Now Playing
Call Your Mother This Sunday (and tell her about how great WatchThisPDX is for finding out what's playing in Portland)
Pick of the Week:
Real Life (1979). Directed by Albert Brooks. Starring Albert Brooks, Charles Grodin
Frances Lee McCain.
Playing at the Hollywood on May 15th with Jon Wurster (The Best Show, The Mountain Goats, Bob Mould, Superchunk)! I’ve written about this movie before and am beyond excited to see this in a theater. If it sells out you should watch this at home. I will be in the audience wearing my Albert Brooks outfit (MY BROOKS BROTHERS SUIT—is this a joke? I don’t know.).
Also Playing:
The Battle of Algiers (1966). Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. Starring Jean Martin, Saadi Yacef, Brahim Hadjadj.
Playing at the 5th Avenue Cinema this weekend. It’s weird to say something this pretentious and know it to be true but this has got to be true about some art, right? This is one of the most important movies of the 20th Century. As our pal Ebert put it: “may be a deeper film experience than many audiences can withstand: too cynical, too true, too cruel and too heartbreaking. It is about the Algerian war, but those not interested in Algeria may substitute another war; The Battle of Algiers has a universal frame of reference."
This Week:
Detour plays at the Kiggins on May 12th. James Urbaniak called it “an injection of noir so distilled it borders on parody.” If I wrote the definition of film noir in a dictionary this is the movie I would use. It’s barely over an hour long and perfect.
At the Academy:
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion opens for a run. I am not a Neon Genesis-head but people loved this. It’s about space robots? I don’t know. I’m a simpleton.
The Fast and the Furious opens for a run. I have never seen any of these movies but I enjoy reading the lore and how terrible they all sound. From the screenwriter of the Olive Garden commercials.
Eye of the Devil opens for a run. It’s a neat sounding folk horror movie about a spooky mansion that stars Sharon Tate.
At Cinema 21:
Police Story plays on May 9th. This is the Jackie Chan movie that plays all the time but it rocks and is meant to be seen with a group of people and not in your home. Some of the most spectacular stunt work you’ll ever see.
Brief Encounter plays on May 10th. Noël Coward wrote it and it’s of the great British films. It’s also playing in the morning so they will be checking that you had a full English breakfast before hand. They’ll know you had it because you look a little sick.
At the Clinton, CorMAYnia—the films of Roger Corman, continue!
The Fall of the House of Usher plays on May 9th—the Poe adaptation with Vincent Price!
The Terror on May 10th staring monsterman Boris Karloff, who said, “Corman had the sketchiest outline of a story. I read it and begged him not to do it. He said "That's alright Boris, I know what I'm going to do. I want you for two days on this." I was in every shot, of course. Sometimes I was just walking through and then I would change my jacket and walk back. He nearly killed me on the last day. He had me in a tank of cold water for about two hours. After he got me in the can he suspended operations and went off and directed two or three operations to get the money, I suppose... [The sets] were so magnificent... As they were being pulled down around our ears, Roger was dashing around with me and a camera, two steps ahead of the wreckers. It was very funny.” If you ever bought those cheap DVDs of like “50 Ghoulish movies” from dollar stores this was absolutely in there. I have watched this dozens of times and it’s fun!
The Raven plays on May 10th. Price, Lorre, Karloff, perfection.
A Bucket of Blood plays on May 11th—the beloved oddball Corman/Dick Miller comedy.
X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes plays on May 11th—it’s a great one about a scientist who experiments on himself to see beyond the visible spectrum. Don Rickles is in it! Don Rickles! Famous asshole Don Rickles.
The Trip plays on May 13th—another big one as Peter Fonda does acid and, uh, things happen.
Starcrash plays on May 15th. The Corman Star Wars cash-in that is so dumb and entertaining.
Church of Film brings us Garden and Goblins on May 14th—“A spectacular garden of treats from the golden age of Czech Animation.”
Do you have 4th of July plans? WELL YOU DO NOW! Revolutions Per Movie is back at the Clinton with Julie Klausner on July 5th. They will be screening Raquel Welch’s special which promises to be an erotic journey. I GOT MY TICKET, GET YOURS. (Also, someone put that Difficult People clip of them making fun of David Byrne on the Internet.).
At the Hollywood this week:
Donnie Darko opens for a run. I think this movie stinks but it’s also the millennial The Graduate—a movie that defines a generation. Well, maybe it is. It’s up there. I still think it stinks.
Viy plays on May 9th. A must watch “Soviet Gothic horror masterpiece follows a partying seminary student who spends a night in the barn of a haggard crone.”
Top Hat plays this weekend. It’s the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical. Go see this. It’s fun.
Portland 48 Hour Horror & Sci-Fi Project World Premiers lands on May 11th. These are Portland made horror and sci-fi films made in 48 hours just like the box says.
It’s an only known print alert as the only known print of Invincible Armour plays (again) from Kung Fu Theater on May 13th. I am 99% certain this is a honey pot trap to catch tax evaders because if you look at the data a lot of guys who like Kung Fu movies in America don’t like paying taxes. I look forward to Quentin Tarantino’s inevitable imprisonment.
I Know Catherine, The Log Lady plays on May 14th. Catherine Coulson did a lot of work with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and was a treasure. Her scenes in Twin Peaks: The Return make me cry.
Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers plays on May 14th. “Amidst the profound social change and political turmoil of post-war Japan, a bold generation of avant-garde artists emerged in the 1960s, redefining the boundaries of art through experimental photography, graphic design, underground theatre, performance art and radical Butoh dance - forever transforming the global art landscape.” Hey! This sounds really fucking cool.
Check the Joy Cinema’s website! Who knows what kooky films they’ll play next.
At the Kiggins:
Funny Face plays on May 9th about the famous Batman villain funny face who…oh right—the classic musical with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire. Hey, it’s great!
At the Tomorrow Theater:
Twister plays on May 10th. Twister is, I think, a perfect dumb movie. It’s got a great cast of character actors and is all momentum. It is, also, extraordinarily stupid. The gimmick, it’s the Tomorrow Theater after all, is an immersive experience. At least this fits into the William Castle tradition. I don’t know. I’m not mad at this one? Maybe my heart is softening? I was visited by three ghosts last night who gave me a crisp $5 dollar bill each for this write up.
Grey Gardens plays on Mother’s Day, May 11th. Ah yes, a perfect day to watch two women decompensate in a decrepit mansion. I guess if you hate your mother or don’t want her to talk to you again you should go see this with her. As an alternative, if you love your mother, do something she would like to do. Maybe a nice lunch? Everyone likes lunch. I mean, maybe she doesn’t even want to spend time with you? Maybe you’re smothering her. Ever think about that?
Aftersun plays on May 15th—Charlotte Wells’s coming of age story from a few years ago that people liked. Nationale, a snooty art space in Portland, will be doing something snooty at it.
The tip jar is open if you would like to give me some crisp five dollar bills. Staff picks will return, I promise. I did watch Strange Days (1995) by Kathryn Bigelow recently and I can’t say it was good but it was interesting. I also have definitely seen it before and forgot I watched it, which is fitting for a movie about memory. Angela Bassett is great in it. It’s a little pro-cop and preying on early 90s fears of race riots and such and I don’t think really gets cyberpunk? Two and a half hours is too long—it hovers in a middle space of good ideas but not deranged enough to be interesting. It either needs a half hour cut out or added for it to be something. It desperately wants to be something like Until the End of the World or Southland Tales but doesn’t have the guts. Anyway, it’s both a toot and a boot.
