A little bit old school

If you hanker for the days when not every movie was a sequel, or a remake, or based on a comic book, or (I’m serious) a boardgame… then you might want to plan a trip to the grand old Embassy in the near future.

The Embassy Cinemas Retro Showcase – which kicked off in March, and runs through until 26 June – looks to feature a pretty special lineup of classic films. Ordinarily you’d be hard pressed to catch any of these on the big screen, so this represents a rare opportunity to see them as their creators intended: at the cinema, preferably with popcorn and beer (I’m making a guess about the popcorn and beer part, but I can only assume that the directors of these classic films would want us to enjoy ourselves).

The Embassy, of course, isn’t just any cinema – it’s pretty much the jewel in Wellington’s cinematic crown. Lovingly restored, and now with a couple of extra screens and a swanky bar tucked away downstairs, it’s hard to imagine a better venue to catch up on the classics.

If you missed Labyrinth at Films by Starlight the other night, then good news – it’s one of two family favourites from the 80s in the Retro Showcase (the other is Muppets Take Manhattan). If that’s not your scene, however, then you can choose from gritty western (Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad and the Ugly), musical (Singin’ in the Rain, West Side Story), screwball comedy (It Happened One Night) or sports movie (Rocky). Heck, if you’re feeling masochistic you could even settle in to watch all four hours of Gone with the Wind…

Each film will premiere on Sunday, with repeats later in the week; while some screening times haven’t yet been determined, it looks like Singin’ in the Rain is first up; it’ll play on Sunday 4 March.