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Starting tonight and running through December 17th, Edgar Wright is taking control of the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, is programming a festival of his favorite movies, and it's a wonderful and eclectic bunch. He's calling the fest "The Wright Stuff," (also the name of a universally beloved screenwriting column on this very site), and he will be on hand to introduce several screenings with special guests. As always at the New Beverly, one of Los Angeles' absolute treasures, every screening is a double feature.

I'll just tell you about the screenings with special guests, all of which start at 7:30. But don't forget to check the website for all show dates and times. Tonight, Edgar and songwriter Paul Williams will kick off the event with two musicals -- Bugsy Malone and Brian DePalma's Phantom of the Paradise. December 5th, the first feature is Flash Gordon, with special guest (and ex-Bond) Timothy Dalton. The second feature is Mario Bava's Danger Diabolik, introduced by Edgar and the great Joe Dante. On December 7th, Edgar will introduce The Last Boy Scout and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with one of the finest action screenplay writers of our time -- Shane Black. December 10 is John Landis' An American Werewolf in London and Tremors (which I spouted my love for here). Landis will help Wright introduce his film. December 12th is Top Secret! (almost as funny as Airplane and The Naked Gun, in my opinion) and Woody Allen's Bananas, with David Zucker on hand. December 14th is the Roger Ebert - penned Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and Head, hosted by Wright and Micky Dolenz of The Monkees. And on December 16th, Wright will introduce Evil Dead 2 and an all time favorite of mine -- the Coen Brothers' Raising Arizona.

Here is a press release from Edgar with his thoughts on the included films. If you live in the Los Angeles area, there's really no excuse to miss this. See you there!

Sherman Torgan was one of the good guys. I never met him, didn't even know what he looked like and, frankly, couldn't even tell you his name until today, but I did know and patronize the theater he owned in Los Angeles. The New Beverly Cinema was an old, funky oasis of cinema cool. I grew up in Los Angeles and have pleasant memories of attending double-bills there before I moved away, the most memorable being the night I talked my "never want to leave the house at night anymore" parents into seeing His Girl Friday and Ball of Fire with me. We had a blast.

When I moved back to LA temporarily a couple of years ago, I was surprised to see that the theater was still open. So much in the city had changed or disappeared and yet the New Beverly Cinema kept going -- still fully and proudly independent. Six bucks for two movies (it's $7.00 now), reasonable prices for concessions and a great time watching In the Mood for Love and Chungking Express. Torgan picked the movies -- from arthouse to classics to grindhouse -- and did nearly everything else at the theater for about 30 years until he unexpectedly suffered a heart attack while riding a bicycle and died on Wednesday.

Blake Ethridge of Cinema is Dope posted the news of Torgan's passing late Wednesday night, based on an e-mail he received from one of Torgan's friends. Another friend wrote to Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere and Tony Pierce at LAist confirmed it with one of the theater's projectionists today. Torgan's death was unexpected, so his family needs time to decide about the future of Los Angeles' last remaining full-time revival cinema. Fans and friends have been posting condolences at the theater's MySpace page. Our hearts go out to Sherman's wife, son Michael (who helped his father run the place for the past decade), family and friends.