SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
35MM DARK SPIELBERG! Saturday, September 4, 2021
LOCATION: The Million Dollar Theater Movie Palace, 307 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013
*Please note audience members who purchase tickets for BOTH FEATURES can purchase an all-day pass and park at the Grand Central Market Parking Garage (corner of 3rd & S. Hill Street). Please purchase a $6 all day parking passes via our ADD-ONS. We will hand you your parking pass at the screening.
**We will open doors 1 HOUR before each screening time so audience can have plenty of time to enter, maintain 6 feet of distance, pick up or buy concessions/drink, and get their seats. We will have staff who will help guide and direct audience to their seats.
Audience staying for both features will be given RESERVED SEATS that will be good the entire day.
11am MINORITY REPORT (2002, dir by Steven Spielberg, Fox, 145mns, 35MM)
230pm WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005, dir by Steven Spielberg, Paramount, 116mns, 35MM)
IMPORTANT NOTES:
***ALL GUESTS WILL BE TAKEN THROUGH PROTOCOLS PRIOR TO ENTERING THEATER SO EVERYONE CAN HAVE A FUN AND SAFE TIME.
****Please still bring phone photos or actual vaccination cards and masks so we can continue to make sure we are keeping events as safe and worry free as possible.
HOW TO:
1)PLEASE BRING AND BE READY TO WEAR A PROPER MASK AT ALL TIMES INSIDE THE THEATER. You will be able to eat and drink concessions without a mask. But AT ALL OTHER TIMES, MASKS ARE REQUIRED.
2)PRE-ORDER ANY CONCESSIONS OR MOVIE MERCHANDISE you would like from the additional Add-Ons. You can pick up all concessions & merchandise at our tables in our lobby prior to the screening.
We will be able to sell concessions & merchandise at the theater. But it will make everything much quicker and easier if you pre-order!
3)PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ANYONE EXHIBITING COVID OR FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS AT THE DOOR, WILL BE OFFERED COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS TO A FUTURE SHOW AND ASKED TO RETURN WHEN HEALTHY. So please, if you’re feeling sick, just write us at community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening when you’re healthy. Let’s all do our part to beat this thing so we can go back to the complete movie going experience!
We kick off our Dark Spielberg series with his two Tom Cruise collaborations of the mid-2000's.
When Spielberg came back from a near 4 year hiatus after Schindler's List, his movies took a noticeably darker turn. Not all. But Spielberg seemed much more comfortable (or inclined) to combine his eternal optimism with a willingness to dive into the dark.
The Iraq War, 9/11, and America's growing polarization at home, all seemed to tear at Spielberg's filmmaking conscience and he put these anxieties (as he's always done) front and center in his movies.
First up, we screen Minority Report, his crackling Philip K Dick sci-fi adaptation that served as a clever metaphor for America's own growing surveillance of its own citizens in War on Terror.
Report tells the story of police officer John Anderton (Cruise) who is part of an elite unit of cops who use Pre-Cogs (humans with the strange ability to see what will happen in the future) to stop crimes and arrest the criminals RIGHT at the moment they are about to commit the crime thus preventing the crime and apprehending the criminal.
But when Anderton gets framed for a crime he hasn't yet committed, he suddenly finds himself on the run to find out what has happened and clear his name before he too is sent to a cryogenic prison.
Filled with blisteringly brilliant action set pieces and a very smart script about the problems of trying to arrest people BEFORE they commit a crime, Minority Report is part The Maltese Falcon, part Blade Runner, all Spielberg.
Next, we show one of Spielberg's most criminally underrated movies his remake of War of the Worlds. Made just 3 years after Minority Report, War is part of Spielberg's 9/11 trilogy (which continues with The Terminal and culminates with Munich which we are also screening).
Although War was a blockbuster hit when it came out AND grows in esteem year by year, it still feels like we haven't fully appreciated just how terrifyingly Spielberg captured post 9-11 hysteria, anxiety, and fear in a sci-fi movie.
When deadbeat single Dad Ray (Tom Cruise) gets his kids for the weekend, they're all unprepared for the sudden alien invasion that starts. Ray, overwhelmed and surprisingly unheroic, struggles to do the right thing by his two kids whom he's largely let down.
As they all try to find some safe place as the huge alien pods first vaporize then start harvesting (!!) human beings, we watch a society coming apart at the seams out of fear.
The only knock one can have about this movie is that it definitely should have been rated R and not PG-13. While we can all quibble about the last 30 minutes of the movie (and it does have issues FOR SURE), the first 90 minutes are so terrifying and stunning as to be near-perfect.
Come join us for two of Spielberg's dark masterpieces.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
35mm Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR OUR IN-DOOR THEATER SCREENINGS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write us at: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening.
WHY ARE THE TICKET PRICES HIGHER THAN NORMAL?
In order for us to re-open, maintain health protocols (which includes operating at only 50% capacity), and screen movies on 35MM, we need to temporarily raise our ticket prices. We apologize.
However, if you could look at this as partially helping Secret Movie Club re-open indoor theaters and 35MM film screening, we would be eternally grateful.
As we can increase capacity, we will IMMEDIATELY LOWER ticket prices.
If you could look at this as all of us being in this together, we WILL remember your kindness.
HELPFUL MILLION DOLLAR THEATER MOVIE PALACE PARKING TIPS:
If you are attending all movies on any given day (the double or triple feature), you can go to ADD ONS and pre-order an all day $6 Grand Central Parking Lot Pass. The Grand Central Parking Lot is at the corner of 3rd Street and Hill Street just 1 block from the Million Dollar Theater entrance on 3rd & Broadway.
Folks just attending one feature can also park at this lot and as long as you grab food/drink from GCM you can get a 90 minute validation stamp that will help the cost of parking.
HOW WILL OUR STAFF MAKE SURE THE THEATER IS AS SAFE AS POSSIBLE:
We will have staff in the theater (on both the ground and balcony levels) at all times who make sure everyone is wearing masks and obeying protocols. We will have signage at entrance, markings at concessions, restrooms, etc so folks keep 6 ft distance at all times.
Anyone not observing safe protocols will kindly be asked to leave. On top of this, we’ll be making announcements at the head of each screening to make sure everyone understands the rules & regs!
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm or Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter by writing us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.