Thurs., Nov. 24

While most local repertory houses are dark tonight, Cinefamily is throwing a party featuring a potluck dinner and a screening of Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz. It's a members-only affair, but members are allowed to bring as many guests as they like. With memberships starting at $90 for three months, that's a fairly efficient way to feed a family on Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile, the Downtown Independent has brought back The Swell Season — the recent documentary about the couple who won an Oscar for Once, then broke up while on tour — for nightly screenings through Nov. 27.

Fri., Nov. 25

Throw a rock this weekend and you'll hit a classic film suitable for a family outing. Depending on your personal family dynamic, you can opt for Singin' in the Rain at the Aero, or a double bill of Josef von Sternberg's sand-swept Gary Cooper–Marlene Dietrich quasi-romance Morocco with William Wyler's The Westerner at the New Bev. Tomorrow you can catch LACMA's Miyazaki double feature of Castle in the Sky and Spirited Away, or camp out at the Egyptian for Gone With the Wind. Then on Sunday afternoon, catch The Wizard of Oz on the big screen at the Aero.

But it wouldn't be a long weekend in Los Angeles without an American Cinematheque screening of Los Angeles Plays Itself. The Egyptian's showing it Friday night, with director Thom Andersen in attendance.

Sat., Nov. 26

Lars Von Trier's Melancholia moves to the Silent Movie Theatre today, where it screens several times a day through Tuesday. And We Bought a Zoo, Cameron Crowe's first feature since the epic flop Elizabethtown, is getting a sneak peek at multiplexes all over town tonight. —Karina Longworth

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