Shakespeare In Love. Frida and South Coast Repertory partner for this screening of the 1998 Academy Awards Best Picture winner in anticipation of the stage-play adaptation at SCR in Costa Mesa Jan. 13-Feb. 10, 2018. Writer Tom Stoppard and director John Madden have young William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) struck by the love bug after he discovers ardent theater lover Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow, in her Oscar-winning performance) has dressed up as a man to get cast as the male lead in Romeo and Juliet. The Frida Cinema, 305 E. Fourth St., Santa Ana; thefridacinema.org. Thurs., Jan. 4, 7:30 p.m. $10.
Chavela. Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi’s documentary is about Mexican ranchera legend Chavela Vargas, an LGBTQ icon whose praises are sung by Pedro Almodóvar, Elena Benarroch and Miguel Bosé. Art Theatre, 2025 E. Fourth St., Long Beach, (562) 438-5435. Sat.-Sun., 11 a.m. $8.50-$11.50.
Elvira’s Haunted Hills. Cassandra Peterson spins her double-D, double-entendre-spewing “mistress of the dark” routine, which used to button commercial breaks during Channel 9 horror-flick reruns, with a movie of her own. It’s 1851, and Elvira moves into a castle high above the village of Carpathia, where her resemblance to the count’s “missing” wife stirs up trouble. Besides the screening presented by Mistress Azrael’s Sinema Screams, there is a cosplay contest and “deadly” drag show. The Frida Cinema; thefridacinema.org. Sat., 10 p.m. $10.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Midnight Insanity shadow casts the movie that has the car of sweethearts Brad and Janet (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon) breaking down near the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a transvestite scientist whose home also hosts a rocking biker (Meat Loaf), a creepy butler (Richard O’Brien) and assorted freaks, including a hunk of beefcake named “Rocky.” Art Theatre, (562) 438-5435. Sat., 11:55 p.m. $8.50-$11.50.
Mulheres Da Terra (Women of Earth). Mayara Boaretto Rocha questioned why she was born via caesarean section in a city hospital instead of at home, as her parents were in Brazil, which now has one of the highest C-section rates in the world. The documentary follows Rocha’s search for answers as a midwife apprentice in San Paolo. She will be here for the post-screening panel discussion that includes Stevie Merino of Sol & Roots Doula, Jhoanna Galvez of Malaya Midwifery, and Debbie Allien of Tribe Midwifery. Event organizer June Kaewsith moderates. Art Theatre, (562) 438-5435. Sun., 11 a.m. $15.
National Theatre Live: Follies. Broadcast in high definition from National Theatre is the London stage’s first production of the Stephen Sondheim musical that begins in 1971, when a party sends off Weismann Theatre in New York on the eve of its demolition. Fast forward 30 years, when the Follies’ girls gather to sing, drink and lie about their lives. Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Dr., Irvine, (949) 854-4646. Sun., 2 p.m. $17-$22.
Tom of Finland. Award-winning filmmaker Dome Karukoski brings to the screen the life and work of one of the most influential and celebrated figures of 20th-century gay culture. Touko Valio Laaksonen, best known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist known for his stylized and highly masculinized homoerotic fetish art. The screening is preceded by a wine reception and followed by an audience Q&A. Art Theatre, (562) 438-5435. Wed., 7 p.m.; also Jan. 13-14. $8.50-$11.50.
Sixteen Candles. The 1984 movie that helped make its late writer/director John Hughes the Frank Capra of teen films revolves around Samantha (Molly Ringwald), who at her awkward age dreads her 16th birthday. But it becomes worse thanks to her family being preoccupied with her older sister’s wedding and the arrival of a high-school geek (Anthony Michael Hall) and a new exchange student (Gedde “Wah-suh Hoppening Hawt Stuff” Watanabe). Will the school hunk (Michael Schoeffling) turn things around for Sam? Regency South Coast Village, 1561 Sunflower Ave., Santa Ana, (714) 557-5701. Wed., 7:30 p.m. $9.
The Room. Thanks to James Franco and The Disaster Artist, The Room and the “sensual” 2003 indie thriller’s writer, director, producer and star Tommy Wiseau are hotter than ever. In what has been dubbed “a modern classic” and “the Citizen Kane of bad movies,” Wiseau plays an amiable banker having a grand old time with his fiancée (Juliette Danielle) in a gorgeously shot San Francisco. Everything changes when his conflicted best friend (Greg Sestero) joins in to form a love triangle. Besides the movie, this cinematic event features Wiseau commercials, an inside look at a Hollywood screening, and the trailer for Wiseau and Sestero’s upcoming film Best F(r)iends. AMC Orange 30 at the Outlets, 20 City Blvd. W., Orange, (714) 769-4288; Cinemark Century Stadium 25, 1701 W. Katella Ave., Orange, (714) 532-9558; Cinemark Century 20 Huntington Beach, 7777 Edinger Ave., Huntington Beach, (714) 373-4573; Cinemark at the Pike Theaters, 99 S. Pine Ave., Long Beach, (800) 967-1932; Edwards Aliso Viejo Stadium 20, 26701 Aliso Creek Rd., Aliso Viejo, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21, 65 Fortune Dr., Irvine, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Long Beach Stadium 26, 7501 E. Carson, Long Beach, (844) 462-7342; www.fathomevents.com. Wed., 8 p.m. $12.50.
The Addams Family. In the 1991 comedy based on Charles Addams’ cartoons and characters from the 1960s TV show that still plays in syndication, a man (Christopher Lloyd) claims to be Fester, the missing brother of Gomez Addams (Raul Julia). The creepy/kooky/mysterious/spooky family is thrilled—until Morticia (Anjelica Huston) suspects he ain’t Fester. Fullerton Main Library, 353 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton, (714) 738-6327. Thurs., Jan. 11, 1 p.m. Free.
Alien Intrusion: Unmasking a Deception. The proposition of this documentary is that UFOs and personal encounters with advanced aliens do not contradict the Bible and Christianity, but rather enhance them. What is seen on radar, what happened at Roswell and even a “new” religion are explored in the movie narrated by John Schneider, who co-starred on TV’s The Dukes of Hazzard. AMC Orange 30 at the Outlets, (714) 769-4288; Cinemark Century Stadium 25, (714) 532-9558; Cinemark Century 20 Huntington Beach, (714) 373-4573; Edwards Aliso Viejo Stadium 20, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Big Newport 6, 300 Newport Center Dr., Newport Beach, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Long Beach Stadium 26, (844) 462-7342; www.fathomevents.com. Thurs., Jan. 11, 7 p.m. $10-$14.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.