At 2pm: The Gumby Movie aka Gumby 1 (1995)

Everyone loves Gumby, whose delightful short vignettes debuted in the 50's on the Howdy Doody Show and whose late-80's renaissance spawned an independent movie. "He can walk into any book", and does in his only feature-length outing. Gumby, his rock band, the Clayboys, and a couple clingy groupies are menaced by perennial nemeses the Blockheads, whose improbable scheme involves harvesting pearls from a pet dog with the help of robot ringers. Creator Art Clokey brings his trademark awkward pacing and zany inventiveness to this Pee-wee Herman meets The Stepford Wives curio, tossing in off-hand homages to Star Wars, 2001, and other movies. Great for kids!

Color 35mm 89 min.

At 4pm: The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985)

Considered the Father of Claymation--he coined the term--Will Vinton ushered the medium from simplistic, cartoonish infancy into technical and artistic maturity. Through the 70's and 80's he honed his chops crafting short films (Oscar-winner Closed Mondays, The Little Prince), music "videos" (John Fogerty's Vanz Kant Danz) and ad campaigns (infamously, The California Raisins) combining nuanced characterization with an exquisite sensitivity to his sculptural medium. The culmination: The Adventures of Mark Twain, the first and only fully-claymated feature film, and the last word in this labor-intensive technique.

Into the tradition of Eastern European stylized epic fantasy, such as the Jules Verne-inspired adventures of Karel Zeman, Vinton brings Terry Gilliam-like attention to the travails of a heroic dreamer: the quintessentially American author Twain. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, stowaways on an airship piloted by their aging author, are led on a rambling journey through his lesser-known writings, peppered with acerbic late-life musings about human nature, religion, and mortality in this penetrating interrogation of Twain's iconoclastic genius. Ornate Victorian-gothic production design makes gloriously expressionistic, at times abstract use of the manipulative possibilities of clay, in both 2-D and 3-D. What starts out looking like a simple kids' movie quickly moves into darker territory--one stunning sequence has been deemed too disturbing to include in TV broadcasts.

Due perhaps to its complex nonlinear narrative structure, or to its philosophically "mature" themes, like the best of 80's fantastic cinema, Mark Twain found favor only among a cult audience. We invite you to join the cult.

Color 35mm 86 min.

At 7:15 & 9:15pm: Meet the Feebles (1989) $7 Admission
Also shows Friday, February 25

Long before making Oscar-baiting CGI spectacles, Peter Jackson turned heads and stomachs with naughty, low-budget, gore-filled gross-out fests. The most notorious, hilarious, and offensive of these: Meet the Feebles. Clearly inspired by the Muppets, the Feebles make Oscar the Grouch look like Barney the Purple Dinosaur. With their soon-to-be-televised variety show imperiled by mismanagement, diva-esque tantrums, a porn ring, venereal disease, drug pushers, and nerves, can these nasty (and amazingly well-crafted) puppets pull off a miracle? Meet the Feebles is chock-full of delightful digressions, wit, and, surprisingly, a lot of heart. Definitely, thoroughly, unabashedly not for kids!

Color 35mm 95 min.

Come see what all your sick friends have been raving about!