Crosstown Theater

Directed by Brian De Palma, Phantom of the Paradise satirizes both horror films and rock groups in the story of a composer of a rock cantata on the theme of Faust, who sells his soul for rock ’n’ roll. Oscar-winner Paul Williams stars and composed the superb rock musical score.

Suture is one of the most outstanding neo-noirs of the 1990s. The wealthy and self-assured Vincent (Michael Harris) meets his blue-collar half-brother Clay (Dennis Haysbert) at their father’s funeral, and is struck by their similarity. He decides to murder Clay and take his identity — only Clay survives the assassination attempt with no memory and is mistaken for Vincent.

One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a 16th-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits.

Serial Mom is a 1994 American black comedy written and directed by John Waters. Happy housewife Beverly Sutphin has a charmed life — a beautiful suburban home, a successful dentist husband, and two normal teenagers. However, when one of her son’s teachers speaks disparagingly of the boy at a parent-teacher conference, Bev runs the instructor over in the school parking lot.

A girl on the verge of womanhood finds herself in a sensual fantasyland of vampires, witchcraft, and other threats in this eerie and mystical movie daydream. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders serves up an endlessly looping, nonlinear fairy tale, set in a quasi-medieval landscape.

John Cassavetes’ hymn to that berserk business of performing, Opening Night is enhanced by its intense “old Hollywood” pedigree as Ben Gazzara, John Blondell, Paul Stewart and Cassavetes himself are the backing band for Rowlands’ knife-edged soloing.