Waverly Midnights

As the Academy Awards race heats up, IFC Center presents the cinematic bout of the year — “Bigelow vs. Cameron”, with the year’s filmmaking front-runners (and ex-spouses) facing off against each other weekends at midnight February 26-April 17.

In one corner, critical darling and perennial underdog Kathryn “The Hurt Locker” Bigelow, the distaff director whose hard-hitting actioners pack equal amounts emotional wallop and on-screen ka-boom.

Her opponent: crowd favorite and self-styled king-of-the-world James “Avatar” Cameron, the auteur of maximalist spectaculars that bring in box office bonanzas and awards alike.

With both filmmakers primed to k.o. the Oscar, it’s time to let their earlier work slug it out in a late-night, take-no-prisoners celluloid battle royale.

Marvel as Bigelow makes Keanu and Swayze match wits in the surfer heist cult classic POINT BREAK. Shiver as Cameron dives deep with Oscar-winner THE ABYSS. Shudder as each helmer tackles the mystique of Jamie Lee Curtis in BLUE STEEL and TRUE LIES.

Can Bigelow’s Angela Bassett in STRANGE DAYS take down femme action icon Sigourney Weaver in Cameron’s ALIENS?

Will Cameron’s uber-80s juggernaut THE TERMINATOR survive the indie rabbit-punch of Bigelow’s redneck bloodsuckers in NEAR DARK?

All we know is, they’re coming out swinging, and may the best director win.

Click here to watch the music video for the song “Reach” by the band Martini Ranch (featuring Bill Paxton of NEAR DARK and ALIENS), directed by Cameron and starring Bigelow!

Point Break

Friday, February 26 - Saturday, February 27, 2010
High-definition digital projection. In memory of Patrick Swayze (1952-2009) "The hero, who has the thankless name Johnny Utah, is played by Keanu Reeves as a former Rose Bowl star with a bum knee, who... more...

The Abyss

Friday, March 5 - Saturday, March 6, 2010
"THE ABYSS confirms James Cameron as a world-class filmmaker... With a budget topping $40 million, [THE ABYSS] is many terrific things: the greatest underwater adventure ever filmed, the most consistently... more...

Blue Steel

Friday, March 12 - Saturday, March 13, 2010
"On her first day of active duty, rookie NY cop Megan Turner (Curtis) surprises a supermarket robber and blows him away. Suspended for shooting an unarmed suspect (his gun has mysteriously disappeared),... more...

True Lies

Friday, March 19 - Saturday, March 20, 2010
"Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) doesn't realize that her snooze of a husband, Harry (Mr. Schwarzenegger), is a globe-saving spy. But that's just the start of the story. Like Sandra Bullock, who drives the bus... more...

Strange Days

Friday, March 26 - Saturday, March 27, 2010
"LA, Year Zero: 30 December 1999. Riot police are on the streets. The angry, poor, disenfranchised - the blacks - are ready to tear down the walls of the city. Yet Lenny Nero fiddles while LA burns. A... more...

Aliens

Friday, April 23 - Saturday, April 24, 2010
"The special-effects specialists are featured prominently in the credits that precede ALIENS, and so they should be. Under the direction of James (THE TERMINATOR) Cameron, they have put together a flaming,... more...

Near Dark

Friday, April 9 - Saturday, April 10, 2010
"A full-blooded vampire movie which gives the well-worn mythology a much-needed transfusion by stripping away the Gothic trappings and concentrating instead on a pack of nocturnal nomads who roam the sun-parched... more...

The Terminator

Friday, October 1 - Saturday, October 2
"Back from the future in which the machines rule comes a rippling robot (Schwarzenegger) who terminates opponents with extreme prejudice (like ripping their hearts out). His goal is to kill a woman (Hamilton)... more...

• Friday, October 1 at 12:00 AM  
• Saturday, October 2 at 12:00 AM