Our Spielberg Summer series flies to Neverland with Hook, the once-maligned fantasy film that time has steadily re-appraised as one of Spielberg’s most heartfelt flights of imagination!!!
When grown-up lawyer Peter Banning (the former Peter Pan) returns to Neverland after Captain Hook kidnaps his children, he must rediscover the boy he forgot in order to lead the Lost Boys and face his old enemy. Along the way, he’s guided by Tinker Bell (Julia Roberts), challenged by Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman), and slowly drawn back into a world of belief.
Initially met with mixed reception and criticized for its tone and excess, Hook has since been embraced by many as a deeply personal story about adulthood’s erosion of wonder and the struggle to reclaim it. Beneath the spectacle and whimsy is a film about imagination and the cost of forgetting how to play, revealing Spielberg’s enduring belief that growing up doesn’t have to mean letting go.
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We’re celebrating 60 years of Věra Chytilová’s anarchic film Daisies with a couple Frida Cinema Members Only screenings!
Maybe the Czech New Wave’s wildest entry, Věra Chytilová’s absurdist farce follows the misadventures of two brash young women. Believing the world to be “spoiled,” they embark on a series of pranks in which nothing, not even food, clothes, men, or war, is taken seriously.
Daisies is an aesthetically and politically adventurous film that’s widely considered one of the great works of feminist cinema. Come see it on the big screen with your fellow cinema lovers!
None a Frida Cinema member yet? Sign up here!
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She’s evil…and not just high school evil.
We’ve added an encore screening of Diablo Cody and Karyn Kusama’s iconic 2009 cult classic Jennifer’s Body!
Jennifer, a gorgeous, seductive cheerleader takes evil to a whole new level after she’s possessed by a sinister demon. Now it’s up to her best friend to stop Jennifer’s reign of terror before it’s too late.
Cody’s signature dialogue, the emo-era soundtrack, and terrific darkly comedic performances from a stacked cast including Amanda Seyfriend, Megan Fox, Johnny Simmons, Adam Brody, Kyle Gallner, and many more, make Jennifer’s Body the perfect 2000s era time capsule to present for Pride Month this year! Come see it on the big screen with a hot crowd!
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Polite society has never been so…Savage.
In 18th-century England, Savage House follows Sir Chauncey Savage (Richard E. Grant), a gloriously unscrupulous social climber propped up by debt and bravado. When invited to host the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, Chauncey and his razor-sharp wife, Lady Savage (Claire Foy), launch a bid to impress. As preparations spiral into duels, decadence and bloodshed, their performance careens out of control—a darkly comic satire of class, spectacle, and the art of appearing important.
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Celebrate the comedic genius of Mel Brooks as we celebrate his 100th birthday by rolling out a Cinemascope print of Blazing Saddles courtesy of our friends at See It On 16mm!
A town (where everyone seems to be named Johnson) stands in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, robber baron Hedley Lamarr sends his henchmen to make life in the town unbearable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor, so Hedley convinces him to send the town the first black sheriff in the west.
One of the most outrageous and relentlessly quotable comedies ever unleashed on American screens, Blazing Saddles remains both a landmark of boundary-pushing studio comedy and a fearless reminder that Brooks’ sharpest target was always bigotry itself. Featuring all-time great comedic performances from Gene Wilder, Cleavon Little, and of course…Madeline Kahn, it’s an absolutely unhinged ride from first punchline to last explosion through the studio backlot.
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Young Frankenstein, the scariest comedy of all time, is coming to The Frida Cinema to celebrate the incomparable Mel Brooks’ 100th birthday!
A young neurosurgeon (played by Gene Wilder in one of cinema’s greatest comedic performances of all time) inherits the castle of his grandfather, the famous Dr. Victor von Frankenstein. In the castle he finds a funny hunchback, a pretty lab assistant and the elderly housekeeper. Young Frankenstein believes that the work of his grandfather was delusional, but when he discovers the book where the mad doctor described his reanimation experiment, he suddenly changes his mind.
Featuring a slew of immortal gags, Young Frankenstein remains one of the greatest screen comedies ever made: an affectionate tribute to classic monster movies and a masterclass in comic precision from one of cinema’s all-time great joke machines.
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Our second Volunteer of the Month is courtesy of Jonathan V., who has chosen Steven Soderbergh’s star-studded heist comedy Logan Lucky!
Channing Tatum stars as Jimmy Logan, a West Virginia construction worker who recruits his brother Clyde (Adam Driver) and an eccentric crew to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca-Cola 600. Their plan hinges on the help of Joe Bang, a bombastic explosives expert played by Daniel Craig in one of the funniest performances of his career.
A caper comedy mixed with an underdog story in only the way Soderbergh can deliver, Logan Lucky swaps the sleek glamour of traditional heist films for dive bars and race tracks, making it warmhearted crowd-pleaser that plays best…where else? The big screen!
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Neither Heaven nor Earth could keep them apart!
Our Art House for Families series concludes with Powell & Pressburger’s astonishing Technicolor fantasia A Matter of Life and Death!
After miraculously surviving a plane crash during World War II, British pilot Peter Carter finds himself caught between worlds when celestial authorities realize he was never meant to live. As heavenly forces attempt to correct the error, Peter fights for the right to remain on Earth alongside the woman he has fallen in love with.
Few filmmakers ever have possessed sheer cinematic imagination quite like Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Moving effortlessly between the everyday and the cosmic, A Matter of Life and Death excels at both dazzling visual invention and genuine emotional sweep. The film stands as one of the great achievements of postwar cinema, making it a perfect finale for a series dedicated to the wonder of experiencing movies together on the big screen.
Our Art House for Families series celebrates the magic of moviegoing across generations all summer long. From silent comedy and international classics to science fiction and fantasy adventures, the series invites longtime cinephiles and first-time art house audiences of all ages to discover some of cinema’s most enduring films together on the big screen. This event is sponsored in part by the City of Santa Ana.
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Two of the most beloved family films ever made are up next for our Art House for Families series as we’re presenting a special double feature presentation celebrating the poetic, adventurous world of filmmaker Albert Lamorisse. It’s The Red Balloon and White Mane!
Winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film and an Academy Award for its screenplay, The Red Balloon follows a young Parisian boy who discovers a mysterious balloon with a personality all its own. Drifting through the streets of Paris with almost no dialogue, the film transforms ordinary city life into something quietly magical.
And then after a ten minute intermission, it’s time for White Mane, Lamorisse’s breathtaking adventure set in the marshlands of southern France, where a young boy forms an unforgettable bond with a wild horse pursued by local ranchers. Shot with extraordinary natural beauty and a sense of freedom that still feels exhilarating today, the film captures childhood adventure in an almost-mythic way.
These films will be presented in their original French language, with English subtitles. Although, it should be noted the films are essentially wordless, with the exception of some sparse dialogue.
Our Art House for Families series celebrates the magic of moviegoing across generations all summer long. From silent comedy and international classics to science fiction and fantasy adventures, the series invites longtime cinephiles and first-time art house audiences of all ages to discover some of cinema’s most enduring films together on the big screen. This event is sponsored in part by the City of Santa Ana.
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It’s laugh-vacation time as our Art House for Families series presents Jacques Tati’s gentle comic masterpiece Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday!
Monsieur Hulot, Jacques Tati’s endearing clown, takes a holiday at a seaside resort, where his presence provokes one catastrophe after another.
Tati’s masterpiece of gentle slapstick is a series of effortlessly well-choreographed sight gags involving dogs, boats, and firecrackers; it was the first entry in the Hulot series and the film that launched its maker to international stardom. Decades later, still feels fresh in ways that modern comedies rarely do.
This film will be presented in its original French language, with English subtitles.
Our Art House for Families series celebrates the magic of moviegoing across generations all summer long. From silent comedy and international classics to science fiction and fantasy adventures, the series invites longtime cinephiles and first-time art house audiences of all ages to discover some of cinema’s most enduring films together on the big screen. This event is sponsored in part by the City of Santa Ana.
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