The sun is gone. My circadian rhythms are ruined. The weather is turning colder under the graying November sky. The thermostat in my house is accurate. I need to find my silk long underwear. I’ll wear it underneath my women’s jeans in the Goldsmith Family Cinema, watching “Rocky” on Friday evening.

ROCKY
USA, Dir: John G. Avildsen. 1976
FRIDAY, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m. $4

The weekend jumps up on the screen fully articulated and brilliantly annunciated with a series of grunts, howls, and crunching carcasses from our man Sylvester. If you haven’t seen this Sly Stallone gem, then you’re in for much more than you may expect. Yes, he runs up and down the Philadelphia Museum of Art stairs a bunch of times. Yes, Stallone beats up a lot of hanging meat. And yes, he yells a lot at the end, at one particular character, but there is a lot more going on than his Hamburger Helper masculinity. Stallone wrote the film, and was nominated for an Oscar for both the script and his acting. The movie is filled with human moments that offset the pumping horns and pumping fists of its most famous scenes. This is an interesting addition to our generally contemporary Fridays. Check it out.

THE CITY
USA, Dir: Ralph Steiner/Willard Van Dyke. 1939
SATURDAY, Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m. Free!

Unlike anything in the series this semester, our presentation this Saturday night of “The City” comes well supported with a full accompaniment by the Wesleyan student orchestra. The film originally debuted at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, and it features the first musical film score written by Aaron Copland (hence the appearance of the orchestra). We’ll also have live narration from John Basinger, the spouse of Film Department Chair Jeanine Basinger. Many of you may recognize John from the many senior thesis films he has acted in. A little known fact about him: he has “Paradise Lost” memorized in its entirety. The film is very short, only 43 minutes, but it is a fascinating artifact of the perception of the land of tomorrow, from days now long past.

BRAZIL
UK, Dir: Terry Gilliam. 1985
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m. $4

I’ve been staring at “Brazil” on the film series calendar almost a month now, and I still can’t believe that it hasn’t disappeared or something. This elegant sci-fi thriller is a cult favorite and also a notoriously tough film to track down on film. Something that has always impressed me about this film is that it is a genuine science fiction film that is successful in the creation of a complex world, and does not fall into the typical sci-fi traps of the hero myth or of any other tiresome archetypal appropriations. In fact, “Brazil” is good possessing because the protagonist is a man possessing many of idiosyncrasies of contemporary man. He has no ambition, he is not an activist of any kind — all he wants to do is go to work and make toast and tea, etc. If you haven’t seen this movie, I can’t think of a better way to see it for the first time than in 35mm. I’m jealous.

KILLER OF SHEEP
USA, Dir: Charles Burnett. 1977
THURSDAY, Nov. 15, 7:30 p.m. Free!

Made in the graduate program at UCLA, Charles Burnett’s first feature and most famous film has been relatively inaccessible since its initial festival releases. A critical favorite for many years, it is often compared to the Italian neo-realist films of directors like Vittorio de Sica or Rossellini. Issues with musical rights in the film have kept it out of theaters for the past thirty years, but this year, finally, the rights were cleared up and the film has received well deserved national distribution. Even during the time that the film was under wraps, it managed to touch and influence a great many people. Although Burnett’s career has been unfortunately curtailed by financing troubles, he is now appreciated, and his film is widely known for its lyrical take on blue collar issues, similar to that of his fellow southern baby boomer, Terrence Malick.