DCist’s highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.
Before you head out to an Oscar party on Sunday, you may want to take a little time to appreciate filmmaking on the opposite end of the quality spectrum. Troll 2, which currently resides at #58 on the IMDb’s user-voted worst 100 movies of all time list, has developed a cult following dedicated to its special brand of ineptitude; such a significant following that a documentary, Best Worst Movie, was made about the film’s deeply committed (and quite possibly deeply disturbed) cult. (DCist’s Chris Klimek reviewed that movie at SILVERDOCS last year.)
Don’t worry about going into this and being lost for having never seen its predecessor. The main claim to fame of the original, forgettable 1986 Troll is that it has not one, but two main characters by the name of Harry Potter (Jr. and Sr.), and is now the subject of a potential legal battle over the name, as the director of that film is looking to remake his own movie with a bigger budget. But that’s an entirely different train wreck. The sequel was picked up by an Italian director, Claudio Fragasso, who practically made a career in the ’80s out of low budget sequels to existing B-horror franchises, and tells the story of a family that accidentally goes on holiday to a goblin kingdom. Note that’s goblins, not trolls: Troll 2 is a sequel in name only; apparently the cash-in value of the original movie was high enough in 1990 to justify attaching the name, even though technically, Troll 2 doesn’t even have any trolls in it. (If you’re not confused yet, just wait until you see Troll 3, which is actually about murderous plantlife.) Just how laughably bad is the movie? Is it awful enough to bear the cashmere mantle of Ed Wood? To make Tommy Wiseau step back in glassy-eyed yet virile awe? That’s for you to judge this weekend. If you feel compelled to host subsequent personal screenings to share the debacle with your friends, that’ll be your answer.
View the trailer.
Friday and Saturday at midnight at E Street.
—
National Archives Academy Award Nominee Screenings
The other thing to do before throwing/attending your Oscar party is to finish watching the last of the nominated films. Of course, there’s no prize for watching each of the 43 nominated features and 15 shorts competing Sunday night, but the hallucination-inducing case of sleep-deprivation you’ll take from the experience is its own reward. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. As for your remaining options, apart from the various marquee titles still playing around town, E Street is still running both the Live Action and Animated shorts nominees, and as of last night, the National Archives has commenced their screenings of four groups of nominees. Those groups include both of the shorts programs that are currently at E Street, as well as the slate of documentary shorts, the only screening of that category playing anywhere in D.C.. In addition to the shorts, the Archives is screening all five documentary feature nominees, winding up with Which Way Home on Sunday evening, which they promise will be over in time for Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin’s opening duologue.
The Archives screenings are going on now through Sunday. They’re free, and tickets are first come, first served, given out one hour before each show. See their site for the schedule.
