Standing in line for the D.C. premiere of The Human Centipede, I was compelled to get to know a bit about my fellow moviegoers. It's got to be a special breed that comes out at midnight to see what can be described in short as this: Three tourists are sewn together via the gastric system and made to crawl around as a reconstructed Siamese triplet by a psychotic German surgeon. more ›

Last April I sold my elderly car for a few hundred dollars. I was tired of the expense of repairs, gas and insurance, no longer needed a vehicle for work, and the wide availability of car-sharing services in the D.C. metro area made the switch to no longer owning my own car seem easy and obvious. I hadn't regretted my decision for a minute -- until I got the following press release in my inbox... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Major Release: No Country for Old Men We'll be covering the latest release from the Coen Brothers in more depth tomorrow, but in the time being, we'll tell you this: not only have the filmmakers recovered from the mediocre doldrums of their last couple of outings, but they have returned with a bloody vengeance with a... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: Control Live fast, die young. The two most important rules to follow for rock 'n' roll immortality. We suppose having great music probably helps, too. Ian Curtis followed those rules, and enjoys a massive cult following nearly three decades after his death. Maybe "enjoys" is the wrong word. As the years have passed and Joy... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: The Darjeeling Limited By now, five features into his career, it's likely you already have a strong opinion on Wes Anderson. Despite his tendency to borrow liberally from his own film and literary heroes, from Kubrick to Fitzgerald to the entire French New Wave, a Wes Anderson film feels like a Wes Anderson film from... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: Into the Wild Annandale native Chris McCandless had just graduated from Emory University in 1990 when he donated his substantial life's savings to charity and set out on the road under the name of "Alexander Supertramp." His highly publicized disappearance ended two years later when his body was found in the Alaskan wilderness, and the... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Foreign: Stalker Revered in his prime as perhaps one of the best filmmakers Russia ever produced, Andrei Tarkovsky built his reputation on just seven feature films. As is so often the case, some of the most poignant art comes from those artists who must fight to bring their vision to an audience. Tarkovsky's films, often restless... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Major Release: 3:10 to Yuma Mark your calendars. Labor Day is past, summer is over, and it's time for all the Oscar contenders to step into the ring. First out of the gate is 3:10 to Yuma, the second filmed version of an Elmore Leonard short story about a Civil War veteran (played here by Christian... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Repertory: Lawrence of Arabia David Lean's epic telling of the story of T.E. Lawrence's time in the Middle East, and leadership of the WWI Arab Revolt is regarded as one of the greatest achievements in cinema. The... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Repertory: Stranger Than Paradise "You go to some place new and everything just looks the same," says Eddie, one of the two hipster-slacker protagonists of Jim Jarmusch's wickedly funny second feature. Press materials made a big deal of the origin of the film, pointedly calling it "A New American Film by a New American Director." There's... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Foreign: This is England After receiving accolades galore at a number of major film festivals, British director Shane Meadow's autobiographical film is receiving a limited one week run in D.C. starting on Friday. Based on his own experiences coming of age in the UK in the early 80's, This is England follows 12-year old Shaun, a... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Repertory: Labyrinth Jim Henson continued to indulge the darker doors of his mind that he'd thrown wide open with The Dark Crystal in this, regrettably his last feature film. How a film made by Jim Henson and George Lucas, and starring David Bowie managed to tank as badly as this did upon release is a mystery,... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: Sunshine A group of astronauts are on a suicide mission to save a dying Sun, lest the earth perish as well. While it may sound like a plot suitable for Michael Bay's Armageddon 2: Bigger and Hotter, in the hands of director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) and his 28 Days Later screenwriter, Alex Garland, it may... more ›

>> Must Love Trash, DJ Adrian Loving and DJ Gavin Holland have all volunteered their services at Wonderland tonight to benefit a group putting together a Columbia Heights Day festival. The party starts at 9 p.m. upstairs. Help these guys get their web site and street festival off the ground by having a good time. For more details about Columbia Heights Day, email ColumbiaHeightsDay (at) gmail.com >> The Hej Hej DJs, DJ Yum Yum... more ›

We're always trying to think of ways to offer you, our lovely readers, a shot at some free entertainment, and today we've got another great opportunity for you. We've paired up with Landslide Pictures to host a special preview screening of Civic Duty at the Landmark E Street Cinema on Tuesday, May 1 at 7 p.m.. Here's a brief synopsis of the story: Angry and depressed over losing his job, accountant Terry Allen begins to... more ›

FRIDAY: >> Friends 'o DCist Middle Distance Runner have had quite a ride since playing our special Unbuckled/Anniversary concert last September. Despite a few bumps on the road, they've gone from little band that could to having their first headlining slot at 9:30 club tonight. We'll say we knew them when. With The Dance Party. 10 p.m., $10. >> Akron/Family impressed the pants off of critics in 2005 with their self-titled neo-folk stylings. They'll be... more ›

In France as here in the U.S., the policier, or cop film, is ground well trod, a genre that is hard to approach in a fresh way. Director Xavier Beauvois's attempt to do just that in Le Petit Lieutenant opened in France in 2005 and in New York last fall, but it has finally come to Washington for a limited, exclusive engagement at E Street Cinema. more ›

Completely unlike your great aunt Edna, DCist is here to shower you with gifts you will actually use and enjoy. We've teamed up once again with our friends at Landmark's E Street Cinema to bring a free film screening to our readers. This time around it's God Grew Tired of Us: The Story of Lost Boys of Sudan, a powerful new documentary by Christopher Dillon Quinn and co-director Tommy Walker, which chronicles the inspirational story... more ›

Notes on a Scandal may star two of the greatest living actresses, thespians who more often play monarchs than molls, but don’t fool yourself—the movie’s trash, not art. But it’s a kind of high trash, a thinking woman’s "beach viewing," much in the vein of the delightfully lurid 2003 François Ozon film Swimming Pool. more ›

Pedro Almodóvar's latest film, Volver, was screened in a few suburban locations last month, but it has just opened on two screens at the E Street Cinema. Fans of the legendary Spanish director do not need a review to tell them to see this film. However, those who do not know Almodóvar's work, or who have had a bad experience with it, should give this excellent movie a chance. It has all of the positive qualities of his earlier films — the sometimes off-color humor; the idolization of the eternal feminine; the mixture of fantasy and reality; the flavor of Spain — just this time without the drag queens and transsexual prostitutes. more ›

In their first feature film, Unknown (which opened at the E Street Cinema on Friday), director Simon Brand and screenwriter Matthew Waynee demonstrate that they have absorbed the lessons of thrillers like Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, Memento, Pi, Sixth Sense, and The Usual Suspects. That is, a thriller's thrill comes from delaying the audience's understanding of the real circumstances and motivations of the characters as long as possible. If the screenplay can keep the characters from knowing much about it either, so much the better. Unfortunately, that is just not possible without some believable gimmick. Unknown may not be not as good as any of the models listed above, but it is a solid first attempt at the genre. Enough for the Weinstein brothers to distribute the film independently, in a select few locations, as well as by video-on-demand through IFC Films. more ›

Fall is the season of festivals, so I hope you've stretched properly over the last few weeks, because this weekend is chock full of 'em. more ›

Campus Progress is determined to keep you busy. Last week they hosted an early peek at an episode of The Wire. Tomorrow they'll be continuing their advance screening M.O., offering an opportunity to watch an episode of the civil rights documentary Eyes On The Prize prior to its return to PBS later this fall. A screening of a twenty year-old documentary may not sound like a big deal, but in this case it is. Despite... more ›

FRIDAY: >> We'd be remiss if we didn't note that tonight will be the last time that Kathryn of Kathryn On will host one of her famous Blogger Happy Hours. It starts at 7 p.m. at Lucky Bar. Fans of the regular happy hour shouldn't fear, however, as Kathryn says she has "a couple of fledgling social chairs waiting in the wings." Thanks for all the hard work you've put in, Kathryn, to making the... more ›

Washington is about to be overrun by film festivals, so get your comedies and dramas, your Hollywood actors and local wannabes, your serious documentaries and hilarious animations starting tonight. Well, not tonight. Tonight you'll be at Unbuckled. But the rest of the weekend is your film reel playground! more ›

Editor's Note: Our apologies for being late with some of our regular Friday features -- we experienced some technical difficulties which prevented them from being published on the site. Quote of the Week At E Street Cinema: Employee at the concession stand to (seemingly) no one in particular: "There are a lot of celibate porn stars out there...but they just aren't working right now." After the jump, weapons of Ancient Rome, our Metro etiquette... more ›

That sudden, crisp feeling in the air can only mean one thing: the doldrums of one of the worst summer movie seasons in history are mercifully over. DCist suggests you celebrate fall by checking out a few of the many, many sharp looking film festivals starting this week. more ›

You've got just a brief amount of time to head out and catch the last screening of the DC Shorts Film Festival. At 3 p.m. at the E Street Cinema, the Fest is hosting its finale series, the Lunafest Program, which features 8 short films with a decidedly pro-woman slant to them. Proceeds benefit the Breast Cancer Fund. more ›

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Since the death of Visions, the District has been sorely lacking in genuine art house cinema fare. But a brief sweep of the summer film landscape has turned up a much more eclectic and inviting set of mid-week options than we would have guessed, from well chosen special screenings at familiar venues to intriguing, less obvious options. Get it while the gettin's good: art houses everywhere seem to be going the way of the gray wolf. more ›