Flick Pick

The third Longmont Film Festival gets under way Thursday, December 18, with Ernst Lubitsch's heartwarming 1940 classic The Shop Around the Corner and continues through Saturday, December 20, with Billy Wilder's favorite Some Like It Hot (recently acclaimed by the American Film Institute as the best Hollywood comedy ever made), Dustin Hoffman's own cross-dressing farce, Tootsie, and 1999's Muppets From Space, starring those intrepid stars Gonzo, Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog. Also scheduled: Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958), the stirring comedy-drama about a dangerous journey home that served as George Lucas's main inspiration when he made the last film in the series, the phenomenally popular space adventure Star Wars(1977).

If you sense a pattern or two developing here, you're right. The theme of this year's fest -- film influences -- will be discussed in detail by guest presenter Howie Movshovitz, film critic for Colorado Public Radio and director of the University of Colorado at Denver Film Center. All screenings will take place at the Longmont Performing Arts Center, 513 Main Street, Longmont. For information and screening schedule, call 303-678-7869.