by Adam Riske and Patrick Bromley
Double Feature 1:
Adam: #1: The Holiday (2006)
Patrick: #2: How Do You Know (2010)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Just Go with It, Town & Country, Something’s Gotta Give, It’s Complicated
Patrick: Theme: Most Expensive RomComs
Patrick: I like one of these movies (it’s the one you programmed) and have been meaning to revisit the second because I want to like a James L. Brooks movie. I feel bad like this theme is picking on Nancy Meyers, but she knows what she wants, and her movies make money so I’m not criticizing her budgets or anything.
Adam: There’s room for all genres to have expensive movies so I don’t see it as a slight. I’d rather the money be spent on movie stars and top directors than the bad visual effects we see in many modern blockbusters. I’ve been thinking about revisiting The Holiday this holiday season (I’ve only seen it once and remember liking it) but it’s a 2006 movie and 2K Replay law means I must wait. I’ve never seen How Do You Know so I’ll earmark this double feature for 2026! P.S. 2K Replay ends in 2029…I’m declaring it right here.
Double Feature 2:
Patrick: #1: It Could Happen to You (1994)
Adam: #2: Frankie and Johnny (1991)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Untamed Heart, 50 First Dates, Waitress
Adam: Theme: Falling in Lunch
Adam: I love diners. I love love. This is a tribute to diners and love. Is it condescending to say one of the charms of both It Could Happen to You and Frankie and Johnny is that they’re blue-collar romances? Anyways, that’s part of the appeal. I went with pairing these two movies together because they’re both mature romances and no one has a baboon heart and dies at the end (spoiler for 50 First Dates).
Patrick: These two would pair really well together. We should cater from a diner for this one.
Double Feature 3:
Adam: #1: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
Patrick: #2: Richie Rich (1994)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: The Shape of Water, Silent Night (2023)
Patrick: Theme: Movies Released December 1
Patrick: I like the idea of pairing some of your Christmas picks with some non-Christmas second features. Richie Rich has come up so much in the last six months, hasn’t it?
Adam: Programming Christmas movies with non-Christmas movies does sound amazing. I did that about half of the time in this article, but it wasn’t intentional. Richie Rich comes up regularly because it’s underrated Mac on its journey to no longer being underrated Mac and getting the flowers it always deserved. Also, I can only take you not programming the trailer for White Man’s Burden as a slight.
Double Feature 4:
Patrick: #1: Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Adam: #2: Changing Lanes (2002)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Tootsie, Random Hearts, Michael Clayton
Adam: Theme: Sydney Pollack Performances
Adam: How great is Sydney Pollack as an actor? Maybe even better than him as a director? This night has everything: Peak Kidman, Christmas, two leads butting heads and the cherry on top being Sydney Pollack walking into the movie, telling it like it is and we (i.e., the audience, society etc.) had no idea how far the darkness goes.
Patrick: I definitely like Sydney Pollack more as an actor than as a director, which isn’t to say I don’t like his movies so much as it is to say I looooove him as an actor. He crushes it in everything he’s in. I don’t even want to think about the Harvey Keitel version of Eyes Wide Shut because I love SP so much in that movie. Great double bill!
Double Feature 5:
Adam: #1: The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Patrick: #2: No Name on the Bullet (1959)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Boss, Monster on the Campus, Hello Down There
Patrick: Theme: Underrated Jack Arnold
Patrick: This might be my favorite double of the month. Jack Arnold is a really good director, and while he’s known mostly for Creature from the Black Lagoon (especially among horror fans like us), he has a bunch of bangers in his filmography. I love the idea of celebrating some of his lesser-known works.
Adam: This sounds like a great evening. Plus, I’ll finally get to see an Audie Murphy movie after 4 years of pretending to be in the know when Rick Dalton makes fun of Cliff Booth with a Murphy reference in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Double Feature 6:
Patrick: #1: Violent Night (2022)
Adam: #2: Die Hard 2 (1990)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Nothing Like the Holidays
Adam: Theme: Cold Leguizamo (with John Leguizamo in person)
Adam: I loved this theme so much I had to stretch and program two Ice Age trailers. I kinda wanted to program Nothing Like the Holidays (a movie I enjoy and rewatch every few years) with Violent Night to get people to watch it, but it makes so much more sense to pair Violent Night with Die Hard 2. I invited Leguizamo as a special guest and plan on turning the heat off in the theater so I can hear him tell me “It’s freaking freezing in here!” in Clown from Spawn voice.
Patrick: I know you’re not much of a Violent Night guy, but I’m in the middle of a rewatch and I really like it. Remember when I had it on my Top 10 last year? What the fuck was that about? You’re maybe the only person who likes Die Hard 2 as much as I do so I’m glad we get to watch these movies together. And Leggy Z is gonna show! Do you think he’ll bring Mira Sorvino and try to turn the Linderground Cinemarink into Hedonism? I hope so/not.
Double Feature 7:
Adam: #1: Miami Vice (2006)
Patrick: #2: Heat (1995)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: L.A. Takedown, Miami Vice “Pilot”
Patrick: Theme: Michael Mann Remakes Himself
Patrick: Somehow this manages to be totally obvious and a stretch at the same time, because Michael Mann didn’t direct the Miami Vice pilot nor is the movie a remake of that episode, but I wanted a night devoted to two of the best crime movies of the last 30 years. It’s a long night and a lot of movie, but Michael Mann has earned it.
Adam: I love it. I just rewatched Heat recently and this was the first time I admitted to myself that I’m rooting for DeNiro and his crew (outside of Waingro because {screams}) over Pacino and the cops. Not sure what that says about me. #GoFastBoats
Double Feature 8:
Patrick: #1: Look Who’s Talking Now (1993)
Adam: #2: RoboCop 3 (1993)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Army of Darkness, Three Colors: Blue, Three of Hearts, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, The Three Musketeers
Adam: Theme: Three’s from ‘93
Adam: This is a double feature you must plug your nose and embrace but it’s also a double feature I’ve always meant to do because it was in theater 2 one week in December 1993 at the Des Plaines Theater while I was there to see Jurassic Park in theater 1 during all of these films’ second run era (era). I’ve never seen RoboCop 3 either despite considering it at least 100 times over the past 30 years. Is Look Who’s Talking Now still Charlie’s choice for worst movie he’s ever seen?
Patrick: Charlie’s the one who picked Look Who’s Talking Now as the first half of this double feature! It’s the only reason it’s playing because I would never play it. RoboCop 3 is a way better movie than LWTN even though it’s deeply flawed. I want to love it because it’s so abused and it’s Fred Dekker, but I can only like some stuff about it. Even with all that, I love this double feature if only for the trailers.
Double Feature 9:
Adam: #1: Remember the Night (1940)
Patrick: #2: Easy Living (1937)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Diamond Jim, Port of Seven Seas, Never Say Die
Patrick: Theme: Written by Preston Sturges
Patrick: I haven’t seen either of these! Remember the Night has been on my to-watch list for several years and I still haven’t gotten to it. I didn’t even realize Preston Sturges was a screenwriter before he started directing his own scripts! That’s how much of a philistine I am.
Adam: I think I’m going to check out Remember the Night this year. I’m always trying to find a few holiday movies I haven’t seen during this time of year to mix in with favorites. You’re not a philistine…I might be, which leads us to the next double feature…
Double Feature 10:
Patrick: #1: Deck the Halls (2006)
Adam: #2: Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Jingle All the Way, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, Jack Frost (1998)
Adam: Theme: To Me, You’re Perfect
Adam: I’ve mentioned on occasion that I have a handful of “bad” Christmas movies that I once enjoyed ironically and now must be honest with myself and admit that I just enjoy genuinely. Deck the Halls is an outlaw cinema masterpiece; it’s just end-to-end lunacy and I love it. I paired it with Christmas with the Kranks because a) they are peas in a pod, b) Blair Krank is my Helen of Troy, c) Dan Aykroyd as Vic Frohmeyer is one of the best supporting characters in cinematic history. It breaks my heart we can’t do a triple feature here with I’ll Be Home for Christmas, in which Jonathan Taylor Thomas basically plays Zack Morris and maybe goes to college at a high school (?). Kids get shoved in lockers. It’s very confusing. This is a G-D tier evening.
Patrick: I definitely programmed Deck the Halls with you in mind. I love that this night will be making you so happy. You deserve the world.
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