The Best Independent and Classic Movie Screenings in Dallas This July

Dallas moviegoers have a lot of options. From first-run theaters to independent art houses and repertory cinemas, from dine-ins to drive-ins, we’ve got it all covered. Every month, it’s possible to see classic films and those off-the-beaten-path flicks as they were meant to be seen: On the big screen. Just to prove the preceding two sentences, we’ve rounded up some of the best screenings and movie events around town this month.

Drag yourself away from the siren song of your home “media streaming devices” — that just sounds antiseptic and awful — and get to a theater this month. Great movies deserve better than a laptop monitor and a buffering Netflix connection.

At the Angelika Film Center:

• The Asian Film Festival of Dallas, the annual showcase of Asian and Asian-American films, returns from July 14 through 21. Along with an extensive slate of new films, the festival will show hits and audience favorites from its first, fifth, and tenth iterations in honor of its 15th anniversary.
• The theater’s summer-long festival paying tribute to Studio Ghibli, the legendary Japanese animation company, continues with July 9 and 13 screenings of Princess Mononoke, our personal favorite Ghibli film, which follows a forest princess and a variety of supernatural environmental figures battling the spread of industrialization. The Oscar-winning hit Spirited Away is up July 23 and 27, with My Neighbors The Yamadas on July 20 and The Cat Returns on July 30.

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At the Texas Theatre:

• A monthlong retrospective exploring the vicious, provocative work of Rainer Werner Fassbinder begins July 7 with To Love Without Demands, a new documentary about the short life and prolific career of the controversial German filmmaker. From there, the theater will screen a different Fassbinder film every Thursday through the end of the month. In order: Fox and His Friends (in 35mm), The Marriage of Maria Braun (in 35 mm), and Kamikaze ’89 (a new 4K restoration.)
• In tribute to director Michael Cimino, who died over the weekend, July 8 and 10 screenings of The Deer Hunter, the classic Vietnam War drama starring peak De Niro.
• Vintage laughs courtesy of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure on July 9, followed by the contemporary giggles of Anchorman on July 23.
• For the family: matinee showings of Short Circuit on July 10, and An American Tail on July 24.
• Catch the recently restored, long-thought-lost 1960 noir Private Property, featuring a young Warren Oates, on July 9 or 10.
• A summertime series of classic concert films and music documentaries, split between the Texas Theatre and the Majestic Theatre downtown, gets going with A Hard Day’s Night (Majestic, July 10), Gimme Shelter (Texas, July 16), The Last Waltz (Majestic, July 24), and the Bob Dylan doc Don’t Look Back (Texas, July 31).

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At the Magnolia Theatre:

• This month’s Big Movie lineup of classic movies, shown every Tuesday, includes The Band Wagon (July 12), The Taking of Pelham 123 (July 19), and on July 26, the Jack Nicholson-led Five Easy Pieces.

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At the Inwood Theatre:

• This month’s weekend midnight movie lineup features the “rock and roll fable” Streets of Fire, the cult kids’ fantasy The NeverEnding Story, the 2001 musical adaptation Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and the ultimate staple of midnight movies, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. We’re particularly keen on July 15 and 16 screenings of Fantastic Planet, the extrasolar French science fiction film animated with cutouts and stop motion photography.

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At the Alamo Drafthouse (Dallas and Richardson outposts):

• If your red, white, and blue blood is still running hot with Fourth of July energy, the Richardson theater is showing an American classic (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Best Years of Our Lives) every Sunday this month.
• Presumably to coincide with the release of the new Brian De Palma documentary (showing at the Texas Theatre), the Dallas Alamo is showing De Palma’s Blow Out on July 18.
• The Dallas theater will show “Weird Al” Yankovic’s wacky UHF on July 11.
• The wonderfully obscene exploitation flick Killer Nun is at the Richardson theater on July 12.

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Miscellaneous:

• At Sundown at Granada, it’s half-price whiskey and free movies on the rooftop every Wednesday. This month’s film lineup includes Kingpin, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Pirates of the Caribbean. 
• How about art films in an art museum? The Fort Worth Modern’s July film lineup has Day For Night, La Jetée, and a Frank Zappa documentary.
• This month’s July 15 edition of ’til Midnight at the Nasher involves Weekend At Bernie’s in the sculpture museum’s garden.
• We’d be more impressed by this July 20 “Star Trek Marathon” at NorthPark if it actually involved any of The Original Series films, or any of The Next Generation films. As is, a triple-header featuring the first two reboot films (2009’s Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness) and the forthcoming Star Trek Beyond feels underwhelming compared to the masochistic seven-film Star Wars marathon that hit theaters last year.

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