Shuffle Festival, ‘Aliens’, 1950s rock ‘n’ roll rebellion and more of this week’s great film events
Each week, we round up the most exciting film events happening in London over the coming week, from pop-ups and one-offs to regular film clubs, outdoor screenings and festivals. Here’s this week’s top five…
1. Time Out presents: ‘Aliens’
Last week, we at Time Out launched a huge feature on the 100 best sci-fi movies (link), as voted for by authors, scientists and filmmakers including Guillermo del Toro and Stephen King. To celebrate, we’re hosting a series of classic sci-fi movies at Battersea Power Station’s Power of Summer event, screening five films specifically chosen to fit the cruel industrial beauty of the location. First up it’s James Cameron’s almighty space sequel ‘Aliens’. The film dares to build slowly, allowing Sigourney Weaver to develop a multi-dimensional character even as it ups the ante by fetishising the hi-tech hardware and legions of aliens. But when it finally hits the fan, we’re in for the mother of all battles. Battersea Power Station, SW8 4NN. 6.30pm, Tue Jul 29. From £15.
2. Shuffle Festival: Walkabout
Director and local boy Danny Boyle’s Shuffle Festival returns to Tower Hamlets, offering up a selection of classic films – often accompanied by Q&As – on a big screen set up in the atmospheric environs of the cemetery park. Our pick of the week has to be legendary British director Nic Roeg’s blistering Australian outback tale ‘Walkabout’. It’s the story of two posh English kids abandoned in the wilderness and left to fend for themselves when their father commits suicide. The shimmering light and colour, the conflict of cultures, and the emergence of semi-mystic sexual forces in the desert landscape make this the ultimate Roeg-ian statement. Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Southern Grove, E3 4PX. 7pm, Fri Aug 1. £15.
3. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
Another wonderful film that featured in our 100 best sci-fi movies poll. Banzai – comic-book superhero, neurosurgeon, pop star, mystic, nuclear physicist and teenage heartthrob – is testing a new jet-propelled Ford Fiesta when he crashes into one side of a mountain to exit miraculously unharmed from the other. Evil Black Lectoids from Planet 10 have been exiled within the rock, and Buck accidentally releases a few, leaving him the only one who can save Earth from destruction. His allies include a New Jersey cowboy-brain-surgeon (Jeff Goldblum) and a six-foot extra-terrestrial Rasta (though not the one from ‘Predator’). Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BP. 9pm, Weds Jul 30. £11, £8.50 concs.
4. Blackboard Jungle
The BFI kicks off ‘Teenage Kicks’, a new season of films tackling adolescent rebellion, with the 1955 rock ‘n’ roll drama that had Teds ripping up the seats on its first release in Britain. But this notoriety gives a false impression of the film. It’s based on Evan Hunter’s moralistic bestseller about a young New York teacher at a tough school, and is very worthy in its intentions. Highlights include Vic Morrow as a confused knife-wielding delinquent, but the studied pseudo-documentary atmosphere never quite convinces. BFI Southbank, Belvedere Rd, SE1 8XT. 6.30pm, Sat Aug 2. £8.15-£11.50.
5. The Third Man
Film fans of London, it’s time to mourn: the Riverside, home to the greatest double bills in town for the past couple of decades, is closing its doors for a major refurbishment. The hope is that it’ll return, spruced up and multi-screened, in the near-ish future, but for now we bid farewell with a screening of this ever-reliable British noir. Summoned to occupied post-war Vienna by his schoolfriend Harry Lime, brash American pulp writer Holly Martins arrives to find his old chum being widely mourned. In this quartered, ruined, double-talking city, however, it’s best to take nothing at face value… Riverside Studios, Crisp Rd, W6 9RL. 7.30pm, Sat Aug 2. £8.50, £7.50 concs.
Find more fantastic film events in the capital this week here.