Carbon Arc is back! The winter-spring 2018 series of screenings at the Museum of Natural History returns this Friday with the annual Cannes-award commercials showcase, a.k.a. the “2017 Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity.” Five consecutive weeks of film screenings have been posted up on the Carbon Arc website, including a February 16 screening of my #2 film of 2017—the amazing Agnes Varda doc Faces Places, which is up for a best documentary feature Oscar.

Also kicking off this Friday at Park Lane is Cineplex’s annual Flashback Film Fest, which as usual is a mixed bag of pop classics that includes a few gems. Friday’s kickoff has The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day back to back in the afternoon, as well as an evening double feature of Coen brothers comedies—Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski. Sunday sees some Super Bowl counter-programming with David Lynch’s still-divisive adaptation of Dune and the recently restored Jackie Chan kung-fu nugget Drunken Master. Family classic The Iron Giant has a matinee early Sunday afternoon.

Before that, on Wednesday, Sageev Oore pops up again at the Music Room with one of his excellent performances of live piano accompaniment of silent films. This show is a $30 ticket.

There’s also a good crop of free screenings this week:

• Monday, Megan Leavey, a film that, despite being about a US military K-9 unit, “avoids sentimentality altogether,” continues a three-part film series with expert-led panel discussions called “Pushing Boundaries: What We Owe Other Animals,” organized by Novel Tech Ethics at the Central Library.
• Tuesday, the Dal Art Gallery continues its Women Filmmakers 1931-1969 series with Christopher Strong, a dose of pre-Code Katherine Hepburn from Dorothy Arzner, “the only female studio director of Hollywood’s ‘Golden Years’.”
• Thursday, February 1, Alderney Landing Theatre has a screening of Groundhog Day, for which free tickets can be picked up at participating local merchants. And Modulating Mansion has Margarethe Von Trotta’s 1981 film Marianne and Juliane, a screening which is rescheduled from last Thursday, and a film which a couple of year’s ago made Sight & Sound’s list of top 100 overlooked films by women.
• Saturday, the North Memorial Library has an afternoon screening of Ava DuVernay’s Selma, kicking off a series of screenings for African History Month.

My strongest recommendations this week continue to be Oscar nominees Phantom Thread and Call Me by Your Name, and rep screenings of the classics Charade and A Matter of Life and Death.

• In theatres, seen & recommended:
  • Phantom Thread, Paul Thomas Anderson, USA, 2017, 130 minutes [90] — Halifax showtimes
  • Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino, Italy/USA/Brazil/France, 2017, 132 minutes [93] — Halifax showtimes
  • Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig, USA, 2017, 93 minutes [94] — Halifax showtimes
  • The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro, USA, 2017, 123 minutes [86] — Halifax showtimes
  • Molly’s Game, Aaron Sorkin, USA, 2017, 140 minutes [71] — Halifax showtimes
• In theatres, new & notable:
  • The Post, Steven Spielberg, USA, 2017, 116 minutes [83] — Halifax showtimes
  • I, Tonya, Craig Gillespie, USA, 2017, 121 minutes [76] — Halifax showtimes
• Halifax screenings this week:
  • Monday (Jan 29) — Megan Leavey, Central Library, 6pm, free. Gabriela Cowperthwaite, USA, 2017, 116 minutes.
    — A Matter of Life and Death, Cineplex Park Lane, 7:15pm, $6.99. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, UK, 1946, 104 minutes.
  • Tuesday (Jan 30) — A Matter of Life and Death, Cineplex Park Lane, 4:30pm, $6.99. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, UK, 1946, 104 minutes.
    — Christopher Strong, Dalhousie Art Gallery, 7pm, free. Dorothy Arzner, USA, 1933, 78 minutes.
    — Charade, Cineplex Park Lane, 7pm, $6.99. Stanley Donen, USA, 1963, 113 minutes.
  • Wednesday (Jan 31) — Sageev Oore – piano w/ silent film, The Music Room, 6181 Lady Hammond Road, 7pm, 2 hours.
    — Charade, Cineplex Park Lane & Dartmouth Crossing, 7pm, $6.99. Stanley Donen, USA, 1963, 113 minutes.
    — A Matter of Life and Death, Cineplex Park Lane, 9:40pm, $6.99. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, UK, 1946, 104 minutes
  • Thursday (Feb 1) — A Matter of Life and Death, Cineplex Park Lane, 4:15pm, $6.99. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, UK, 1946, 104 minutes
    — Groundhog Day, Alderney Landing Theatre, 7:30pm, free tickets available from local merchants. Harold Ramis, USA, 1993, 101 minutes.
    — Marianne and Juliane, Modulating Mansion, 2411 Agricola St, 7:30pm, free. Margarethe von Trotta, West Germany, 1981, 106 minutes.
  • Friday (Feb 2) — The Terminator, Cineplex Park Lane, 3pm, $8.99. James Cameron, USA, 1984, 107 minutes.
    — Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D, Cineplex Park Lane, 5:15pm, $8.99. James Cameron, USA, 1991, 137 minutes
    — 2017 Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity, Carbon Arc Cinema @ the Museum of Natural History, 7pm, $8.75. Various directors and countries, 2017, 112 minutes.
    — The Big Lebowski, Cineplex Park Lane, 8pm, $8.99. Joel & Ethan Coen, USA, 1998, 117 minutes.
    — Raising Arizona, Cineplex Park Lane, 10:30pm, $8.99. Joel & Ethan Coen, USA, 1987, 94 minutes.
  • Saturday (Feb 3) — Selma, North Memorial Library, 1:30pm, free. Ava DuVernay, USA, 2014, 128 minutes.
  • Sunday (Feb 4) — The Iron Giant, Cineplex Park Lane, 12:30pm, $8.99. Brad Bird, USA, 1999, 87 minutes.
    — Dune, Cineplex Park Lane, 10:30pm, $8.99. David Lynch, USA, 1984, 136 minutes.
    — Drunken Master, Cineplex Park Lane, 10:25pm, $8.99. Yuen Woo-ping, Hong Kong, 1978, 110 minutes.