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 AFI has been showing it on Sundays for the past month, but this Friday it opens a two week run. They’re showing a restored 70mm print on the theater’s big screen, which means you’ll be able to see one of the most visually rich films in history just as it was intended. With a cast that includes Peter O’Toole as Lawrence, plus Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, and Omar Sharif, this is not to be missed. Set aside four hours some day in the next couple of weeks and head up to Silver Spring.

View the trailer.
Playing at the AFI Silver Theatre for two weeks beginning this Friday.

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Indie: Chalk
The debut feature by Mike Akel got a lot of film festival attention last year, and it looks pretty hilarious. A Christopher Guest-style mockumentary about first year teachers in an educational system that seems designed to chew them up and spit them out, word is that the film is so realistic and uncomfortably funny that it’s easy to forget that it’s all staged.

View the trailer.
Playing for one week only at E Street Cinema beginning on Friday.

Special note: This is England and The King of Kong, both of which we’ve highlighted recently, were originally slated for one-week runs at E Street, but both have been extended at least through next week. Catch them while they’re still around!