Tonight see two shorts by Dante, including a rare screening of Mant!, followed by his feature-length take on action figures gone wild in Small Soldiers.

Impressed by Dante's early films, Steven Spielberg tapped the young filmmaker to direct a segment of the feature-length Twilight Zone anthology film. The resulting short, an ideal introduction to Dante’s work and themes, reveals the unspeakable powers that a boy hopped up on cartoons develops. With Kathleen Quinlan, Kevin McCarthy (from Invasion of the Body Snatchers), and Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson) in one of her few screen appearances. (26 mins., 35mm) A rare screening of Mant!, a full version of the campy film-within-the-film from Matinee (showing Oct. 6), follows. (17 mins., 35mm)

Jonathan Rosenbaum called Dante's film Small Soldiers a pointed, smarter, and more accomplished rebuke to Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, in theaters at the same time. A shipment of toy soldiers lays siege to a small Ohio town when their military microchip implants are programmed to declare war on enemy toys. Despite major studio interference with the film, Dante's cynical take on consumer culture and warmongering breaks through. With Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman (in his final role), Denis Leary, and the voices of Tommy Lee Jones and Frank Langella. (110 mins., 35mm)

Small Soldiers starts at 7:50 PM.

Mant! print courtesy of the Joe Dante and Jon Davison Collection at the Academy Film Archive.

Small Soldiers Trailer