This article was meant to dive into the diverse film scene of Baltimore and provide a calendar of movie opportunities around the city. But apparently everyone decided to schedule the best screenings of the week for this Thursday. Why this Thursday? Seriously, can anyone answer that? Because I have no idea. Anyway, there are some great showings this week, and the fact that four out of the five will run on the same day will not stop me from covering them.

Mondo Baltimore: Trash Flicks and Cult Epics

This Windup Space tradition is one of kitschy horror effects and poor (read: fantastic) overacting. In the past they’ve shown classics like Vampire Dentist and Russian Terminator. Needless to say, even if everyone in Baltimore crammed into the Windup Space, this event wouldn’t be getting enough love. This week they’re first showing a grab-bag of short movies hosted by local horror filmmaker Chris LaMartina (“Call Girl of Cthulhu”). As this guy is the master of plastic birth scenes and wildly fake decapitations, there really couldn’t have been a better choice. After that, they’re putting on “Microwave Massacre” (1983), a movie that’s garnered a glorious 3.4 rating on IMDB. But forget those ratings. Head down to Station North for some terribly awesome movies and a raffle and stuff. It’ll be weird. The fun starts on Thursday, October 2, 7 p.m..

Nas: Time is Illmatic

Biographical documentaries while the subject is still living are strange. Detailing a life that hasn’t ended yet almost seems pointless, and we’ll probably see another Nas documentary after the dude kicks the bucket. But in this case—if they do it right—this documentary will mostly focus on the great hip-hop album “Illmatic.” If you haven’t heard of “Illmatic,” it was an album put out in 1993 by Nas when he was just eighteen years old. It’s now considered a classic and because of that, it’s kind of a standard for every other debut hip-hop album. This one is mostly for straight hip-hop fans, and I’m listing this one for them. The Charles is showing the documentary for one night next week and it’s that Thursday again. Yes, that same Thursday, October 2…also at at 7 p.m.

Singin’ In the Rain

This is one of the best musicals ever made. Seriously, this movie “documents” the largely contested transition between silent film and talking movie. It may not seem like a big deal to us now but many well-established directors had to learn a whole new way of composing their pictures. It stars Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor, three musical actors in their prime. Kelly has been posthumously nominated 15th best male leading actor by the American Film Institute, O’Connor won a Golden Globe for his performance, and Reynolds arguably had the most prolific post-Singin’ career of the three. This showing on the big screen at The Senator will be accompanied by the fantastic Cold Spring Jazz Quartet. What more convincing could you really need? The date and time? Do you really need to ask? It’s showing, of course, on October 2 at 7 p.m.

Lolita

This film is widely considered Stanley Kubrick’s turning point as a director. His last movie, “Spartacus,” was wrought with conflict and discrepancies that didn’t let Kubrick show off his full potential, and hee would later distance himself from the movie. But Lolita was different. He had much more creative license, especially with the talents of Peter Sellers as his lead. Sellers would propel him into the spotlight through Lolita and Dr. Strangelove, giving Kubrick the leeway to create the awe-inspiring “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Lolita is a classic novel toned down by the MPAA restrictions of the time and turned more into a satirical look at late fifties sexuality by Sellers and Kubrick. Honestly, this one makes it really tough to decide what to see on Thursday night, as it’s only playing on that one night instead of the standard three for Charles’ restorations. Make a difficult decision on Thursday, October 2 (however, this one begins at 9 p.m.)

Antoine Doinel Series at The Crown

Finally, FINALLY, we have one that doesn’t land on Thursday night. The newly announced Antoine Doinel series kicked off on September 21, and is an ambitious attempt on the part of The Crown to bring the French New Wave to people. Seriously, I went to the first two of these and they’re awesome. François Truffaut, influential French director of the late fifties on, made a classic movie about growing up and the hopelessness of life with the film “400 Blows.” He then took the actor from 400 Blows (Jean-Pierre Léaud) and used him for another twenty years, growing the character of Antoine Doinel from childhood to adulthood. And The Crown is covering all of it, God bless them. So come, settle in at The Crown on the next few Sunday nights and enjoy the life work of one of my favorite (and thus clearly the greatest) directors of all time. You can count on me to be there, Sundays at 8 p.m.