Watch The Departed, Gremlins, and Spinning Plates on the Big Screen This Holiday Season

CineFile is our weekly digest of the best in Dallas’ under-the-radar cinematic fare—from indie movies, to documentaries, to foreign films, to re-screenings of the (cult) classics. Here’s what you could be watching:

Dhoom 3 (2013)
Action
Dir.: Vijay Krishna Acharya
Runtime: 172 min.

FunAsia Richardson – Showtimes
Hollywood Theaters – Showtimes

The latest installment of the popular Bollywood action franchise is set in Chicago and has superstar Aamir Khan (Lagaan, 3 Idiots) playing an acrobat-thief who Cirque du Soleils his way through heists. Eye candy Katrina Kaif joins the fun (and does her best Beyoncé impression).

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Drama
Dir.: Frank Capra
Runtime: 130 min.

The Texas Theatre
Friday, December 20, at 7 pm
Sunday, December 22, at 4:20 pm

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
Sunday, December 22, at 12 pm

Angelika Dallas
Tuesday, December 24, at 7 pm

This obscenely beloved Frank Capra classic is required viewing for the Christmas (ahem, nondenominational holiday) season. Indulge your sweet tooth with this saccharine tale of small-town businessman George (Jimmy Stewart) who learns what life is all about. Sniffle.

All the Light in the Sky (2012)
Drama
Dir.: Joe Swanberg
Runtime: 79 min.

The Texas Theatre
Sunday, December 22, at 7 pm

Perennial second fiddler Jane Adams plays an over-the-hill actress in an ageist Hollywood. When Niece shows up for a weekend stay at Actress’ Malibu home, Actress must confront her insecurities, emotional vulnerability, despair. Be forewarned: a lot of brooding. Directed by mumblecore moviemaker-cum-actor Joe Swanberg, writer-director of this year’s much-loved Drinking Buddies (starring Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson)

The Departed (2006)
Crime
Dir.: Martin Scorsese
Runtime: 151 min.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
Sunday, December 22, at 6:20 pm

Martin Scorsese treats the Irish mob with characteristic panache in this remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a newly minted cop who ducks undercover to infiltrate Frank Costello’s (Jack Nicholson) South Boston gang. Costello’s protégé Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) returns the favor as a mole in the state police.

Gremlins (1984)
Horror, Comedy
Dir.: Joe Dante
Runtime: 106 min.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
Monday, December 23, at 7:30 pm

Nothing says “Holiday Season” like a rabid pack of multiplying mogwais. War on Christmas, indeed.

Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy (2013)
Documentary
Dir.: Michel Gondry
Runtime: 88 min.

The Texas Theatre – Showtimes

Michel Gondry is an innovative French director who’s tackled heady subjects like proliferating drum sets, memory erasures, and Gael Garcia Bernal’s sleep. This time, he applies his visual flair to a conversation with public intellectual—and your favorite linguist and mine—Noam Chomsky. The documentary is a romp through Chomsky’s ideas, vivified by Gondry’s animations.