Sure, everyone loves to have the “Die Hard is/isn’t a Christmas movie” argument around this time every year, but meanwhile we’re over here wondering where all the talk is about the eerie holiday atmospherics that suffuse Eyes Wide Shut — which is screening in Orlando tonight.
Eyes Wide Shut, the infamous final film by Stanley Kubrick starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, is a nightmare head trip of infidelity, of course, but no one can make Christmas lights twinkling in the background look as ethereal and sinister as Kubrick.
The film was called an “assault on Christmas” by one critic, and the setting of 1990s New York during Christmas in essential to the film’s story (which we’re not spoiling).
Newer local film pop-up programmers Brain Dead Theater will present a seasonally appropriate screening of Eyes Wide Shut tonight at Whippoorwill Beer House & Package Store at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 20.
There will be a short pre-show before the film, and Mangrove Collective will be serving snacks for the night. Online pre-sales are sold out, but there are plenty of tickets left that will be available at the door.
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This article appears in Dec 15-21, 2021.