Donnie Darko

After seeing "Donnie Darko," we'll never feel the same about bunny costumes again. Or the wonderful Tears for Fears song, "Mad World," covered by Gary Jules. Or all-girl dance troupes with awesome names like Sparkle Motion. These quirky details, inspired in equal parts by the goth and the tacky side of the '80s, made Richard Kelly's 2001 film, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, above, an unlikely cult classic. It'll screen at Devil's Night, a downtown drive-in with punk spirit. 240 W. 4th St. (at Broadway)

THEATER Aga-Boom Laugh it up as the Aga-Boom clown troupe hits Long Beach to serve up its signature brand of messy, interactive fun. Get crazy as the wacky men in silly suits shoot streams of tissue paper into the audience, spray confetti and generally goof off with mime, poetry and avant-garde showmanship. Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach. 8 p.m. today, 2 p.m. Sun. $30. (562) 985-7000, www.carpenterarts.org. MUSIC Mamak Khadem Inspired by ancient Persian poetry and music, vocalist Mamak Khadem will kick off the 2010 season of the world music series "Sounds of L.A."

Four years after his debut feature "Donnie Darko" tanked in theaters, subsequently becoming a cult favorite on home video and cable TV, writer-director Richard Kelly's next film, "Southland Tales," is finally headed into production.

After seeing "Donnie Darko," we'll never feel the same about bunny costumes again. Or the wonderful Tears for Fears song, "Mad World," covered by Gary Jules. Or all-girl dance troupes with awesome names like Sparkle Motion. These quirky details, inspired in equal parts by the goth and the tacky side of the '80s, made Richard Kelly's 2001 film, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, above, an unlikely cult classic. It'll screen at Devil's Night, a downtown drive-in with punk spirit. 240 W. 4th St. (at Broadway)

The suburban teenager who gives "Donnie Darko" its title sees the world around him acutely, perhaps too much so for his own good. A perpetual sleepwalker and devotee of Stephen Hawking's theories of time travel, he possesses a restless intelligence that is constantly churning away, processing and analyzing his environment with a depth of perception that occasionally spooks his friends. Much of what he sees makes him angry and frightened, partly because no one else seems to see it.

A dense hybrid of teen angst and science fiction, a metaphysical meditation on the nature of being and time travel aided by the presence of a 6-foot-tall bunny rabbit, "Donnie Darko" hit theaters in the fall of 2001 with a resounding thud of indifference. The disastrous initial release of the debut feature from then 26-year-old writer-director Richard Kelly should have been the beginning of a rapid descent into movie-land oblivion. Then a funny thing happened on the way to being forgotten.

Have you ever actually tried watching paint dry? A sloth walk? Grass grow? You can have all the "thrills" with none of the chills courtesy of "The Box," the painfully sluggish new sci-fi morality play from "Donnie Darko" creator Richard Kelly. It's as if its stars, Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as the financially strapped yuppie couple Norma and Arthur, were on a continuous, prime time-mandated 10-second delay. Think I'm exaggerating? Here's an example (with footnotes).

1. "L.I.E." 2. "Our Lady of the Assassins" 3. "Ghost World" 4. "Amores Perros" 5. "Donnie Darko" 6. "The Gleaners and I" 7. "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" 8. "Moulin Rouge" 9. "Burnt Money" 10. "The Circle" and "Baran"

What's Coming Tuesday: "Hearts in Atlantis" Feb. 19: "Don't Say a Word," "Hardball" and "O" Feb. 26: "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," "Bones," "13 Ghosts," "The Musketeer," "Haiku Tunnel" and "Megiddo: The Omega Code" March 5: "Riding in Cars With Boys" and "The Last Castle" March 12: "Zoolander," "Heist," "Sexy Beast," "Liam," "The Wash" and "Joy Ride" March 19: "Training Day," "Bandits," "Focus" and "Donnie Darko" March 26:...

It's still a "Mad World" for American duo Michael Andrews and Gary Jules after they held on to the top spot in the British pop charts with their haunting ballad from the cult film "Donnie Darko." The little-known California musicians shocked bookmakers and critics when their reworked version of the 1980s song "Mad World" by British band Tears for Fears took the coveted Christmas No. 1 spot. It's still there a week later, featuring Jules on vocals and Andrews on piano. From Reuters

Have you ever actually tried watching paint dry? A sloth walk? Grass grow? You can have all the "thrills" with none of the chills courtesy of "The Box," the painfully sluggish new sci-fi morality play from "Donnie Darko" creator Richard Kelly. It's as if its stars, Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as the financially strapped yuppie couple Norma and Arthur, were on a continuous, prime time-mandated 10-second delay. Think I'm exaggerating? Here's an example (with footnotes).

The blogosphere has not been kind to "S. Darko," the sequel to the beloved, bewildering 2001 mindbend-athon that was "Donnie Darko." How unkind? Take this comment posted on a recent Cinematical item that mentioned the arrival of the straight-to-DVD flick: "Every single human being involved in the making of this movie needs to leap headfirst into a volcano." OK, so that's a tad extreme.

Four years after his debut feature "Donnie Darko" tanked in theaters, subsequently becoming a cult favorite on home video and cable TV, writer-director Richard Kelly's next film, "Southland Tales," is finally headed into production.

"I was scared to go back to the film," says writer-director Richard Kelly at the premiere party for "Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut." "I didn't want to desecrate something people loved." "I'm excited to see the changes. It's the one movie I refuse to erase on my TiVo," says fan Robert Olding. Rewind to 2000. The low-budget time-travel drama "Donnie Darko" had an underwhelming initial release, garnering warm critical notices but grossing less than $600,000.

First-time writer-director Richard Kelly's breathtakingly ambitious "Donnie Darko" was one of the best pictures released in 2001. Now that it has returned in a 20-minute longer -- and richer -- director's cut, it seems sure to be ranked as one of the key American films of the decade. Opening a month after Sept. 11, "Donnie Darko," if anything, was a little too timely for its own good at the box office yet proved a cult sleeper and a top-selling DVD.

A dense hybrid of teen angst and science fiction, a metaphysical meditation on the nature of being and time travel aided by the presence of a 6-foot-tall bunny rabbit, "Donnie Darko" hit theaters in the fall of 2001 with a resounding thud of indifference. The disastrous initial release of the debut feature from then 26-year-old writer-director Richard Kelly should have been the beginning of a rapid descent into movie-land oblivion. Then a funny thing happened on the way to being forgotten.

What's Coming Tuesday: "Ghost World," "Captain Corelli's Mandolin," "Grateful Dawg" "and "Maze" Feb. 12: "Hearts in Atlantis" Feb. 19: "Don't Say a Word," "Hardball" and "O" Feb. 26: "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," "Bones," "13 Ghosts," "The Musketeer," "Haiku Tunnel" and "Megiddo: The Omega Code 2" March 5: "Riding in Cars With Boys" and "The Last Castle" March 12: "Zoolander," "Heist," "Sexy Beast," "Lia," "The Wash" and "Joy...

First-time writer-director Richard Kelly's breathtakingly ambitious "Donnie Darko" was one of the best pictures released in 2001. Now that it has returned in a 20-minute longer -- and richer -- director's cut, it seems sure to be ranked as one of the key American films of the decade. Opening a month after Sept. 11, "Donnie Darko," if anything, was a little too timely for its own good at the box office yet proved a cult sleeper and a top-selling DVD.

It's still a "Mad World" for American duo Michael Andrews and Gary Jules after they held on to the top spot in the British pop charts with their haunting ballad from the cult film "Donnie Darko." The little-known California musicians shocked bookmakers and critics when their reworked version of the 1980s song "Mad World" by British band Tears for Fears took the coveted Christmas No. 1 spot. It's still there a week later, featuring Jules on vocals and Andrews on piano. From Reuters

What's Coming Tuesday: "Hearts in Atlantis" Feb. 19: "Don't Say a Word," "Hardball" and "O" Feb. 26: "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," "Bones," "13 Ghosts," "The Musketeer," "Haiku Tunnel" and "Megiddo: The Omega Code" March 5: "Riding in Cars With Boys" and "The Last Castle" March 12: "Zoolander," "Heist," "Sexy Beast," "Liam," "The Wash" and "Joy Ride" March 19: "Training Day," "Bandits," "Focus" and "Donnie Darko" March 26:...