In association with Badass Digest and Meltdown Comics, Cinefamily celebrates the wide, wonderful world of superheroes! From the farthest corners of the universe, from ancient times to today, from big-budget blowouts to garbage can fan films — all things superpowers, radiated, masked or blessed with godly powers from an unknown realm will be celebrated, featuring four glorious shows of ultimate derring-do-osity! We’ve got a weekend all-nighter movie marathon of the craziest, most out-there superhero cinema we can find, leaping from Watts (Abar: The First Black Superman) to Australia (The Return of Captain Invincible), to Asia and back to Hollywood (with the always-awesome Hellboy!) We’ll also have rare clips and surprises, backyard barbeques on the Cinefamily patio, pitch-perfect mashups by both found footage maestros Everything Is Terrible! and Cinefamily’s Mondo crew, giveaways, costume contests, silent superhero serials accompanied by live rock scores, the epic entirety of Richard Donner’s original two-parter Superman vision, a tribute to Marvel Comics and more!

04/29 @ 8:00pm / SERIES: MONDO SUPERHERO!
Marvel Comics Mondo Mix
shown with
Punisher: War Zone
Co-presented by Stussy

Marvel Comics Mondo Mix – 8:00pm
First up is the Mondo Marvel Mashup, featuring the web-slingingest, shield-flingingest, ankle-wingingest clips from all of Earth’s Mightiest Mortals’ film and television appearances. We’re going deep into the back-issue bins for this one. It’s going to be the most claw-popping, hammer-throwing gamma-rave of friendly-neighborhood favorites and Rom-level rarities ever Assembled. Excelsior!

Punisher: War Zone – 9:30pm-ish
2008’s holyfuckingshit bullet ballet Punisher: War Zone is the first of its franchise that delivers the ultra-violent madness that made its quasi-fascist anti-hero the favorite of that one kid in class who knew way too much about military ordinance, only drew dismembered corpses in art class, and got suspended in 4th grade for bringing a throwing star to school! Starting his four-color career as a ‘70s Spider-Man villain, The Punisher quickly became a Travis Bickle you could root for, eschewing primary colors and “mystery man” masks in favor of skintight skull-tees and large-bore firepower. In one of Cinefamily’s fave non-stop recent gorefests, Ray Stevenson straps in as the Man In Black (the one who snipes crime bosses, not the one who walks the line), and delivers an unprecedented hailstorm of carnage, including ripped kidneys, head gougings and enough masterful pirouetting machine-gun fire to staff a John Woo adaptation of “Swan Lake”! So let that fire of hate for the scum of the streets keep you warm, as you settle in for a flick upon which Roger Ebert proclaimed both “one of the best-made bad movies I’ve seen”, and “its only flaw is that it’s disgusting!”
Dir. Lexi Alexander, 2008, 35mm, 103 min.

Watch the trailer for “Punisher: War Zone”!

Tickets – $10/free for members

04/30 @ 1:00pm / SERIES: MONDO SUPERHERO!
Superhero Saturday Marathon!
featuring
Hellboy
(Co-Star Doug Jones In Person!)
plus
Jerry Beck’s “History Of The Animated Superhero”, The Return Of Captain Invincible, Abar: The First Black Superman
and
Everything Is Terrible! Presents:
Mondo Superhero!

JUST CONFIRMED: the Me So Hungry truck will be here at Cinefamily from 2-10PM!

Jerry Beck’s History of the Animated Superhero – 1:00pm
Op, Pop, Wham and Bop! Superhero movies are the hottest thing in Hollywood at the moment, so it’s our duty to call upon our resident animation historian, Jerry Beck (Cartoon Brew.com), to trace the cartoon history of animated superheroes. This special program includes everything from the sublime (Max Fleischer’s lush Superman cartoons) to the ridiculous (TV’s minimilist Roger Ramjet), from the depths of obscurity (Ralph Bakshi’s Super Basher) to the superstars of the genre (Space Ghost). Jerry will trace the history of the characters, explain the animators behind them and screen rare 16mm prints. Join us and the Super Six, the Mighty Heroes, Bat Fink, Fearless Fly, Underdog, Super President and much much more! Up, up and away!

The Return of Captain Invincible – 3:00pm-ish
Imagine Superman, Austin Powers and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert blended together, and you’ll have a handle on this musical comedy about one superhero’s chance at redemption! An always-joyous-to-watch Alan Arkin is the titular hero, an all-American good guy whose career was unjustly ruined by the ’50s Communist hearings, and who now lives in drunken exile in Australia. Drawn back into service when his longtime racist nemesis (played/sung by Christopher Lee) engages in a diabolical world-threatening and tuneful plot, the Captain must face his fears, and learn how to fly again. Written by Die Hard scribe Steven E. de Souza, and featuring songs byRocky Horror creators Richard O’Brien and Richard Hartley, Return is easily one of the most ambitious narrative films from Aussie director Phillipe Mora (Communion, The Beast Within), and is the kind of cheeky yet affectionate love letter to American culture that only a foreign-born-and-raised filmmaker can create. Director Phillipe Mora will be here in person for a Q&A after the film!
Dir. Phillipe Mora, 1983, 35mm, 96 min.

Abar, The First Black Superman – 5:30pm-ish
One of the only black science fiction films, and clearly a homemade labor of love, Abar is the most positive, family-friendly movie ever made that wishes for the disappearance of the entire white race. This high concept, no-budget, one-of-a-kind obscurity follows a genius black scientist who moves his family into a wealthy white Los Angeles neighborhood, and (surprise!) is confronted with his neighbors’ violent bigotry. Enter a groovily-dressed, tough-as-nails, urban revolutionary named Abar and his motorcycle-riding group of vigilantes, the Black Front of Unity. At first, Abar’s weary of a collabo with the bourgeoisie, but when he finally agrees to try out the scientist’s new potion, he gains far-out infinite mind powers, and the world’s first black Superman is born! Featuring a classic blaxploitation aesthetic juxtaposed with a astute interest in L.A. race relations and economic stratification (the film’s images of vintage Watts are a draw in themselves), Abar isn’t just the first black superman film — it’s also the brainiest and most fun! Abar director Frank Packard and star Tobar Mayo will both be here in person for a Q&A after the film!
Dir. Frank Packard, 1977, 35mm, 90 min.

Hellboy (co-star Doug Jones in person!) – 8:00pm-ish
In the ‘90s, legendary comic book artist Mike Mignola created Hellboy, a wise-crackin’, working class demon who works for a secret organization that deals with all manner of monsters, clockwork Nazi automatons and supernatural creatures. In 2004, auteur director Guillermo del Toro brought Mignola’s comic respectfully to life, with the gutsy choice of casting genre fave/latex prosthetic veteran Ron Perlman in the titular role. In hindsight, this was really the furthest thing from a gamble, for Perlman brings to the film (and its later sequel) an incredible level of warmth, artistry and (ahem!) humanity that’s just as thrilling to watch as Christopher Reeve’s original timeless portrayal of The Man of Steel in the Superman franchise. Seamlessly combining the superhero and horror genres into one tight, entertaining blast, Hellboy also boasts a hell of a supporting cast, featuring Selma Blair, John Hurt, Jeffrey Tambor and a mime-blowing performance from Doug Jones as the loveable Abe Sapien, Hellboy’s “Creature From The Black Lagoon” confidant. So don your devil horns and join us for a screening of one of the best films in the superhero boom of the 21st century! Co-star Doug Jones (“Abe Sapien”) will be here at the Cinefamily for a Q&A after the film!
Dir. Guillermo del Toro, 2004, 35mm, 122 min.

Mondo Superhero! (w/ feature film TBA) – 11:00pm-ish
Co-presented by Everything Is Terrible!
Mommy, what’s a Mondo Mix? Well, Mondo Mixes are Cinefamily’s signature homemade long-form video montages of found footage madness that can blow your mind and put a smile on your face, may or may not be hazardous to your health, renew or destroy your faith in humanity, but just might change your life. We promise. We’re teaming up with Everything Is Terrible!, one of our favorite partners in the known found footage universe, to bring you the most demented international batch of crazed caped crusaders, surreal superheroes and mangled malevolent megaminds in the annals of under- (and over-)ground film history, all in one boombastic blast! After the Mondo Mix, stay tuned for a super-rare, unbelivably strange high-flying feature TBA!