This week's list of special event movies ranges from a James Cameron classic to Henry Fonda's take on the 16th president.

Friday, Nov. 9

Celebrate Veteran's Day early with the Los Angeles Film School as it hosts the GI Film Festival. Kicking it off the tonight is The Red Machine, an espionage thriller set in 1935 Washington, D.C., where a thief and a Navy spy join forces to steal a suspect Japanese military device.

Before 3-D-crazed James Cameron created Avatar, the director, along with Sigourney Weaver, worked with a more intimidating kind of extraterrestrial, in Aliens. The Cinefamily will screen the sci-fi classic tonight as part of its Alien Quadrilogy Midnights series.

Another '80s winner is Miami Connection — a once obscure 1987 flick that has all the makings of a cult movie: motorcycles, thugs, cocaine and ninjas. See it tonight at the Nuart with filmmaker and star Y.K. Kim in attendance.

Sunday, Nov. 11

Russ Meyer had a campy sense of humor and a certain knack for casting buxom ladies. If he sounds like your type of guy, head to the New Beverly Cinema as it commemorates the director by screening his low-budget '60s and '70s erotica. Tonight's feature is Vixen!, the first ever to receive an X rating for its sexual content.

Tuesday, Nov.13

No other American president has been the topic of more films than good old Abe. Before the directorial torch was passed to Steven Spielberg, John Ford cast Henry Fonda as the Civil War president in Young Mr. Lincoln, which screens for free tonight at the Skirball Cultural Center.

Thursday, Nov. 15

The star bloodsucker of Bram Stoker's Dracula (played by Gary Oldman) by director Francis Ford Coppola is just as brooding and attractive as today's teen vampires, not too mention just a tad bit more interesting. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater premieres a new 35 mm print of the film tonight.

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