Blobfest, the Before trilogy, and more

The BSR July 2024 repertory movie roundup

In
4 minute read
Outside a movie theater, a large, inflated ‘blob’ stands behind the ‘Colonial’ theater sign. A crowd is outside the theater
Blobfest comes to the Colonial Theater this month. (Photo by Stephen Silver.)

First, this column mourns the loss of a place frequently mentioned in past editions, the University of Arts’s Lightbox Film Center. We hope that Jesse Pires’s fantastic program can find new life elsewhere. But, in the meantime, the month of July offers plenty of local film offerings of the older variety, including the Philadelphia Film Society’s Summer of Trilogies, four Hitchcock film seminars, and the 25th annual Blobfest.

The highlights

The Before Trilogy

Before Sunrise
Saturday, July 6, 12:30pm
Saturday, July 27, 2:30pm

Before Sunset
Saturday, July 13, 4pm
Saturday, July 27, 5pm

Before Midnight
Saturday, July 20, 1:30pm
Sunday, July 27, 7:30pm

Philadelphia Film Center, 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Film Society continues its Summer of Trilogies with all three movies in Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy, featuring many years of long conversations between Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celeste (Julie Delpy). A Before Series Bundle is available if you want to catch all three.

The 25th annual Blobfest
July 12-14, 2024
Colonial Theater, 227 Bridge Street, Phoenixville

The annual celebration of the 1958 schlock classic The Blob is set for mid-July. This year, for the event’s 25th anniversary, the ritual “run out” will occur on both Friday and Saturday nights, after the Friday stage show and the Saturday showing of the original The Blob.

The event will also offer showings of the 1988 version of The Blob, 1972’s Beware! The Blob, and The Creature From the Black Lagoon in 3D.

Creed
Friday, July 19, 8:15pm
Awbury Rec Center, 6101 Ardleigh Street, Philadelphia

The best Philadelphia movie of the current century—Ryan Coogler’s 2015 film—is showing in East Germantown, just miles from the Rocky Steps. It’s part of the Philadelphia Film Society’s Movies on the Block series, sponsored by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, EMIR Healing Center, and Northwest Action Alliance.

Four Hitchcock seminars in Bryn Mawr

The 39 Steps
Tuesday, July 9, 6:30pm

Foreign Correspondent
Tuesday, July 16, 6:30pm

Notorious
Tuesday, July 23, 7pm

The Man Who Knew Too Much
Tuesday, July 30, 6:30pm

Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr

Each Tuesday in July, the Bryn Mawr Film Institute is presenting Cinema Classics Seminars on espionage-related movies directed by Alfred Hitchcock. BMFI describes it as “a month of conspiracies, false identities, secret agents, and suspense galore from the master of the form.”

More cinema showings

The Lady Eve with Cinema Classics Seminar
Monday, July 1
Bryn Mawr Film Institute

All About Eve
Wednesday, July 3
Ambler Theater

Top Gun Maverick
Wednesday, July 3
Sunset Social

Jaws
July 5-6, 2024
Philadelphia Film Center

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
July 5-7, 2024
Colonial Theater

The Iron Giant
July 5-7, 2024
Colonial Theater

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Sunday, July 7
Wednesday, July 10
Fathom Events (various theaters)

Caddyshack
Monday, July 8
Monday, July 22
Bryn Mawr Film Institute

Wattstax
Tuesday, July 9
Ritz Five

Elemental
Wednesday, July 10
Dickinson Square Park

Nightmare on Elm Street
Friday, July 12
Hiway Theater

Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Monday, July 15
Bryn Mawr Film Institute

The Song Remains the Same
Tuesday, July 16
Ritz Five

The Decline of Western Civilization Trilogy
Saturday, July 20
Philadelphia Film Center

Yi Yi (A One and a Two)
July 20-21, 2024
Philadelphia Film Center

Flash Gordon
Sunday, July 21
WaterTower Cinema

Babylon
Wednesday, July 24
Philadelphia Film Center

Napoleon Dynamite
Friday, July 26
Philadelphia Film Center

Aladdin
Saturday, July 27
Mann Music Center

The Philadelphia Story
Wednesday, July 31
Philadelphia Film Center

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