Eyes Wide Shut

Announcing the very last film event to be playing at Art House this year! In celebration of the film’s 25th anniversary, we will be playing a special screening of legendary director Stanley Kubrick’s last film, EYES WIDE SHUT, at Art House Cinema and Pub, Sunday, December 29th, and will even be providing masks at the door! A thrilling and shocking mind bender of an erotic drama, EYES WIDE SHUT tells a gripping story of sexual desire and the taboo happenings from the inner circles of the social elite. It’s a completely surreal film that sees Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in some of their best roles to date!

When Dr. Bill Harford’s wife, Alice, admits to him about having sexual fantasies geared towards a man she met, Bill becomes obsessed with having his own unorthodox sexual encounter. He soon discovers an underground sex community with cult-like practices. Attending one of their meetings, Bill soon discovers he may be quite in over his head!

It’s a Wonderful Life

This Christmas Eve, we have an incredible holiday treat coming to the historic Babcock Theatre in the form of a special screening of Frank Capra’s unforgettable 1946 Christmas classic, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE! Often hailed as one of the ultimate Christmas films, this deeply moving holiday drama star James Stewart and Donna Reed in a profound story of humanity and the struggle of overcoming hardship that should be seen by everyone! Generous George Bailey has spent his life giving to the people of Bedford Falls, and his modest loan company is the only business standing in the way of rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town. However, when George’s business suddenly loses eight thousand dollars on Christmas Eve, greater problems under the surface begin to rise up as George’s troubles begin.

You don’t want to miss this monumental feat of sentimental cinema now that it is once again being played on the big screen! It’s sure to remind you that IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE!

Die Hard

We are incredibly excited to announce another annual screening of the most action-packed holiday film of all time, John McTiernan’s 1988 stunner, DIE HARD, at the historic Babcock Theatre, playing December 23rd! An absolute must see for action fans, this explosive classic reached climactic heights previously unseen in the genre, making it an instant cult classic upon release! Intense, touching, and funny, DIE HARD sees Bruce Willis in one of his most memorable performances as a real one-man-army set up against various bulky European men in true 80s action hero style!
NYPD police officer John McClane travels to Los Angeles for Christmas in an effort to reconcile with his estranged wife. However, minutes after he arrives to her office’s Christmas party in Nakatomi Plaza, the entire building gets thrown into a dangerous hostage situation conducted by a strategic group of terrorists. Barely escaping capture, McClane sets out to single-handedly rescue his wife and her coworkers from the terrorists while receiving little assistance from the LAPD, save for one like-minded cop.

Polar Express

Announcing another FREE ADMISSION film to be playing at the historic Babcock Theatre as part of our ongoing Movie Buffs series! Saturday, December 21st, we will be putting on TWO special screenings of Robert Zemeckis’ wholesome computer animated Christmas film, THE POLAR EXPRESS, in celebration of the film’s 20th anniversary! Presented by TDS Telecommunications LLC, this 2004 adaptation of the 1985 children’s book of the same name is a charming winter adventure full of childlike wonder and imagination that makes for a perfect cozy feature for the family to watch together! Legendary actor Tom Hanks narrates a childhood memory of the doubting young protagonist who awakes one Christmas Eve to the sound of a thundering train beside his house. Invited on board by the conductor, the boy finds himself among multiple other boys and girls as they embark on an extraordinary adventure to the North Pole in order to meet Santa Claus. Twenty years later, THE POLAR EXPRESS is still a unique and nostalgic journey of self discovery and the importance of believing that must be seen to be believed!

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Saturday, December 14th, we will be playing TWO special screenings of the legendary 1989 Christmas comedy classic, NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION, at the historic Babcock Theatre in celebration of the film’s 35th anniversary! A whacked out holiday comedy for the ages, CHRISTMAS VACATION is the uncontested best entry in the celebrated Lampoon’s comedy film series, starring Chevy Chase as on of his most memorable characters, Clark Griswold! It’s Christmas time, and the Griswold family is making preparations for a seasonal family gathering. However, keeping with their history of things going awry in their lives, Clark, Ellen, and their two kids struggle to contend with the string of bad luck, obnoxious happenings, and oddball relatives. Clark does his best to remain resilient, knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon!
NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION is a celebrated spectacle full of zany and erratic comedy that should be seen at least once by everyone during the holiday season! So come and join us why don’t you?!

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

It’s your lucky day, once again! Another Friday the 13th approaches this December, and that means that we will be sticking to our tradition of showing the next sequential film in the legendary slasher series until we get through them all! We’re officially more than halfway done, and the next one to play at the historic Babcock Theatre will be FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES! Arguably the best film in the series, this 1986 entry from Tom McLoughlin wraps up the awesome trilogy of films starting with Part 4 that surround tortured teen Tommy Jarvis and his mission to permanently destroy the immortal monster that is Jason Voorhees!

After his traumatic battles with Jason and the subsequent copycat killer, Tommy Jarvis is tormented by the fear that Jason may not be truly dead. Going to his grave to see for himself, Tommy unwittingly assists in Jason’s resurrection when lightning strikes the corpse, officially making him an undead killer risen from the grave! With Jason back on another brutal rampage through town, Tommy puts his life on the line in determination to stop the slaughter!

This entry has got some of the best visuals, scares, practical effects, and music in the series, making for an excellent send of to the Tommy Jarvis trilogy! If there’s a movie you won’t want to miss in the series, it’s probably this one!

Black Christmas

Saturday, December 21st is the day of the year with less sunlight than any other, which sets the perfect stage for the next film to play in out ongoing Late Night series! For this month’s Late Night, we will be putting on a special screening of Bob Clark’s magnificently chilling 1974 yuletide proto-slasher, BLACK CHRISTMAS, in celebration of the film’s 50th anniversary! Half a century later and this is easily one of the most effectively frightening films to grace the screen! The incredibly cozy and festive atmosphere is contrasted in genius ways with some incredibly disturbing and realistic subject matter that is still relevant today, including random violence against women, abortion rights, and misogyny. Essentially paving the way for how future slasher films would develop the recognizable formula, this film never gives away too much, and uses it’s pacing, ambiance, and realistic characters to its advantage, creating something for more effective than an ordinary slasher relying on gratuitous violence and exploitation. This film is simultaneously absolutely horrifying AND incredibly classy! BLACK CHRISTMAS is something really special, and you’d be a true fool (or a weenie) to miss out on seeing it at the Babcock!

As a number of the girls of the Pi Kappa Sigma sorority head out to to see their families over Christmas vacation, the remaining handful that stayed behind spend the week enduring obscene phone calls from a stranger with dubious intentions, unaware that he is physically stalking the sorority house and hiding out in the attic! Amid increasingly perverse phone calls and a police investigation into a missing sorority girl, Jess finds out she is pregnant and is determined to get an abortion, despite her aggressive boyfriend’s disapproval of her decision!

The Santa Clause

Announcing the next film to play in our ongoing Nostalgia Night series! A real yuletide blast from the past, this month on December 18th, we will be putting on a special screening of John Pasquin’s 1994 family-comedy Christmas film, THE SANTA CLAUSE, at the historic Babcock Theatre in celebration of the film’s 30th anniversary! One of the great classic Christmas films of the later half of the 20th century, THE SANTA CLAUSE stars Tim Allen at the height of his career in a magically unorthodox tale of comedic Christmas chaos! On Christmas Eve, divorced dad Scott Calvin and his son discover that Santa Clause has fallen off of their roof and died. Investigating the scene, Scott takes the reins of Santa’s sleigh and consequently finds himself bound to a magical contract that makes him obligated to become the new Santa Claus! Comedy ensues as Scott struggles to handle the reality of the situation, and now must make everyone, including himself, believe!

A Charlie Brown Christmas: Live!

Christmas time is here, and it’s time for us to bring back our most anticipated event of the year! We are excited beyond words to once again be putting on SIX (yeah, six!) very special screenings of Bill Melendez’s unforgettable 1965 holiday classic, A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, at the historic Babcock Theatre, accompanied by a LIVE jazz performance of the film’s soundtrack! Just like every year since we started, extremely talented local Billings musicians Parker Brown, Erik Olson, and Zach Paris will be playing their hearts out alongside one of the best Christmas classics of all time!
NOTE that this event has sold out virtually every time we have played it, and it happens pretty fast, so go and get your tickets while you can! They are available now!
Iconic existential pessimist Charlie Brown feels quite jaded towards the Christmas season. With the abundance of commercialized materialization surrounding the modern version of the holiday, Charlie Brown feels that the true meaning of Christmas has been lost. Lucy tries to help Charlie Brown by making him the director of the school Christmas play, which he gladly accepts, but soon finds it to be a frustrating struggle. When an attempt to fuel the Christmas spirit with a pathetic little real fir tree fails, Charlie needs Linus’ help to find the true meaning of Christmas!

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