SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our MILLION DOLLAR THEATER & LORD OF THE RINGS FOR-EVAH Series, Saturday, May 27, 2023
LOCATION: The Million Dollar Theater Movie Palace, 307 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013
*Please note, there is parking available at the Grand Central Market Parking Structure at the corner of 3rd and Hill Street (entrance on Hill Street) and at various lots. We have a limited number of $6 all day parking passes available for purchase via add-ons!
10am THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001, dir. Peter Jackson, New Line/WB, 208mns, 35mm)
3pm THE TWO TOWERS (2002, dir. Peter Jackson, New Line/WB, 225mns, 35mm)
8pm RETURN OF THE KING (2003, dir. Peter Jackson, New Line/WB, 225mns, 35mm)
That’s right. The forces of the dark lord Sauron seem to beset on us yet again on all sides. So once more we must form the fellowship and make the impossible possible as we seek to destroy the ring in the fiery furnace of Mount Mordor. . .
Folks, it rarely gets better than this. Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings may be. . .dare I say it and incur the wrath of a million fanboys and fangirls of other trilogies. . .yes I dare. . .it may be the best cinematic sci-fi or fantasy trilogy. Of. All. Time.
And we’re doing all three on 35mm at the Million Dollar Theater movie palace Saturday, May 27, 2023 smack dab in the middle of Memorial Day Weekend so you can make the journey and then sleep it off.
PLUS. . .Fellowship and Two Towers are confirmed as the extended editions. Return of the King will be the theatrical version.
Where to start here? Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and their army of collaborators left it all on the field when they made these movies. Real New Zealand locations. Model work. Costumes. Practical effects married to digital effects in a way not equalled since.
In fact. . .dare I say it again. . .the Lord of the Rings trilogy may be second only to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 in terms of the apotheosis of effects cinema.
Each movie has its own flavor and character. The performances and casting are, in retrospect, miraculous.
We start in the peaceful shire where young Frodo and his friend Sam are enlisted by visiting wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellan-a dream) to take a mysterious ring and destroy it as the last and only hope to prevent the return of evil dark lord Sauron and his million hordes of the night from cloaking the land in darkness, evil, suffering, slavery, misery, and cruelty.
An impossible task for a demi-God but this task is given to two small peace loving Hobbits who barely know their way out of a corn patch.
Once they begin the journey, Sauron tries to hunt them down. But along the way, they meet a kind hearted but mysterious man of action-Stryder (Vigo Mortenson) who saves them from a near scrape. And finally by the time they get to the Elven town of Rivendell, it is decided that Gimli, a mining dwarf, Legolas, an impossibly gorgeous arrow shooting elf, humans Boromir and Strider, and stowaway pipe smoking hobbit friends Meri and Pippin will form a fellowship to get the hobbits to the dark land of Mordor to destroy the ring in Mount Doom.
And this is just Fellowship. For two successive years, a jaw dropping masterpiece banger was released at Christmastime to the befuddled amazement of a grateful audience hungry for great cinema at David Lean levels. The Two Towers (this Programmer’s personal favorite) has what may be the greatest battle sequence (the battle of Helm’s Deep) ever committed to celluloid. And The Return of the King does the impossible in meeting climactic expectations on every single level.
Tolkien always denied that the Lord of the Rings was any kind of subconscious hashing out of his feelings of fascism and the Great World Wars but the sense of what people have to decide and do when a shadow of evil threatens to contaminate the world provides a powerful metaphor to all the proceedings.
And how did we forget the still (twenty years later) greatest CGI character of all-time-Gollum performed and voiced by Andy Serkis, the tortured former owner of the ring, now deformed in body and mind by his singular desire to possess it again.
So get your friends. Get your families. Get your tickets. Come to the Movie Palace. And let’s all celebrate cinema at its very heights. On 35mm!
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
*Please note that though we strive to always show titles on 35mm film if advertised, we may have to screen digitally if the print we receive is in such bad shape or if we don't receive the print in time because of a shipping delay. We will do our best to alert the audience. When this does occur, we will offer each ticket holder who chooses not to attend a complimentary ticket to a future event in exchange. (Disclaimer: Good for 90 days – Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
HELPFUL MILLION DOLLAR THEATER MOVIE PALACE PARKING TIPS:
If you are attending any or all movies on any given day, you can go to ADD ONS and pre-order an all day $8 Grand Central Parking Structure Pass (while SUPPLIES last). The Grand Central Parking Structure is at the corner of 3rd Street and Hill Street just 1 block from the Million Dollar Theater entrance on 3rd & Broadway.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub or Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter at secretmovieclub.com or by writing to us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.