You have the right to remain silent…dead silent.
Prepare to question everything you thought you knew about roundhouse kicks, thongs, and katana beheadings as Samurai Cop is finally coming back to The Frida Cinema! And as an extra special added bonus, stick around after the screening for an in-person Q&A with the stars of the film: Matthew Karedas, Cranston Komuro, and Gerald Okamura!
Joe (Matt Hannon, Sylvester Stallone’s one-time bodyguard) is the Samurai Cop, a rock of a man who will do literally whatever it takes to punish criminals—even if that means taking dozens of innocent lives in the process. Teamed with a truly hilarious partner (Mark Frazer), Joe embarks on a mindmelting sex-and-violence-fueled adventure against evil ninjas, drug dealers, and genre legend Robert Z’Dar (Maniac Cop)!
Directed by prolific Iranian ex-pat Amir Shervan, this reckless and outrageous gem is a true treasure of the trash-action pantheon! Don’t miss out!
Our guests will be setting up when doors open at 5pM for a meet-and-greet signing opportunity. The film will start at 7PM. Q&A will be around 8:45PM!
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Hitch a ride to come and see FilmWeek’s screening of Michael Mann’s 2004 neo-noir thriller Collateral at The Frida Cinema! And stick around after the screening as host Larry Mantle welcomes special guests (TBA) to discuss the film’s lasting impact!
Collateral follows a Los Angeles taxi driver, Max (Jamie Foxx), who unwittingly picks up a cold-blooded contract killer, Vincent (Tom Cruise). Over the course of a single night, Max is taken hostage and forced to drive Vincent to multiple stops to assassinate targets connected to a federal drug cartel. As the night unfolds, Max attempts to break free, ultimately turning the tables on his captor to protect the final witness.
The film was a critical and box office success, reaching the top spot in its opening weekend and earning Academy Award nominations for Best Film Editing and Best Supporting Actor for Jamie Foxx’s performance as Max.
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Sex. Violence. Whatever.
The explosive second chapter of Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy, The Doom Generation is back on our big screens with a new 4K restoration!
After an impulsive encounter with the mysterious drifter Xavier, teenage couple Amy Blue and Jordan White are pulled into a violent cross-country odyssey filled with escalating chaos. As the trio drifts from one surreal nightmare to the next, Araki transforms the American road movie into a candy-colored vision of a society on the verge of collapse.
A nihilistic fever dream that only he could dream up, The Doom Generation cemented Araki’s reputation as one of independent cinema’s true provocateurs. Wildly funny and shockingly violent, it remains one of the defining films of 1990s counterculture.
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The second film in our Broadway Thursdays: Segerstrom Center at The Frida is Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of The Outsiders!
In 1960s Tulsa, class divisions ignite a violent rivalry between the working-class Greasers and the privileged Socs. When a deadly encounter forces two Greasers, Ponyboy and Johnny, to flee, their struggle for survival and redemption exposes the fragile innocence and enduring bonds of youth on the wrong side of town.
Featuring an astonishing ensemble cast before they became Hollywood legends, including C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, and Emilio Estevez—The Outsiders remains one of the defining coming-of-age films of the 1980s.
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Revenge gets ripped.
We’ve some encores of Rose Glass’ 2024 “be gay, do crime” thriller Love Lies Bleeding!
Love Lies Bleeding follows a gym manager, Lou, that falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
Celebrated for its intense tone, blending elements of a gritty crime thriller, dark comedy, and surreal body horror, Love Lies Bleeding is an experience tailor-made for the big screen!
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Just added: Producer Steak House will be joining us in-person for this screening!
As groundbreaking now as it was when it was released 25 years ago, By Hook or by Crook is coming to The Frida Cinema with a brand new 4K restoration via our friends at Altered Innocence!
Shy, a handsome, gender-bending, small town dreamer with a nagging messiah complex, and Valentine, a deliriously expressive, wise-acre adoptee on a misguided search for her birth mother. The two freaky grifters join forces and learn the true meaning of “poise under pressure” in this visually stunning and wonderfully acted, anti-authoritarian tale of friendship, trust and redemption.
Provocatively exploring issues of queer representation, gender and trans identity in ways that contemporary LGBTQIA+ culture and cinema are still catching up with, By Hook or by Crook has created a powerful cultural impact that endures today. The film has been digitally restored in 4K by the Academy Film Archive and UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with Frameline, Outfest, Steakhaus Productions, Inc., and the Sundance Institute.
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Cutter does everything his way. Fighting. Loving. Working. Tracking down a killer.
Our Hallucinations series is detouring to the world of sun-soaked neo-Noir with Cutter’s Way!
Alex Cutter is a boozy, belligerent and deeply cynical Vietnam veteran whose encounter with a landmine during the war has left him minus an eye, a leg and an arm. When his drifter playboy friend Richard Bone is falsely accused of murder, Cutter sets out for revenge in his own inimitable style.
Cutter’s Way is one of the great overlooked neo-Noirs of the 1980s and an extremely cynical portrait of a country where power always seems untouchable.
Hosted by Polygon’s editor-in-chief Chris Plante, Hallucinations is a monthly event that spotlights movies that challenge our expectations of story, style, and “good taste”. We invite guests to bond over films that change what we expect from the medium, the world, and themselves. So come early, stay late, make friends, and watch something strange, surprising, or just shamelessly sick.
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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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Trainspotting is turning 30 years old, and we’re celebrating with some anniversary screenings of a brand new 4K restoration via our friends at Sony Picture Classics!
Smart, funny, sickly and sometimes just plain unconscious, Mark Renton is a hero for our times. Set in an underbelly of Edinburg the city fathers never dreamed of, Trainspotting is the story of Mark and his so-called friends…a bunch of losers, liars, psychos, thieves and junkies. Hilarious but harrowing, the film charts the disintegration of their friendship as they proceed, seemingly inevitably, towards self-destruction. Mark alone has the insight and opportunity to escape his fate…but then again, does he really want to ‘choose life’?
Restoration notes: Supervised and approved by director Danny Boyle, this 4K digital restoration was undertaken by the Criterion Collection from a scan of the 35mm original negative. The 5.1 surround soundtrack was remastered from the original six-track magnetic masters by Ted Hall at Pacific Ocean Post in Santa Monica, California, in 1997.
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Live by the code. Die by the code.
Our second Volunteer of the Month pick for May 2026 comes courtesy of Rose, who has chosen Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai!
In one of his defining roles, Forest Whitaker brings a commanding serenity to his portrayal of a Zen contract killer working for a bumbling mob outfit, a modern man who adheres steadfastly to the ideals of the Japanese warrior code even as chaos and violence spiral around him.
Featuring moody cinematography by the great Robby Müller, a mesmerizing score by the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, and a host of colorful character actors (including a memorably stone-faced Henry Silva), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai plays like a pop-culture-sampling cinematic mixtape built around a one-of-a-kind tragic hero.
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