Welcome to the completely unofficial site of Cinema 1544, the (also completely unofficial) Center For Neuroscience biweekly movie night!  To join the Cinema 1544 mailing list, send an email to jsjohnson at ucdavis dot edu.

The main reason for this page existing in the first place is to help keep track of what has been shown.  (In fact there’s been so much shown that there is now a second page covering films #250 and up!) But I’ve been having a bit of fun writing up movie synopses, so I’ll keep doing it (and backfill in the older ones as I find the time – as you can see that has been going very slowly…the films in black are eventually coming up as I have direct access to a copy, the films in green I’m waiting on showing up on a movie channel or otherwise).

Now that we have 250 films, here’s a retrospective covering (in my opinion) the best films show so far.  These are the films you really can’t afford to miss.

Warning: Movie write-ups are extremely spoilerific, pretty much every time.  If you haven’t seen the film and don’t want it spoiled, don’t read the write-up!

Date Feature Presentation Presenter Short
10/12/06 Shaun Of The Dead Troy Crowder Mr. Resistor  (Phong)
10/26/06 Bitter Films Collection, Volume 1 – Don Hertzfeldt (1995-2005) Troy Crowder Midnight Dance; Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave (Phong)
11/9/06 A Streetcar Named Desire Henry Alitto What’s Opera, Doc?
11/16/06 Dancer in the Dark Henry Alitto Baseball Bugs (Henry)/ J’attendrai Le Suivant (“I’ll Wait for the Next One”) (Phong)
11/30/06 The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension Jeff Padberg The Snowman (Phong)
12/14/06 To Kill A Mockingbird Jeff Padberg Inja (“Dog”) (Phong)
1/4/07 Schizopolis Jeffrey Johnson Can I Keep Him?
1/18/07 Trois Coleurs: Bleu (“Blue”) Jeffrey Johnson An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge (Phong)
2/1/07 Festen (“The Celebration”) Alessandro Graziano The Fly
2/15/07 Pane e Tulipani (“Bread and Tulips”) Alessandro Graziano Schwartzfahrer (“Black Rider”)
3/1/07 Daughters of the Dust Malaika Singleton None
3/14/07 The Last Dragon Malaika Singleton Manifestoon
3/29/07 Das Boot  (“The Boat”) Dylan Cooke None
4/12/07 Les Invasions Barbares (“The Barbarian Invasions”) Dylan Cooke Neurogenesis of the Adult Latex Glove; Above Average
4/26/07 Before Sunrise Denise Cook The Delicious (Phong)
5/3/07 Before Sunset Denise Cook Ed (Phong)/The Night I Connected With My Dog; Time Flies (Jeff)
5/17/07 Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Kevin Hill My Chorus (Phong)
5/31/07 Annie Hall Kevin Hill Bit Players (Phong)
6/14/07 Faces Alireza Javan None?
6/28/07 El Topo (“The Mole”) Alireza Javan None?
7/12/07 Zerkalo (“Mirror”) Andrey Goloshchapov None?
7/26/07 Crna macka, beli macor (“Black Cat, White Cat”) Andrey Goloshchapov Katten Mons (“Mons the Cat”) (Phong)
8/16/07 Real Genius Sarah Parrish Phull Phrontal Phingers (Phong)
8/30/07 The Princess Bride Sarah Parrish None
9/13/07 Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (“Spirited Away”) — Film #25 Mamiko Niwa The Emperor’s Haiku (Jeff)
9/27/07 Shall We Dance?
Mamiko Niwa Not A Fish Story (Phong)
10/11/07 Shichinin no samurai (“Seven Samurai”) Kevin O’Connor None
10/25/07 The Third Man Kevin O’Connor La Jetee
11/1/07 The Passion Of Joan Of Arc Phong Nguyen Frere Jacques
11/15/07 Lone Star
Phong Nguyen Fait D’Hiver
11/29/07 Zardoz Daniel Rathbun None?
12/13/07 Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead Megan Rathbun The Fifteen Minute Hamlet (Jeff)
1/10/08 Unbowed Malaika Singleton None?
1/24/08 Big Trouble In Little China Malaika Singleton None?
2/9/08 Blade Runner – The Final Cut Viewers’ Choice None?
2/21/08 An Angel At My Table Alessandro Graziano ??
3/6/08 Bagdad Café Alessandro Graziano ??
3/20/08 Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould Jeffrey Johnson I Can’t Play The Piano
4/3/08 Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid Jeffrey Johnson Staplerfahrer Klaus (“Forklift Operator Klaus”); A Complicated Movie
4/17/08 Z Kevin O’Connor ??
4/24/08 Forbidden Planet Kevin O’Connor ??
5/8/08 Inland Empire Alireza Javan ??
5/22/08 Yojimbo Alireza Javan ??
6/5/08 Dazed And Confused Jeff Padberg ??
6/12/08 Metropolis Aaron Rathbun The Shadow Box
6/19/08 Dirty Pretty Things Katherine Lee ??
7/3/08 Fong Sai Yuk (“The Legend”) Phong Nguyen One Day A Man Bought A House
7/17/08 Cheung Fo (“The Mission”)/Mou Gaan Dou (“Infernal Affairs”) (Double Feature) Phong Nguyen None
7/31/08 Blue Velvet — Film #50 Matt Seelke Green Porno
8/14/08 Amadeus Matt Seelke Darrill On A Date (Jeff)
8/28/08 Michael Clayton
Cristeta Mississippi-Jones ??
9/11/08 Network Cristeta Mississippi-Jones ??
9/25/08 A Soldier’s Story Malaika Singleton ??
10/9/08 Shadowboxer Malaika Singleton ??
10/23/08 Oldboy Sam Failor ??
11/6/08 They Live Sam Failor ??
11/20/08 The Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra Jeffrey Johnson Roybertito’s 60 Second Spot
12/4/08 Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (“The Diving Bell And The Butterfly”) Jeffrey Johnson ??
12/13/08 A Fistful Of Dollars/For A Few Dollars More/The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Winter Marathon 1: Spaghetti Westerns None
1/8/09 Insomnia (1997) Viewers’ Choice ??
1/22/09 Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War Chris Bishop ??
2/5/09 Ôdishon (“Audition”) Chris Bishop ??
2/19/09 King Of California Kevin Hill ??
3/5/09 Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn Kevin Hill ??
3/19/09 Glengarry Glen Ross Matt Seelke ??
4/2/09 Better Off Dead Matt Seelke ??
4/16/09 Akira Mamiko Niwa ??
4/30/09 Tampopo Mamiko Niwa ??
5/14/09 The Conversation Kevin O’Connor Captain EO (in 3-D, Jeff)
5/28/09 The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie Kevin O’Connor Taipei, Taipei!
6/4/09 Cabeza de Vaca Alessandro Graziano C’était un rendez-vous
6/18/09 Pasqualino Settebellezze (“Seven Beauties”) — Film #75 Alessandro Graziano Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Act I (Daniel)
7/2/09 Repo! The Genetic Opera Daniel Rathbun Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Act II
7/16/09 Nausicaa Daniel Rathbun Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Act III
7/30/09 The Fall Cristeta Mississippi-Jones None
8/13/09 A Scanner Darkly Colenso Speer In Absentia (Phong)
8/27/09 Ravenous Colenso Speer Lloyd’s Lunchbox Trilogy (Phong)
9/10/09 Broken Flowers Cristeta Mississippi-Jones None
9/24/09 The New World Phong Nguyen Aria
10/8/09 Waltz With Bashir Phong Nguyen Rain Bather (Written and Directed by Phong)
10/22/09 The Last Laugh Corey Ziemba Proper Urinal Etiquette (Phong)
11/5/09 Primer Corey Ziemba The Long Morrow (Phong)
11/19/09 Candy Malaika Singleton The Big He-bowski
12/3/09 School Daze Malaika Singleton Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No (Jeff)
12/12/09 The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)/Strangers On A Train/Rear Window Winter Marathon 2: Alfred Hitchcock None
1/7/10 The Hudsucker Proxy Jeffrey Johnson Husk Musk
1/21/10 Passion In The Desert Jeffrey Johnson Tuileries/Faubourg Saint-Denis (from Paris, Je T’aime)
2/4/10 Atanarjuat (“The Fast Runner”) Nigel Noriega None
2/18/10 District 9 Nigel Noriega Family Attraction (Phong)
3/4/10 Casablanca Adele Seelke Zaniklý svet rukavic (Phong)
3/18/10 The Philadelphia Story Adele Seelke That Inferior Feeling; The Homeless Flea
4/1/10 Bolivia Ben Lankow West Bank Story (Phong)
4/15/10 Paradise Now Ben Lankow The Tonto Woman (Phong)
4/22/10 The Wrong Box Kevin O’Connor Anamorphosis (De Artificiali Perspectiva)
5/6/10 Touch Of Evil — Film #100 Kevin O’Connor The Fine Art of Poisoning (Phong)
5/20/10 The Great Escape Caitlin Kiley Mr. Hilter In England (Jeff)
6/3/10 No One Knows About Persian Cats Alireza Javan Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci (Phong)
6/17/10 Viridiana Alireza Javan The DTs (Jeff)
7/1/10 Moon Cristeta Mississippi-Jones Zoltar from Zoron (Phong)/ Three for the Moon (Jeff)
7/10/10 Four Rooms/Sunset Blvd. Viewer’s Choice – 100th convocation celebration Peter and the Wolf (Phong)
7/22/10 Punch-Drunk Love Cristeta Mississippi-Jones Parabola
8/5/10 The Other Side of the Bed Jochen Ditterich The Way Things Go
8/19/10 The Silent Partner Zac Davis The Last Theft (Phong)/ My Pen! (Jeff)
9/2/10 Animal Crackers Zac Davis Sing a Song of Six Pants (Kevin)
9/9/10 Kung Fu Hustle Malaika Singleton Duran United We Stand (Phong)/ Martial Arts Demo Tape (Nigel)
9/23/10 Harlem Nights Malaika Singleton Duran Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB (Phong)
10/7/10 Touching the Void Phong Nguyen The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello/Mountaineering (Jeff)
10/21/10 Riding Giants Phong Nguyen Big Bang, Big Boom/Girl Drink Drunk (Jeff)
11/4/10 The Gumball Rally Jeff Padberg (Remote!) Toy Cack (Jeff J.)
11/18/10 Let the Right One In Sam Failor Gasman (Jeff)
12/2/10 Tetsuo, the Iron Man Sam Failor Yuki the Snow Maiden (Jeff)
12/11/10 The Lady Eve/Sullivan’s Travels/Unfaithfully Yours (1948) Winter Marathon 3: Preston Sturges None
1/13/11 Lars and the Real Girl Jeffrey Johnson The Club of the Laid Off (Phong)/The Curse
1/27/11 Nattvardsgästerna (“Winter Light”) Jeffrey Johnson A Joke by Ingmar Bergman
2/10/11 Battle Royale Nigel Noriega Upper Class Twit of the Year (Jeff)
2/24/11 Kick-Ass Nigel Noriega Nigel’s short lecture on the history of the superhero
3/10/11 Being There — Film #125 Kevin O’Connor 14th Arrondissement from Paris, Je T’aime (Jeff)
3/24/11 Cure Kevin O’Connor The Fan and the Flower
4/7/11 Black Swan Cristeta Mississippi-Jones Ballet (Jeff)
4/21/11 Se7en Time Change Special 7th Arrondissement from Paris, Je T’aime (Jeff)
4/28/11 Secretary Cristeta Mississippi-Jones Epic Rap Battles of History (Nigel)
5/12/11 Nikita (“La Femme Nikita”) Jackie O’Ninja Good Grandpa (Jeff)
5/26/11 Leon (“Leon: The Professional”) Jackie O’Ninja A Date With Your Family (Jeff)
6/9/11 The Triplets of Belleville Bryan Sandoz One Got Fat (Caitlin)
6/23/11 Cabaret Caitlin Kiley Presto!
7/7/11 Soldaat van Oranje (“Soldier of Orange”) Sander Keemink Father and Daughter
7/21/11 Dark City Sander Keemink Vincent
8/4/11 Into the Wild Katie Neverkovec I Love Alaska, episode 1
8/18/11 Sideways Katie Neverkovec Liquorville
9/1/11 Miller’s Crossing Zachary Cline-Egri Don’ You Go Rounin’ Roun to Re Ro/Buying a Bed (Jeff)
9/15/11 True Romance Zachary Cline-Egri Polite War
9/29/11 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Xochi Navarro Alpine Ski Chase from The Spy Who Loved Me; Fan Trailers of first 5 Bond Films (Kevin)
10/13/11 Reservoir Dogs Xochi Navarro None
10/27/11 Fast, Cheap & Out of Control Joey Broussard The Days Of Our Years (Jeff)
11/3/11 Payback Joey Broussard The Panties (That 70’s Show)
11/17/11 Chinatown Kevin O’Connor None
12/1/11 Three Days of the Condor Kevin O’Connor Is My Directing Interfering With Your Phone Call? (Jeff)
12/10/11 Sleeper/Manhattan/Match Point Winter Marathon 4: Woody Allen None
1/5/12 The Tree Of Life Aaron Kian El Empleo
1/19/12 El ángel exterminador (“The Exterminating Angel”) — Film #150 Aaron Kian Love Language
2/2/12 The Secret in Their Eyes (2009) Conor Weatherford None
2/16/12 The Salton Sea Conor Weatherford Robot Chicken Star Wars, Episode 1 (Jeff)
3/1/12 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Mamiko Niwa The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (Jeff)
3/15/12 I Am Sam Mamiko Niwa None
3/29/12 The Passenger Joshua Downer None
4/12/12 Cinema Paradiso Joshua Downer None
4/26/12 Diner Zachary Cline-Egri Spider
5/10/12 Winter Kills Zachary Cline-Egri None
5/17/12 Drive Cristeta Mississippi-Jones Christopher Walken reads “Where The Wild Things Are” (Jeff)
5/31/12 Alien (Prometheus release special) Cristeta Mississippi-Jones Prometheus Trailers (after the film)
6/14/12 Higanbana (“Equinox Flower”) Jeffrey Johnson Are You Ready For Marriage?
6/28/12 The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Johnson Tim Minchin’s Storm
7/12/12 Raging Bull Jason Neverkovec DeNiro/Pesci Bert and Ernie
7/26/12 Big Fish Jason Neverkovec Fish/The Beard (Jeff)
8/9/12 El Laberinto del Fauno (“Pan’s Labyrinth”) Jackie O’Ninja Birdboy
8/23/12 El Espinazo del Diablo (“The Devil’s Backbone”) Jackie O’Ninja Tenacious D: To Be the Best
9/6/12 Departures Aaron Kian Dirty Laundry
9/20/12 The Fountain Aaron Kian Frankenweenie
9/27/12 Zorba the Greek Kevin O’Connor None
10/11/12 Young Frankenstein Neuroscientists Gone Wild: Viewers Choice None
10/25/12 Les Yeux Sans Visage (“Eyes Without A Face”) Kevin O’Connor Le Sang des Bêtes (“Blood of the Beasts”)
11/8/12 Barton Fink Jessica Verhein Book, Bottle, Blonde (Jeff)
11/15/12 American Beauty Jessica Verhein None
12/6/12 Inglourious Basterds Ashley Royston None
12/15/12 Double Indemnity — Film #175 /Some Like It Hot/The Apartment Winter Marathon 5: Billy Wilder None
1/10/13 Night of the Living Dead Henry Alitto One Froggy Evening
1/24/13 ¡Three Amigos! Henry Alitto Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
2/7/13 Disco Godfather Ben Lankow Paperman; For Your Consideration (Jeff)
2/21/13 Weird Science Ben Lankow Why Study Industrial Arts? (Jeff)
3/7/13 Titus Jeffrey Johnson None
3/21/13 The Royal Tenenbaums Jeffrey Johnson Century 21 Calling
4/4/13 Seven Psychopaths Conor Weatherford Ax Sharpening (Jeff)
4/18/13 The Lion In Winter (1968) Conor Weatherford None
5/2/13 3:10 to Yuma (2007) Jacob Herford None
5/16/13 In the Valley of Elah Jacob Herford None
5/30/13 It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World Kevin O’Connor None
6/13/13 The Bank Dick Kevin O’Connor The Brideless Groom
6/27/13 Pulp Fiction Joshua Downer None
7/11/13 Once Upon A Time In The West Joshua Downer None
7/25/13 Ghost World Cristeta Mississippi-Jones None
8/8/13 Frida Cristeta Mississippi-Jones The Home Economics Story (Jeff)
8/15/13 A Serious Man Alex Pevzner None
8/29/13 La Cité des Enfants Perdus (“City of Lost Children”) Alex Pevzner Johnny at the Fair (Jeff)
9/12/13 Valley of the Dolls Angie Michaiel None
9/26/13 OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies Angie Michaiel None
10/10/13 The Artist Caitlin Kiley/Bryan Sandoz Le Voyage Dans La Lune
10/24/13 Hedwig and the Angry Inch Caitlin Kiley/Bryan Sandoz Rod Torfelson’s Armada; Armada – Did we make it? (Jeff)
11/14/13 Ikiru — Film # 200!! Jeffrey Johnson Donald Duck: Tea For Two Hundred (Not presented – web-only bonus content!)
11/21/13 Monty Python’s The Life of Brian Jeffrey Johnson Jesus Was a Lousy Carpenter
12/5/13 Beasts of the Southern Wild Jessica Verhein Curfew (Jeff)
12/14/13 Mean Streets/The Last Temptation of Christ/The Age of Innocence Winter Marathon 6: Martin Scorsese None
1/9/14 Sweet Smell of Success Kevin O’Connor Cut-Throat (Jeff)
1/23/14 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Zac Davis Mr. B Natural (Jeff)
1/30/14 The Producers Zac Davis Censored Sketches (Jeff)
2/13/14 The Battle of Algiers Sam Failor None
2/27/14 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Sam Failor Paw de Deux; L’Haunting; The Cat is Sat (Jeff)
3/13/14 The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Kevin O’Connor None
3/27/14 High Fidelity Jessica Verhein Into the Doors (Jeff)
4/10/14 Intouchables Millie Copara Keeping Clean and Neat
4/24/14 Los Cronocrímenes (“Timecrimes”) Millie Copara What to do on a Date
5/8/14 SLC Punk! Jacob Herford None
5/22/14 Boyz n the Hood Jacob Herford Hell’s Grannies (Jeff)
5/31/14 Gojira (“Godzilla”)/Best In Show Grill 1544 – Viewers’ Choice None
6/12/14 Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure Josh Downer Philosophers’ World Cup (Not presented – web-only bonus content!)
6/19/14 Ying Xiong (“Hero”) Bamboo Li Sunshine (Jeff)
7/3/14 Being John Malkovich Tyler Manning Triumph Of A Heart; Weapon Of Choice (Jeff)
7/17/14 Wizard People, Dear Reader (being an alternative soundtrack to Harry Potter And The Sorceror’s Stone)/The Dark Side Of The Rainbow (Bonus Feature, Jeff) Josh Downer None
7/31/14 Cloud Atlas Bamboo Li None
8/14/14 Good Morning, Vietnam — Film #225 Tyler Manning Eve (Jeff)
8/28/14 2001: A Space Odyssey Ashley Royston None
9/11/14 Drop Dead Gorgeous Brittany Rapone Body Care And Grooming (Jeff)
9/25/14 Pafekuto Buru (“Perfect Blue”) Brittany Rapone None
10/9/14 Brazil – The Director’s Cut Ashley Royston None
10/23/14 Edge Of Tomorrow Cristeta Mississippi-Jones Continental Breakfast
10/30/14 Under The Skin Halloween Special I (Kevin O’Connor) None
11/6/14 Donnie Darko Cristeta Mississippi-Jones Pizza Order
11/19/14 Stalker Eric Miller (Note: Weds.) None
12/4/14 Children Of Men Eric Miller Pregnant Pause (Jeff)
12/13/14 Twelve Angry Men (1957)/Dog Day Afternoon/Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead Winter Marathon 7: Sidney Lumet, Start at 3:16:17 PM None
1/8/15 Airplane! Henry Alitto Rock-a-Bye-Bear; Deputy Droopy
1/22/15 Birdman Henry Alitto Chicken Lady on a Date (Jeff)/Lovelorn Leghorn
2/12/15 Medianeras (“Sidewalls”) Jon Wong This Is It
2/19/15 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Zac Davis None
3/5/15 Take The Money And Run Zac Davis Cheating
3/18/15 (Weds.) Boyhood Jon Wong (Note: Weds.) None
4/2/15 The Thin Man Jeffrey Johnson Too Many Cooks
4/15/15 (Weds.) The Wedding Singer Jeffrey Johnson Wedding Virgin/Wedding Toast/Wedding Objection
4/30/15 Bridesmaids Caitlin Kiley Feel Inside (and stuff like that)
5/14/15 Relatos Salvajes (“Wild Tales”) Gabriel Peinado Feast (Jeff)
5/27/15
(Weds.)
Underground Gabriel Peinado None
6/6/15 Back To The Future/Io Sono L’Amore (“I Am Love”) — Film #250 Grill 1544 Viewers’ Choice None

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