre maestro Johnnie To, the story follows three knife-throwing, shotgun-toting, kung-fu-fighting super-heroines who must overcome their dark pasts in order to defeat an evil, baby-snatching eunuch who is terrorizing Hong Kong. Eye-popping motorcycle stunts, brain-exploding skeletons, infant cannibals, and kinetically choreographed wire work are all part of the delirium in this unstoppably entertaining cult favorite (referenced in Cheung’s international breakthrough Irma Vep), a kick-butt showcase for three of the coolest women warriors to ever hit the screen.
There will be a ten minute intermission between each film. One ticket gets you access to both movies!
Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.
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A lethal secret arsenal was left behind in the jungle of Vietnam. Their job: find it and destroy it!
Legendary actor-director Sammo Hung delivers a bazooka blast of pure adrenaline with Eastern Condors, an exemplar of Hong Kong action cinema at its most entertaining.
Drawing inspiration from Hollywood war films like The Dirty Dozen, Eastern Condors follows a ragtag band of Asian American prisoners dropped into Vietnam on a secret suicide mission to prevent a cache of weapons from falling into the hands of the Viet Cong, who are more than ready for a fight. Propelled by a dynamic ensemble cast that includes the ever-charismatic Yuen Biao as a black-market trader and a superhuman Yuen Wah as a giggling martial-arts monster, this rip-roaring spectacle offers a nonstop barrage of turbocharged set pieces that defy gravity itself.
Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.
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