Popcorn & Candy is DCist’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.
—
Say hello to Salma Hayek’s little friend (Radius-TWC)Stieg Larsson’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series may have meant to condemn violence against women, but the books and movies sure had a lot of scenes showing Violence Against Women. Director Joe Lynch’s grindhouse killer has no such good intentions for its strong and scantily clad heroine (Salma Hayek); it just wants to see her suffer. If you’re okay with that, then this is a well-made, if not particularly inventive, exploitation movie. But holy crap is it sadistic Taking cues from the classic single-setting action movie Die Hard and upping the gore factor on superior derivatives like The Raid: Redemption, the movie is basically an exercise in watching its star come under attack for ninety minutes. And I thought Kingsman was misogynistic; it kinda was, but I liked it anyway. But this movie, like its third act villain, The Sadist, loves to inflict pain, artfully. Which is just what Everly does. Most contemporary action movies are edited so frenetically that you can’t see what’s going on, but not Everly—you can see every wound as it’s being caused. I almost wish it weren’t so competent.
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at Angelika Pop-Up
—
Justin Peck (right) (Magnolia Pictures)In my review of this film for Spectrum Culture, I wrote, “Director Jody Lee Lipes’ film documents the creative process behind Paz de la Jolla, the commission that would be the company’s 422nd piece. Lipes is a talented cinematographer whose credits include episodes of “Girls” and Lena Dunham’s feature Tiny Furniture. He co-directed the musical NY Export: Opus Jazz, an adaptation of a Jerome Robbins ballet that was a great showcase for the cinematographer’s formally striking compositions. Ballet 422 uses a more intimate cinéma vérité approach, and if the result isn’t as visually inventive as his last dance film, that’s only because of the high bar set by its predecessor. This is a dance procedural that thankfully dispenses with talking heads and lets the film unfold as a crew follows young choreographer-dancer Justin Peck and his charges backstage. Peck has less than two months to get this together, and as he instructs fellow dancers and members of his creative team, he instructs the viewer as well.” Read the rest of my Spectrum Culture review here.
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at Landmark E Street CInema
—
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
E Street Landmark Cinema cranks up its 35mm projector for its annual program of films from Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio founded by Hayao Miyazaki. While previous editions of the Studio Ghibli festival have been completely from 35mm prints, only selected titles in this series will be from glorious celluloid. This weekend’s 35mm print is Miyazaki’s first feature, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), shown in its original Japanese version with subtitles. Forseparate admission, you can also see a digital presentation of one of the director’s most loved films, My Neighbor Totoro (1988), shown in an English-dubbed version. Landmark Bethesda Row has also launched a weekly classic film series, with digital presentations of old and new favorites. Next week’s Bethesda Row classic is The Godfather, screening (in a digital presentation) on Wednesday, March 11 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Watch the trailer.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind screens March 7 and 8 and 10:30 a.m. at E Street Landmark Cinema.
—
Edith Bouvier BealeArea moviegoers are mourning the impending loss of another movie theater. Five years ago, West End Cinema brought movies back to the space once occupied by the tiny Circle West End 5, 6, & 7, but this week they announced that they’ll be closing on March 26. We’ll miss their tiny screens, excellent programming and 35mm projector, and the fact that they were the only area theatre where you could have seen the year’s best BDSM movie (and maybe best movie period), The Duke of Burgundy. This weekend On March 20, WEC will present a 40th anniversary run of one of the great American documentaries. Directed by David and Albert Maysles (Salesman) with Muffie Meyer and Ellen Hovde, Grey Gardens follows Big Edie and Little Edie Beale, the aunt and first cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, as they live in the shambles of their Grey Garden estate in East Hampton. The film’s unforgettable characters inspired a Broadway show and a TV movie.
Watch the trailer.
Opens March 20 at West End Cinema.
—
Black leather, black leather, fun fun fun!The AFI Silver’s series Hollywood Exiles in Europe continues this weekend with director Joseph Losey’s 1963 science fiction film about an American tourist (Macdonald Carey) visiting the south coast of England, violent leather-clad hoodlums (led by a young Oliver Reed) and radioactive children. Produced by Hammer Films, this thriller was one of the films the Wisconsin-born director made in exile after becoming the target of the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Watch the trailer.
Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7 at the AFI Silver.
—
Also opening this week, Richard Gere joins the ensemble cast of this week’s most highly anticipated sequel, “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” which I saw with my very own eyes. Did those critical eyes water over for these fragile beings in the autumn of their years? Read my full review tomorrow to find out.
