As the Castro Calendar Turns

A peek at the Fall Castro Theatre schedule shows how far the theatre's dynamic new programming team has come to revisiting the peaks of the theatre's heyday as America's foremost repertory cinema.

Drive In this high-octane noir bloodier than it has to be, Gosling is a cross between Clint's Deadly Stranger and Steve McQueen's cop with a code (Bullitt ) as a young film stuntman who moonlights as LA's top getaway driver. His code is enforced with a stopwatch. "If I drive for you, give me a time and place. I give you a five-minute window: anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours, no matter what. I don't carry a gun. I drive."

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, whose oeuvre is splatter-bent, provides honest thrills in the driving sequences, particularly a spellbinding opener where The Kid is carefully reckless evading the cops to deliver holdup goons safely into the belly of the Staples Center before blending into a Lakers crowd. "Drive"'s guiltiest pleasure is seeing the satirical gifts of Albert Brooks reduced to a Eugene Roche-worthy villain.

Only God Forgives Refn returns with Gosling in a Bangkok-based, revenge-fueled melodrama that is so weirdly and repellently violent that it would be funny if it weren't so dull. Gosling's loner is running a kickboxing club with his brother as a front for a nasty drug cartel. His bro's murder at the hands of a corrupt cop leads to a gusher of bloodletting that reaches its apex upon the arrival of the boys' tough-as-nails momma, a Kristin Scott Thomas turn that redeems this mess for some. (both 10/3)

3:10 to Yuma This 1957 adaptation of an Elmore Leonard story about a small-time farmer (Van Heflin) out for the price on the head of a convicted killer (Glenn Ford) is deftly "old school." As in the 2007 remake with Russell Crowe, it hinges on a suspenseful series of mind games by the outlaw. Plays with "Out of Sight," the 1998 Steven Soderbergh-helmed Leonard story converted into a George Clooney/Jennifer Lopez caper. (10/1)

Boogie Nights (1997) Paul Thomas Anderson's sleight-of-hand send-up of the San Fernando Valley 70s porn-film scene becomes a launching pad for a stellar young cast: Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, John C. Riley and Philip Seymour Hoffman, as well as an improbable comeback for Burt Reynolds as a grizzled sex-film director who sees his once-stable world spinning out of control under the pressures of fragile egos and quickly-changing technology. Plays with "Thank God It's Friday." (9/28)

Mean Streets (1973) The sight of Bobby De Niro blowing up a mailbox is unforgettable in Martin Scorsese's breakthrough 1973 buddy film. Conscience-plagued hoodlum Harvey Keitel is bedeviled by his Little Italy neighborhood's "honor code," while sweet-talking his loose-cannon fuck-up best friend (De Niro) into making nice with an insecure goon. Incendiary performances, real settings, and the Stones' "Jumping Jack Flash" frame a delicious character study that doesn't date. Plays with Elaine May-directed buddy film Mikey and Nicky, with real-life friends Peter Falk and John Cassavetes. (9/25)

House of Wax in 3D (1953) My nine-year-old self learned what scary at the movies means as museum proprietor Vincent Price performs some rather unseemly plastic surgery. Plays with, yes see it for the title alone, "Creature from the Black Lagoon." (9/29)

The Shining (1980) Stanley Kubrick lost control of this Stephen King thriller that's done in by Jack Nicholson's succumbing to his off-screen rep. "He-e-re's Johnny!" (9/27)