Pick of the Week:
Dr. Strangelove (1964) Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Slim Pickens.
It’s Slim Pickens this week as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and The Substance continue to command most of our indie screens. I hope theaters are making money! Also, Joker 2 will be darkening our world next week. :(
This plays at Cinema 21 on Sept. 28th, returning to our screens as part of their black and white Kubrick series. George C. Scott gives one of the all time manic performances in this movie, and makes some great faces. Just in time for Election Day, watch our government crumble in the face of nuclear annihilation.
Also Playing:
Carnival of Souls (1962). Direct by Herk Harvey. Starring Candace Hilligoss, Sidney Berger.
Playing at the Clinton on October 1st. A great cult movie that has an interesting production (much of it shot in guerrilla filmmaking style) that’s loosely based on An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge—a short story someone has surely made you read at some point in your life. It’s got a famous twist in it so I’m not going to ruin it, the movie follows suit. It’s about a woman who survives a near death experience and maybe goes insane. The vibe is a nice looking Twilight Zone episode and a nice time at the movies!
This Week:
Vampire’s Kiss is playing at Cinemagic on Sept. 29th and Oct. 2nd. You know this one! It’s the one where Nicolas Cage screams “I’m a vampire I’m a vampire.” It’s fun! He may or may not be a vampire (in real life).
At 5th Avenue Cinema: the kids are playing Shrek 2 this weekend and I’m not going to stop them because the world is terrible and if this brings them joy, god bless.
At the Academy this week:
Rebel Without a Cause opens for a run and watch some nogoodniks from the 50s.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage opens for a run. It’s Dario Argento’s debut and a great movie that defined giallos. It’s a giallo, so it’s about a serial killer, but it also has a fabulous bird.
Election opens for a run. It’s the cutthroat comedy about high school elections. I find Matthew Broderick kind of hard to watch in stuff so mileage may vary.
At Cinema 21 this week:
Cheers! continues this week—it’s been selling out left and right! It’s a documentary about strippers in Portland and “A portion of your ticket sales benefit the Oregon Sex Workers Committee, an Oregon-based non-profit that advocates for sex workers through policy change, education events, and decriminalization efforts. Learn more at https://oregonswc.org.”
Hedwig and the Angry Inch returns to town on Sept. 28th. It’s the killer musical comedy about a rock star who is the victim of a sex change operation. Always fun to watch with a crowd and the music is great. There’s a reason everyone’s love it!
At Cinemagic:
The director’s cut of Doctor Sleep plays on Sept. 30th. People like this movie—the sequel to The Shining. The book is, uh, ok. The main villain is a lady with a top hat called Rose the Hat who’s a vampire, of sorts. If anyone can make that not look stupid they deserve an Oscar.
Event Horizon plays this week. Yes travel to the year 2047 (via 1997) for a space horror movie that’s about…I want to say vampires but I don’t think that’s right and I refuse to look it up. Sam Neil and Larry Fishburne!
Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil plays this week. The horror comedy from 2010 that lots of people like. It’s very much a silly meta-horror movie and if you like Scream, or Evil Dead II/III, or Mother’s Day, you’ll probably like this one.
At the Clinton this week:
The Manhattan Short Film Festival plays on Sept. 28th. “The ten finalists films hail from eight countries and include: The Talent (UK), I’m Not a Robot (The Netherlands), Mother (Ukraine), Dovecote (Italy), Pathological (USA), Alarms (France), Favourites (Australia), The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (Croatia), Room Taken (Ireland), and Jane Austen’s Period Drama (USA).” All these films qualify for Oscars so I bet some of these will be good.
The Oregon Documentary Film Festival plays on Sept. 29th. “The Oregon Documentary Film Festival specializes in independent documentary films from around the world that deal with everything from medical and environmental issues, military stories, LGBTQ voices, social justice, politically charged issues and inspirational stories. This is for an audience that wants to be educated, to learn something new or to experience a story that is unusual and interesting in a setting of passionate filmmakers and film enthusiasts.”
Church of Film isn’t on the website this week so check out the Clinton’s calendar to see if something pops up for Wednesday.
At the Hollywood this week:
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre opens for a run. Yes, it’s the 50th anniversary and It’s going to be popping up in quite a few theaters October. It’s one of the best American horror movies ever made. It’s about a guy who wears an extra face over his face and kills people with a chainsaw!
Mortal Kombat plays on Sept. 28th. You know, the 90s movie based off the video game that’s a ripoff of a karate movie. Some of the original game actors will be in attendance. Maybe they can tell you about Christopher Lambert’s laugh.
The Kid plays on Sept. 28th. Charlie Chaplin takes care of an orphan boy in this silent classic. You know, I once shined Chaplin’s shoes when I was a kid and he was a lousy tipper. Kicked me in the stomach when I tried to lift his wallet too.
Deep Red plays on Sept. 29th. The Dario Argento classic, and part of the animal trilogy with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage so you can catch both in theaters this week! This is, uh, also a stylish horror movie about a guy with black gloves murdering women.
I’m From Hollywood plays on Sept. 30th. It’s the Andy Kauffman doc that played on Comedy Central every other day in the 90s. The director will be in attendance and, for you wrestling fans: “The evening will kick-off with the premiere of recently restored Super 8 footage shot in the PNW during the late ‘70s showcasing many of the legends from Don Owen’s Portland Wrestling.
This recently discovered footage features Northwest wrestling luminaries such as Roddy Piper, “Playboy” Buddy Rose, Dutch Savage, Jimmy Snuka and countless others set to a synthesized soundtrack composed by Greg Meleney. Limited copies of this footage will be available for purchase on VHS, presented by Kerby Strom with Classic Portland Wrestling.”
Boca Chica plays on Oct 2nd as part of the Portland Latin American Film Festival. It’s about a “Dominican twelve-year-old named Desi has musical aspirations and performs with a local all-girls choir, but her ambitions are much bigger.”
Island of Lost Souls plays on Oct 3rd. It’s the precode horror movie about monsters on an island. Starring Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi! Maybe they kiss in this one! I can’t remember.
The Beast (2023). Directed by Bertrand Bonello. Starring Léa Seydoux, George MacKay.
Bertrand is a buzzy French horror director who made this dystopian sci-fi romance last year and it’s great. Seydoux is a woman who is reliving her past lives in order to scrub her anxiety away and, in doing so, find her lover that she keeps connecting with in different time periods.
Also the future has been decimated by some kind of catastrophe and is now ruled by heartless AI that scrubs people of their emotions so they can fit into society.
It’s been called Lynchian, which it kind of is. I mean, it ends with a woman shrieking but it’s a fairly straightforward narrative, unlike the dream logic that Lynch follows. Both Seydoux and MacKay are fantastic in it.
I’ve got a rerun for you this week too! I wrote about this movie last year but I just think it’s neat.
The Day of the Beast (1995). Directed by Álex de la Iglesia. Starring Álex Angulo, Armando De Razza, Santiago Segura.
Álex de la Iglesia’s movies sit somewhere between Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro. This is a wonderful black comedy about a Catholic priest who discovers a hidden message in the bible listing the date and time the antichrist will be born, but the problem is that he doesn’t know where. Naturally, he decides to commit as many sins as possible to summon the Devil to ask where the Antichrist will be born. He enlists a metalhead who works at a record store to help him and TV psychic who’s part Art Bell and The Home Shopping Network.
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