March updates (pt 1?)
The Oscars are over, E Street is closed, but the show must go on!
Hello!
What a week???
Some lows:
E Street has officially shut its doors as of 3/2 (the lowest of lows)
It’s winter again
Some highs!!
It’s light after 6pm!
The Academy Award party was a huge success thanks to all (285!!) of you!
As I said a million times the other night, I am so grateful to each and every one of you. This whole week has been super surreal. So thank you for loving movies, for wanting community, and for continuing to show up!
There’s a lot of fun stuff on the horizon (probably — I need to plan), and I can’t wait to see what’s next for movie club!
Cheers,
Abbie
Academy Awards Watch Party (recap)
Guys, what a success.
Thanks to all of you, the second annual Academy Awards Watch Party was FULLY SOLD OUT! 285 people (which is slightly over capacity, sorry Penn Social). That’s bananas. I can’t even wrap my head around it, so thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you to everyone who came early to help set up, run the photo booth, check people in, stayed late to clean up. I couldn’t have done it without you all. The way everyone shows up just reaffirms what a beautiful community this is, and I am so beyond grateful for it.
Speaking of community, wanna watch me say that for five minutes straight? If so, check me out on the news lol (also bananas).
Thank you to the wonderful Mike Kim for running the photo booth. You can find and download all your photos here!
If you have any feedback about the event, I would love to hear! Always striving to be better, so let me know how I can do that :)
An ode to E Street
In the past almost 8 years of living in DC, I’ve seen 126 movies at E Street, the very first being “The Room” (iconic). It was my second month of living in DC and it was a midnight showing (that’s how you know it was a long time ago. My Old Ass could never do that now). My friend and I went to a party first and loaded up on snacks and plastic spoons. I remember that night perfectly.
I’ve seen some of my all time favorite movies at E Street. I’ve cried, laughed, fallen in love, been heartbroken. Truly, there’s nowhere else I can think of that has seen such a full spectrum of emotions.
Movie theaters are magic, and E Street in particular was something special.
There’s clearly so much love for E Street - it was apparent in the outcry of Washingtonians everywhere. Unfortunately, the hunger for indie films wasn’t enough.
So thank you for all the memories E Street. DC will truly never be the same.
PS: If any *rich* people are reading this and wanna buy E Street, I promise to run the hell outta that theater.
Upcoming Movie Club events
3/6: Movie Trivia at Tryst! Come hang @ 6pm, trivia starts at 7pm
3/13: Mickey 17 (location/time TBA in March updates pt 2)
3/7: Frida @ Southwest Neighborhood Library [FREE]
3/8: Sleeping Beauty @ National Building Museum [FREE]
3/11: Blink Twice @ MLK Library [FREE]
3/12: Death By Hanging @ Freer Gallery of Art [FREE]
3/13: Change, Not Charity (new doc) @ National Museum of American History [FREE]
3/13: Gigi @ Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library [FREE]
3/18: The Banker @ MLK Library [FREE]
3/20-29: Environmental Film Festival [Screening details here]
3/21: The Cats of Gokogu Shrine @ Freer Gallery of Art [FREE]
3/23: Nocturnes @ Freer Gallery of Art [FREE]
3/25: The Color Purple @ MLK Library [FREE]
3/27: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes @ Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library [FREE]
3/28: The Grand Budapest Hotel @ National Building Museum [FREE]
3/29: The Wild Robot @ Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library [FREE]
Also check out Suns Cinema’s schedule, and keep an eye out for A Baked Joint’s Thursday screenings!
Letterboxd profile spotlight
“Hi! I’m Greg. I live in Petworth and always enjoy meeting other movie nuts. I'm a member at Alamo Drafthouse so see most of my movies there but always down for meetups at other theaters. From 2016 to 2020 I wrote a movie blog for my own personal enjoyment that was mostly focused on new movies. But once covid hit, I got hooked on watching older movies I had never seen before and it got to the point where I'd rather spend two hours watching a movie instead of writing about one, so I don't really write anymore. One day I will return to it through. It's called ratedgreg.com.”
Q&A — What is your…
Letterboxd handle: rated_greg
Top 4 favorites (and why): Bad Boys. Heat. Raising Arizona. Dazed and Confused. Much like music, I think you discover your favorites between the ages of 12-20. So being an elder millennial, it's no surprise that three of my 4 favorites came out in the mid 90's. I promise 1995's Bad Boys being my favorite movie of all time is not a bit. I still remember seeing it with my Dad at the Beltway Plaza theater in Greenbelt, MD and it BLEW MY MIND. I did not know a movie could look that cool and be that funny (granted, I was 12 years old). Everytime I see it I turn back to that age and I will forever have a soft spot for Michael Bay's non Transformers movies. Raising Arizona is a family favorite. We quote it all the time in the fam text thread. "We released ourselves on our own recognizance"
Hot film take: The best Christmas movie is Just Friends.
Lowest rated movie: Love Actually. I saw it for first time a few years ago and was shocked to learn the context behind the guy at the front door with the signs, which I had always seen references to prior.
Most watched movie: Since I've started logging on Letterboxd, Batman Returns (3 times during holiday season). But in my life probably Karate Kid.
Favorite director: Michael Bay (please don't judge me)
“So bad, it’s good” movie: We Are Your Friends. It's basically Cocktail but replace Cruise with Efron and replace bartending with DJing.
Most recommended movie: Jaws. I think it is probably the best movie ever made and timeless.
Most anticipated movie: Battle of Baktan Cross