Featuring an introduction and post-film Q&A with cartoonist Nathan Gelgud moderated by film critic Kat Sachs
Copies of Nathan’s new book, No Concessions, will be available for sale before and after the show
Possibly the most anarchic film ever unleashed out of Hollywood, Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a chaotic, live-action Looney Tunes cartoon that could only come from the mind of auteur Joe Dante. Taking the piss out of his own original Gremlins and sequels in general, Gremlins 2’s wild tone showcases what art can happen when a studio — in this case, Warner Bros. — gives over complete control to a director with a vision. That’s not to discredit the script from Charlie Haas (Over The Edge, Matinee), which folds right into Dante’s influences of cartoons, monster movies, and an irreverent sense of humor. Chock full of easter eggs and cameos, from Christopher Lee carrying an Invasion Of The Body Snatchers pod to Leonard Maltin and the return of Dick Miller, Gremlins 2: The New Batch answers the question: What if someone made a live-action Mad Magazine parody of Gremlins?
About the Author:
Nathan Gelgud has been drawing the Reel Politik comic strip since 2024; No Concessions! is the second collection of the strips published by Drawn & Quarterly. Gelgud has been a projectionist, a video store clerk, and a movie critic. He occasionally makes non-fiction comics about the arts for the New York Times and Hyperallergic, designs director-themed tote bags and t-shirts, and is a frequent guest on The Best Show with Tom Scharpling. He lives in Los Angeles, where conducts comics-making workshops at Scribble.
About the Book:
Your favorite gang of militant movie lovers are back for an all-new season of hijinks and takeovers from their small town single-screen cinema. The Reel Politik guerillas discuss how to be an effective revolutionary while fighting the all-consuming evils of corporate Hollywood. Meditate! Fight your inner urge to binge watch! Engage in a cinema fast to truly appreciate the oeuvre of an auteur! Realism is bourgeois! In an attempt to thwart a Hollywood studio from co-opting the story of the Weather Underground, the gang then pursues its own cinematic celebration of their hero Bernardine Dohrn. With his trademark slapstick zingers, Gelgud lovingly skewers leftist radical politics while simultaneously illustrating how late stage capitalism has made ethical decision making fraught with compromise. At once a celebration of what makes Hollywood and independent local cinema great and a call to arms to protect it.
Music Box Theatre screens films of all genres and from every era of cinema, both new releases and repertory. These films may sometimes contain upsetting, outdated, or offensive material. While we aim to introduce many of our screenings, we do not always provide warnings about potentially triggering content within the films we screen. We encourage our patrons to research the film before they attend using trailers, reviews, or content information found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com.
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